Full Description
Erik Satie remains one of the most bizarre figures in music history, yet everything he did has its own curious logic, once it can be perceived. In this important new study Dr Orledge reveals what made Satie 'tick' as a composer, dealing with every aspect of Satie's complex career and relating his achievement to the other arts and to the society in which he lived. Almost every figure in contemporary art was involved with Satie in some way or another, from Matisse and Picasso to Apollinaire, Cocteau and Brancusi. This, however, is no mere life-and-works study but rather an exploration of the technique behind Satie's art, which foreshadowed most of the 'advances' of twentieth-century music from serialism to minimalism, and even muzak. As the book progresses Satie appears as far more than just the composer of the popular Gymnopédies and Parade.
Contents
List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Chronology; Some descriptions of Satie; 1. Satie's career as a composer: some interpretations; 2. Why and where Satie composed; 3. Parody, pastiche, quotation and the question of influence; 4. Satie and Debussy; 5. Satie's compositional aesthetic; 6. Satie, counterpoint and the Schola Cantorum; 7. Orchestration versus instrumentation; 8. Questions of form, logic and the mirror image; 9. Compositional systems and other sources of inspiration; 10. Composition and the other arts; 11. Satie on other composers; 12. Satie and the wider world; Appendix: chronological catalogue of Satie's compositions; Notes; Select bibliography; Index of Satie's works; General index.
