Satie: Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes
6 of the 10 pieces, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.
Open the sheet music librarySatie wrote the three Gymnopédies in 1888, at twenty-one, and the first Gnossiennes a few years later. Nobody is sure what either word means: the Gymnopédies seem named after a dance of naked youths in ancient Sparta, and gnossienne appears to be Satie's own invention. Both are slow, spare and strange, a melody floating over a few quiet chords, with instructions like "on the tip of the thought".
The Gymnopédies come first here, then the Gnossiennes. They have few notes and are within reach of many players a year or two in; everything depends on how evenly and quietly the notes are placed, which the reader helps with by playing them back at any speed.
About the pieces
Gymnopédie No. 1
Satie was playing piano in Montmartre cafés when he wrote three pieces named after a dance of ancient Sparta. Against the perfumed excess of his era he set almost nothing: a swaying bass, a floating tune, and no hurry whatsoever.
Deuxième Gymnopèdie
A Gymnopedie is Satie's own invention, named after an ancient Greek festival: three slow dances that circle the same few chords without ever raising their voice. Satie earned his living in Montmartre cabarets and wrote music of extraordinary stillness, with instructions in the margins that are half joke and half seriousness.
Gymnopédie No. 3
The third of the three slow dances Satie named after a festival of ancient Sparta. Debussy orchestrated the first and third, which is how they escaped obscurity.
Gnossienne No. 1
Satie invented the word Gnossienne: it may point at the labyrinth of Knossos, or at nothing at all, which would be very like him. He wrote it without bar lines and scattered the score with private instructions like 'with the tip of the thought' instead of Italian.
Gnossienne No. 2
Satie's second Gnossienne has no time signature in its original form and hardly any bar lines, so the melody wanders freely over a steady left-hand pattern. The tune curls around a few notes with small ornaments, and the piece closes on a quiet E minor chord.
Gnossienne No. 3
The third of the barless Gnossiennes, carrying the same kind of marginal instruction as the rest of the set: Satie asks the player to be gently musical and to question themselves.