OTD in Music History: Composer and French cultural icon Erik Alfred Leslie Satie (1866 - 1925) is born in France. The son of a French father and a British mother, as a young man, Satie briefly studied at the Paris Conservatory -- but was an undistinguished student who failed to obtain a diploma. In the 1880's, he worked as a cafe pianist in Montmartre, where he began composing solo piano works, including his most famous set, the "Gymnopedies." (He also wrote music for a Rosicrucian sect to which he was briefly attached.) After a spell during which he composed little, Satie enrolled at a second music academy -- Vincent d'Indy's (1851 - 1931) "Schola Cantorum" -- as a mature student. His studies there were far more successful than those at the Conservatory, and from 1910 onward he became the focus of successive waves of young composers who were attracted by his unconventionality and originality. Among them were the group known as "Les Six," and a 1915 meeting with Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963) led to the creation of the ballet "Parade" (1917) for impresario Serge Diaghilev (1872 - 1929), with music by Satie, sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), and choreography by Leonide Massine (1896 - 1979). Satie had a tremendous impact on pushing French music away from lush post-Wagnerian impressionism and towards a sparer, terser style. Among those directly influenced by him during his lifetime were Maurice Ravel (1975 - 1937) and Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), and he is also often cited as influence on later composers such as John Cage (1912 - 1992). Satie was also one of the first "Dadaist" cultural figures -- some of his later works were given purposely absurd titles like "True Flabby Preludes (for a Dog)" (1912) and "Sketches and Exasperations of a Big Wooden Man" (1913). PICTURED: An original copy of one of Satie's printed business card, identifying him as "Erik Satie, Composer of Music." He wrote a short social message on this copy in his trademark calligraphic handwriting.
