SATIE AND THE ART OF DEDICATION
1992; Oxford University Press; Volume: 73; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ml/73.4.551
ISSN1477-4631
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoFOR a born iconoclast who delighted in flaunting his Bolshevism in high society in his later years, Satie's dedications on his published music seem relatively conventional on the surface. But the list of close friends and patrons contains some surprises and hitherto unknown quantities; the dedicatees range from a mythical religious order (the Danses gothiques of 1893) to the modernizer of the musical saw (the Premier menuet of 1920) and even include Satie himself.' Perhaps the biggest surprise is that there are almost as many published pieces without dedications (73) as with (91); including the many titled works unpublished during Satie's lifetime, undedicated pieces are in the majority by far. Among the undedicated publications are important pieces such as the Trois morceaux en forme de poire and Sports et divertissements, and as with so many other aspects of Satie, one can search almost in vain for a prevailing logic in this matter. Why, for instance, are the first two Sarabandes and Gnossiennes dedicated while the third is not? Why is a relatively obscure waltz like Poudre d'or dedicated while 'Je te veux', which became very popular through its performances by Paulette Darty (the 'Queen of the Slow Waltz'), bears no dedication? And why did Satie, who usually dedicated each piece in his sets of three separately, decide to dedicate the Piecesfroides (1897) as two sets of three pieces when they are published by Rouart-Lerolle in 1912? In this last case, one is tempted to think that the Airs a&fairefuire and the Danses de travers were so closely interrelated musically as to be inseparable,2 but then the three famous Gymnopedies of 1888 also use the same formula throughout and they are each dedicated separately. In fact, the only conclusion about Satie the composer that can be drawn from his dedications with any certainty is that he was so unsure of his way forward after his move from Montmartre to Arcueil in 1898 that he dedicated only two of the many new pieces he wrote between then and early 1913. His 'discovery' by Ravel in 1911, it is true, prompted a flurry of publications in 1911-12, but these were all earlier works which were then dedicated (or rededicated) when they were issued. Even the Veritables preludesflasques of 1912, through which Satie finally found his path to the future, are headed only by a quotation from the pianist Ricardo Vinies ('Tres neuf heures du matin '), and it was not until the sets of humorous piano pieces began appearing in relative profusion in 1913 that Satie returned to the regular dedications of his early Montmartre years. During this first period several interesting traits emerge. The first is that while he lived with his father (Alfred Satie, 1842-1903) and his stepmother (Eugenie Satie-
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