The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888, are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie.
These short, atmospheric pieces are written in 3/4 time, with each sharing a common theme and structure. Collectively, the Gymnopédies are regarded as the precursors to modern ambient music[1] - gentle yet somewhat eccentric pieces which, when composed, defied the classical tradition. For instance, the first few bars feature an alternating progression of two major seventh chords, the first on the subdominant, G, and the second on the tonic, D. This kind of harmony was almost entirely unknown at this time.
The melodies of the pieces use deliberate, but mild, dissonances against the harmony, producing a piquant, melancholy effect that matches the performance instructions, which are to play each piece "slowly", "dolorously" or "gravely".
From the second half of the 20th century on, the Gymnopédies were often erroneously described as part of Satie's body of furniture music, perhaps due to John Cage's interpretation of them.[2]
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The work was based upon the poetry of J.P. Contamine de Latour (1867–1926),[3] who wrote Les Antiques ("The Ancient"), a poem containing these lines:
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The exact connotation intended by Contamine in using the Greek word gymnopédie remains uncertain, among the possibilities are:
Regarding Greek Antiquity, Otfried Müller was esteemed as one of the major authorities for many decades, continuing after his accidental death in 1840. Müller wrote most of his works in German.
George Cornewall Lewis was the English translator of Müller's Dorians, one of the most influential introductions into the culture of Ancient Greece. But then, for the English translation, Lewis had been successful in convincing Müller that all references to "pederasty" (as it was still called then) had to be left out, as correspondence from Lewis to Müller shows.[4]
The prudishness of the Victorian age more or less barred topics like nudity when the insights about Ancient Greek culture were further divulged outside the context of scholarly research: when the William Smith Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - an academic publication - describes nudity[5], one gets a story depicting nudity to mean "light dress" for the Romans and "without arms" for the Ancient Greeks. Smith sees no contradiction in printing a small woodcut in the article on dance ("saltatio")[6] showing some Greek dancers wearing "only" armor, without any other dress. However, this entry, which effectively mentions the gymnopaedia, does not go into the topic of nudity in Ancient Greece, although being complete in all other sorts of references.
Even if France, in general, was probably less prim in those days[7], F. Fertiault, when publishing a "picturesque and anecdotic" dance history book in Paris in 1854[8], succeeded in describing the history of Ancient Greek dance, including the "gymnopédie", without mentioning or illustrating nudity, let alone homosexuality, once. For that matter, neither the martial aspects, nor the context of religious ceremony of the Ancient Greeks, concerning gymnopaedia were mentioned.
Page 21 of Fertiault's book[8] gives the following definition of the Gymnopédie, which the author designates as a tragic (i.e. worthy and elegant) scenic dance from Greek Antiquity:
The historical validity of such books, although giving a separate definition of the gymnopédie/gymnopaedia and mentioning the saraband as a dance "probably" coming from Spain, remains questionable however. Even the fact that Fertiault gives an early 17th century (Latin and Greek) publication by Johannes Meursius as a source for his "simplified" description of Ancient Greek dance does not make this description more convincingly comprehensive... Another "popularising" publication of the time has been tracked down, this time a music dictionary proclaiming that the gymnopaedia was danced by "girls", and yes, "naked", but then in the "unarmed" sense.[9] Nevertheless, it might be that since neither Satie nor Contamine could read or understand Ancient Greek (Latin, German,...) neither had access to more "revealing", or direct, sources.
Gymnopédie also appears as an infrequently used word in 19th century France, to the point it might have been perceived as a neologism by many. Further, in the Contamine poem gymnopédie is used in the singular, while the original Greek word (γυμνοπαιδία - "gumnopaidia") is always plural.
All this might indicate that Satie and Contamine chose the word gymnopédie perhaps rather for its intangible exoticism, than for connotations of which they were probably hardly aware themselves.
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The Gymnopédies are the first compositions with which Erik Satie tried to cut himself loose from the conventional 19th century "salon music" environment of his father and stepmother. In September 1887 Satie composed three "sarabands" (Trois Sarabandes), taking a quote from Contamine's La Perdition by way of introduction. By this time, Satie knew Contamine personally.
Satie apparently used the word "gymnopédiste" (gymnopaedist), before having written a note of his later so famous gymnopédies.
The anecdote of Satie introducing himself as a "gymnopaedist" in December 1887 runs as follows: the first time Satie visited the Chat Noir cabaret, he was introduced to its director, Rodolphe Salis, famous for serving sharp comments. Being coerced to mention his profession, Satie, lacking any recognisable professional occupation, presented himself as a "gymnopaedist", supposedly in an attempt to outwit the director.
The composition of the three Gymnopédies started only two months later, and was completed in April 1888.
In August 1888, the "First Gymnopédie" was published, accompanied by the verse of Contamine quoted above. However, it remains uncertain whether the poem was composed before the music, or whether Contamine intended the verse as a tribute to his friend, who had now completed both a set of sarabands and gymnopédies.
Later the same year the "Third Gymnopédie" was published. There was, however, no publication of the "Second Gymnopédie" until 7 years later, with several announcements of an impending publication of this gymnopédie being made in the Chat Noir and Auberge du Clou periodicals.
By the end of 1896 Satie's popularity and financial situation were ebbing. Claude Debussy, whose popularity was rising at the time, helped draw public attention to the work of his friend.
Debussy expressed his belief that the "Second Gymnopédie" did not lend itself to orchestration. (Orchestrations of this gymnopédie were only realised many decades later, by other composers, and without being frequently performed). Thus, on February 1897, Debussy orchestrated the Third and First only, reversing the numbering:
The score was then published in 1898.
Gymnopedie might refer to:
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