All three pieces were arranged with percussion by the UK electronic duo Isan in 2006, in their signature analogue sound. In 1999 the chord sequence was used in the Sunship remix of the song " Flowers" by girl band Sweet Female Attitude. In 1980, Gary Numan produced a track called "Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement)", which appeared on the B-side of the single " We Are Glass".
The track also appeared on Sky's 1984 compilation album Masterpieces, The Very Best of Sky. In 1979, the English/Australian musical group Sky performed Gymnopédie No. The recording received a Grammy Award the following year for Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance.
The first and second Gymnopédies were arranged by Dick Halligan for the group Blood, Sweat & Tears under the title "Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie" on the group's eponymous album, released in 1968. Collectively, the Gymnopédies are regarded as an important precursor to modern ambient music. The score was then published in 1898.įrom the second half of the 20th century on, the Gymnopédies were often erroneously described as part of Satie's body of furniture music, perhaps because of John Cage's interpretation of them. (Orchestrations of this Gymnopédie were only realised many decades later, by other composers, and not frequently performed.) Thus, in February 1897, Debussy orchestrated the third and first only, reversing the numbering: Satie's first became Debussy's third, and vice versa. Debussy expressed his belief that the second Gymnopédie did not lend itself to orchestration. Claude Debussy, whose popularity was rising at the time, helped draw public attention to the work of his friend (Satie). Reception īy the end of 1896, Satie's popularity and financial situation were diminishing. 1 (shown below) consist of an alternating progression of two major seventh chords, the first on the subdominant, G, and the second on the tonic, D.Īudio playback is not supported in your browser. 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 "painfully" ( douloureux), "sadly" ( triste), or "gravely" ( grave). These short, atmospheric pieces are written in 3Ĥ time, with each sharing a common theme and structure. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes' symbolist paintings may have been an inspiration for the atmosphere Satie wanted to evoke with his Gymnopédies.
As a whole, the three pieces were published in 1898. The second Gymnopédie did not appear until 1895, and its impending publication was announced in several editions of the Chat Noir and Auberge du Clou magazines. In November 1888, the third Gymnopédie was published. Satie may have picked up the term from a dictionary such as Dominique Mondo's Dictionnaire de Musique, where gymnopédie is defined as a "nude dance, accompanied by song, which youthful Spartan maidens danced on specific occasions", following a similar definition from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Dictionnaire de Musique. However, it remains uncertain whether the poem was composed before the music. Mingled their sarabande with the gymnopaedia. Where the amber atoms in the fire gleaming Trickled in gusts of gold on the shiny flagstone Slanting and shadow-cutting a bursting stream