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Modernism in Music and Erik Satie's Parade
Author(s): Susan Calkins
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 .
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S. Calkins:
Modernism
and Erik Satie's
inMusic
IRASM 41 (2010)1:3-19
Parade
Susan
Calkins
Schools
Wayland
44 Oakvale
Road
FRAMINGHAM,MA 01701,
U.SA.
E-mail:
Modernism
Erik Satie's
in Music
Parade
and
Introduction
a
curious and provocative
work
of
performance art described by it creators as a one-act
'ballet r?aliste' was premiered in Paris in 1917. Itwas
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,
[email protected]
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.
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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IRASM41 1
(2010) 1: 3-19 '
I
1
S'
Modernism inMusic
^lk!n|:
ErikSatie s Parade
and
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-garde
there has
Certainly
never
been
a more
spectacular
performances.
marriage
of movement,
music,
and
design...Coming fromRussia, themost backward society in Europe [at the time] and
man
performing ballet, themost traditionalof art forms,theBallets Russes nonetheless
aged to do more than any other single institution topopularize artisticmodernism.1
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
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
on
of avant-gard
art.
had
that
the
The
Parade
development
impact
performance
Its unique creative thrust certainly
ism can be examined frommany perspectives.
demonstrated a daring and radical departure from traditional ballet performance,
and it attracted a great deal of attention when itwas firstperformed. But it is the
music for the ballet that has endured nearly a century and that appears on concert
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
developed
High
throughout
Fashion
as its relationship to trends inmusical
the twentieth century.
and Performance
composition
that
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 popularity
1
Mark
Ballets
Russes,
Festival Celebrates
FEENEY, Russian Revelry: A Weeklong
The Boston Globe, G Magazine, May
15, 2009,19.
the 100th Anniversary
4
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of the
S. Calkins:
Modernism
and Erik Satie's
inMusic
Parade
I
IRASM 41 (2010)1:3-19
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
to ignore, and the
followed each saison
ground in reporting
dramatic contact.2
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;
first scenario for a ballet, Satie's first
its collaborating artists: itwas Jean Cocteau's
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
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
a
to
artist.
in their endeavor
skillful
step
becoming
They proceeded
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
on
and
for
affronts
conservatism
the
cultural
that
had
provocative
risqu?
hungry
so
arts
dominated
the performing
for many years. Interviews with Cocteau
and
Satie, as well as articles written by them, were regularly featured in the most
such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, and
stylish and contemporary Parisian publications
soon
the Parade collaboration
and
after its premiere, Cocteau
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
same
at
fashion
the
most
French
featured
the
of
time,
that,
pages
sty
magazines
lish and modern examples of haute couture.
Modernist
Collaboration
The ballet
scenario was
outskirts of Paris.
15.
2
Mary
3
E. DAVIS,
It portrayed
Classic
set in a Parisian mansion
and a fairground on the
a circus
of
parade
performers and an array of un
Chic: Music
Fashion
and Modernism,
University
of California
Press,
2006,
Ibid., 146.
5
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inMusic
S. Calkins: Modernism
and Erik Satie's Parade
IRASM41 (2010)1:3-19
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
melodies
jazzy, fragmented
rhythms, Picasso's bizarre collage of inanimate
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
event that
relatively more accessible to the audience), a provocative mixed-media
sense
its
audiences
of tradi
any
challenged
ballet-going
by openly abandoning
tional beauty or grace in its setting ofmusic and dance.
creative works such as Parade have been able to achieve public
Avant-garde
on
the basis of their sheer originality. But as Daniel Albright noted,
acceptance
The
great Modernist
collaborations
all
survive
as
is Parade
fragments...What
today?
Picasso's sketches belong to theworld of Picasso studies; Satie's score is an artifactof
Cocteau's
musicology;
scenario,
which
seemed
so
dispensable
to Satie
and
Picasso,
has been fullydispensed with...it was frombeginning to end, an exercise in coordi
nated
incongruity.4
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,
and
marked
the
loss
of
his
mother
the
traumatic
disruptions that
profoundly
by
resulted from her absence. Satie's music education began with his stepmother, a
4
Daniel
sity of Chicago
ALBRIGHT,
Press,
Untwisting
2000,185.
the Serpent: Modernism
inMusic,
Literature, and otherArts, Univer
6
I
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S. Calkins:Modernism inMusic
and Enk Satie s Parade
I
\
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
as being
criticized
Satie's
and
reviewers
compositions
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) and
Vincent
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
met
failure.
with
des
Beaux-Arts
in the Acad?mie
become established
repeated
He had not faired well on the personal front either. The composer had experi
enced only one apparent love affair, and itwas said to have ended abruptly. Often
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
on
he
he
before
was a complete eccentric?several
Parade,
years
began working
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
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41 (2010)
1: 3-19 1
IRASM
1
Impressionism,
II
in
Modernism
Music
S'
wCf!n|:
and
ErikSatie s Parade
Expressionism
and Satie
European civilization was war-torn at the time of the Parade collabo
the political
creative discourse, offering
tensions only nourished
In
and
of
Satie's
challenges
opportunities.
spite
peculiar personality and his lack
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
Western
ration, and
vibrant musical
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
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,
art
that
the
is
of imprecision,?
stating
impressionism
?8
that
he
himself
towards
?tend[ed]
qualifying
precision.
By openly snubbing his
more successful
even further, and his
Satie
himself
contemporaries,
marginalized
efforts to become established as a viable composer were often thwarted by his
lack of discretion.
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:
before
A
unique
aspect
of expressionism...is
that
it is the embodiment
primarily
of artists'
attitudes toward society and the individual...In their anger at the incrustations of
bourgeois culture,which hid truthand suppressed individuality, artistsopposed such
manifestations
of 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,
France
8
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
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S. Calkins: Modernism inMusic
and ErikSatie s Parade
away
from tradition?in
ways
that were
not distant
I
|
M 41 (2010) 1: 3-19
* IRAS
'
from those of the German
expressionists.
The aesthetic
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
of emotional extremes were considered
pation with their work. Demonstrations
to
art
and
musical
But, an important
necessary
expressionistic
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
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
from
the German expressionist approach, yet he
disassociated
himself
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
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 decidedly
10
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
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IRASM 41 (2010) 1: 3-19
S. Calkins:
Modernism
and Erik Satie's
inMusic
Parade
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
as
an
his
skills
orchestrator.
greatly expand upon
lean and musical
on Parade, Satie's daily routine was
this period of collaboration
home
in
of
his
Arceuil
with
notebook in hand and walking ten
comprised
leaving
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 impressionistic art (by artists such as Debussy,
they
and
the symbolist poet Mallarm?)
that dominated
the French art scene.
Monet,
And Cocteau's
towards
and
insolence seemed to resonate
tendency
simplicity
with Satie's peculiar and unconventional
sensibilities. The composer's quirky
in the original score.
style is evident in this drawing of Satie, as itwas published
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
a] deadpan
original program notes, written for Parade's premiere,
Auric
stated,
Georges
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
clarity
12
J.FREEMAN,
69.
10
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Calkins: Modernism
and Erik Satie's
astonishing
percussion
personages...the
instruments
and
score
onstage
inMusic
Parade
is designed
sounds.13
to serve
I
IRASM 41 (2010)1:3-19
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
were
cinema
and
consumed with a passion
forms,
jazz,
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
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
Stravinsky
Debussy
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
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
13
Georges AURIC, Notes
14
By the time he decided
form the 1917 score for Parade.
to remove himself
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
11
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IRASM
41 (2010)
1:3-19 |
t^SSe?^ara^
^
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
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
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
virtually undisputed. The termModernism has been applied to aesthetic ideals
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,
while itwas once used to describe any object or event thatwas current or up-to
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 20th
century
16
W.H.
and
taking
MELLERS,
3 (July1942),217.
17
form
innovative
in any of various
Erik Satie and
the 'Problem'
movements
of Contemporary
Music,
and
Music
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).
12
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
inMusic
S. Calkins: Modernism
and Erik Satie's
IRASM 41 (2010) 1:3-19
Parade
some of the distinctive qualities ofModernism
as
Albright has also outlined
a
is
to
creative
the
?Modernism
of
of
aesthetic
limits
thought:
testing
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,
as it applies
tomusical
composi
tion,
was fuelled bymore than aesthetic ambitions and the embrace of theuniquely new in
music.
A
of contemporary
critique
cultural
standards
and
uses
the social
of music
as
exemplified by the turn-of-the-centuryurban concert audience and public formusic
in the home was, from the start, a driving forcebehind early 20th-century composi
tional
innovations.25
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,
and cabaret
tunes, incorporating ambient sounds, and by using
as musical
instruments in the orchestration.
day objects
Surrealism
common,
every
and Cubism
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
to
he
describe
the
witnessed
the rehearsals.?27
unique spectacle
terminology
The Oxford English Dictionary defines surrealism as
was
an
avant-garde
20th-century
movement
in art and
literature
which
sought
to release
the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxta
position
of images.28
23
D. ALBRIGHT,
2004,11.
Chicago,
24
Ibid., 367.
25Leon
BOTSTEIN,
26
D. ALBRIGHT,
Press,
Chicago
27
Robert
Modernism
andMusic:
An Anthology
of Sources, The University
Grove Dictionary ofMusic Online, Accessed
?Modernism,?
and Music:
Modernism
An Anthology of Sources. Chicago:
of Chicago
Press,
Jan. 30, 2009.
The University
of
2004,1.
Erik Satie
SHAPIRO,
Larry Sitsky (London, 2002), 428.
28
Oxford English Dictionary.
(1866-1925),
inMusic
of the Twentieth-Century
Avant-Garde,
ed.
13
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S. Calkins: Modernism
and Erik Satie's Parade
IRASM 41 (2010)1:3-19
inMusic
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, itwas his own dream that inspired the piece). And while
works
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
and has been described as an example of
Robert
Perloff,
Nancy
Orledge,
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
universe, but to reintegrate a world, it is necessary that it should firsthave become
disintegrated, and it is of this disintegration that theirpainting is ultimately an affir
mation.30
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.
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:
The
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 (July1942),211.
31
Georges
AURIC,
from his notes on the original
score of Parade,
xii.
14
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Calkins: Modernism inMusic
and ErikSatie s Parade
.. .as in
many
of Satie's
early
compositional
sets,
i
x ' iraSM 41 (2010) 1: 3-19
\
the concept
is timeless
and
spatial,
as
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
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:
Do not forget thatmelody is the Idea, the outline; at the same time as being the form
and subject matter of a work. The harmony is an illumination, an explanation of the
subject,
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,
34R.
ed. Larry
inMusic
Erik Satie (1866-1925),
SHAPIRO,
of the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde,
Sitsky (London, 2002), 428.
35E.
SATIE, ?crits, Edited by Ornella Volta, (Paris: ?ditions Champ Libre, 1981), item 37, 48.
15
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
idacm
aa /oa4a\
IRASM41
(2010) 1: 3-19
I
S. Calkins:
Modernism
gnd ErjkSatie>s pamde
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
in
shunned
to
order
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 formodern 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
111 (1984-85), 169.
Association
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.
16
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S. Calkins: Modernism inMusic
and Enk Satie
s Parade
IRASM41 (2010) 1: 3-19
'
REFERENCES
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Leon. Modernism,Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press (accessed Jan
BOTSTEIN,
uary
30, 2009.
http://www.grovemusic.com
Dorothy L. Twentieth-Century Expressionism: ItsNature, Background, and
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John.Review, Opera News, 66,No. 12 (June,2002), 69.
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S. Calkins: Modernism
and Erik Satie's
inMusic
IRASM 41 (2010) 1: 3-19
Parade
Sazetak
Modernizam
u glazbi
i Parade
Erika
Satiea
Premda se partiturubaleta 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
objavljen je niz kritickihianalitickih osvrta na Satievu partituru.Autorica istrazuje razli?ite
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.
19
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