Month: April 2026

Erik Satie

Eccentric French composer the subject of this evening’s presentation

April 2026

If you said ‘strange’ or ‘eccentric’ in the context of a composer, like as not you would settle on the name of Erik Satie the subject of the penultimate presentation in the 2025/26 programme. Presented by Society member Tim Rowe with able assistance from Alan Doel, we heard a range of music from this composer.

Born Eric Satie in Honfleur northern France, his mother was English and his father French. He went to the Conservatoire in Paris but left without a diploma it was said because he was the ‘laziest student’ there. The first two tracks Tim played were extracts from the Gnossiennes numbers 1 and 5. Some of this music was incorporated into one of Peter Seller’s last films Being There. These pieces are very much in the Satie style.

Similarly the most famous and recognisable of his compositions Gymnopédie No 1, a solemn, sad and thoughtful piece instantly recognised as a Satie composition. First was the original piano version but then we heard an arrangement for trumpet and orchestra which ‘worked’ and gave it a different dimension. It is probably a reflection of the sparse style the composer had adopted that a different arrangement could be a success.

Satie was never it seemed what we would today call ‘worldly wise’ and lived most of his live in poor surroundings. Friends were never invited to his home. He was however a success as a cabaret performer which should have yielded a good income but spent his money as it came into his hands.

He had a second go at a musical education by entering the Schola Cantorum as a mature student and studied under Vincent D’Indy. He was influential in the musical circle which became known as Les Six which included fellow composers such a Poulenc and Milhaud. They were a reaction to the romanticism and adopted a more sparse style of composition.

Some of his compositions were extreme, one being Vexations an endless repeated theme which can last many hours, over 9 in fact. It is controversial to this day over a century after its composition. We heard just a few moments. Other unusual pieces included Musique d’Ameublement designed not to be listened to. Was Satie the inventor of musak, the curse of so many restaurants and cafes?

We watched a brief extract from a ballet Parade which premiered in 1917 in Paris. Conceived by Jean Cocteau and sets designed by Pablo Picasso, it resulted in audience uproar and has not had many performances since.

Satie was influential and paved the way for composers we now refer to as modernist. He seem to fall out with most of his friends at some point in his life. Clearly eccentric he never listened to the radio and never used a phone. We saw a brief extract from a silent in which he appears.

Tim (pictured) expanded our knowledge of this composer playing pieces which are seldom heard today. A fine evening in the tradition of the Society to inform its members about composers, in this case certainly not forgotten, but to an extent overlooked.

Peter Curbishley

The Playlist:

  1. Gnossienne No.1      Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm, Piano
  2. Ogive No.1, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
  3. Ogive No.4. Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
  4. Gymnopedie No.1, Khatia Buniatishvili  piano
  5. Gymnopedie No.3 Alison Balsam, trumpet, with instrumental ensemble
  6. Le Fils d’Etoiles incidental music – Prelude – Alexei Lubimov, piano
  7. Modéré (1893) – Christina Agnano, piano
  8. Prière (1895) Reinbert de Leeuw, piano
  9. Pièces Froides Nos. 1 – 3 – Reinbert De Leeuw, piano
  10. Je Te Veux. Chanson – Patricia Petibon, soprano; Susan Manoff, piano
  11. Vexations 1893 (excerpt – live recording) Alexei Lubimov, piano
  12. Messe des Pauvres- (Mass for the Poor) for piano, chorus & organ (1892-1895) – Kyrie Eleison:  Choeur René Duclos conducted by Jean Laforge, with Gaston Litaize, organ
  13. Désespoir Agréable – Pleasant Despair – Jean Yves Thibaudet, piano
  14. Petite Sonata – Sladjana Gajić, piano
  15. Parade – ballet (excerpt) – Europa Danse
  16. Socrate, Symphonic Drama – Part 1 – Julia Cavallaro and Charles Blandy, piano
  17. Furnishing Music (Musique d’ameublement) – Unknown ensemble
  18. Nocturnes 2 and 3, from 5 Nocturnes – Pascal Rogé, piano
  19. Tendrement – sung by Régine Crespin, with Philippe Entremont, piano

Our final meeting takes place on 11 May and will focus on Iberian music and we are pleased to be welcoming back Simon Coombs to present.

Tonight!

April 2026

Tonight, Monday 27th April, we will now have, postponed from February, Tim Rowe and Alan Doel will present:  “Eric Satie: Gymnopediste!” 7:30 start as usual.

Erik Satie was born May 17, 1866, Honfleur, Calvados, France and died July 1, 1925, Paris). He was a French composer whose spare, unconventional, often witty style exerted a major influence on 20th-century music, particularly in France.

Suzanne Valadon: Portrait of Erik Satie
Suzanne Valadon: Portrait of Erik SatiePortrait of Erik Satie, oil on canvas by Suzanne Valadon, 1892; in the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris.

Satie studied at the Paris Conservatory, dropped out, and later worked as a café pianist. From 1898 he lived alone in Arcueil, a Paris suburb.

Free if it’s your first visit.

Fascinating presentation on Black musicians

Dual presentation explores the historical role of Black musicians and breaks new ground

April 2026

The title of the presentation was Black musicians in England 1500 – 1800 which might have led you to believe a presentation tending towards the esoteric. Well, not a bit of it and Society members Rosemary Pemberton and Jeremy Barlow broke new ground with a truly interesting presentation on this topic.

What was noteworthy as the evening wore on was the degree of scholarship and research which had gone into it. After all, the subject is a little off the beaten track and the treatment of Black people during the period in question does not show Britain in a favourable light. Black people were considered a lower form of life and the slave trade was at its height by the end of the chosen period.

Rosemary got the idea she said by noticing a piece of Chelsea pottery of a Black musician probably playing an early trombone. Other pictures from that era revealed black musicians often somewhat tucked away. One well known individual was John Blanke (variously spelled) who was a trumpeter in Tudor courts including that of Henry VIII. He was thought to be the first Black musician in Britain.

A Hogarth print showing a Black trumpeter was another example. Another character was Billy Walters who busked outside the Adelphi theatre for many years with a wooden leg. His real leg was strapped up behind we were told.

An interesting fact was the role these musicians played in the army where they were used for signalling. Different melodies or riffs were played to send an order or message. One musician was attached to each squadron. Evidently, they were dressed in ‘reverse’ colours to the rest of the soldiers which did rather mark them out for enemy fire.

The arrival of more Black people in 16th Century was resented then much as some are now, the increasing numbers arriving from captured Spanish galleons.

And not forgetting the music. There were 16 pieces played during the course of the evening. Many were to illustrate particular instruments current during the period including for example the cornu, a huge curved horn.

Jeremy had brought along an unusual instrument native to Spain called the flabiol and there was video of someone playing it. A lot of wind instruments have a hole underneath to allow a change of register. This has two with one open or closed with the little finger which makes it something of a rarity and difficult to play.

There were illustrations of Turkish influence which had a big effect on western music. The recognisable beat appears in the overture to the Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Mozart to illustrate the influence.

An extraordinary character was George Bridgetower a violinist (1791?-1860). The son of an Afro-Caribbean servant and a Polish mother at the Esterhazy palace, he was a student of composer Joseph Haydn and a friend of Beethoven. Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata to him, which was so hard to play many gave up. There was a falling out with Beethoven and the sonata became known as the Kreutzer Sonata. However, he never played it and there are moves to getting it renamed as it was originally.

It was something of a revelation that so many Black musicians were around during this period. It does not counter the appalling treatment that Africans experienced during the two centuries of the triangular trade and their fearful exploitation. But it does show that now and again, talented Black people were accepted into British society.

I cannot fail to mention that one of the pieces – La Volta by Byrd – was played by the Broadside Band, the creation of non other than one of the presenters, Jeremy Barlow, described as a ‘formidable presence’ by the Folk Music Journal.

This was an exceptional evening which illuminated and brought into the light the role played, sometimes in the shadows, by Black musicians in England at that time. The evening also illustrated that learning about the history and background of music and musicians is something the Society can do which is unique locally. The presenters made great use of prints and paintings from the time to illustrate their points.

The chair of the Society, Peter Horwood, in thanking both Rosemary and Jeremy for their work and research in their presentation, noted that Black people have a prominent roles in Jazz and popular music but were less evident in the classical world. Clearly there is work still to be done. He also thanked Robin for juggling discs, YouTube clips and PowerPoint to enable the evening to go smoothly.

Peter Curbishley

The presenters Rosemary and Jeremy. Jeremy is holding the flabiol in his left hand. Picture: Salisbury RMS

Next meeting

Our next meeting will tomorrow Monday 13th April when Rosemary Pemberton will present, with slides, a talk entitled ‘Black Musicians in Scenes of English Life, 1500-1850’.  Jeremy Barlow will provide the music, with commentary.

Unfortunately our next scheduled speaker is unwell, so we will be amending the rest of this season’s programme as follows: 

On Monday 27th April, we will now have, postponed from February, Tim Rowe and Alan Doel will present:  “Eric Satie: Gymnopediste!” 

Then our final session this season, on  11th May, we will welcome  Simon Coombs who will present: “Music from the Iberian Peninsula” 

We hope you had a good Easter break and that we shall see you at one or preferably more, of these evenings.