Erik Satie (1866–1925)

Born in Honfleur in 1866, Erik Satie entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he was judged mediocre, and left. He became a cabaret pianist in Montmartre, notably at the Chat Noir, and in 1888 wrote the three Gymnopédies, followed by the Gnossiennes, written without bar lines.

A friend of Debussy, he lived modestly in Arcueil. Nearly forty, he went back to study counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum. His pieces from the 1910s carry humorous titles and directions (“Véritables préludes flasques (pour un chien)”, “Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois”).

With the ballet Parade (1917, with Cocteau and Picasso) he became a figure of the avant-garde and godfather of Les Six. His idea of “furniture music”, music not meant to be listened to attentively, foreshadows ambient music.

For pianists, Satie teaches simplicity: an even sound, a motionless tempo, and the art of making a bare line expressive without adding anything.