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The eccentric Eric Satie, French composer and pianist, began his
short but interesting life in 1866 in Honfleur, near Normandy. Showing
an early musical curiosity, Satie was playing piano by the age of
seven, and writing music by twelve. Along with adolescence came a move
to Paris to establish his own unique musical taste comprised of bold
harmonies and freedom of form, thus distinguishing Satie as a man ahead
of his time. He quickly became known for his eccentricities both in his
personal life and musical explorations, prompting many people to
outwardly question his ability to please the general public. However,
Satie did not set out to please anyone, of any age or status, and
satisfying the public's desires was never a concern for him.
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Although Satie did not produce music for the common people, he
became very popular with composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel,
who were extremely impressed with his new and fresh musical ideas.
Furthermore they tried endlessly to promote his work, but to no avail.
While struggling as a poor café pianist in Montmartre, Satie composed a
number of pieces, most notably Gymnopédies 1, 2, 3 (1888) and Six Gnosssiennes
(1889-93). After these well-received pieces, Satie produced a number of
creations, but none received the audiences that these did. It was after
the success of Six Gnossiennes, that Satie was involved with
model, painter and trapeze artiste, Suzanne Valadon, in the only
relationship he ever experienced.
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The majority of Satie's compositions are comprised of three pieces
with each piece representing three different viewpoints of a single
musical concept. The cubist painters employed a similar approach in
their art. Consequently, after World War I, Satie collaborated with
Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, leaders of the Cubist Movement, to
produce a ballet, Parade (1917). This resulted in scandal,
propelling Satie into fame and ultimately labelling him as a mastermind
of the Neoclassicism movement. It is important to realise that however
eccentric and erratic, Eric Satie was an industry pioneer of many
important trends of 20th Century compositions, including, but not being limited to bitonality, polytonality, Jazz and non-triadic harmony.
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