Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert HallErik Satie (1866-1925) came of age in the bohemian subculture of Montmartre, with its artists' cabarets and cafés-concerts. Yet apologists have all too often downplayed this background as potentially harmful to the reputation of a composer whom they regarded as the progenitor of modern French music. Whiting argues, on the contrary, that Satie's two decades in and around Montmartre decisively shaped his aesthetic priorities and compositional strategies. He gives the fullest account to date of Satie's professional activities as a popular musician, and of how he transferred the parodic techniques and musical idioms of cabaret entertainment to works for concert hall. From the esoteric Gymnopédies to the bizarre suites of the 1910s and avant-garde ballets of the 1920s (not to mention music journalism and playwriting), Satie's output may be daunting in its sheer diversity and heterodoxy; but his radical transvaluation of received artistic values makes far better sense once placed in the fascinating context of bohemian Montmartre. |
Contents
Introduction | 61 |
Waltz Cakewalk Theatre Song | 269 |
Introduction | 345 |
From Chanson to Mélodie and Back | 417 |
The Composer as Playwright | 442 |
Autour de Cocteau or the Uses of Popular Music | 461 |
Saties Last Ballets | 511 |
Bibliography | 563 |
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Common terms and phrases
accompaniment Alphonse Allais artistic autograph ballet bars bohemian Bonnaud C'est cabaret café café-concert cakewalk Caradec chansonniers chansons Chat Noir chords chromatic Claude Debussy Cocteau collaboration composition concert Contamine de Latour copy dance Danse Darty Debussy draft Écrits Émile Erik Satie Féraudy Figaro France Francis Picabia Fursy Goudeau Gymnopédies harmonic humoristic ibid Jean Jules Le Chat Noir Le Figaro letter March Maurice Maurice Ravel Méduse melody Monsieur Montmartre morceaux motif music-hall musicale musician musique notebook orchestral Orledge Ornella Ornella Volta Parade Paris Parisian parody Paulette Darty Péladan performance Petit phrase piano Picabia Picasso piece play poem poet popular Pousse l'amour Prélude première programme published Quat'z-Arts Quoted Ravel refrain Relâche Revue Roland-Manuel Rusiñol Salabert Salis Salon Sâr Satie Seen Satie the Composer Satie wrote Satie's score sketches soirée song stage style Théâtre Tinchant tion Trois tune Uspud valse Vincent Hyspa vocal waltz