Gymnopédies
The Gymnopédies (French pronunciation: [ʒim.nɔ.pe.di]), or Trois Gymnopédies, are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. He completed the whole set by 2 April 1888, but they were at first published individually: the first and the third in 1888, the second in 1895.[1]
History
The work's unusual title comes from the French form of gymnopaedia, the ancient Greek word for an annual festival where young men danced naked – or perhaps simply unarmed. The source of the title has been a subject of debate. Satie and his friend Alexis Roland-Manuel maintained that he adopted it after reading Gustave Flaubert's novel Salammbô, while others see a poem by J. P. Contamine de Latour as the source of Satie's inspiration,[1][2] since the first Gymnopédie was published in the magazine La Musique des familles in the summer of 1888 together with an excerpt of Latour's poem Les Antiques, where the term appears.[1][3]
Oblique et coupant l'ombre un torrent éclatant |
Slanting and shadow-cutting a bursting stream |
However, it remains uncertain whether the poem was composed before the music. Satie may have picked up the term from a dictionary such as Dominique Mondo's Dictionnaire de Musique, where gymnopédie is defined as a "nude dance, accompanied by song, which youthful Spartan maidens danced on specific occasions", following a similar definition from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Dictionnaire de Musique.[1]
In November 1888, the third Gymnopédie was published. The second Gymnopédie did not appear until 1895, and its impending publication was announced in several editions of the Chat Noir and Auberge du Clou magazines. As a whole, the three pieces were published in 1898.[1]
Music
These short, atmospheric pieces are written in 3
4 time, with each sharing a common theme and structure.
- Lent et douloureux (D major / D minor)
- Lent et triste (C major)
- Lent et grave (A minor)
The melodies of the pieces use deliberate, but mild, dissonances against the harmony, producing a piquant, melancholy effect that matches the performance instructions, which are to play each piece "painfully" (douloureux), "sadly" (triste), or "gravely" (grave). The first few bars of Gymnopédie No. 1 (shown below) consist of an alternating progression of two major seventh chords, the first on the subdominant, G, and the second on the tonic, D.
Reception
By the end of 1896, Satie's popularity was waning and financial situation deteriorating. Claude Debussy, a friend of Satie's whose popularity was on the rise, helped draw public attention to Satie's work. In February 1897, Debussy orchestrated the third and first Gymnopédies.[a]
Legacy
From the second half of the 20th century on, the Gymnopédies were often erroneously described as part of Satie's body of furniture music, perhaps because of John Cage's interpretation of them.[5] Collectively, the Gymnopédies are regarded as an important precursor to modern ambient music.[6]
The first and second Gymnopédies were arranged by
Notes
- ^ When Debussy published the scores two years later, he reversed the numbering, with Satie's first becoming Debussy's third, and vice versa.
References
- ^ ISBN 9781861896025.
- ISBN 978-0-52135-037-2
- ISBN 978-2-213-60674-3
- ISBN 0191584525, p. 129
- ^ Shlomowitz, Matthew (1999), Cage's Place in the Reception of Satie, archived from the original on 2005-10-26
- ISBN 0-7475-5732-2
- Grammy Award. 28 November 2017.
- ^ "Gary Numan – We Are Glass". Discogs. 1980. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "Someone to Call My Lover by Janet Jackson". WhoSampled.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
- ^ "Man on Wire Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ "The Royal Tenenbaums Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ Another Woman (1988) – Satie's "Gymnopedie No. 1" (aka "Marion's theme"). YouTube. June 17, 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
- ^ My Dinner with Andre (1981) - Soundtracks - IMDb, retrieved 2024-02-07
- ^ "Lantis web site" 映画『涼宮ハルヒの消失』オリジナルサウンドトラック [Film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Original Soundtrack] (in Japanese). Lantis. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
- ^ Leder's Gymnopedie – Mother 3. YouTube. October 11, 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
- ^ "Fleur de Paris". Prestoclassical.co.uk. EMI Classics.
- ^ "Jack DeJohnette – Return". Newvelle Records. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
- ^ "Round Revue – Fenella Humphreys – Music for Violin". Round Revue. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ 2018-09-07T10:21:00+01:00. "Ray Chen: The Golden Age". The Strad. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
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External links
- Gymnopédies: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Free sheet music of 3 Gymnopédies from Cantorion.org
- Public Domain sheet music of the Gymnopédies, Mutopia Project