Erik Satie (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Erik Satie Keith Clifton Erik Satie. By Mary E. Davis. (Critical Lives Series.) London: Reaktion Books, 2007. [176 p. ISBN-10 1861893213; ISBN-13 978-1-86189-321 5. $16.95.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, discography. Erik Satie has often been recognized more for succinct, jocular compositions that parody Debussian impressionism than for his seminal role in the development of French modernism. With the 1988 publication of Satie's correspondence by Ornella Volta (Satie Seen Through his Letters, translated by Michael Bullock [London: Boyars, 1989]), as well as later major studies by Alan M. Gillmor (Erik Satie [New York: Norton, 1992]), Robert Orledge (Satie the Composer [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990]), and Steven Moore Whiting (Satie the Bohemian [Oxford: Claren don Press, 1998]), his status has grown considerably in recent years. Davis continues this trend with her entry in Reaktion Books' Critical Lives series, a group of concise volumes devoted to modernist icons including Foucault, Kafka, Picasso, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Erik Satie is the first to feature a composer. Like Gillmor, Davis favors a chronological approach. The introductory chapter explores Satie's position as an antidote to the complexity of post-World War II composers such as Boulez. She also identifies ways that Satie frequently changed his public image to "project a variety of carefully cultivated public personas" (p. 12). The links between Satie's appearance and his artistic work is a common theme throughout the book, which is hardly surprising given that much of Davis's recent work has focused on the underappreciated relationship between French music and fashion. The opening chapters focus on Satie's early years in Honfleur, his brief and tumultuous studies at the Paris Conservatoire, and his first compositions, including the Trois sarabandes. According to Davis, these works provided a "new conception of large-scale form" (p. 26) that could be construed as uniquely French. The Sarabandes also foreshadowed important directions in French music through their use of motivic cells as opposed to traditional thematic development. Such cells are clearly evident in the music of Poulenc, Stravinsky, and others, and these connections merit closer scrutiny beyond Davis's brief comments. The bulk of the second chapter is devoted to Satie's association with the Chat Noir, including ways that his clothing reflected a new role as Bohemian artist. It was during this period that he composed his most famous work, the Trois gymnopédies . Although these pieces have been amply covered in the Satie literature, Davis suggests origins beyond a simple evocation of ancient Greek athletic festivals. She notes that allusions to the title appear in several French reference sources of the period and that the music conflates Chat Noir cabaret music with styles typical of the French salon. These familiar miniatures thus emerge as potent examples of what Davis earlier calls the "mingling of high art and vernacular culture that was central to Satie's sound—and to the history of modernist art" (p. 8). The chapter concludes with a summary of Satie's complex relationship with Debussy, including his orchestral arrangement of the Gymnopédies. In addition to its position as a "milestone in Satie's career" (p. 35), the Gymnopédies represent Debussy's only orchestration of another composer's music. Satie's relocation to Montmartre in the early 1890s corresponded with his growing awareness of diverse artistic and spiritual movements ranging from the Spanish modernismo movement to the short-lived Rosicrucian sect of Sâr Joséphin Péladan. Davis notes that Satie's association with Péladan emanated from meetings at Montmartre cabarets, and that after breaking with the sect he fully intended to create his own branch. She provides brief stylistic commentary on selected works from this period, including the enigmatic Sonneries de la rose + Crois and the Prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel. The composer's turbulent affair with artist Suzanne Valadon—his only known romantic relationship—is posited as the inspiration for the enigmatic piano work Vexations. Davis views Vexations as a symbol of Satie's failed relationship with Valadon, although the specific connections are not explored in detail. The period from 1895 until 1910 is one of the most...