Level 16
Level 16
Zizounai
The music sheets of the Gnossiennes are filled with funny annotations trying to explain how to play them well.
Gnossienne 1: Shining, Questioning, From the tip of the thought, Wonder about yourself, On the tip of the tongue.
Gnossienne 2: Don't leave, With great kindness, More intimately,. Lightly with intimacy, Don't be so proud.
Gnossienne 3: Counsel yourself cautiously, Be clairvoyant, Alone for a second, So as to be a hole, Very lost, Carry this further, Think right, Muffle the sound.
More Classical Music » 
These pieces were composed for the piano. We owe this orchestral version to Claude Debussy himself.
Erik Satie (1866-1925) is praised by historians for helping to provide the pre-war pathway to minimalism in classical music. His piano compositions, most famously the Gymnopédies suite of 1888 and the Gnossiennes suite of 1893, set the tone for experimentation within the next century of composers. These composers traversed new understandings of tonality, space, and emotion, even as academic trends in composition gravitated toward serialism and theory.
Satie was a weird character. Here is an extract of his writings in "Memoirs of an amnesiac":
“I rise at 7:18; am inspired from 10:23 to 11:47. I lunch at 12:11 and leave the table at 12:14. A healthy ride on horse-back round my domain follows from 1:19 pm to 2:53 pm. Another bout of inspiration from 3:12 to 4:07 pm. From 4:27 to 6:47 pm various occupations (fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation, dexterity, natation, etc.)”
“Dinner is served at 7:16 and finished at 7:20 pm. From 8:09 to 9:59 pm symphonic readings (out loud). I go to bed regularly at 10:37 pm. Once a week, I wake up with a start at 3:19 (Tuesdays).”
“I breathe with care (a little at a time). I very rarely dance. When walking, I clasp my sides, and look steadily behind me.”
“My expression is very serious; when I laugh it is unintentional, and I always apologise most affably.”
“I sleep with only one eye closed, very profoundly. My bed is round, with a hole to put my head through. Once every hour a servant takes my temperature and gives me another.”
“I have subscribed for some time to a fashion magazine. I wear a white cap, white stockings, and a white waistcoat.”
“My doctor has always told me to smoke. Part of his advice runs: ‘Smoke away, dear chap; if you don’t someone else will.'”