Sunday, May 13, 2012

GYMNOPEDIE #1 ERIK SATIE


In his own words...

A true musician "grows in wisdom...
He is brilliant...
He learns to do without and is prepared to make great sacrifices...
enormous sacrifices... 
if I may say...
His energy is tremendous... 
In other words he is prepared for the struggle...
and with honesty he shall fight it... 
The performance of an Art demands complete self-denial... 
...It was not meant as a joke what I just said...
about sacrifices... 
The Music makes heavy demands upon those who want to devote themselves in it...
This is what I have wanted you to call your attention to... 
A true musician must subordinate himself to his Art; 
...he must place himself above human suffering; 
..he must draw courage from within
...and only from within." 

Erik Satie




Satie is pronounced: “sah-tee” 


“ GYMNOPEDIE” 
is a composed word which Satie derivated 
from two ancient Greek words:

"gymnasion"= school for gymnastics and, by extension, school for boys and girls

"paidos"= child, boy





SATIE QUOTE:  
"I have never written a note I didn't mean." 


SATIE QUOTE:  
"I was tired of being reproached with an ignorance of which I thought I must be guilty, since competent people pointed it out in my works."


SATIE QUOTE:  
“Before I compose a piece, I walk around it several times, accompanied by myself.”



SATIE QUOTE:  
“I came into the world very young, in an age that was very old.”


SATIE QUOTE:  
"My dream is to be played everywhere, not only at the Opera."


Noted for his early 20th century Parisian avant-garde, experimental style; 
eccentric and economical.

Satie was lauded as a forerunner of modern music; 
a precursor to later artistic movements 
such as minimalism, repetitive music, 
and the Theatre of the Absurd.
VIDEO OF GYMNOPEDIE #1 WITH THE ART OF RENE MAGRITTE


Erik Satie by Johanna Goodman
Drawing of Satie by Pablo Picasso


Self portrait by Satie









He was a French composer and pianist.


His mostly short piano works are

spare and unconventional.










He was the quintessential "artist's artist,"

a man who, as one critic wrote,

"had the no-doubt gratifying sensation of seeing

the times catch up with him."

This is the background music to the melody.
SATIE LINKS