Gymnopédie No.1 (Première Gymnopédie) is the first and most famous in a series of three pieces written by the French composer Eric Satie, entitled Gymnopédies. The first two were in 1888 whilst Satie was working as a pianist in a café in Paris. The harmony of the Gymnopédie No.1, as in fact of all three Gymnopédies is ahead of its time. Satie eschews traditional functional harmony, for colour and texture, much like an impressionist painter of the same era would use these on his canvas. All three Gymnopédies have very similar themes, in fact they are very similar pieces, as Satie intended to show the same idea from three different viewpoints.