Satie, Erik
(opera) (Alfred Leslie
)
- Patrick O’Connor
Extract
(Alfred Leslie )
(b Honfleur, May 17, 1866; d Paris, July 1, 1925). French composer . His father was a music publisher who, although dismayed by his son’s lack of academic success (Satie was dismissed from the Paris Conservatoire in 1882), published some of his songs in 1887. At first influenced by Chabrier, Satie received scant attention from critics or public during the next two decades, and his association with the stage was slow to begin. An early work, Geneviève de Brabant (composed 1899–1900), probably written for a Montmartre ‘shadow theatre’, was only performed posthumously; it has been staged as a marionette opera, as well as with singers and actors. However, Satie’s first successes were songs composed for the soprano Paulette Darty, among them ‘La diva de l’Empire’, performed in the revue Dévidons la bobine (Berck, 26 July 1904). This led to his first operetta, Pousse l’amour (1907...
