• Name: Erik Satie
• Birthday: 05/17/1866
• Birth Place: Honfleur, France
• Died: 07/01/1925
• Place of Death: Paris, France
• Country: France
• Period: Modern
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
42 Vexations (1893)	2009
Airs de Jeux	2008
Erik Satie: Dada Works & Entr'actes	2007
Erik Satie: Musique de la Rose-Croix; Pages mystiques; Uspud	2007
Satie: Avant-Dernieres Pensees (Selected Piano Works, Vol. 1)	2007
Satie: Cubist Works, 1913-1924	2007
Gymnopédie No. 1 (The Magic Room Version)	2006
Satie: Socrate; Melodies W	2006
Erik Satie: Vexations	2005
Hidden Corners (Recoins) W	2002
Classical Relaxation With Satie	2001
Classical Relaxation with Ocean Sounds: Satie	2000
Satie: Gymnopédie Nos. 1, 2 & 3	1995
Satie: Oeuvres pour Piano	1993
(222) Gymnopédies (3), for piano (also orchestrated by Debussy)
(39) Parade, ballet in 1 scene for orchestra	1990
(11) Socrate, symphonic drama for voice(s) & orchestra	1985
(61) Sports et divertissements (Sports and diversions), pieces (21) for piano W	1966
Deux choses: 1. Effornterie, 2. Poésie, for piano WA	2001
Fâcheux example, counterpoint excercise for piano WA	2001
Fugue-valse, for piano WA	2001
La mort de Monsieur Mouche, prelude for piano from incidental music WA	2001
Le grand singe, minuet excercise for piano WA	2001
Le prisonnier maussade, minuet excercise for piano WA	2001
(5) Leitmotiv du Panthée, for piano WA	2001
(3) Modéré, for piano WA	2001
(5) Nocturne for piano No. 6 WA	2001
Pousse l'Amour, operetta WA	2001
Prélude canin, for piano WA	2001
Profondeur, minuet excercise for piano WA	2001
(2) Geneviève de Brabant, marionette opera in 3 acts for voices, chorus & piano
(2) Musique d'ameublement (Furniture Music), pieces (3) for orchestra
(10) Allegro, for piano WA	1983
(3) Allons-y chochotte, song for voice & piano	1987
(18) Aperçus désagréables (Unpleasant glimpses), pieces (3) for piano, 4 hands	1990
(52) Avant-dernières pensées (Next-to-last thoughts), pieces (3) for piano	1994
(21) Caresse, for piano	1993
(6) Carnet d'esquisses et de croquis (Notebook of Sketches and Rough Drafts), for piano
(8) Chanson médiévale, song for voice & piano	1986
(11) Chanson, song for voice & piano WA
(31) Chapitres tournés en tous sens (Chapters turned every which way), for piano	1988
Chez le docteur (At the doctor's), for voice & piano WA	2008
(10) Choses vues à droite et à gauche; sans lunettes (Things seen right-to-left; without glasses), for violin & piano	1970
(6) Cinéma: Entr'acte symphonique de Relâche, for orchestra (also piano; also arr. by Milhaud for piano, 4 hands)	1996
(42) Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois (3 sketches and exasperations of a big wooden fellow), for piano WA	1966
(9) Danses de travers, for piano	1994
(20) Danses gothiques (9), for piano	1984
(41) Descriptions automatiques, for piano WA	1966
(3) Désespoir agréable, counterpoint excercise for piano
(8) Eginhard, prelude for piano from incidental music	1968
Embarquement pour Cythère, for violin & piano (completed by Robert Orledge) WA	2008
(57) Embryons desséchés (3 dried-up embryos), for piano WA	1966
(25) En habit de cheval (In riding habit), 4 pieces for piano duet (or orchestra)	1990
(15) Enfantillages pittoresques (Picturesque Childishness), for piano (from "Enfantines")	1968
(19) Fantaisie-valse, for piano	1994
(10) Fête donnée par des chevaliers normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle, for piano WA	1983
(91) Gnossienne for piano No. 1	1996
(41) Gnossienne for piano No. 2	1996
(60) Gnossienne for piano No. 3	1996
(33) Gnossienne for piano No. 4	1996
(25) Gnossienne for piano No. 5 WA	1989
(8) Gnossienne for piano No. 6	1995
(7) Gnossienne for piano No. 7 WA	2001
(86) Gnossiennes (6), for piano WA	1966

Erik Satie was an important French composer from the generation of Debussy. Best remembered for several groups of piano pieces, including Trois Gymnopédies (1888), Trois Sarabandes (1887) and Trois Gnossiennes (1890), he was championed by Jean Cocteau and helped create the famous group of French composers, Les Six, which was fashioned after his artistic ideal of simplicity in the extreme. Some have viewed certain of his stylistic traits as components of Impressionism, but his harmonies and melodies have relatively little in common with the characteristics of that school. Much of his music has a subdued character, and its charm comes through in its directness and its lack of allegiance to any one aesthetic. Often his melodies are melancholy and hesitant, his moods exotic or humorous, and his compositions as a whole, or their several constituent episodes, short. He was a musical maverick who probably influenced Debussy and did influence Ravel, who freely acknowledged as much. After Satie's second period of study, he began turning more serious in his compositions, eventually producing his inspiring cantata, Socrate, considered by many his greatest work and clearly demonstrating a previously unexhibited agility. In his last decade he turned out several ballets, including Parade and Relâche, indicating his growing predilection for program and theater music. Satie was also a pianist of some ability.

As a child Erik Satie showed interest in music and began taking piano lessons from a local church organist, named Vinot. While he progressed during this period, he showed no unusual gifts. In 1879 he enrolled in the Paris Conservatory, where he studied under Descombe (piano) and Lavignac (solfeggio), but failed to meet minimum requirements and was expelled in 1882. Satie departed Paris on November 15, 1886, to join the infantry in Arras, but he found military life distasteful and intentionally courted illness to relieve himself of duty. That same year his first works were published: Elégie, Trois Mélodies, and Chanson.

The years following his military service formed a bohemian period in Satie's life, the most significant events of which would be the beginnings of his friendship with Debussy, his exposure to eastern music at the Paris World Exhibition, and his association with a number of philosophical and religious organizations (most notably the Rosicrucian Brotherhood).

In 1905 he decided to resume musical study, enrolling in the conservative and controversial Schola Cantorum, run by Vincent d'Indy. His music took on a more academic and rigorous quality, and also began to exhibit the dry wit that would become hallmarks of his style. Many of his compositions received odd titles, especially after 1910, such as Dried up embryos and Three real flabby preludes (for a dog). Some of his works also featured odd instructions for the performer, not intended to be taken seriously, as in his 1893 piano work, Vexations, which carries the admonition in the score, "To play this motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities."

In 1925 Satie developed pleurisy and his fragile health worsened. He was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where he lived on for several months. He received the last rites of the Catholic Church in his final days, and died on July 1, 1925. ~ All Music Guide, All Music Guide