Descriptions automatiques
The second of his humoristic keyboard suites (1912-1915), it set the tone for the rest of the series by introducing elements of musical parody, and in the increasingly important role played by the verbal commentary.
On April 5, 1913, pianist Ricardo Viñes successfully premiered Satie's first humoristic suite, the Veritables Preludes flasques (pour un chien), at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.
Anticipating attacks from his critics, he adopted a high-handed tone: The Véritables préludes flasques...opens a series of pianistic works: Descriptions automatiques, Embryons desséchés, Chapitres tournés en tous sens and Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses.
In the intervening years he had eked out a living in part as an arranger and accompanist for cabaret star Vincent Hyspa (1865-1938), a sort of Parisian "Weird Al" Yankovic of his time who wrote and sang satirical lyrics to well-known tunes.
[11] Satie professed to hate his cabaret work, claiming "it is more stupid and dirty than anything",[12] but beginning with the Descriptions automatiques he apparently found in it a means to move beyond the academic influences of his studies at the Schola Cantorum (1905-1912), which were still evident in the Véritables préludes flasques.
Robert Orledge listed the practical reasons for this: "First, they helped him to sustain the unaccustomed bout of creativity that followed the sudden demand for novel groups of piano pieces from his publisher Demets.
Third, guessing their sources provided a sort of musical quiz that helped sustain public interest after their initial vogue had faded: the way Satie succeeded in this respect can be seen from the number of editions these pieces enjoyed in subsequent years.
[17] Thus it comes as a surprise to the knowledgeable listener when at the midpoint - where the annotation reads "The ship chuckles" - Satie quotes the music of a French children's song that begins with the lyric, "Maman, les p' tits bateaux qui vont sur l'eau ont-ils des jambes?"
Satie actually derived his title from another revolutionary tune, Ça Ira,[19] with its call to hang the ruling classes from the street lamps ("Les aristocrats à la lanterne!
[20] The violence implied by these sources is barely hinted at in the music (to be played nocturnement), or in the extramusical texts for the pianist which suggest a child speaking to a lamplighter going about his duties.
On January 30, 1920, three Satie piano suites from 1913 - the Descriptions automatiques, Chapitres tournés en tous sens and Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses - were programmed at an event sponsored by Schoenberg's Society for Private Musical Performances in Vienna.
