I've been listening to the music of Erik Satie. Deeply moving, and besides, how can a woman not find this man interesting? But a man might find his lover, Suzanne Valadon, more interesting I guess. After all, he proposed marriage to Valadon after one night with her, and said about their breakup that he was left with,
nothing but an icy loneliness that fills the head with emptiness and the heart with sadness
You just have to love the melancholy mood of it all.
Anyway, regarding Gymnopédies No 1 and Gnossiennes No 1 (my favourite), what do the titles mean?
Is Gnossiennes a part of Gymnopédies? I'm listening to bits and pieces on YouTube, and am confused as to whether the two are meant to be heard together.
Last question: I was very familiar with Gymnopédies No 1, and I feel pretty sure this was used in an ad in Britain, way back. Am I right? Can someone tell me what it was?
Didn't think I'd ever heard of gnossiennes but the piece on youtube is very familiar and popular
Always thought that gymnopédies meant gymnastic exercises, stretching the body gracefully, which is what the music suggests.Strictly it ought to mean teaching of such movement. But 'Le Petit Robert' (a sort of French equivalent of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) gives neither gnossienes nor gymnopédie.
The gymnopédies are always played as a suite of pieces.
If gnossiennes means anything, the idea may be from French gnose '1)the supreme knowledge and understanding of the mysteries of a religion 2) philosophical eclecticism, claiming to reconcile all religions 3) A supreme philosophy containing all sacred knowledge; [by extension] knowledge par excellence' [ Le Petit Robert]
Getting there slowly ! The Gymnopédies were dances and exercises of young Spartans, in Ancient Greece.
He wrote Gymnopédies in 1887 and these were followed by compositions in the same vein, including Gnossiennes , in the same period of his life. So they were not part of one composition to be played together.
I suppose that you knew that Satie had a Scots mother.
Thanks for what you were able to find out, Fred. I was just wondering why he would have given the pieces those names, and what they meant. Gymnopédies No 1, as I said, sounded awfully familiar, and I felt I'd heard it before on television, as part of an ad or something. No, I didn't know he had a Scots mother, but I sifted through pages of comments on YouTube, most of which were insults by classical music enthusiasts on each other's opinions. These people can get very hot under the collar about such things it seems. However, I did come across one piece of Satie trivia that said he almost never washed with water, but scrubbed himself vigorously with a pumice stone. Sounds Scottish enough to me.
The Scots mother pales into insignificance.The Wikipedia entry for Eric Satie says that he wrote some "canine" music ! Other composers wrote a 'bark- a- roll' (sp? )or two but his was canine.
There is a separate wiki for Gnossiennes. The author(s) say that the name is probably from gnosis but may be from Knossos.
Satie gave some puzzling names to his works. Gymnopédie does however sound like its inspiration. The pieces all suggest the movement of people performing slow exercises or dance.
I think I'm going to have to accept that he was an eccentric, Fred, and just appreciate the music. But yes, your explanation for Gymnopédie does seem to fit. I found this site which offers a little insight into his character: Satie Thanks again.
Originally posted by juanruiz: Pops up on US ads from time to time. Think the last one was a car ad. It's also the close credits music for the film My Dinner with André.
I never saw the movie. But yes, I think maybe I must have heard it in ads here, too.
)or two but his was canine. 