Erik Satie: The First Modern - The Diigo Meta page

• 04 Dec 13
  

  Gia Ta
  • Harmonic innovations of the French impressionists included   the consistent and deliberate use of parallel fifths, fourths, sevenths, ninths,   unresolved sevenths and ninths (color chords), quartal chords, polychords, polytonality,   and planing. Tonal innovations included the use of retrogressions that suspended   key and tonic, modes, "exotic" scales, and tritone relations.
• 29 Jul 13
  

  Amir Mualem

  • The Parisian "impressionists" were among the first modern composers;   they siezed on the artistic, painterly style of the same name that preceded   them, and tried to develop a national style of music that imitated the newer,   successful work of French national painters, such as Monet and Renoir. All of   the important composers were active and living in Paris -- Erik Satie (1866-1925),   Claude Debussy (1862-1918), and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Together they invented   a new harmonic/tonal vocabulary for music that tried to emulate the "blurred   images" of French impressionist art and diverged from the Germanic, Wagnerian   style of music they believed had become entrenched and thwarted a unique French   identity.

     
• 21 Aug 06
  

  Joel Liu

  music

• 08 Aug 06
  

  Phil

  music

  • The Parisian "impressionists" were among the first modern composers;   they siezed on the artistic, painterly style of the same name that preceded   them, and tried to develop a national style of music that imitated the newer,   successful work of French national painters, such as Monet and Renoir. All of   the important composers were active and living in Paris -- Erik Satie (1866-1925),   Claude Debussy (1862-1918), and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Together they invented   a new harmonic/tonal vocabulary for music that tried to emulate the "blurred   images" of French impressionist art and diverged from the Germanic, Wagnerian   style of music they believed had become entrenched and thwarted a unique French   identity
  • Satie's innovations came from his long interest in and study of Medieval French   music that included plainchant and parallel organum. He contemplated for long   hours in the gloom of Notre Dame and studied chant and Gothic art in the Paris   Bibliothecque Nationale. He also took an active interest in various quasi-religious,   mystical ideas, such as Rosicrucianism. Satie's musical aesthetic is antithetical   to Wagnerian emotional indulgence. Instead we find the other-worldly, unemotional   detachment of Gregorian chant and medieval esceticism. In Ogives   of 1886, Satie imitated Gregorian monophony and the use of parallel planed chords.   Monophony and monody in Satie's music became quite common, even in later works,   such as Descriptions Automatiques (1913).

  • In summary, Satie deserves the credit for being the true "father of modern   music". A list of his musical innovations (with examples) that were to   have profound consequences for modern music includes:

     
     
    • objective, detached,   unemotional musical aesthetic, Sarabandes, 1887
     
    • non-Wagnerian aesthetic, Sarabandes,   1887
     
    • furniture music (pre-Muzak): musique d'ameublement,   1920
     
    • minimalism (proto-minimalism): Vexations,   1883
     
    • unbarred, unmeasured, ametric music (unused   since the Renaissance), Le Fils des Etoiles, 1891
     
    • quartal chords: Le Fils des Etoiles, 1891
     
    • planing of sevenths, ninths, tritones, as   well as fourths and fifths
     
    • unresolved chords of sevenths and ninths:   Sarabandes, 1887, Gymnopedies, 1888
     
    • retrogressions used to nullify key
     
    • atonality, Le Fils des Etoiles, 1891
     
    • use of modes and "synthetic" scales,   Gnossienes, 1890
     
    • unresolved melodic tritones, Le   Fils des Etoiles, 1891
     
    • polychords, Le Fils des Etoiles, 1891
     
    • proto-polytonality, Le Fils des Etoiles,   1891
     
    • monophony and monody, Le Fils des Etoiles,   1891
     
    • embracing of popular styles and cabaret music,   3 Morceaux en Form de Poire, 1903.
  • 
      Satie: Prelude de La porte héroïque   du ciel

  • Other Satie innovations include minimalism and furniture music. Musique   d'ameublement comprises a group of several pieces written about   1920. It is a precursor of Muzak, music that is meant to be ignored, i.e., background   music. In a conversation with Fernand Leger, Satie commented:

     

     

    You know, there's a need to create furniture music;   that is to say, music that would be a part of the surrounding noises and that   would take them into account. I see it as melodious, as masking the clatter   of knives and forks without drowning it completely, without imposing itself.   It would spare them the usual banalities. Moreover, it would neutralize the   street noises that indiscreetly force themselves into the picture.[6]

     

     

    During the first performance of musique d'ameublement   the audience sat silently, listening intently, but Satie became irritated, got   up and admonished the audience with "No, no! Talk, walk around, pay no   attention, don't listen."

  3 more annotations...

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.