Modernism in Music and Erik Satie's Parade Author(s): Susan Calkins Reviewed work(s): Source: International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Vol. 41, No. 1 (JUNE 2010), pp. 3-19 Published by: Croatian Musicological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27822860 . Accessed: 14/02/2012 12:57Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

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S. Calkins:

Modernism and Erik Satie's

inMusic Parade

IRASM 41 (2010)1:3-19

Susan

Calkins

Schools Wayland 44 Oakvale Road U.SA. E-mail:

MA 01701, FRAMINGHAM,scalkins@rcn.com

Modernism Erik Satie's

in Music Parade

and

UDC: 78.01:7.036(4)"19/20" SATIE, E. Original Scientific Paper Izvorniznanstveni rad Received: July 16, 2009 Primljeno: 16. srpnja 2009. Accepted: November 11, 2009 Prihvaceno: 11. studenoga 2009.

Introduction curious and provocative work of performance art described by it creators as a one-act was 'ballet r?aliste' was premiered in Paris in 1917. It conceived after Sergei Diaghilev, the renowned artistic director for the Ballets Russes, had commis sioned Jean Cocteau, a popular avant-garde poet and caricaturist, towrite the scenario. While Parade was based on Cocteau's scenario, the final production was the result of a truly collaborative artistic endeavor. Cocteau's associations with themost fash ionable Parisian cultural circles allowed him to assemble an inordinately colorful group of artists to assist in the realization of his ballet. The Parade col laboration included some of the most unique and stylish individuals drawn from a rich pool of avant garde artists living and working in Paris at the time: the stage sets and costumes were designed by Pablo the dance was Picasso; performed by Sergei itinerant troupe, the Ballets Russes; Diaghliev's one of the company's dancers, was L?onide Massine, Parade, a

Abstract R?sum? This article discusses Erik Satie's musical score forJean Cocteau's 1917 ballet Parade and itsconnection with 20th century aesthetic movements such as Modernism, surrealism, and cubism. Itexamines how Satie's work on themusic for Parade was influenced by his collaboration with other artists and by the existing social and political circumstances of his day. The article offers clarifica tion on many of the descriptive aesthetic terms that have surfaced indiscussions of Satie's music forParade by examining the responses of various critics and music ana lysts that have appeared since its 1917 premiere. Italso discus ses the avant-garde aesthetic movements associated with Parade and how theymay have influenced the art of musical composition throughout the 20th century. Keywords: Avant-garde Modernism Surreal ism Cubism Collabora tive Creation

3

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S' Music Modernism in ^lk!n|: and ErikSatie s Parade

hired as choreographer; and after Igor Stravinsky had turned down the commis chose an eccentric middle-aged sion for the musical score, Cocteau composer named Erik Satie. The Ballets Russes was established in Paris in 1909 and had attracted a great deal of attention for its innovative avant-gardeCertainly there has never been a more

performances.marriage of movement, music, and

most backward society in Europe [at the time] and design...Coming fromRussia, the most traditionalof art forms,theBallets Russes nonetheless man ballet, the performing modernism.1 aged to do more than any other single institution topopularize artistic

spectacular

formances contributed greatly to the development of audiences and general pub lic interest inmodern performance art in the early twentieth century. As the centennial of Parade's premiere approaches (and that of the Ballets it is a good time to reflect on the significance and legacy Russes has just passed), of the work. Ballets Russes productions were generally characterized by their as a medium for avant-garde aesthetics in stylistic innovation and they served of avant-gard art. The impact that Parade had on the development performance Its unique creative thrust certainly ism can be examined frommany perspectives. demonstrated a daring and radical departure from traditional ballet performance, was firstperformed. But it is the and it attracted a great deal of attention when it a century and that appears on concert music for the ballet that has endured nearly programs throughout theworld today. For this reason, it is an appropriate time to that influenced the examine themeaning and impact of the aesthetic movements music for Parade as well throughout developed as its relationship to trends inmusical the twentieth century. composition that

company offered a rich venue for contemporary performance art and its steady commissions of new works were known to have spawned creative the Ballets Russes per innovation in a variety of artistic mediums. Additionally, The dance

High

Fashion

and Performance

Art

Parade's radical stylistic character followed quite closely some of the aesthetic trends evident in the Parisian high-fashion industry at the time: With the arrival of the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1909, the connection ofmusic and fashionwas given especially compelling expression. The troupe's intense popularity1 Mark Ballets Russes, Festival Celebrates FEENEY, Russian Revelry: A Weeklong The Boston Globe, G Magazine, May 15, 2009,19. the 100th Anniversary of the

4

S. Calkins:

Modernism and Erik Satie's

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I M 41 (2010)1:3-19 RASto ignore, and the followed each saison ground in reporting dramatic contact.2

and far-reaching influence made its performances impossible publishers of both music journals and fashionmagazines avidly russe from 1909 forward.. .criticsfromboth fields found common on this group, since itbrought music and fashion into direct and

artists consciously applied basic principles of clarity, simplicity, and purity in the a towards the work. The artists seemed to possess overall aesthetic approach collective discontent with the rigid self-importance of the European arts establish ment and rejected the notions of the artist-as-genius. They also tended to dismiss on formal arts education as an perceived importance thathad been placed accepted to becoming a skillful artist. They proceeded in their endeavor step perquisite with the attitude of creatively defiant comrades who openly shunned tradition and protocol. Cocteau was adept at defending his artistic entourage and their aesthetic a was principles. Yet, he could also attract and hold the attention of public that for provocative and risqu? affronts on the cultural conservatism that had hungry dominated the performing arts for so many years. Interviews with Cocteau and as well as articles written by them, were regularly featured in the most Satie, such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, and stylish and contemporary Parisian publications soon after its premiere, Cocteau the Parade collaboration and L'?lan. During offered his admiration innovative techniques modern simplicity. He of Satie's compositional the composer's style, applauding and his ability to articulate musical ideas with a tangible touted Satie's score for Parade as an example of ?clear and natural orchestration...'purest within the rhythms,' and 'frankest melodies'?3 of French fashion magazines that, at the same time, featured themost sty pages lish and modern examples of haute couture.

stir amongst journalists and The premiere of Parade caused a considerable to the work was controversial and divided. The piece not only critics. Response it pushed the technical and creative limits and abilities of challenged audiences; was Jean Cocteau's first scenario for a ballet, Satie's first its collaborating artists: it first commis orchestral score, Picasso's debut into theater design, and Massine's sion as a choreographer. Following Cocteau's original concept for the scenario, the

Modernist The ballet

Collaboration scenario was It portrayedClassic

outskirts of Paris.2 Mary 3 E. DAVIS,

set in a Parisian mansion and a fairground on the a circus of performers and an array of un paradeFashion and Modernism, University of California Press, 2006,

Chic: Music

15.

Ibid., 146.

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IRASM41 (2010)1:3-19

S. Calkins: Modernism and Erik Satie's Parade

inMusic

likely attendees, including a Chinese conjuror, acrobats, and modern audience such as a corporate manager and a young American girl. With Satie's members, and rhythms, Picasso's bizarre collage of inanimate melodies jazzy, fragmented objects, and Massin?'s choreography (stiffand awkward dance movements necessi tated by Picasso's restrictive and bulky costumes) the odd and dreamlike scenario came to life. Parade was the final piece on a program of other works (that were

creative works such as Parade have been able to achieve public Avant-garde on the basis of their sheer as Daniel Albright noted, acceptance originality. ButThe great Modernist collaborations all which survive seemed as so fragments...What dispensable is Parade to Satie and today?

event that relatively more accessible to the audience), a provocative mixed-media sense of tradi its ballet-going audiences by openly abandoning any challenged tional beauty or grace in its setting ofmusic and dance.

Picasso's sketches belong to the world of Picasso studies; Satie's score is an artifactofmusicology; nated Cocteau's

has been fullydispensed with...it was frombeginning to end, an exercise in coordiincongruity.4

scenario,

Picasso,

And while it could appear thatAlbright has dismissed Satie's score by calling it an ?artifact ofmusicology,? themusic for Parade has survived in both versions, the original score for two-pianos and the full orchestral score, fornearly a century as a regularly performed work. The Ballet has frequently been associated with certain twentieth century aes these terms have thetic movements?modernism, surrealism, and cubism?and liberally in discussions of Satie's music for Parade. But while they might fittingly apply to the visual arts, these terms tend to become obscured when arts. In fact, many aesthetic isms used to in relation to the musical employed describe the qualities of art, become fluid and enigmatic when applied tomusic. been employed By examining the life and art of Eric Satie, and in particular, his collaborative creation during the creation of Parade, the author seeks to illuminate themeaning as they of these aesthetic movements apply tomusical composition.

Satie's

Life and Music

Erik Satie endured a childhood wrought with disappointment and isolation, marked by the loss of his mother and the traumatic disruptions that profoundly resulted from her absence. Satie's music education began with his stepmother, a4 Daniel sity of Chicago the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and otherArts, Univer

ALBRIGHT, Press,

Untwisting 2000,185.

6 I

S. Calkins:Modernism in Music and Enk Satie s Parade

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iras m 41 (2010) ' 1: 3-19 x

de Paris. But, in letters to his pianist who later enrolled him in the Conservatoire brother, the young Satie expressed anger and hatred towards his stepmother and he endured throughout his her music. And he attributed the terrible unhappiness to his stepmother. Erik suffered frequent reprimands studies at the Conservatoire in his musical studies. from his teachers, for being lazy and unmotivated and reviewers criticized Satie's compositions as being simplistic Colleagues Satie aban and lacking in skillful orchestration. As a result of his unhappiness, doned formal musical training soon after he had started his studies at the conserva tory. Itwas not until the age of thirty-nine,when Satie himself began to recognize the limitations of his skills as a composer that he decided to seek additional instruc tion. Itwas at this point that he enrolled himself in the Schola Cantorum and

showed his seriousness in returning to the classroom, at the age of 40, to polish his craftsmanship under the guidance of Albert Roussel (three years his junior) andVincent D'Indy.5

But Satie's loneliness and isolation were exacerbated by his frustrated attempts to validated as an artist in the high society of France. His endeavors des Beaux-Arts met with repeated failure. in the Acad?mie become established He had not faired well on the personal front either. The composer had experi was said to have ended abruptly. Often enced only one apparent love affair, and it was outspoken in his criticism exhibiting an abrasive, conflicted personality, Satie served to of art and of society. And this fa?ade of bitter, sarcastic bohemianism frustration. While openly shunning the bourgeois mask his underlying society thatwas enamored with modernist sensibilities inmusic and art, his desire to be in this layer of society was unmistakable. established Satie went to considerable lengths to alter his persona through drastic changes fashion a complete makeover in his physical appearance. He would periodically Satie for himself by altering his style and dress. In many ways, the dandyesque before he began working on Parade, he was a complete eccentric?several years had attempted to live according to ?absurdist principles.?6 Satie declared publicly ?I eat only white foods: eggs, sugar, grated bones, the fat of dead animals; veal salt, coconut, chicken cooked inwater, fruitmold, rice...?7 During one period of a tattered velvet top-hat and marched about as a deter identity crisis, he sported mined and self-righteous artistewith the insolence of an adolescent. to become

5 2004. Richard freed, Parade, Ballet R?aliste, on a subject by Jean Cocteau, 6 Erik Satie. New York: Dover, Rollo H. MYERS, 1968,131-35. 7 Erik SATIE, ?crits, Edited by Ornella Volta, (Paris: ?ditions Champ Libre, 1981),

item 37.

7

41 (2010)1: 3-19 1 IRASM 1

I I

S'

wCf!n|: and ErikSatie s Paradeand Satie

in Modernism Music

Impressionism, Western ration, and

Expressionism

colleagues. The composer found himself regularly in and out of favor with even his closest friends and associates. Despite a long-term friendship and a history of collaborations with Claude Debussy, he was not restrained inmaking public state ments against impressionism, a French aesthetic movement strongly identified with Debussy's music, that impressionism is the art of imprecision,? stating qualifying that he himself ?tend[ed] towards precision. ?8 By openly snubbing his more successful himself even further, and his contemporaries, Satie marginalized efforts to become established as a viable composer were often thwarted by his lack of discretion. The before

nightlife and interaction with fellow artists must have provided fodder forhis work on Parade. Satie was also a commentator and journalist who frequently contributed to Parisian journals, covering topics ofmusic and culture. Renowned forhis acerbic and reactionary critique of his contemporaries, he was often alienated from his Satie with

vibrant musical

European civilization was war-torn at the time of the Parade collabo the political creative discourse, offering tensions only nourished In spite of Satie's peculiar personality and his lack and opportunities. challenges of close friends or family, frequent attendance at cabarets, music halls, and artists' caf?s in Paris provided him with stimulus and opportunities as a composer. The

creative movement of expressionism had begun to take hold in Europe the turn of the century. As a philosophical in that developed approach Germany in the late nineteenth century, expressionism was rooted in the idea that art should convey emotions of extreme anger, and/or personal disillusionment, frustration. According to Dorothy Crawford's definition of expressionism, Erik Satie's aesthetic approach could well have fallen within thismovement:A unique aspect of expressionism...is that it is the embodiment primarily of artists'

manifestations

attitudes toward society and the individual...In their anger at the incrustations of bourgeois culture,which hid truthand suppressed individuality, artistsopposed suchof the art-for-art's sake principle as Impressionism.9

In many ways, the creative that were brewing in underground movements at the turn of the century (with like Cocteau, Picasso, and participants as a result of extreme emotional responses to Satie) developed life?personal dissatisfaction with society, and a modernist's desire to break disillusionment, France8 E. SATIE, ?crits, Edited by Ornella Volta, (Paris: ?ditions Champ Libre, 1981), 49. 9 Its Nature, Background, and Lan Dorothy CRAWFORD, Expressionism: Twentieth-Century guage, in Expressionism inTwentieth-Century Music, John C. Crawford and Dorothy L. Crawford, (Indiana Press, 1993), 1. University

8

S. Calkins: Modernism in Music and ErikSatie s Parade

I |

M * IRAS 41 (2010) 1: 3-19 '

away

from tradition?in

ways

that were

not distant

from those of the German

extreme emotional states. This was contrasted by the rebellious, nihilistic ennui exhibited in the artistic sensibilities of French artists. Twenty-first century critic JohnW. Freeman remarked that Parade ?could be considered an anti-war piece, in the sense that at the time of its premiere, in 1917, it studiously ignored World War I,which was underway not far from Paris.?10 The dissatisfaction that characterized the French arts scene was reinforced through the incessant interactive dialogue that transpired in the caf?s, studios, and salons of Paris. that existed in But the overriding attitude of sarcasm and disenchantment Parisian cultural circles was perhaps a perfect remedy for the frustrations and thatwere both personal and social in origin. Cocteau, Picasso, disappointments and Satie were notorious participants in a new wave of artists who were eager to was a always defy tradition and protocol. But it could not be disputed that Satie and that ?beneath his camouflage of jest, [he] remained an dedicated musician an amazingly creative imagination.?n He had essentially serious composer with disassociated himself from the German expressionist approach, yet he fervently a similar disdain for the French impressionists. It could be observed expressed that, as a matter of personal principle, Satie refused to adhere to any defined school of artistic thought or specific aesthetic philosophy. with

of emotional extremes were considered pation with their work. Demonstrations to expressionistic art and musical But, an important necessary composition. distinction of the expressionist artist was his reverent regard forGermanic classi cal elements of form and harmony inmusical composition. When Parade was being written in 1916, France and Germany were at war. sentiment was strongly imbedded in the French psyche and French Anti-Germanic artists were struggling to establish cultural independence and freedom from the dominant stylistic force of Germanic music and art that had taken hold in the nine teenth century. German expressionism was defined by determined preoccupation

orientations of French artists, though, were fundamentally different from the dominant Germanic approach that had taken hold in Europe. composers exhibited self-absorbed angst, and an internal preoccu Expressionist

expressionists. The aesthetic

Satie's

Score

After Stravinsky's rejection of the project, Cocteau declared that he'd found the perfect composer for the job in Erik Satie. Attracted by the composer's decidedly10 John FREEMAN, 11 Robert ORLEDGE, theRoyal Music Review, Opera News, 66, No. 12 (June, 2002), 69. to Composition inHis Later Years Satie's Approach 111 (1984-85), 155. Association

(1913-24),

Proceedings

of

9

I RASM 41 (2010) 1: 3-19

S. Calkins:

Modernism Parade

inMusic

and Erik Satie's

on Parade, Satie's daily routine was this period of collaboration of leaving his home inArceuil with notebook in hand and walking ten comprised kilometers into Paris. The artists would convene at a caf? to discuss plans, share sketches, and participate the collaborative discourse. They rejected all sanctified notions of art and culture and identified themselves as stylish avant-garde thinkers. Cocteau and Satie were as united in their distaste for the romanticism of During Tristan and Isolde (that had entranced many of their contemporaries) as Wagner's were with the new wave of they impressionistic art (by artists such as Debussy, and the symbolist poet Mallarm?) that dominated the French art scene. Monet, And Cocteau's towards simplicity and insolence seemed to resonate tendency with Satie's peculiar and unconventional sensibilities. The composer's quirky is evident in this drawing of Satie, as it was published in the original score. style

style, his ironic character, by the fact that he was familiar with the music of concert halls and cabarets, Cocteau felt that Satie would contemporary offer an appropriate musical compliment to his project. The commission offered Satie an opportunity to express some of his most innovative musical ideas and to his skills as an orchestrator. greatly expand upon lean and musical

Cocteau's drawing of Satie In a review of a 2002 Metropolitan Opera performance of Parade, the critic the unadorned of Satie's Parade music as ?bone-dry textures [and clarity score.?12 In the original program notes, written for Parade's a] deadpan premiere, Georges Auric stated, described [Satie's] art, like Picasso's, does not try to seduce us through brilliant and dramatic devices...he shows the individual at theheight of his powers and portrayswith clarity12 J.FREEMAN,

69.

10

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I

I M 41 (2010)1:3-19 RAS

astonishing percussion

personages...the instruments and

score onstage

is designed sounds.13

to serve

as musical

background

for

Satie began composing the ballet in 1916, and the score was completed in just tenmonths. The collaborative nature of thework may have stimulated productivity, but it also offered him opportunities to expand upon his compositional technique and musical style. Satie exploited popular music, especially jazz and cabaret tunes he'd heard in Parisian cabarets and music halls ofMontmartre where he lived for was home to many contemporary several years.14 The bustling neighborhood artists, including Picasso, who lived and worked there from 1904 to 1912. It is not and rhythms of cabaret and jazz tunes surprising that the modern melodies surfaced in Satie's score.

The

Influence

of Jazz, Cabaret,

and Cinema

At the beginning of the twentieth century a fascination with American culture arts scene. The chic attraction of the two new art infiltrated the European cinema and jazz, were consumed with a passion forms, throughout Europe. Charlie Chaplin and Scott Joplin were as popular in Europe as theywere inAmer ica at the time. And Satie was no stranger to ragtime, Dixieland jazz, or toHolly wood cinema. The Ragtime du Paquebot, found at the end of the second movement had

Itwasn't only the sounds of jazz and cabaret that resonated with Satie. His orchestration for Parade was also unique for its use of ambient sounds as orches tral timbre. He frequently developed his motivic material by interpolating frag and by employing mented melodies ostinato-like repetitive or superimposed

of Parade, is ?rhythmically identical to Irving Berlin's 1912 hit song ThatMysterious Rag, on which itmust have been modeled.?15 This compositional gesture is so that it appears to have been completely intentional. Other close to plagiarism in examples of the composer's blatant 'borrowing' of themes can be observed some of his direct melodic and orchestral references to in and Debussy Stravinsky the cabaret melodies and circus music themes in the third movement, entitled Acrobates. In these passages, Satie exploited thework of his contemporaries with an almost inflection. mocking

from his residence in Paris and move into the remote south of the city, Satie had become enamored with the gritty popular music of the burlesque halls. He continued towork there from time to time, even after moving to the suburbs and becoming more of a recluse. 15 R. ORLEDGE, to Composition inHis Later Years (1913-24), Proceedings Satie's Approach of the 111 (1984-85), 169. Royal Music Association suburbs

13 Georges AURIC, Notes 14 By the time he decided

form the 1917 score for Parade. to remove himself

11

IRASM (2010) 41 1:3-19 |

t^SSe?^ara^

^

great surprise, the premiere was highlighted by boos, cat-calls and a near riot.?17 But Satie's score did receive enthusiastic response frommany important young and others, composers such as Georges Auric,18 Louis Durey, Arthur Honneger who viewed it as ?a new direction in French music.?19 Still, while there was no doubt that he was popular within the Parisian world of fashion and culture, critics were inclined to dismiss his importance as a serious composer. ?It is undeniable a creative imagination of a most distinctive kind,? even that Erik Satie possessed the standards of the great Austro-German tradition... [he was] con though ?by sidered a composer of little consequence.?20 But Parade did have an impact on the direction of twentieth century musical composition, and while it ?may not be Satie's 'greatest' work or his 'most important' one, ithas come to be regarded as his most representative one.?21

lines. ? What Satie aimed at was not of course 'pure music/ if such a thing can be to exist, but purity of emotional response.?16 supposed The firstperformance of Parade was two-piano version that premiered in Pa ris in 1917. The fully orchestrated ballet set off a wave of criticism and, ?to no one's

Modernism In spite of the criticism it endured, Parade was praised for its stylistic innova tion and its departure from traditional forms. Its place as an icon of avant-garde artistic expression and its importance as a seminal work ofmodernistic approach are Modernism has been applied to aesthetic ideals virtually undisputed. The term and creative thought since the late 1800s. It is rooted in theword modern, which, as Daniel a Albright points out, is term that has been employed for centuries. Yet, was once used to describe any object or event thatwas current or up-to while it it has undergone significant shifts in context and meaning has defined Modernism (with a capital 'M,') as follows: Albright date, over

time.

Modernism is a deliberate philosophical and practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring especially in the course of the 20thcentury 16 W.H. and taking form in any of various innovative movements and styles.22 and Letters 23, no.

Ibid. 18 Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment and the Circle of Erik Satie (New PERLOFF, Nancy York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 1. 19 Ibid. 20 Alan M. GILLMOR, Erik Satie and theConcept of theAvant-Garde, 104. 21R. FREED, Parade, Ballet R?aliste, on a subject by Jean Cocteau, 2004. 22 Modernism. Inc. http://dictionary.refer House, (v 1.1). Random Dictionary.com Unabridged ence.com/browse/modernism (accessed: February 08, 2009).

3 (July 1942),217. 17

MELLERS,

Erik Satie and

the 'Problem'

of Contemporary

Music,

Music

12

S. Calkins: Modernism and Erik Satie's

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I RASM 41 (2010) 1:3-19

some of the distinctive qualities ofModernism as Albright has also outlined is a testing of the limits of aesthetic to creative thought: ?Modernism applied tried to find the ultimate bounds of certain artistic construction...a modernist to Albright, ?many of the modernist artists regarded possibilities.?23 According of the boundary between high and low art as one of the great free destabilization doms of the twentieth Century.?24 Leon Botstein has stated thatModernism,tion,

as it applies

tomusical

composi

music.

was fuelled bymore than aesthetic ambitions and the embrace of theuniquely new inA

urban concert audience and public for music exemplified by the turn-of-the-century in the home was, from the start, a driving forcebehind early 20th-century compositional innovations.25

critique

of contemporary

cultural

standards

and

the social

uses

of music

as

In fact, as Albright suggests, music is ?the artistic medium best equipped to Inmuch of his music, Satie appears to have made a participate inModernism.?26 conscious effort to obscure the lines between 'high' and Tow' art forms. In Parade this concept was accomplished by using ofmelodic fragments from ragtime, jazz, tunes, incorporating ambient sounds, and by using as musical instruments in the orchestration. day objects and cabaret common, every

Surrealism

and Cubism

was

The original ballet performances of Parade heralded a creative movement that described with a brand new label. In his program notes for the ballet, poet no other ?invented the term surrealism?having Guillaume Apollinaire existing at the rehearsals.?27 to describe the unique spectacle he witnessed terminology The Oxford English Dictionary defines surrealism asan

the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.28

avant-garde

20th-century

movement

in art and

literature

which

sought

to release

23 D. ALBRIGHT, 2004,11. Chicago, 24 Ibid., 367. 25 Leon BOTSTEIN, 26 D. ALBRIGHT, Press, Chicago 27 Robert 2004,1.

Modernism

andMusic:

An Anthology

of Sources, The University

of Chicago

Press,

Grove Dictionary of Music Online, Accessed ?Modernism,? and Music: Modernism An Anthology of Sources. Chicago: (1866-1925), inMusic of the Twentieth-Century

Jan. 30, 2009. The University Avant-Garde,

of ed.

Erik Satie SHAPIRO, Larry Sitsky (London, 2002), 428. 28 Oxford English Dictionary.

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works

The inventive poet Apollinaire of accommodated the curious phenomenon to Tracy Doyle, Apollinaire's Parade by coining this new ism.According program notes ?became a manifesto of l'esprit nouveau or 'the new spirit' which was taking hold in Paris during the early twentieth-century. ?29 the term surrealism may aptly describe the aesthetic orientation in While visual, literary, or mixed-media works, it can be problematic when applied to of instrumental music. Several years after the premiere of Parade, com posers such as Pierre Boulez, Germaine Tailleferre, and Edgard Var?se were known to have created works based on surrealist poetry or visual imagery (in the case of Var?se's Arcana, it was his own dream that inspired the piece). And while they may be described are not distinguishable as 'surrealist' works, the aesthetic qualities of surrealism in the musical element of these works in ways that are coining of the term was attached to Satie's Appolinaire's

easily defined. While music forParade, themusic was only one element of the ballet, and his assessment may have been directed towards the collaborative work as a whole.

Cubism score has undergone formal analysis by such theorists W.H. Meilers, and has been described as an example of Perloff, and Robert Orledge, Nancy cubist aesthetics. W.H. Meilers offered a compelling argument for this: Satie's Ostensibly, the cubists wished to impose a 'freshorder' on the objects of the visible have become universe, but to reintegrate a world, it is necessary that it should first and it is of this disintegration that theirpainting is ultimately an affir disintegrated,

mation.30

The

themes, shattered into motifs, were reconfigured as linear melodies. And Satie's music, ?like Picasso's [art], does not try to seduce us through brilliant and dramatic devices.?31 In contrast to surrealism, which is drawn to unfamiliar and disorienting realities, Parade establishes a musical atmosphere that is familiar, yet somehow strange:

Picasso's cubist approach to visual artmight have surfaced in Satie's Parade as a direct result of the collaboration. In much the same manner that cubist visual artists constructed works out of interpolated fragments, Satie's score was a collage like interpolation of thematic musical fragments, taken from a variety of sources.

29 Erik Satie's Ballet Parade: An Arrangement for Woodwind Quintet and Percussion Tracy DOYLE, with Historical Summary, DMA Diss., Louisiana State University, 2005,1. 30 W.H. MELLERS, Erik Satie and the 'Problem' of Contemporary and Letters 23, no. Music, Music

3 (July 1942),211. 31Georges

AURIC,

from his notes on the original

score of Parade,

xii.

14

Calkins: Modernism in Music and ErikSatie s Parade

i x ' iraSM 41 (2010) 1: 3-19 \

if the same sculpture were being viewed from different angles. Through repetition Satie makes a lotout of a little; the craft is certainly a simple means to an end, and both the style ofwriting and the concept were entirelynew.32 Picasso had been working everyday objects into his visual art for some time, for and his designs for Parade employed this technique to its extreme?costumes the dancers were mostly constructed of cardboard and incorporated an unusual and whimsical (i.e. skyscrapers protruding from the head of the iconography American Manager). Satie followed a similar aesthetic approach in his orchestra tion when he included the sounds of objects?a typewriter, a siren, tuned bottles, a revolver, and a 'wheel of chance'?in his full score. the cubist approach in Satie's Parade might be perceived as musical was a fitting accompaniment to Picasso's visual art. And, as British it plagiarism, critic Norman Peterkin pointed out in his 1919 review of Parade, Though

.. .as in many

of Satie's

early

compositional

sets,

the concept

is timeless

and

spatial,

as

Satie has been termed a cubist composer, though what the term exactly signifies in this connection, I am unable to say. If itmeans that his music ismordantly witty, case it perverse and unlike anything else, then by all means, lethim be cubist. In any is said thathe is thepreferred composer of the cubists.33 once stated ?with Parade, Satie accomplished, Music analyst Robert Shapiro of as Igor Stravinsky had with Le Sacre du Printemps, a constructive provocation themusical public.?34 Thus, by considering both Albright and Botstein's notions of and the cubism that Peterkin identified, the aesthetic qualities of Modernism, Satie's score for Parade find definition.

Conclusion as Cocteau described, themusical language of Satie's Parade is Perhaps, just the embodiment of economy and simplicity. In a 1917 essay, Satie commented on this aspect of his approach towards composing: same time as being the form Do not forget that melody is the Idea, the outline; at the and subject matter of a work. The harmony is an illumination, an explanation of thesubject, its illumination.35

32 Press (accessed Erik Satie, sec. 2:Works. Grove Music Online, Oxford University R. ORLEDGE, December 10, 2007). http://www.grovemusic.com 33 Erik Satie's Parade, The Musical Norman Times, 60, no. 918 (Aug. 1,1919), 426. PETERKIN, 34 ed. Larry inMusic Erik Satie (1866-1925), R. SHAPIRO, of the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde, Sitsky (London, 2002), 428. 35 E. SATIE, ?crits, Edited by Ornella Volta, (Paris: ?ditions Champ Libre, 1981), item 37, 48.

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S. Calkins:

gnd ErjkSatie>s pamde

Modernism

inMusic

is immense,?36 Satie's ?influence on the course of twentieth-century music and his score for Parade can be regarded as an important example of early avant thatwas de Later on, another creative movement developed garde Modernism. scribed as minimalism. In fact, thismay be a more apt description forwhat had been defined previously as cubist tendencies in Satie's work, especially in the case of Parade. In Parade Satie developed his relatively unadorned melodic fragments in a clear linear fashion. Several decades later, similar techniques were expanded upon by so-called minimalist composers such as Terry C. Riley and Steve Reich. Like Satie, these later composers employed frag stridently repetitive melodic ments to create overlapping sonorities in theirmusic. Satie made all of his sketches for Parade in a notebook of six-or-seven-stave as a result, was ?forced to be sparse and to avoid unnecessary It is unclear whether Satie's economy of orchestration and uncon doublings.?37 ventional sense of harmonic development was rooted in a lack of technical skill or in pure aesthetic principles. And while terms such as surrealism and cubism may offer incomplete definitions of Satie's sparse musical style, it is clear that his music lent itself beautifully to Cocteau's original conception of Parade. Some negative public response to Parade was most likely an expected out come. But, Cocteau on the very establishment and his collaborators depended shunned in order to fund their project,38 and tomock and ridicule French they society's 'high' art and culture, was somewhat risky for them. They must have known that the brash and daring gestures of Parade would be supported by at least a small number of attendees who thirsted for modern and stylish displays of avant-garde performances. Today, Satie's score forParade is recognized as a pivotal work in contemporary music and as an icon ofModernism. And while the com poser never enjoyed the acclaim or recognition ofmany of his contemporaries, the aesthetic approach and compositional sounds, techniques (e.g. extra-musical sequenced melodic fragments, and mixed genres) thatwere employed in his score for Parade can be heard in the work of subsequent twentieth-century composers like John Cage, Charles Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Ives, Aaron Copland, pages and,others.

36 Lothar KLEIN, Twentieth Century Analysis: inMiniature, Music Educators Journal, 53, Essays no. 4 (Dec. 1966), 25. 37 R. ORLEDGE, to Composition Satie's Approach inHis Later Years (1913-24), Proceedings of the Music Association 111 (1984-85), 169. Royal 38 The original performance of Parade was funded by the wealthy Count Etienne de Beaumont. were funded Subsequent performances by the fashion designer, Coco Chanel.

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Leon. Modernism,Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press (accessed Jan30, 2009. http://www.grovemusic.com

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In Expressionism in Twentieth-Century Music, Language. Indiana University 1993:1-21. L. Crawford, Press, thy

Dorothy L. Twentieth-Century Expressionism: ItsNature, Background, andJohn C. Crawford and Doro

DAVIS, Mary E. Classic Chic:Music Fashion andModernism, University of California Press, 2006. DOYLE, Tracy. Erik Satie's Ballet Parade; An ArrangementforWoodwind Quintet and Per DMA Diss., Louisiana State University, 2005. cussionwithHistorical Summary, FEENEY, Mark. Russian Revelry: A Weeklong Festival Celebrates the 100thAnniversary of theBallets Russes, The Boston Globe, GMagazine, May 15, 2009,19. FREED, Richard, Parade, Ballet r?aliste on a subject by JeanCocteau, program note origi nally written for theNational Symphony Orchestra performance: Leonard Slatkin, conductor/Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano, Jan22, 2004http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_

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John.Review, Opera News, 66,No. 12 (June,2002), 69.

GILLMOR, Alan M. Erik Satie and theConcept of theAvant-Garde. TheMusical Quarterly 69, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 104-19.KLEIN, Lothar. Twentieth Century Analysis: Essays inMiniature. Music Educators Journal,

53, no. 4 (Dec. 1966): 25-26.

MELLERS, W. H. Erik Satie and the 'Problem' ofContemporary Music. Music and Letters23, no. 3 (July1942): 210-27. MYERS, Rollo H. Erik Satie.New York: Dover, 1968. MYERS, Rollo H. The Strange Case of Erik Satie. TheMusical Times 86, no. 1229 (July 1945):201-03.

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PERLOFF, Nancy. Art and theEveryday: Popular Entertainmentand theCircle of Erik Satie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. PETERKIN, Norman. Erik Satie's Parade. TheMusical Times, 60, no. 918 (Aug. 1,1919): 42627.

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Sazetak Modernizam u glazbi i Parade Erika Satiea

Premda se partituru baleta Parade Erika Satiea iz 1917. rijetkosmatra nekim posebno znacajnim primjerom briljantne umjetnickosti s obzirom na kompoziciju, ona ipak predstav Ija jasan primjer toga kako neki skladatelj moze pridonijeti isudjelovati u vaznim esteti?kim pokretima u ranome 20. stoljecu. ?lanak se bavi uvjetima u kojima je Jean Cocteau, popu larnipariski avangardisticki pjesnik ikarikaturistkoji je napisao scenarij, sklonuo Erika Sa tiea da sklada glazbu za taj balet. Njihova suradnja s Pablom Picassom kao scenografom i L?onidom Massineom, koreografom trupe Ruskih baleta (Ballets Russes), imala je za posljedicu ovo pionirsko scensko djelo. Premijera Parade bio je dogadaj koji je odrazavao dru?tvenu i politicku atmosferu jedne jedinstvene 'klike' europskoga drustva na mijeni stoljeca. Satievu Parade do sada se predstavljalo kao proizvod modernistickih, nadrealisti?kih i kubistickih esteti?kih paradigma. Mozda je upravo taj aspekt ovoga djela najvrjedniji poblizeg istrazivanja. Ovaj je ?lanak studija o Satievim zivotnim iskustvima, suradni?koj prirodi stvaranja Parade i nacina na koji su ta iskustva i suradnja utjecali na esteti?ka na?ela u pozadini njegove glazbe za taj balet. On nudi razjasnjenja o nizu raznih pojmova i termina koji su se upotrebljavali u opisivanju esteti?kih osobina Satieve partiture te dono si primjere tih osobina u samoj glazbi. U vremenu od njegove premijere 1917. godine Autorica istrazuje razli?ite objavljen je niz kritickihianalitickih osvrta na Satievu partituru. kriticke sudove o Satievoj Parade u pokusaju da osvijetli drustvene, politicke i kulturne izvore avangardnih esteti?kih pokreta koji su bili povezani s njegovom glazbom.

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