Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Regarding Greek Antiquity Otfried Müller was esteemed as one of the major authorities for many decades continuing after his accidental death in 1840. Otfried Müller wrote most of his works in German, which was in low esteem in late 19th century France, and hardly understood by anyone in Paris. Surely not by Satie, who was a notable Sauerkraut adversary, where Sauerkraut meant anything German. Fortunately there were translations and divulgations of what Müller and other researchers of Ancient Greece had uncovered since late 18th centu ...

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Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century

Satie's Gymnopédies are gentle yet complex and irregular pieces of music, which deliberately flout many common practices in classical and even contemporary music; rhythms shift out of phase, phrases terminate mid-flow and key signatures shift much more commonly than usual. Its cheekiness in avoiding musical conventions however is barely noticeable since the music is strongly guided by its poignant emotional load, and the average listener comes away remembering them for their narrative beauty and elega ...

See also:

Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - The music

The Gymnopédies are an evergreen for use as background music in, for instance, film. Several pages could be filled with new versions and orchestrations used in such context. In popular music the Gymnopédies music has been used, for instance, by: the avant-garde band Blood, Sweat and Tears (two tracks named "Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie" on Blood, Sweat & Tears, their second album); the brothers John and Steve Hackett, the former guitarist for Genesis (Sketches of Satie)See also:

Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - Modern versions

The Gymnopédies are an evergreen for use as background music in, for instance, film. Several pages could be filled with new versions and orchestrations used in such context. In popular music the Gymnopédies music has been used, for instance, by: the avant-garde band Blood, Sweat and Tears (two tracks named "Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie" in "Blood, Sweat & Tears", their second album); the brothers John and Steve Hackett, the former guitarist for Genesis ("Sketches of Sat ...

See also:

Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - Modern versions

The Gymnopédies are ethereal, atmospheric pieces regarded as precursors to modern ambient music; in fact, Brian Eno, the pioneering figure of ambient music, has cited Satie as a prime influence. Satie himself used the term "furniture music" to refer to some of his pieces, implying that they could be used as mood-setting background music. However, Satie himself only started to use the term furniture music for some of his 20th century compositions: Satie would never designate the Gymnopédies as furniture music. From the second ...

See also:

Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - The music

Contamine's poetry inspired Erik Satie to the first compositions with which he tried to cut himself loose from the conventional 19th century "salon music" environment of his father and stepmother. E.g. in September 1887 Satie composed three "sarabands" (Trois Sarabandes), taking a quote from Contamine's La Perdition by way of introduction. A remarkable feat is that Satie, apparently, used the word "gymnopédiste" (gymnopedist), before having written a ...

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Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist

In the late 1880s Patrice Contamine (1867–1926), at that time better known as J.P. Contamine de Latour (one of his many pseudonyms) wrote Les Antiques ("The Ancient"), a poem containing these lines: Oblique et coupant l'ombre un torrent éclatant Ruisselait en flots d'or sur la dalle polie Où les atomes d'ambre au feu se miroitant Mêlaient leur sarabande à la gymnopédie Slanting and shadow-cutting a flickering eddy T ...

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Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry

By the end of 1896 Satie's popularity and financial situation was at an all time low. Claude Debussy, whose popularity was rising at the time, decided on an effort to draw more public attention to the work of his thentime friend. According to Debussy, the 2nd gymnopédie did not lend itself to orchestration, so he only orchestrated the 3rd and the 1st, reversing the numbering: First gymnopédie (original piano setting by Satie) → 3rd gymnopédie (orchestration by Debussy) Third gymnopédie (original piano setting by Satie) → See also:

Gymnopédie, Gymnopédie - Contamine de Latour poetry, Gymnopédie - Perceptions of Antiquity in the 19th century, Gymnopédie - Satie gymnopedist, Gymnopédie - The music, Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations, Gymnopédie - Modern versions, Gymnopédie - Notes and References

Read more here: » Gymnopédie: Encyclopedia II - Gymnopédie - Debussy orchestrations