Great Composers Codexery

Erik Satie

Alistair McGowan's long-standing passion for Erik Satie led to a BBC Radio 4 play and a stage show.

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Erik Satie

via Wikipedia: Alistair McGowan · see source

Erik Alfred Leslie Satie, the first child of Alfred Satie and Jane Leslie, was born on 17 May 1866 in Honfleur, Normandy.[1] Satie's life ended at Hôpital Saint-Joseph in Paris due to cirrhosis of the liver, with his death occurring at 8:00 p.m. on 1 July at age 59.[2]

Life and work

Satie studied at the Paris Conservatoire but was expelled in 1882 for unsatisfactory performance.[3][4] He volunteered for military service in 1886 but deliberately contracted bronchitis to leave the army.[5] In Montmartre, Satie worked as a pianist at the Chat Noir cabaret and later at the Auberge du Clou.[6] Satie had a five-month love affair with painter Suzanne Valadon in 1893.[7]

He moved to Arcueil-Cachan in 1898 and lived there for the rest of his life.[8] Satie enrolled at the Schola Cantorum in 1905 to improve his technique, studying counterpoint with Albert Roussel.[9] Maurice Ravel played early Satie works at a 1911 concert, bringing Satie to public notice.[10] Satie composed the ballet Parade in 1917 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with sets by Pablo Picasso.[3]

He was a heavy drinker throughout his adult life.[2]

What the cited sources add

Orledge also states that Satie was financially incompetent.[11] A 2024 study by Meunier reports that Satie's acquaintance with chansonnier Vincent Hyspa profoundly influenced the composer's satirical production.[12] Constant Lambert's 1934 study describes Satie's music as abstract and lacking any romanticism or pictorialism.[13] Lambert also states that Satie's post-war music has a sincerity and easiness lacking in many contemporaries.[13]

According to a Gresham College lecture, Satie showed no interest in contemporary technological advances such as recording devices, the telephone, or radio.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rey, p. 11: "Erik Alfred Leslie Satie est né le 17 mai 1866 à Honfleur (Normandie) d'une mère anglaise et protestante, d'un père catholique, courtier maritime" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gillmor, p. 258; Gillmor, p. 259 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Orledge, Robert, revised by Caroline Potter. Satie, Erik (Eric) (Alfred Leslie)" , Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2020. Retrieved 16 September 202 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Orledge, Robert, revised by Caroline Potter. Satie, Erik (Eric) (Alfred Leslie)" , Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2020. Retrieved 16 September 202; Gillmor, p. xix (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gillmor, p. 12; Templier, pp. 10–11; Orledge, Robert, revised by Caroline Potter. Satie, Erik (Eric) (Alfred Leslie)" , Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2020. Retrieved 16 September 202; Templier, p. 11 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Whiting, p. 172; Rey, p. 33; Orledge, Robert, revised by Caroline Potter. Satie, Erik (Eric) (Alfred Leslie)" , Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2020. Retrieved 16 September 202; Gillmor, pp. 76–77; Rey, p. 17 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rosinsky, p. 49; Orledge, p. 157 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gillmor, pp. 112–113 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Orledge, Robert, revised by Caroline Potter. Satie, Erik (Eric) (Alfred Leslie)" , Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2020. Retrieved 16 September 202; Rey, p. 61; "Schola Cantorum" , The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, Oxford University Press, 2011.; Orledge, pp. 86 and 95 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Erik Satie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kelly, Barbara L. "Ravel, Maurice", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 September 2021; Orledge, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Orledge, Robert. "Erik Satie: His music, the vision, his legacy" , Gresham College, 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021. facts only, no text reused. gresham.ac.uk
  12. Meunier, "1899. Satie et la chanson de cabaret à Montmartre", Nouvelle histoire de la musique en France (1870-1950), 18 December 2024. facts only, no text reused. emf.oicrm.org
  13. Constant Lambert. Music Ho! A Study of Music in Decline (1934), pp. 123-140. facts only, no text reused. gutenberg.ca

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Erik Satie (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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