FLUXLIST: Satie et alii

[Bertrand et Claudia CLAVEZ]

Dear Ken, dear Sol, I' found this quote out of Dick Higgins' "Boredom and Danger" (in Foew&ombwhnw), and thought it would be of some help... "But it is still a very long way from the musical expressionism, which merely denies that the entertainment are at all to a point, to the situation in which boredom and other, related feelings might actually play a part. In music the key personality in this development, as in many others, is Erik Satie. Satie composed a piece short before World War I, Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses, a characteristically programmatic piece in which he spoofs the military and the glories of nationalism. At the end of the piece there an eight-beat passage evocative of old marches and patriotic songs, but which is to be repeated 380 times. In performance the satirical intent of this repetition comes through very clearly, but at the same time other very interesting results begin to appear. The music first becomes o familiar that it seems extremely offensive and objectionable. But after that the mind slowly becomes incapable of taking further offense, and a very strange, euphoric acceptance and enjoyment begin to set in. Satie appears to have been fascinated be this effect because he also wrote Vexations (published in John Cage’s article in Art News Annual 1958), an utterly serious 32-bar piece (although the bar-lines are not written in) intended to be played very softly and very slowly 840 times. Today, it is usually done by a team of pianists, and lasts over a period of roughly 25 hours. Is it boring? Only at first? After a while the euphoria I have mentioned begins to intensify. By the time the piece is over, the silence is absolutely numbing, so much of an environment the piece become." If my remenbers are good, DIck Higgins pointed out later in the same article the fact that Cage was the great rediscoverer of Satie as soon as in the thirties I'd like to write more, but i hardly have the time to read my posts... Bertrand