Erik Satie's Letters to Milhaud and Others - TRAN-B-300tranb300.ulb.ac.be/2013-2014/groupe317/archive/files/19f397b... · Erik Satie's Letters to Milhaud and Others NIGEL WILKINS

Erik Satie's Letters to Milhaud and OthersAuthor(s): Nigel Wilkins and Erik SatieSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Jul., 1980), pp. 404-428Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/742225 .

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Erik Satie's Letters to Milhaud and Others NIGEL WILKINS

O VER four hundred letters written by Erik Satie between 1892 and 1925 have been preserved in libraries' and in private

collections. My own edition, with English translation,2 was regret- tably obstructed by M. Joseph Lafosse-Satie, grandson of the composer's sister Olga, who threatened legal action if publication pro- ceeded, despite the warm support and encouragement of the principal owners of the letters, in particular my teacher Darius Milhaud, his wife Madeleine, and M. Claude Roland-Manuel. This incident takes its place in a series of litigations which have a bizarre touch of Satiean eccentricity in their own right. In 1966, Pierre Aelberts was obliged to withdraw from sale a number of reprints he had issued of Satie's writings, despite his possession of a letter of authori- zation from Satie himself with regard to Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1953), the only volume allowed to escape; in 1972, Jean Barraque was the victim of a law suit for "diffamation of character" caused by his describing Satie ten years earlier as a "musical illiterate" in his book on Debussy,3 an astounding adverse judgment said by some to have hastened the composer's sad and premature death. In 1968, John Cage was refused permission to use his two-piano arrangement of Socrate for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and so produced his Cheap Imitation using Satie's rhythms but different (I Ching) notes. Grete Wehmeyer, in the introduction to her excellent and informative book Erik Satie,4 laments the obstructive attitudes

1 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Bibliotheque Littdraire Jacques Doucet, Paris; the Houghton Library of Harvard University (Dumbarton Oaks manuscripts).

2 Announced in my article "Erik Satie: miscellaneous Fragments," in Music and Letters, LVI/3 (October, 1975), 288, n. 2.

3 (Paris, 1962). 4 (Regensburg, 1974).

404



Satie Letters 405

which spoiled her scholarly plans: "It is particularly to be regretted that for these reasons an appendix including writings by Satie and their translation into German had to be abandoned."5 Further re- criminations were threatened on the publication of my Music and Letters article in 1975, an edition of miscellaneous notebook jottings of which the heir would otherwise have been unaware, and which was intended to be a tribute to the composer on the fiftieth anniversary of his death. Perhaps all this is some strange retribution for the trouble caused to Erik Satie by the equally absurd "Procks Poueigh" in which he was involved in 1917.

Several of Satie's letters are "set pieces," especially some of the earlier examples meant as public cries of outrage when the Estab- lishment failed to recognize what he proclaimed to be his undoubted genius. Many display Satie's lifelong penchant for play with language and his weakness for puns. None are so long as to be boring; many are very short, being restricted to the small folded paper of the Paris "pneumatique" post. Many relate directly to compositions on which Satie or his associates were engaged during the years in

question and often add fascinating inside information to our knowl- edge of artistic life in Paris at the beginning of this century. All bear the inimitable stamp of Erik Satie's unique and fascinating personality.

Such is the extent of this rich fund of material that the present article must be limited to certain specific categories. The remainder of Satie's correspondence I hope to discuss elsewhere.

Parade and the "Procks Poueigh"

Satie met Jean Cocteau in 1914. Collaboration on the "cubist" ballet Parade, with Picasso and Massine for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, began in earnest in 1915. A series of letters refer to this composition and its aftermath. Cocteau's basic scenario was slim, a source, later, of many satirical gibes from Satie.6 However, his first reaction was favorable:

5 Ibid, p. 9. 6 E.g. in 391, July, 1924. For the French text of Satie's writings, see 0. Volta, ed.,

Les Ecrits d'Erik Satie (Paris, 1977). For an English translation of writings published during Satie's lifetime, see N. Wilkins, ed., The Writings of Erik Satie (London, 1980). An edition of Satie's correspondence in the original French is promised in subsequent volumes ed. O. Volta.



406 The Musical Quarterly

May 2, 1916, to Jean Cocteau Dear Friend, I have received the manuscript. Fantastic! I'm getting my ideas

sorted out. Write to me, won't you? There's a devil of a lot of work to do. I am in the process of making a sum-

mary of it all. ....

Cocteau was soon agitating for visible results of Satie's cogita- tions, but to no avail:

June 8, 1916, to Jean Cocteau Dear friend, Do not get worried, nor nervous: I am working at it. Just let

me get on with it, old chap. Know that I shan't hand the work over to you until October. You won't hear a note of it before then ...

Very soon, contact with Picasso caused Satie to admire the artist's elaboration of the idea more than Cocteau's original idea:

September 14, 1916, to Valentine Hugo "Parade" is changing into something better, behind Cocteau's back!

Picasso's ideas please me more than those of our Jean! How awful! And Picasso has my "vote!" And Cocteau doesn't know! What shall I do? Picasso has told me to carry on following Jean's text, while he, Picasso, will work on another, his own - which is fantastic! Prodigious! ...

Valentine Hugo (n6e Gross), artist and stage designer, was a particular confidante and comforter of Satie at this time, and played an important part in smoothing out the difficulties between the individualistic creators of Parade.

When Satie wrote to Cocteau on the following day, he attempted to be tactful:

September 15, 1916, to Jean Cocteau

... Picasso has some new and unusual ideas for "Parade." He is marvel-

ousl ...

In a few days calm had been restored:

September 20, 1916, to Valentine Hugo . . It's all fixed. Cocteau knows all. He and Picasso have come to an agree-

ment. What luck! ...

Composition and reshaping continued:

October 19, 1916, to Jean Cocteau . I've been working very hard on our "thingummy." The "little American

girl" is going well. The "ragtime" is in good health: it fits in well. However, I won't be able to let you see it tomorrow, since I can't work on it this afternoon. You'll be quite "dotty" over it when you hear it.



Satie Letters 407

The "wave" piece will be effective after the "ragtime." Placed there it goes well, very well indeed....

The dance of the "Petite Fille americaine" follows the "Presti- digitateur chinois" in the score, and is itself followed by "Ragtime du Paquebot"; in the finished version, the "Acrobates" comes next.

Early next year, final preparations were in hand:

January 9, 1917, to Jean Cocteau . What Diaghilev wants is quite right. But what you say is even more

right. Just this once, all three of us should get together. That is essential and there is still some music in hand....

After the first performance of Parade on May 18, 1917, at the

Theatre des Champs-Elysees, conducted by Ansermet, the critic Jean Poueigh congratulated Satie but later wrote a hostile review. Satie then sent him the famous insulting postcard: "Monsieur et cher ami, vous n' tes qu'un cul, mais un cul sans musique." The result was the court case for slander, which understandably pre- occupies a number of letters in 1917 and early 1918.

The singer Jane Bathori, to whom Satie had dedicated his Statue de Bronze, in 1916, recommended him to the Princesse de Polignac (n&e Winnaretta Singer, daughter of the sewing-machine million- aire), who commissioned Socrate. By way of an "advance," she gave Satie financial help during his legal troubles, but certain letters show that there were difficulties in obtaining the lady's confidence:

August 16, 1917, to Jean Cocteau ... Bad news. Maurice Bernard is away. His secretary replied . . . "How

mistaken the Princesse de Polignac is to bother herself with these Boches. 'Parade' and the 'ballets russes' are Boches and poorly thought of by the Front, which is scarcely likely to approve of their rowdy goings-on."

It is annoying that you have not written to the Princess. There would be nothing wrong in that and it could have made her better disposed toward us. Someone must have been hard at work turning her against us....

... All the same, I'm done for, well and truly! So much the worse! They will make me pay through the nose! .

. I am quite broke, my poor Old Man. Rouart anticipates and forecasts that I shall lose my case. He won't give me a penny more....

On the same day the penniless Satie addressed a desperate appeal to Mme F. Dreyfus, a close friend and comforter and stepmother of his young prot-g6 Roland-Manuel:

August 16, 1917, to Mme F. Dreyfus Dear Lady - I have a very great favor to ask of you. Yes.




Can you trust me enough to lend me three hundred francs until October? By October I will have finished my "Vie de Socrate," on which I am work-

ing hard at the moment; and then I shall be able to repay my debt. Please consider very carefully this request from a poor man, and see, Dear

Lady, what you can do. Things are going badly with my lawsuit. Alaurice Bernard is away, but a

reply came from his secretary to say: "That the Princesse de Polignac is not interested in this case; Erik Satie

is a Hun." It was very kind of him, but shows me how they think in the Courts: I shall

be stung, well and truly....

Satie was clearly anxious. His notebook jottings reveal his mo- mentary temptation to apologize to Poueigh, and his abrupt return to his defiant stance:

...You were right to feel offended and the malicious and unjustified insinua- tions made in your articles irritated me momentarily -

by an artist to a critic incident which needlessly upset me I had just spent six months on the hard work o[ "Parade" Try to defend, since I disapprove of its form with legitimate weariness and nervous exhaustion. ... Write to H.R. to tell him that I refuse absolutely to apologize.

[B. N. Mus. 9623 (2)]

Also there is a further fragment which, if it does not relate to the Proces Poueigh, at least confirms Satie's propensity for falling out with most of his acquaintances:

I am very sorry that the tone of my letter upset you. I have far too much respect and admiration for the great artist that you are, to want you to feel in the slightest...

I do not want to quarrel with a man of your quality. I am sure that you had good reasons for what you did. I have no doubts about your devotion. ...

[B. N. Mus. 9581]

A third letter, written on August 16, is proof of Satie's extreme agitation. It bears the name of no recipient, but could conceivably be to Poueigh:

August 16, 1917 [no recipient named] Dear Sir - Things are happening fast and causing me rather a lot of trouble.

I owe you all sorts of apologies and send them to you most sincerely. Thank you for your two letters.



Satie Letters 409

We should see each other, don't you think? I often come to Paris. Would you like to arrange a meeting for next week? ...

[Library of Congress, Music Division, MS ML. 95. S283]

Cocteau at this point, despite his heroic demonstrations in the court room when the unfavorable verdict was handed down, was not helping as Satie would have wished. In the delightful letter with a half page given over to a self-portrait of "Monsieur Sadie dans sa maison - il songe," Satie again reproaches Cocteau:

August 31, 1917, to Jean Cocteau S. . The situation is becoming serious. Have you written to the Princess?

I've just had a letter from Merowitch. She thinks I'm in prison. How peculiar....

Despite other distractions, the lawsuit remained constantly on Satie's mind during the following months:

October 15, 1917, to Mme F. Dreyfus ... Marnold has taken his inspiration from Lalo, Jean d'Udine and Poueigh.

He keeps good company. His article attacking me is such a devastating bore ....

Satie's spirit shows through, however, in an amusing letter to the young Roland-Manuel, undated, but presumably from the turn of 1917-18:

[1917-18], to Roland-Manuel Maybe I was a little hasty. Too bad! All things considered, I have no re-

morse. As long as I do not have difficulties with the police. The police do not like

disappearances; they do not appreciate magic. I shall be put into prison; into an unhealthy prison, with no air, no amusement, no exercise! I shall lie on straw and not live out my life.

No doubt, I shall grow ill. I shall have fleas, and a chill in the back. I shall not be jolly. I shall grow a paunch and be poorly clothed.

No one will come to see me. .... . But . . . but . . . I have an alibi - a tiny tiny little-ittle lalibi-bi - I

think. Can I not say, quite coolly, that I was beside myself and a million miles from thinking of committing a crime? That is a reasonable alibi, that is; and how very simplel

I am saved! My bones are saved from going arthritic in stupid imprisonment! I am my own savior and I vote myself well-merited thanks. Indeed, I deserve

a twenty-five franc reward. I am going to collect it. Waiter! my hat, my coat and my stickl




Roland-Manuel's father-in-law M. E. Roux was a legal expert who gave Satie some much-needed advice and assistance. Satie wrote to him early in 1918:

February 18, 1918, to M. Roux . . . I visited M. Guarignou,' private secretary to M. Pamy. On instructions from his Head, he had seen the Public Prosecutor, who has

already achieved something: delayed my being put into jug....

The outcome of the case, happily for Satie, was merely a sus-

pended sentence.

Socrate

Satie was already at work on his "cantata" Socrate while deeply engaged in the preparations for and the aftermath of Parade in 1917. The earliest reference to the work, considered by some to be Satie's masterpiece, comes as early as January of that year:

January 6, 1917, to Valentine Hugo . . I'm busy with the Life of Socrates. I have the "jitters" in case I "muck

up" this work that I want to be as white and pure as Antiquity. I'm "all of a dither" about it and don't know what to do with myself. Such

a marvelous work is waiting to be written on this idea, it's extrordinary. Extra- ordinary is better, of course, for the vulgar herd ...

Further development had occurred within two weeks:

January 18, 1917, to Valentine Hugo ... What am I doing? I'm working on the Life of Socrates. I have found a

very attractive translation: one by Victor Cousin. Plato is a perfect collaborator, very gentle and never importunate. It's like a dream! I am swimming in happi- ness. At last! I am free, free as the air, free as the water; free as the wild sheep. Long live Plato! Long live Victor Cousin! I am free! really free! What happi- ness! ...

When Socrate had been heard at private previews before its official first performance in January, 1920, at the Societe Nationale, conflicting reactions made themselves felt. A particular disappoint- ment to Satie was Roland-Manuel's dislike of the piece: March 15, 1919, to Roland-Manuel

My Dear Friend - I never felt resentful towards you, believe me. You have a perfect right not to like "Socrate," which is, after all, a work of a totally different conception from the sort of thing that appeals to you. . . . It is even

quite natural that this work should make you laugh, or at least smile. Again, I say, that is your privilege, and does not make me annoyed with you at all....



Satie Letters 411

. However could you "think" differently, My Dear Roland? Besides, there is nothing unpleasant in this difference, and you are completely sincere: we do not like the same "brew". ...

A letter to Jacques Doucet, who favored artists and writers and purchased so many literary treasures and was the founder of the

Bibliothbque Litteraire Jacques Doucet, shows appreciation for a more acceptable attitude:

March 24, 1919, to Jacques Doucet Dear M. Jacques Doucet - How greatly you honored me by coming to the

reading of "SOCRATE." Your presence was a great comfort to me; and touched me more than you

may suppose. Thank you, Dear M. Doucet; your kindness is precious to me. There are

not many men like you! Take a look, anyway. Behold....

Roland-Manuel, however, persisted in his dislike and went so far as to express it in print.

February 23, 1920, to Roland-Manuel My Dear Roland - I read your article on "Socrate." Thanks for what you say

about it. All the same you are a good type - all the same. I tell you that as an old friend. I know you well, dear Friend, both you and your qualities, but . ..

One day, when we are alone, I shall talk to you - if you like - not as an "old bore" but as a comrade....

More pleasing was an article by the ever-sympathetic Belgian Paul Collaer:

May 16, 1920, to Paul Collaer Dear Sir (allow me to call you "dear": you deserve it) - Poulenc has sent me what you wrote about "Socrate." How grateful I am to you for what you say about my scorel It gave me great

joy to read this "chat"; it proves to me that, after all, there are some good people in the world.

Thank you, Dear Sir; thank you. When I wrote "Socrate," I wanted to compose a simple work, devoid of any

sense of conflict; for I am but a humble admirer of Socrates and Plato - two apparently sympathetic gentlemen.

When it was performed at our Conservatoire by the "National Society," my music was poorly received, which I did not find surprising; but I was surprised to see the audience laughing at Plato's text. Yes.

Isn't it strange? ... One would almost say that the great Socrates is a character of my inven-

tion - and that in Paris...




At all events, the patronage of the Princesse de Polignac brought Satie, somewhat awkwardly, into "High Society" circles; he was further assisted by the patronage of the Comte de Beaumont for Mercure in 1924. An amusing rough sketch for a letter in the note- books shows a consequent problem of attending socialite parties where the composer might be required to meet and even be agree- able to his archenemies - the Critics!

[1919-20], to Mme Armande de Polignac Madam - Thank you very much for your most kind letter. I am very pleased

to accept your invitation. However I should tell you that I am very much at odds with MM. Marnold, Laloy, and Willy. Personally I have no objection to finding myself in their company. It will be all the more amusing, and I am sure to learn a thing or two.

I thought I should let you know confidentially about this peculiar situation - which is really of no importance, in any case. Please do not let it bother you, Madam....

[B. N. Mus. 9627 (10)]

Happily, later performances of Socrate were better received:

January 20, 1923, to Mme Sybil Harris [patroness, wife of the American Ambassador to Paris]

. . I wish you could have been here on the 4th: . . I had a terrific success with "Socrate"- Balguerie and the Orchestra conducted by Caplet (at the ThdAtre des Champs-Elysdes). There was such a crowd! ... You would have been delighted: I took three curtain calls - just little mel ...

Le Mddecin malgrd lui

Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, decided to stage, in a season in Monte Carlo (January, 1924), a series of comic operas which had fallen into neglect. They all needed fresh settings of spoken passages, though in the original style. Diaghilev commissioned Satie, Poulenc, and Auric to complete Gounod's Le MAdecin malgrd lui, La Colombe, and Philemon et Baucis respectively. Through Satie's good offices, Milhaud also received a commission to complete Chabrier's Une Education manquee. These negotiations are the subject of a series of letters. Poulenc and Auric were particularly success- ful in the Monte Carlo season with their ballets Les Biches and Les Fdcheux.

July 21, 1923, to Darius Milhaud . . Diaghilev has asked me to see if you would do him a favor: work on the



Satie Letters 413

completion of the "Education manquie." I told my dear Director that you alone could complete this work properly thanks to your immense drive and the great sureness of your touch. ...

July 26, 1923, to Serge Diaghilev ... I have received a letter from Milhaud: he is very willing, but does not

know at all what he has to do. That is where you come in, dear friend. Please will you see to informing him, since I am unable to do it myself, not knowing what your wishes are.

I am working on the "Doctor," but it is not going very well. Yes. I am furious - with myself, of course ...

July 26, 1923, to Darius Milhaud ... Once within the walls, you will be adored, and Diaghilev will see with his

own eyes what a fine artist you are. I told you: he is coming round to thinking better of you. Our friend Stravinsky helped a little in putting him up to the "job," if I may use the term. ...

... I am working on the "Doctor who imagines he is one." It is not going well....

July 30, 1923, to Pierre de Massot [coeditor with Picabia of the periodical 391] ... I have a frantic amount of work to do - madly frantic. Yes. It has been very hot here. So now I understand why Diogenes had a barrel

and not a little cask: .. .he filled it with cold water and put himself coolly inside it. Yes....

Satie here repeats himself, using the same joke he had included four days earlier when writing to Diaghilev.

August 12, 1923, to Darius Milhaud

... I was furious with Diaghilev. I made a slip - and a slip hurts (slippers: little pun). Yes: ... enclosed is a note from him which mentions you.

Go along with it, dear friend. Once within the house ("homme," as the English say, though they write it "home") you will see what happens - and from a good way off, too. Already I feel that you have made progress in my dear Director's mind....

August 19, 1923, to Darius Milhaud . . I am "turning out" Gounod as if it was raining with the stuff....

September 11, 1923, to Francis Poulenc ... You are lucky to have finished your THINGUMMY. I'm only just finish-

ing the 2nd act. Yes. I have received two charming letters from your exquisite Director. Un-

fortunately, my 3rd act will not be ready for October 1st. I'm weeping like Croesus about it. Yes....

September 15, 1923, to Darius Milhaud ... I am jumping for joy because (at last!) Diaghilev has written to you.




This is a victory over X (an X I would dearly like to know. Yes). I am working like a worker who works (something rarely seen). I have just finished the second act of the "M6decin malgr6 lui." Someone (?) told Jean that I was "giving up." Hm! Would this "someone" be our friend Auric? ...

September 15, 1923, to Igor Stravinsky . I am working for our dear Director. So, I have just finished the 2nd act

of the "Medecin malgrd lui." I am writing like Gounod - which is no sillier than writing like Ravel.

Perhaps it would be better to write like Schmitt.... Yes. But for that, one needs to write the piano part on eight staves. Alasl I can-

not: I do not have the intelligence....

November 3, 1923, to Sybil Harris ... I have just finished the 3rd act of the good "Medecin malgrd lui." Yes.. The Gounod family are bringing a lawsuit against Diaghilev and claiming

several millions in damages because of the harm done to the memory of their august relation. Yes. .... I shall be obliged to pay that family at least seven or eight hundred thousand francs. . . . I think I shall have to sell my jewels and my furs....

December 10, 1923, to Darius Milhaud ... I am working as hard as I can (and you know I am a slow worker) on

the orchestration of the "Medecin malgr6 lui." It will be finished by Saturday....

January 5, 1924, Monte Carlo postcard to Constantin Brancusi [sculptor and friend]

... I am here with Gounod. We are both thinking of you. Still very fond of you.

Yes.... This evening: First Night. Serious.... Very serious....

During the brief visit, one of the few sorties Satie ever made out of Paris, he fell out with Auric and Poulenc, especially over their

developing friendship with the critic Louis Laloy and the opium- smoking parties they attended where they were joined by Cocteau. This is the theme of the final item in the "Monte-Carlo series," sent there to Poulenc after Satie's abrupt return to Arcueil:

January 11, 1924, to Francis Poulenc

... How are things? Bravo again and always for the Biches. Permit me to advise you not to get too thick with our (hour) L. L. Yes. Watch out with that "character." Yes. . ... Don't forget that you are a thousand times his superior. Yes. ....

The bitterest description of the atmosphere in Monte Carlo is in Satie's short article "Ballets Russes ?L Monte-Carlo: Souvenirs de Voyage (1923)" published in Paris-Journal, February 15, 1924.



Satie Letters 415

Mercure

Much to Diaghilev's displeasure, Massine left the Ballets Russes in 1924; with Satie and Picasso he created the ballet Mercure, commissioned by the Comte de Beaumont, dedicated to the Comtesse Eti- enne de Beaumont and performed as one of a series of "soirees de Paris" on June 15, 1924. Four letters in particular trace the progress of this work.

March 7, 1924, to Mme de Beaumont Dear Exquisite Countess - Greetings. Here enclosed are 4 numbers from

the ballet. I have copied them hastily so as to allow Massine to get to work. The other "numbers" are to follow (of course). Yes.

Please would you be so kind as to have a copy made (I shall need mine for the orchestration - it will be returned to you). Yes .

April 9, 1924, to Mme de Beaumont ... Here enclosed the second part of "Mercure." "That" doesn't look much, but I want to assure you that there is a great

deal of work in this little pile. . . . Yes ... Please read it through ....

April 15, 1924, to Leonide Massine . I have finished the Polka, the New Dance and the (rather ironical)*

Appearance of Chaos. I am starting on the Finale (the Rape of Proserpina) again, for the third

time. Damn! ... It had to be done.... You shall have this ending (Terminus) on Thursday. Yes....

...* After all, Chaos is pretty funny in itself.

Roger Desormiere, one of the young members of the "Ecole d'Arcueil" introduced to Satie by Milhaud in 1923, was a gifted conductor and took charge of the musical direction for the "Soirees de Paris," including the first performance of Mercure. The next letter dates from the following day:

June 16, 1924, to Darius Milhaud . I am writing to Desormibre to ask him not to repeat the music during

the scene changes. I noticed that people were holding me responsible for the long delay. . . . Hardly! . . . Let them wait (without me). . . . Yes. ... Watch out for that, Dear Friend! I cannot come this evening, and beg you to stand in for me.

Coming out, I encountered the "Fake Dada" group: they said nothing to me. Please ask the little lady to forgive me for the bang on her head I gave her

with my elbow. I am very sorry about it....




Reldche

The scandalous production of the "ballet instantan6iste" Reldche, in collaboration with Picabia, Ren6 Clair, and Rolf de Mar6's Ballets Su6dois in November, 1924, was an altogether less restrained affair. The general atmosphere of scandal seems to be prefigured even in Satie's own language as he prepared the work. To Milhaud he categorized it as a "ballet obscene."

The following letters show something of Satie's preparations in 1924:

July 27, 1924, to P. de Massot ... I am working on "Reliche" as hard as I can. Anyway, I have done the

first part (the first half, in consequence). Yes. . ... Am fairly pleased. Note that I write all my music myself - All the flats (especially), all the

sharps (even the double ones) are made entirely (from head to toe!) by myself. All that is very curious, and denotes great strength of character (frank and honest). So, I bless myself....

In the following letter, eight measures of the opening of the

"Rentr6e de la Femme" are given, to be found on page 28 of the printed score of Reldche:

August 10, 1924, to Darius Milhaud

... Here enclosed is the "little thingummy" in a different version. . . . Auric won't like it: - "Pooh! ..." he will say.

I am working hard. Things are "moving." I am not displeased. . . . There's a lot of "sob stuff." The enclosed example puts you in the picture about that....

September 1, 1924, to Darius Milhaud ... The obscene ballet is finished. . . . Very happy am I. Yes. . . . The little

Russian coach (the one who did the "Cr6ation du Monde") is back from America. It is she - she herself - who is rehearsing "Reliche." Yes. . . . Very happy am I and re-am I. . .. Yes ...

... The "Muttonheads" are again going to be "staggered" and "flabbergasted." What luck! ...

Jacques Doucet again extended support and sympathy, to the two principal collaborators in October:

October 9, 1924, to Jacques Doucet ... Picabia has written to me and told me of your kind invitation for the

15th (Wednesday). Do I accept? . .

. But with pleasure! . . . And I thank you most sincerely for thinking of me....

Further arrangements for the party followed:



Satie Letters 417

October 13, 1924, to Jacques Doucet

. Since you offer so very kindly to pick us up, I shall be at the "D6me" at 12:30 on Wednesday. That way Duchamp may possibly be able to join us....

It is curious, and in a sense satisfying, that Satie, hard at work in the week before the first performance of his last work, Reldche, should have been reminded, by an invitation to a commemoration ceremony, of his early beginnings as "official musician" to Joseph Peladan's Rosicrucian Sect in the early 1890s:

November 23, 1924, to M. Victor-Emile Michelet . I am truly sorry: I have been quite snowed under by my work at the

"Theatre des Champs Elysdes" and unable to attend to what you asked me to do....

S. . I would have been very happy to join the friends of PMladan, whose

memory is ever dear to me....

Letters to Milhaud

The important series of forty-one letters that Satie addressed to Darius Milhaud, senior member of the Groupe des Six and one of the few friends or collaborators with whom Satie did not fall out, covers the years 1919 to 1924. The Milhauds played a most important role in caring for Satie during his final illness in 1925; Darius Milhaud has described the death of Satie in his Notes sans Musique and elsewhere.7

An undated letter, probably from early 1919, inquires: "And how is that 'Boeuf.' " Milhaud completed his celebrated ballet score in which he used Brazilian rhythms and effects, Le Boeuf sur le Toit,s in Paris in 1919, and it was first performed at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees on February 21, 1920. That program also included Satie's Trois petites Pieces montees (Marche de Cocagne, De l'Enfance de Pantagruel, Jeux de Gargantua), composed in 1919 and arranged for piano duet in 1920. The following letter suggests this suite as more suitable for inclusion than the Cinq Grimaces composed in 1914 for Cocteau's unrealized production of A Midsum- mer Night's Dream.

7 D. Milhaud, Notes sans Musique (Paris, 1949), Chap. XXIII; see also "Les der- niers jours d'Erik Satie," in Le Figaro littiraire, April 23, 1949, p. 5. I wish to express my gratitude to Madeleine Milhaud who most kindly sent me copies of all of Satie's letters she could find, with friendly encouragement.

8 The teasing letter of July 16, 1920, calls the work Boeuf chur leur toi (Oaks on their hoof).




January 1, 1919 My Dear Friend - I am so sorry: the "Grimaces" are written for too large

an orchestra. If you like, I could write Trois petites Marches - including the Marche de Cocagne - for small orchestra, with a duration of 10 minutes....

Poulenc's Cocardes completed the bill. Satie was liberal in his encouragement of Milhaud's composing,

even though he did not always turn up at important events:

No date [1919 or 1920] ... I heard, after the concert yesterday, that your "Codphores" went well.

Very. Bravo, Dear Friend, Bravo!!! Let the "Young" composers send the Schmitts, the Ingelbrechts, and all the

other "old" sub-Vidalists, Dubois-windbreakers, Saint-Sains-belchers into the imitation dung heap...

Florent Schmitt's opera Antoine et Cldopdtre (to a text trans- lated from Shakespeare by Gide) was performed on June 14, 1920. On November 18, the Ballets Suedois gave D.-E. Ingelbrecht's El Greco. Paul Vidal, Theodore Dubois, Camille Saint-Sains were all of an older generation, "Establishment" figures of the Conservatoire and pedagogical circles. Milhaud's dramatic setting of Les Cod- phores (on a text of Claudel, after Aeschylus) for orchestra, soprano, baritone, reciter, and chorus was composed in 1915 and first performed on June 15, 1919, at the Concerts Delgrange, with Delgrange conducting.

Satie's affection and respect for Milhaud were deep and sincere, and it was with genuine trepidation that he learned of Milhaud's plans to travel to Denmark with Claudel.9 No date [1920]

* . I am sorry to hear that you are going abroad at the end of the summer. You are not going back to your Brazilery, are you? A beautiful country, but rather distant. ....

The Trois petites Pieces montees are probably the subject of a curious letter summoning Milhaud to a meeting in conditions of great secrecy:

January 11, 1920 . Come tomorrow, and . . "Don't give anything away." Not a word to

ANYBODY, above all: "Don't give anything away." SERIOUS.

9 Milhaud spent the period from spring, 1917, to winter, 1918, in Brazil as "secretary" to Paul Claudel, who was at that time French Ambassador.



Satie Letters 419

. I am working on the "thingummies." I have found a copyist who only takes ten minutes to do anything. Yes. ...

The following letter shows that Milhaud had already discovered the magical copyist, who was clearly in great demand:

January 24, 1920

... I have just been to see Roy, the copyist. Would you mind letting me have your turn, since he has some of your "thingummies"? On Wednesday I shall take him the orchestral material for the Petites Pikces monties - I have finished - Happy am I. ....

On March 8, 1920, Pierre Bertin, who was to produce Satie's dada play Medusa's Trap the following year, supervised the first presentation by Satie and Milhaud of "furniture music" played between the acts of a Max Jacob play but intended not to be listened to. The following day Satie wrote to thank Milhaud and tell him about two more pieces of his, probably the extremely brief articles "Pas de Casernes" and "Ne Confondons pas" in Jean Cocteau's broadsheet Le Coq Nos. 2 and 3, published in June and July-Sep- tember respectively. The opening displays Satie's ease and increas- ing familiarity with Milhaud:

March 9, 1920 Dear Milhe-Milhe - is is Tie-Tie writing to you: he has finished his "thin-

gummies." He is as happy as a king. We shall "get" them. Have you read "Comoedia"? Am quite bowled over by that article. Yes, quite. A "mysterious contributor" is mentioned: - "one of the most gifted composers of the new school - but, ssh! it is a surprise!" Who is it?

How grateful I am to you for coming to the "furniture music." Yes, old friend. ...

"Furniture music" was still much in Satie's mind in October, when Milhaud was given a rendezvous at a party in the house of Elise Caryathis in the rue Lamarck, Montmartre; the "symphonic composition" is a grand description of no doubt La Belle excen- trique, composed in 1920 for Mlle Caryathis, a famous Can-Can dancer. A letter of September 23, 1920, to Jean Cocteau describes it as "coming along very well."

October 14, 1920

?. At "Caryathis" you shall hear a symphonic composition and, if you like,

some "furniture music." We shall be doing it, Poulenc and myself. Auric is too lazy really for us to be able to count on him. Besides, he does not like "furniture music". .




Milhaud was further encouraged in an undated letter probably written in 1921. It refers to Milhaud's L'Homme et son Desir (1918), first performed by the Ballets Suddois on June 9, 1921 (conducted by Ingelbrecht!). Audry Parr made "Brazilian" costumes, guided by Claudel:

[1921] ... Bravo! It is exquisite: it has everything: strength, poetry, etc.... Mme Parr's costumes are delightful. You have a great success on your hands,

present and future .... A further reference to "Caryathis parties" appears in February,

1921; they were uninhibited, to say the least:

February 4, 1921 ... I shall go to see Caryathis in the evening (TOMORROW) - Last Sat-

urday was "perfect," it seems. They had a fine session: . . . spewing and urinating on the staircase. etc. . ... One of them even left his underpants! Odd.

I hope that tomorrow evening will be even more "jolly." That is what I am going for again - and for myself. ....

P.S. - I think it would be better not to have any more "PARTIES" at Caryathis', at least for a while. I shall go tomorrow "JUST TO SEE."

In May, 1921, Milhaud conducted the orchestra of eight instru- ments for the seven "Monkey's Dances" in the first performance of Le Pidge de Mdduse.10 Included in the program was Milhaud's "shymmy" Caramel mou for singer and Jazz Band (with the collaboration of Jean Cocteau.11 The usual letter of thanks - for Satie was punctilious in such matters - soon followed:

June 1, 1921 ' . . I blush, at full speed, at not having thanked you yet for your masterly

and friendly conducting of the "Dances from the Piege de Mfduse." Thank you, my dear friend; you conducted my work better--MUCH BETTER

- than your own shimmy. You know what you are conducting; you are aware of what you are directing - and very much so, too. ...

In December, 1921, Milhaud went to his native Provence. Satie compared his proteg6's success with his own relative lack of it, though it is uncertain to which performance he refers; at this time

10 A letter of March 28, 1913, to Roland-Manuel announces the completion of the composition.

11 Caramel mou is referred to in a letter of January 17, 1921, to Milhaud's mother, Mme G. Milhaud: "Baba has just composed a fantastic 'shimmy' - most, even."



Satie Letters 421

the Concerts Colonne were the scene of a number of performances especially of music by Les Six:

December 23, 1921 . . . Greetinigs. I had expected to meet you yesterday at dinner with Minme

Cocteau. I learnt there that you were in Provence, coolly warming your elbows in the sunshine, if I may say so.

P'oulenc told me all about your performance in Lyon. Bravo! Good work. Perfect. AMore than that, even . . . at the "Colonne" I did not

have a triumphant success. No. Rather, I brought back with me a jacket - a little jacket - a tiny little jacket, a wee little jacket such as is worn in our parts by so-called cafe waiters (those who serve us drinks in certain public places). Yes....

P.S. Happy New Year. May the "NIuttonheads" grovel like snakes!

In 1922, Milhaud introduced four young composer-admirers to Satie - Henri Sauguet, Roger Desormibre, Henri Cliquet-Pleyel, Maxime-Jacob - who in homage momentarily adopted the title "Ecole d'Arcueil," after the suburb where Satie lived.'2 One of these introductions is anticipated in the following letter:

June 20, 1922 ... I have not seen Cliquet yet. Is this the same person as Cliquet-Pleyel -

I ask myself politely. ... You wonder if I will listen to his "thingummies".... You are lucky being able to work. I am working too, but very badly. . . . What I am doing is dreadful, frighteningly dreadful. . ... Oh well! ... Sad.

Warm wishes, my Dear Friend. from one who ever admires and loves you .

The meeting proved an unqualified success:

June 28, 1922 .. Quite "fantastic"! I am still being "flabbergasted" about it, and I see - and hear - why our

young friends Auric and Poulenc go about pouting and blinking. . . . Heavens! ... Too true! ...

He played me a very attractive Suite for piano; some Tangos; and let me hear some very fetching songs.

On Sunday I shall hear an exquisite Quartet (which I have already heard in piano-duet form). We shall have fun, and I am writing to Jean to prepare him by preparing him with a little preparatory preparation which will make him prepared, . ... if I dare say so myself....

It is hard to say if Satie's "forgetfulness" in October, causing him to miss a further meeting with Cliquet-Pleyel, was deliberate or

12 Satie refers to these composers in his article "Parlons a voix basse," in Feuilles Libres (1923), and in his lecture on Les Nouveaux jeunes (1923).




not. It is a consistent trait in his character, borne out across the span of his correspondence with many different people, to "forget" inconvenient appointments, or to make obvious excuses for non- attendance, especially if any invitation meant leaving Paris.

October 14, 1922 It is just my luck! I am writing to the good Cliquet to say what happened:

I forgot all about it. Yes. What can I say? I am going "loony," there are no two ways about it! . . .

And I so much wanted to see you! What unluck! ...

In this case, perhaps, the absentmindedness was genuine, for in ten days' time Satie wrote of his intention to introduce Cliquet- Pleyel to Sybil Harris, wife of the American Ambassador and warm

supporter and friend, to whom Satie addressed two letters now preserved among the Harvard manuscripts. October 24, 1922

Tomorrow evenilng I shall introduce Cliquet to Mme Harris. Please come along about line o'clock. Our friend is unable to invite you to dinner: no more room. We shall havc a lot of Montparnasse artists there who want to meet Cliquet. It is a pit)y .\uric is not here. He would have been very pleased to come.

Poulenc isn't in Paris, is he? If he is, please tell him to come. Yes....

In November Satie missed another Milhaud premire - the Sonatine for flute and piano, composed in Aix in 1922 but first

performed publicly only in January, 1923.

November 7, 1922 ... Alas! I was not able to come and hear your flute sonata. Believe me I am

sorry about it, from every point of view. Yes. Forgive me. . ... Do you belong to the Society for French M\usic then? . . . Can it be true. . . . What is it? . . .

H6'bertot has withdrawn Paul et Virginie from the works he is to present. ... Odd and most unexpected! ... What "miracle" lies behind this gesture? .

Satie had written to Poulenc on August 20, 1921: "I am working on Paul et Virginie as hard as I can. I would like to have an orchestral excerpt from it played at Pierne's this winter." The broadsheet Le Coq No. 4 in November, 1920, had included the following curious announcement: "On November 22 there took place the

reading to Erik Satie of PAUL ET VIRGINIE, comic opera in three acts by Jean Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet. PAUL ET VIRGINIE will be Satie's next work and his farewell to musical composition.

"Subsequently he intends to devote himself entirely to the cause of young musicians."



Satie Letters 423

The notebook (Paris B. N. Mus. 9576, p. 5) contains the following amusing lines: "Virginie was singing like a dainty little potato. Then Paul danced on one leg so as not to disturb his parents. Vir- ginie liked watching him dance. Virginie's song made the monkeys weep."

Despite all this, there is no evidence that he ever composed a single note of this work. Certainly, he was still far from saying a "farewell to music," though it is true that in 1922 his output (six articles and a "causerie") was entirely literary. It is just possible that the fanfare "To waken the King of the Monkeys" which he composed in 1921 for Fanfare No. 1 is connected with the monkeys who wept at Virginie's song.

In December, 1922, Satie was fostering a further member of the "Arcueil School," Maxime-Jacob: December 16, 1922

I have received a1 very kind letter from Maxime-Benjamin-Jacob ("quite" a name. Yes).

I am asking him to meet me at Rouart's ... on Monday at 5:30 (17:30). Please excuse me, for Thursday: the Braques kept me and I could not re-

fuse ...

Braque had provided illustrations for the deluxe edition of Le Pikge de Mdduse in 1921 and Satie spent a few days at his house, as well as at those of Milhaud and Derain, with the onset in 1924 of the serious illness from which he was to die on July 1, 1925.

A few days later, a letter betrays Satie's unabated displeasure with both Roland-Manuel, who had dared to dislike Socrate13 and with Auric, who increasingly failed to show him due respect:"14

December 19, 1922 . I was counting on meeting you tomorrow at "Antigone," but I could

not even get an aisle seat. Too bad! It is not very nice. I have received a package bearing the signature G. Milhaud and sent from

Marseilles (Colonial Exhibition). This package has not yet been opened. What is it?

A surprise from your dear mother, I expect. She really is too kind! Yes.

13 The theme of letters to Roland-Manuel especially March 15, 1919, and Feb- ruary 23, 1920. M. Claude Roland-Manual, son of the composer, kindly informs me that, in his opinion, the cause of the split with Satie was Roland-Manuel's wish to retain his independence and not join an expanded "Groupe des Sept."

14The final and irrevocable split with both Auric and Poulenc occurred in Monte Carlo in the last days of 1923; Satie publicly mocks them both in Picabia's journal 391, in July, 1924.




Fancy Auric thinking that Rol.-Mlan. is very talented. He is positive that our dear Rol.-Man. is even more talented than Cliquet. Odd, I say....

It was characteristic of Satie to write Milhaud and ask what was in the parcel Milhaud's mother had sent, rather than to take the more obvious course of opening it! The contents proved to be some very acceptable chestnut fondants, for which he wrote a charming, if typically odd, thank-you on December 31, 1922.

Jean Cocteau's Antigone, produced in 1922 by Charles Dullin at L'A telier, had incidental music by Honegger, who later developed it into a "tragedie musicale en trois actes" which was first performed in Brussels in 1927.

On December 22, 1922, Satie sent a short note to wish Milhaud well on his imminent concert tour in the United States. While abroad, Milhaud, who was particularly uncompromising inl his youth, made some comments about French music which irritated Establishment opinion, represented in the following letter by one of Satie's archenemies, the critic Emile Vuillermoz:

January 28, 1923 . . . Vuillermoz- at the International Committee - created a Milhaud

incident. Koechlin and I stood up to him, but he intends to ask a number of questions about your anti-French attitude in America .... Yes.

An odd thing: Ravel shook me by the havnd (with his very own) and (just to be "nice") helped a little to deal with Vuillermoz. Yes....

Charles Koechlin was most sympathetic toward Satie and published an excellent article about him in 1924.'5

That trouble did continue to stir among the members of the Socidt6 Independante de Musique is clear from the unreserved terminology of a letter sent to Milhaud in February, anticipating his return to France:

February 24, 1923

. .. The wonderful "International Committee" are nothing but merde. They

play around with us with two hands, with four hands and feet as well. Roland- Manuel and Lazarus are the most listened to in this band of "twits." Yes, my dear friend. I am ashamed to mix in such company. After I have seen you, I shall resign. ...

Following the first experiments in "furniture music," Milhaud obtained a commission for Satie to write some music in this vein for the American, Mrs. Eugene Meyer (Junior), whose home (thus to

15 In La Revue musicale, V (March, 1924), 133-207.



Satie Letters 425

be musically decorated) was in Crescent Place, Washington. The one-page score, which bears the date March 28, is now in the Biblio- theque Litteraire Jacques Doucet. Satie was most appreciative: March 26, 1923

I am as happy as a king: I have just finished the "thingummy" for the Ameri- can lady. Yes.

It is a piece of Furniture Music (coloring for a Prefectural Office). I have written this specimen for orchestra: Piccolo, Bb clar., Bassoon, Horn in F, Trump. in C, Percussion, and String Quintet. Yes.

It is decorative and sumptuous in appearance - meant to appeal visually. I am proud of it.

I am making a fair copy, and then I shall send the thing. Yes. Thanks.... If you have a hundred jobs like that, any time! ...

There may have been some delay, nevertheless, since a month later it was necessary urgently to contact the American lady. The same letter vents more spite at the expense of Auric, though it is uncertain which "little performer" is meant:

April 27 1923 . I am sending an express letter to Mme E. M. Junior (odd name, I say).

I shall come, of course. Auric wrote me a rather "grousing" note, the dear old companion. He does

not seem to like our little performer; and so he lets out a tiny little stream of gall, full of the blackest disillusionment. Our friend is distinctly somber (som- brero, in Spanish). ...

Apart from the page of "furniture music," Satie had composed little since 1920 until he set L.-P. Fargue's Ludions in 1923. These are referred to in June as "mdlodoches."

June 1, 1923 ... I am very proud that you like the little "tyoons." Yes! ...

In 1923, Satie, Poulenc, and Auric were commissioned by Diaghi- lev for the Ballets Russes season at Monte Carlo in early January, 1924. They were to complete the setting of spoken passages in some neglected operas by Gounod. Satie was allotted Le Me'decin malgrd lui. Through his good offices, Milhaud was also commissioned to help with Chabrier's Education manquqe. These negotiations are the subject of a series of letters between Satie, Milhaud, and Diaghi- lev throughout 1923.

The initial letter from Satie to Milhaud in July, passing on the invitation, reveals that it had been necessary to overcome some op-




position to the idea on Diaghilev's part, since the impresario was not initially greatly in favor of securing Milhaud's collaboration:

July 21, 1923 . I "pulled his leg" a bit about the way he has ostracized you, and he

seems to be becoming better disposed toward you. What do you think of it? To be frank, I cannot really advise you. I should tell you that there is a

fee of one thousand francs and that the work is fairly short, but . . . it is of some consequence and will deserve to be followed up by some COMPENSATION. Yes.

Consider it carefully. .

Work on this project continued, feverishly at times, for the rest of the year:

August 19, 1923 ... I am "turning out" Gounod as if it was raining with the stuff....

This same letter refers to a revival of the Piege de Meduse sug- gested by Rolf de Mar6, Director of the Ballets Suedois, for whom Satie was shortly, in 1924, to create his final and possibly most scandalous work, the "ballet instantan6iste" Reldche, in collaboration with Francis Picabia and Rene Clair:

. Why did I forget to say yes about the Piege de Mdduse in the last card I wrote to you? . . . I ask myself. Yes. . . . Do as you wish with it. I am

very touched by this invitation from R. de Mare....

Satie's completion of the second act of Le MAPdecin malgrd lui is announced in a letter to Milhaud on September 15, 1923, and the third act in a letter to Sybil Harris on November 3, 1923.

Meanwhile, Milhaud had been busy with preparations for the first performance of his La Brebis egarde, an early work composed between 1910 and 1915. It was put on at the Paris Opra-Comique in December, 1923. Again, Satie admired, but from a distance.

December 10, 1923 . . I saw that it went well and that with the "Brebis 'gar'e" you have given

a remarkable work to Music .... Bravo! . . .Bruneau's article has a lot to say

about that. Yes ... Our enemies are biting and rebiting the dust. You are avenging us-and

how....

In the spring of 1924, Satie first experienced radio broadcasting. How sad that it came just too late for him to make use of it; how



Satie Letters 427

prophetic radio has caused his vision of "furniture music" to become! He invited Milhaud to a hearing of the new wonder, though with his usual satirical bite:

March 3, 1924 ... The Julien Henriquets will be pleased to have you with me (and them-

selves) on the auditory semaphore (Radiola) day; they ask me to invite you to their modest meal (cabbage and cold veal); the meal will be before the (auditory) audition of the said auditory semaphore....

Mercure, the ballet written by the trio that had collaborated on Parade in 1917, Satie, Picasso, and Massine, who had now broken with Diaghilev, was commissioned by the Comte de Beaumont and took up the first half of 1924. It was first performed in the series of "Soirees de Paris" on June 15, 1924. A letter from the following day asks Milhaud to attend the second performance to check on the conductor, Roger Desormiere, and see that he did not keep repeating the music during the prolonged scene changes thereby giving the audience the impression that the music was itself the cause of delay!

A small indication of Satie's declining health comes in an otherwise newsless letter early in August:

August 7, 1924 .. Myself, I have my hands full of rheumatism. Yes. .... I find it (rela-

tively) amusing ....

Reldche occupied Satie for most of the remainder of the year. The letter of August 10, 1924, quotes a few measures of "sob stuff" with a contented aside that Auric would not like it. On September 1, 1924, he announced that "the obscene ballet is finished." The dancers in Reldche were being coached, Satie was pleased to observe, by Borlin a "little Russian" who had also worked on Milhaud's La Creation du Monde, in Paris in 1923.

The final letter in the Milhaud series shows Satie's genuine con- cern as he reacts to news of a severe storm which had struck the Milhaud family home in Provence probably shortly after the Bel- gian composer and strong supporter of Satie and Les Six, Paul Collaer, and his wife had been staying there:

September 27, 1924 Dear Great Friend - You really had a TORNADO! However could it happen?

It is incredible!...




At least, your "clos" was not affected, was it? . . . The little lady must have been afraid....

If it were me, I would be in a blue "funk." I do not like these great upsets in Nature. I find them useless and misplaced. ...

Unlike the comparable series of forty-four letters to Roland-

Manuel,"6 the correspondence with Darius Milhaud is unmarred by dissension. Indeed, it is characterized by a warmth of friendship and mutual admiration of artistry which may serve as a tribute both to the prophet of Arcueil and to the late, much regretted maitre of Aix and the Boulevard Clichy.

16 Satie also wrote fifteen letters to Roland-Manuel's stepmother Mme F. Dreyfus. The entire collection was most kindly communicated to me by the composer's son, M. Claude Roland-Manuel, to whom I express my gratitude.



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Erik Satie's Letters to Milhaud and Others - TRAN-B-300tranb300.ulb.ac.be/2013-2014/groupe317/archive/files/19f397b... · Erik Satie's Letters to Milhaud and Others NIGEL WILKINS