Tag Archives: avant-garde

Arachnophonia: Erik Satie

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Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student assistant Ryan (class of 2022) and features a collection of works by French composer Erik Satie. Thanks, Ryan!

Erik Satie (b. 1866 – d. 1925)

Parade ; Trois gymnopédies ; Mercure ; Trois gnossiennes ; Relâche

Satie - Parade ; Trois gymnopédies ; Mercure ; Trois gnossiennes ; Relâche

Erik Satie has long been one of my favorite composers for his ability to blend together subtlety and expressiveness to create an ambiance unlike any other artist. In his day, Satie struggled greatly to find support for his music, but his friendship with composer Claude Debussy proved valuable when Debussy offered to orchestrate two of Satie’s three “Gymnopédies”. Among Satie’s earlier works, Debussy saw great potential in “Trois Gymnopédies” and his orchestrations are still performed today, although Debussy disliked the second of the three and never orchestrated it. In this CD recording by the New London Orchestra, conductor Ronald Corp attempts to elucidate the same subtleties Debussy loved so much in Satie’s work with his orchestrations of Gymnopédie no. 2 as well as “Trois Gnossiennes”. This CD also features recordings of some of Satie’s ballets: Parade, Mercure, and Relâche. Each was met with mixed reviews at their debuts, but are now considered to be some of his finest works.

Erik Satie

Erik Satie in 1920

I love to listen to Satie, especially the Gymnopédies, while I read or do work. Music historians often credit Satie as being one of the precursors to modern “ambient music”, and it’s easy to see why. Satie’s music lends itself equally well to thoughtful listening as it does to background enjoyment. If you’re looking for a CD to help you relax after a long week or accompany a good book, I highly recommend the New London Orchestra’s collection of recordings.

This ain’t your grandma’s ballet.

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Editor’s Note: The following contribution is a guest post by UR undergraduate James Fong, who is a Student Assistant working at Parsons Music Library. Thanks, James, for the insights on the in-famous work of Igor Stravinksy!

Ever see a ballet that made you want to riot? If that sounds strange, that’s because it is. The brainchild of composer Igor Stravinsky and impresario Sergei Diaghilev, The Rite of Spring caused its audience members to do just that.

Prior to May 29, 1913, ballet was a rather docile thing. From its first beginnings in Renaissance Italy as a courtly activity for the aristocracy, to its transformation as a formalized discipline involving grace and technique by the late 19th century, ballet was fairly content with itself.
There would be an added creative wrinkle here or there (poses, costumes, etc.), but its fashionability in the day gave it no reason to revolutionize itself.
Then May 29, 1913 happened.

“The theater resembled a prison yard: shouting, howling whistling, slapping, punching.”

“A beautifully dressed lady in an orchestra box stood up and slapped the face of a young man who was hissing in the next box. Her escort arose, and cards were exchanged between the men. A duel followed next day.”

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Sacre du Printemps – London Philharmonic Orchestra

“Exactly what I wanted.” – Diaghilev

That is only a microcosm of the reception of a ballet centered around the creative forces of Spring. That and a sacrificial virgin dancing herself to death to appease the god of that very season.

Set in pagan Russia, The Rite was, for all intents and purposes, an uncontrolled experiment in music and dance. Musically, Stravinsky pushed the limits of meter, tonality, and dissonance, which must have caused quite some discomfort for an audience raised on formal music from the glory days of the Common Practice Period. Meanwhile, Nijinsky’s choreography blew the doors off of anything that had preceded it. Angular, violent, and downright convulsive, it was as much a powder keg as the score. So much so that Nijinsky’s choreography was scrapped from 1920 until its resurrection by the Joffrey Ballet in Los Angeles in 1987.

Despite its beginnings in obscurity (at best), or disaster (at worst), The Rite – particularly the score – has since emerged as an enormous commercial and artistic success, lending credibility to the Russian ballet scene, even being featured in Walt Disney’s color trick film, Fantasia. That being said…
Read up on the mayhem, witness the performances, and explore Stravinsky’s other (equally chaotic) works at Parsons Music Library, located on the second floor of Booker Hall. We hope you’ll be better behaved than the original audience.

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