Erik Satie’s Musique d’Ameublement, some ninety years later

8/11/2019 Erik Saties Musique dAmeublement, some ninety years later

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Erik Saties Musique dAmeublement, someninety years later

(v.1220 2008-11-23)

Nicola Bernardini

A few days ago it rained. I should be out gatheringmushrooms. But here I am, having to write about Satie. Inan unguarded moment I said I would. Now I am pesteredwith a deadline. Why, in heavens name, dont people readthe books about him that are available, play the music thatspublished? Then I for one could go back to the woods andspend my time profitably.

John Cage, Erik Satie in Silence, 1961, p.76[Cage, 1961]

1 Introduction

After having been ignored or despised during his lifetime, composer Erik Satie and hisconcepts and ideas are an alltime favorite target of colonial appropriation by artand industry alike. His Musique dAmeublement is no exception. Perhaps the boldestand most provocative intellectual gesture of his production, the series of the MusiquesdAmeublement was, as we will see later on, essentially a failure during his existenceand went on being forgotten for about another thirty years after his death, until JohnCage resuscitated them out of oblivion with his longtime dedication and wit. Sincethen, the cohort of eccentric artists of all sorts that call themselves followers of Satie,his Furniture Music, his Vexations, etc. grows every day with unresting pace. TheMusiques dAmeublementare said to be at the origin ofmusique concrete, then of min-imal music, then of ambient music, and so on (cf.[Rowley, 2004]). Even Cage seemedattracted more by the ability of Saties surrealist ideas to explain his own thinking aboutmusic at an early stage rather than by their extraordinary appearance in the contextin which Satie was operating (cf.[Cage, 1961]).

There is little surprise in this since Saties musical and aesthetic intelligence is byall means exceptional and any kind of artistic production may powder itself with a

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(possibly pale-ish) halo of humor and prestige by simply mentioning it. However, onemight wonder instead if a closer understanding of Saties thinking embedded in hisown days, rather than a simple appropriation of his ideas out of context, would notproduce a stronger appreciation of the aesthetic wealth that we have inherited from the

Maitre dArcueil. This short paper will attempt to sketch a different point of view onthe Musique dAmeublement setting it as a starting point for a wider exercise on theevolution of the functions of music.

2 The Musiques dAmeublement

The Musiques dAmeublementare well described by a number of sources (for ex. [Voltaand Pleasance,1998,Orledge,1990, Templier, 1932,Shlomowitz,1999, Wikipedia,20052008]) relieving this author to extend this paper with another lengthy description. Whilethe Musique dAmeublement might have become a compositional procedure in his lastworks (cf.[Orledge, 1990, p.4]), the term is officially used in three sets of pieces, rang-

ing from 1917 to 1923 (cf.[Wikipedia, 20052008]). Only the second set was played bySatie (counting Milhaud as a fellow player, follower and longtime friend) during hislife. The three pieces composing the set were created as intermission music to MaxJacobs play Ruffian toujours, truand jamaisat the Barbazanges Gallery in Paris. Be-sides the provocative description embedded by Satie and Milhaud in the scores of thefirst performance (Furnishing music completes ones property; its new; it doesnt upsetcustoms; it isnt tiring; its French; it wont wear out; it isnt boring, cf.[Gillmor,1988,pp.325326]), and in the descriptive text written in the program (We are presentingtoday for the first time a creation of Messieurs Erik Satie and Darius Milhaud, directedby M. Delgrange, the musique dameublement which will be played during the inter-missions. We urge you to take no notice of it and to behave during the intervals as if

it did not exist. This music, specially composed for Max Jacobs play claims to makea contribution to life in the same way as a private conversation, a painting in a gallery,or the chair on which you may or may not be seated., quoted by [Templier, 1932]),a really enlightening detail is revealed by a wellknown anecdote concerning this play.Apparently, the artists invitation neither to listen nor care for the music being playedand to visit an exposition of childrens drawings which was concurrently showing in thesame gallery went unnoticed. When the ensemble started playing, the public stoppedand sat, listening attentively to the music being played much to the dismay of thecreators.

While Saties descriptions are often deceptive and subtly satirical and indeed theones related to this second set are like that this detail is enlighting because it shows

the real intent with which Satie conceived his Musique dAmeublement: breaking therepresentationalmodel and function of bourgeois music performance, possibly recover-ing/discovering other functions for music. Another wellknown characteristic of Satiewas his elaborate opposition to a vast number of musical styles which were very trendyin his times: these range from the late German romanticism to the fauve composers,from impressionism to expressionism, etc. In general, Satie was attuned to the Dadaistmovement in his animosity towards crystallized functions and roles in music: it is easyto think that he did not hold in high consideration the bourgeois public of his time and that his Musique dAmeublement(along with the Vexations) constitute the sublime

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insult to that public.Musically speaking, the Musique dAmeublement is very ingeniously conceived. It

consists of very short pieces which may be repeated an indefinite number of times. Inthe case of the 1920 set, the composer considered the number of repetitions in function

of the duration of the entracte. The astounding feature of this music is that its har-monic texture and its counterpoint are designed to create a circular endless form whoserepetition constitutes always a new starting point while being completely expectable.Satie has not used all the musical tricks and shortcuts that were used later on by hiswouldbe epigons. No simplistic modal progressions or pedal notes are being used, nomelodic device is put forth to smooth the endless repetition. The harmony is tonal,the music features cadences, pickups, salient points and catchy melodies. The form ofSaties Musiques dAmeublementshow even less resemblance to any minimalmusic, notto mention muzak: repetitions are always strictly identical, there is no identifiable mu-sical form related to them, there are no variations, no extensions, there is no evolutionin the strict sense. The message is exasperatingly static, and it does not seek to offer

any solution nor escape to its staticity.

3 Plundering followers

The idea that the Musique dAmeublementwas the first muzakever conceived was pro-posed by Milhaud at a later time: Satie was right: nowadays, children and housewivesfill their homes with unheeded music, reading and working to the sound of the wireless.And in all public places, large stores and restaurants, the customers are drenched inan unending flood of music. It is musique dameublement, heard, but not listened to(quoted by[Orledge,1995]). Again, Saties wit can indeed serve to many purposes, butthe distance between Saties Musique dAmeublementand presentday muzak is simply

incommensurable on musical terms.The same goes forambient music, another category that pleases itself with the idea of

deriving from theMusique dAmeublement. Again, the differences in musical conceptionwould suffice to dismiss any connection between the two.

But there is also an opposition in another dimension that is worthwhile mentioninghere. This opposition is made by the fact that Saties Musique dAmeublement wasconceived as a tribute to the makingof a culture: the claim thatMusique dAmeublementwas pure entertainment which does not deserve attention nor intellectual speculationis obviously deceptive and it indicates that Satie was concerned with the deviations ofthe society of his time, unable to conceive music as a social bonding device any longerleaving all its functions to its representational capabilities.

Muzak and ambient music are two commercial categories that have exactly the op-posite function: they exist to anesthetize the musical speculation functions of the brainof their listeners, possibly benumbing it to convert its owner to a more accommodatingconsumer and/or voter. There is no provocation, no satirical intention whatsoever.

4 Culture versus Entertainment

How is it possible that the opposition between the Musiques dAmeublement and itswouldbe followersmuzakandambient musichas been rarely (if ever) caught by analysts

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ical, and even musical and artistic). For example, the European COST research actionon Sonic Interaction Design1is a clear indicator of the interest the European research isexpressing toward these issues. Satie showed us that sound and music creation shouldnot be deprived of its cultural functions. May he exert a positive influence on scientific

research too.

References

John Blacking. How musical is man? University of Washington Press, 1973.

John Cage. Erik Satie, pages 7683. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, USA,1961.

Alan M. Gillmor. Erik Satie. Twayne Publishing, 1988.

Robert Orledge. Satie the composer. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990.

Robert Orledge. Satie remembered. Amadeus Press, 1995.

Caitlin Rowley. Erik saties crystal ball. http://www.minim-media.com/satie/index.html, 2004.

Matthew Shlomowitz. Cages place in the reception of Satie. http://www.af.lu.se/

~fogwall/article8.html , 1999.

Pierre-Daniel Templier. Erik Satie. Rieder, 1932.

Ornella Volta and Simon Pleasance. Erik Satie. Hazan, 1998.

Wikipedia. Furniture music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furniture_music,20052008.

1SID, COSTIC0601,http://www.cost-sid.org

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Erik Satie’s Musique d’Ameublement, some ninety years later