Erik Satie

Gymnopédie No. 1

The music world became aware of Erik Satie (1866-1925) with a bang: when his ballet 'Parade' was premiered on May 18, 1817, it caused a scandal. The production, which also involved Sergei Djagilew with his 'Ballets Russes', Pablo Picasso (set and costumes), Jean Cocteau (plot) and Léonide Massine (choreography), divided the Parisian music world, but made the composer widely known. Satie, who had had little sound musical training and lived in Paris for most of his life, developed a new musical style, in deliberate departure from the 'Wagnerianism' of his day. Classical formal models, new harmonies, lightness of style, the meditative and the clownish merged in an original way. His '3 Gymnopédies' of 1888, the first of which has been arranged here for a solo instrument with piano accompaniment, have become a prime example of this: The playing of this most famous miniature by Satie is thus made possible also for non-pianists - the easy playability allows the use also for pedagogical purposes.