List of compositions by Erik Satie

Erik Satie

In this list of Erik Satie's musical compositions, those series or sets comprising several pieces (e.g., Gnossienne 1, Gnossienne 2, etc.) with nothing but tempo indications to distinguish the movements by name, are generally given with the number of individual pieces simply stated in square brackets. If the pieces in a series have distinct titles, for example the 21 pieces in Sports et divertissements, all titles are given.

Many of Satie's works were not published until many years after they were composed, including a considerable number first published posthumously. This article gives the known or approximate date of composition for each work.

Piano music

Series

Individual pieces

  • Allegro (1884)
  • Valse-ballet (1887)
  • Fantaisie-valse (1887)
  • Chanson hongroise (1889)
  • Untitled (published posthumously as Première pensée Rose+Croix) (1891)
  • Leit-motiv du "Panthée" (1891; no instrument specified)
  • Fête donnée par des Chevaliers Normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle (XIe siecle) (c. 1892)
  • Prélude d'Eginhard (c. 1893)
  • Vexations (1893)
  • Prière (1893)
  • Modéré (1893, possibly part of Messe des pauvres)
  • Petite ouverture à danser (1897)
  • Caresse (1897)
  • Aline-Polka (1899)
  • Verset laïque et somptueux (1900)
  • Le poisson rêveur (The Dreamy Fish, music for a tale by Lord Cheminot, alias Latour) (1901)
  • Fugue-valse (1906)
  • Passacaille (1906)
  • Prélude en tapisserie (1906)
  • Nun ruhen alle Wälder (Lutheran choral harmonised by E.Satie) (1906)
  • Fâcheux exemple (1908; counterpoint exercise)
  • Désespoir agréable, Piano recording
    Désespoir agréable (1908; counterpoint exercise)
  • Petite sonate (1908–9, first movement only)
  • Profondeur (c.1909; minuet exercise)
  • Songe-creux (c.1909; minuet exercise)
  • Le prisonnier maussade (c.1909; minuet exercise)
  • Le grand singe (c.1909; minuet exercise)
  • San Bernardo (1913; first version of Españaña from Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois, published in 2002)
  • Sonatine bureaucratique (1917)
  • Rag-time Parade (1917, arrangement by Hans Ourdine[1])
  • Rêverie de l'enfance de Pantagruel (1919; arrangement of the first of Trois petites pièces montées)
  • Premier Menuet (1920)

Posthumous collections

Some of Satie's early and/or unpublished works, as well as drafts and exercises, were published in the second half of the 20th century. These included (but were not limited to) the following collections:

  • Gnossiennes 4-6 (1889-1897)
  • Musiques intimes et secrètes, three pieces from 1906 to 1913:
    1. Nostalgie
    2. Froide songerie
    3. Fâcheux exemple
  • Six Pièces de la période, six pieces from 1906 to 1913:
    1. Désespoir agréable
    2. Both of Deux choses
    3. Prélude canin from 2 préludes pour un chien
    4. Minuet exercises: Profondeur and Songe-creux
  • Carnet d'Esquisses et de Croquis, some 20 sketches and fragments from 1897 to 1914
    1. "Coucher de soleil du sommeil"
    2. "Eaux troublées"
    3. "Deuil"
    4. "Lignes dans le sable"
    5. "Ondulation"
    6. "Champ"
    7. "Transparence"
    8. "Le Mur de Verre”
    9. "Traces de lignes"
    10. "Fin soudaine"
    11. "Prochaines étapes"

Orchestral

  • Danse, for small orchestra (1890; arranged as movement 6 of 3 Morceaux en forme de poire)
  • Le Bœuf Angora (1901, unfinished; arranged for piano by Johny Fritz)
  • Musique d'ameublement (1918)
    1. Tapisserie en fer forgé, for flute, clarinet, trumpet and strings
    2. Carrelage phonique, for flute, clarinet and strings
  • Trois petites pièces montées (1920)
  • Musique d'ameublement: tenture de cabinet préfectoral, for small orchestra (1923)

Other instrumental music

Dramatic works

Vocal music

Large-scale works

  • Messe des pauvres, for SB chorus and organ (1893–95)
  • Socrate ("drame symphonique"), for soloists and chamber orchestra or piano (1917–18)

Songs


Cabaret songs

  • Un dîner à l'Elysée (1899)
  • Le veuf (1899–1900; two versions)
  • Petit recueil des fêtes (1903–04)
    1. Le picador est mort
    2. Sorcière
    3. Enfant-martyre
    4. Air fantôme
  • J'avais un ami (1904)
  • Les bons mouvements (1904)
  • Douceur d'oublier (1904)
  • Impérial-Oxford (c. 1905)
  • Légende californienne (c.1905; used in La belle excentrique)
  • L'omnibus automobile (1905)
  • Chez le docteur (1905)
  • Allons-y Chochotte (1905)
  • Rambouillet (Une réception à Rambouillet) (1907; survives without lyrics)
  • Les oiseaux (Il nous prêtent leurs noms) (1907; survives without lyrics)
  • Marienbad (Il portait un gilet) (1907; survives without lyrics)
  • Psitt! Psitt! (1907)
  • La chemise (Dépaquit) (1909; three versions)

Compositions with multiple arrangements

  • Trois sonneries de la Rose+Croix [3], fanfares for trumpets, harps and/or, possibly, orchestra (1892); version for solo piano (1892)
  • Poudre d'or (1901): versions for orchestra and for solo piano
  • Tendrement (1902): versions for voice and piano (cabaret song), for solo piano, and for orchestra
  • Illusion (1902, after the song Tendrement): versions for orchestra and for solo piano
  • Je te veux (published 1903): versions for voice and piano (cabaret song), for solo piano, and for orchestra
  • La Diva de l'Empire (1904): versions for voice and piano (cabaret song), for solo piano (as Intermezzo américain, arrangement by H. Ourdine), and for orchestra
  • Le Piccadilly (1904): versions for piano and strings, and for solo piano
  • En habit de cheval (1911): versions for piano 4 hands and for orchestra
    1. Choral
    2. Fugue litanique
    3. Autre choral
    4. Fugue de papier
  • L'aurore aux doigts de rose (1916): versions for orchestra and for piano 4 hands
  • Trois petites pièces montées (1920): originally for orchestra; reduction for piano 4 hands published in 1920, orchestral score published in 1921

Notes

References

  • Orledge, Robert (2001). "Erik Satie". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.