Danse is a short instrumental piece by Erik Satie. Completed on December 5, 1890, it is his earliest known attempt at orchestral composition. The original score has never been published or recorded,[1][2] but Satie later transcribed it as the En plus movement of his famous piano suite Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903).[3] A performance would last about 2 minutes.
There was no course in orchestration at the Paris Conservatory while Satie was a student there (1879-1886), making the 54-bar Danse an experiment with what he had learned so far by ear - primarily at cabarets like Le Chat Noir, where he was then working as a pianist and occasional conductor. The scoring for 8 players (2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets (B♭, A), 1 bassoon, timpani, and harp) is a novel take on the standard "brasserie"-type ensemble, with no strings or brass and key substitutions in the percussion for a softer, more varied sound. Woodwinds carry most of the melodic line while the harp part serves the practical function of continuo. Musically the piece has been described as a cross between the common time grace of a Gymnopédie and the modal ambiguity of a Gnossienne,[4] and Satie may have given it the generic name "Dance" simply due to its more prominent rhythmic pattern.
For the 1903 piano four hands reduction of Danse as En plus, No. 6 of the Trois Morceux, the composer removed material for the B♭ clarinet and assigned the harp part to the Secondo keyboard part. In a weird text scribbled on the back of the En plus manuscript Satie proclaimed "I am at a prestigious turning point in the History of My life".[5] He may have rescued the little Danse by finding a new guise for it in what became one of his most popular works, but otherwise his statement was premature. Since 1890 his attempts at writing for orchestra - arrangements of the Gnossienne No. 3 and two of the Pièces froides (1897), and the tone poemLe Bœuf Angora (The Angora Ox, 1901) - were all dashed by his technical limitations.[6] It was only after enrolling at the Schola Cantorum in 1905 that Satie acquired the skills to pursue his more ambitious goals - including learning how to orchestrate properly.
Notes and references
↑ The first 10 bars were printed in Alan M. Gillmor's biography Erik Satie, Twayne, Boston, 1988, pp. 128-129.
↑ A complete transcription appeared in Patrick Gowers, "Erik Satie: His Studies, Notebooks and Critics", PhD dissertation (2 volumes), University of Cambridge, 1966, but was not published.
↑ Robert Orledge, Satie the Composer, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 55, 108-109, 271, 287, 347 note 7.
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie, who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. Satie was an influential artist in the late 19th- and early 20th-century Parisian avant-garde. His work was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism, repetitive music, and the Theatre of the Absurd, while his 1917 coinage "furniture music" would presage the development of background and ambient music.
The Gnossiennes are several piano compositions written by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century. The works are for the most part in free time and highly experimental with form, rhythm and chordal structure. The form as well as the term was invented by Satie.
La Diva de l'Empire is a French popular song with music by Erik Satie and lyrics by Dominique Bonnaud and Numa Blès, composed in 1904. Along with Je te veux (1903) it is probably the best-known example of Satie's cabaret or "café-concert" idiom. It was premiered by singer Paulette Darty, dubbed the "Queen of the Slow Waltz", in the musical revue Dévidons la bobine in Paris on July 26, 1904, and published that same year.
The Trois petites pièces montées is a suite for small orchestra by Erik Satie, inspired by themes from the novel series Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais. It was premiered at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris on February 21, 1920, conducted by Vladimir Golschmann. Satie later arranged it for piano duet and today it is more frequently heard in this version. A typical performance lasts about five minutes.
The Danses gothiques is an 1893 piano composition by Erik Satie, one of the works of his "Rosicrucian" or "mystic" period. It was published posthumously in 1929. A performance lasts around 12 minutes.
The Pièces froides are two sets of piano pieces composed in March 1897 by Erik Satie. Unpublished until 1912, they marked Satie's break from the mystical-religious music of his "Rosicrucian" period (1891–95), and were a harbinger of his humoristic piano suites of the 1910s.
En habit de cheval is a 1911 suite for piano duet by Erik Satie. He arranged it for orchestra that same year. It is a transitional work, composed towards the end of Satie's studies at the Schola Cantorum in Paris (1905-1912) and foreshadowing his pre-World War I "humoristic" or "fantaisiste" period. Robert Orledge wrote that "En habit de cheval offers the best example of Satie integrating Schola teaching with his own composition, and in it he also worked out his own individual concept of orchestration." In performance it lasts about 7 minutes.
The Trois poèmes d'amour is a 1914 song cycle for voice and piano by Erik Satie. It is the only set of mélodies Satie composed to his own texts. In performance it lasts 2–3 minutes.
Trois morceaux en forme de poire is a 1903 suite for piano four hands by French composer Erik Satie. A lyrical compendium of his early music, it is one of Satie's most famous compositions, second in popular recognition only to the Gymnopédies (1888). The score was not published until 1911. In performance it lasts around 14 minutes.
Le Fils des étoiles is an incidental music score composed in December 1891 by Erik Satie to accompany a three-act poetic drama of the same name by Joséphin Péladan. It is a key work of Satie's "Rosicrucian" period (1891–1895) and played a role in his belated "discovery" by the French musical establishment in the 1910s.
The Prélude d'Eginhard is an 1893 composition for solo piano by Erik Satie. It is a notable example of his "Rosicrucian" or "mystic" period. Unpublished during his lifetime, it was issued posthumously in 1929. A typical performance lasts under 3 minutes.
The Trois Mélodies is a 1916 song cycle for voice and piano by Erik Satie. One of Satie's rare excursions in mélodies, it lasts under 4 minutes in performance.
The Fête donnée par des Chevaliers Normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle is an 1892 piano composition by Erik Satie. An example of his Rosicrucian or "mystic" phase, it was published posthumously in 1929. A typical performance lasts about 4 minutes.
Les Pantins dansent(The Puppets are Dancing) is a "poème dansé" for small orchestra or piano composed in 1913 by Erik Satie. It was commissioned for an experimental theatrical event starring Futurist author and dancer Valentine de Saint-Point. Maurice Droeghmans conducted the premiere at the Salle Léon-Poirier in Paris on December 20, 1913.
Salut drapeau!(Hail to the Flag!), also known as Hymne Pour Le "Salut Drapeau", is an incidental music piece composed in November 1891 by Erik Satie for the historical drama Le Prince du Byzance by Joséphin Péladan. One of the more eccentric works of Satie's "Rosicrucian" period (1891–1895), it was the first example of his "static sound décor" approach to theatre music. The score went unperformed in his lifetime and was not published until 1968. Its duration is roughly four minutes.
Chapitres tournés en tous sens(Chapters Turned Every Which Way) is a 1913 piano composition by Erik Satie. One of his "humoristic" keyboard suites of the 1910s, it was published by the firm E. Demets that year. Ricardo Viñes gave the premiere at the Salle Erard in Paris on January 14, 1914. In performance it lasts about 5 minutes.
The Petite ouverture à danser(Little Overture to a Dance) is a piece for solo piano composed around 1897 by Erik Satie. Unknown for many years, it is one of the more popular works to emerge from his posthumous manuscripts. A performance lasts under 3 minutes.
Verset laïque et somptueux(Secular and Sumptuous Verse) is a pièce d'occasion for piano composed in 1900 by Erik Satie. With it he bid an ironic farewell to the style of his "Rosicrucian" or "mystic" period, which he ultimately dismissed as "musique à genoux". It was written for an ephemeral publication and never performed in Satie's lifetime.
Le Bœuf Angora(The Angora Ox) is an unfinished tone poem composed around 1901 by Erik Satie. Based on a tale by Lord Cheminot, it was his first attempt at writing for large orchestra. The original score has never been published, though Satie reused a portion of it as the Redite movement of his Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903). Today the existing work can be heard in a reconstruction for solo piano. In performance it lasts about 8 minutes.
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