Verset laïque et somptueux

Musicologist Charles Malherbe, acting in his position as chief librarian of the Paris Opera, chose to commemorate the event by compiling the Autographes de Musiciens Contemporaines 1900, a special collection of composers' manuscripts representing current French music.

[3] Things went more smoothly this time and Satie's one-page manuscript facsimile duly appeared in the Autographes de Musiciens, topped by a drawing of Paris and the Seine and the score itself bordered with laurel leaves.

"Secular and Sumptuous Verse" may be an incongruous title here but is an apt reference to Satie's career in 1900, when he was miserable as a jobbing cabaret songwriter - quite the comedown from his self-styled role as leader (and sole member) of his own religious sect.

Irony also figures in Satie's second (purely literary) contribution to the Paris Expo, "The Musicians of Montmartre" (1900), his idea of a puff piece for a tourist's guide to The Butte.

Jean-Pierre Armengaud (Le Chant Du Monde, 1986), Aldo Ciccolini (EMI, 1988), Cristina Ariagno (Brilliant Classics, 1994), Bojan Gorišek (Audiophile, 1994), Olof Höjer (Swedish Society Discofil, 1996), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Decca, 2003), Steffen Schleiermacher (MDG, 2003), Alessandro Simonetto (Aevea, 2016, 2021), Dunanduan Hao (Naxos, 2018), Nicolas Horvath (Grand Piano, 2019).

Erik Satie
Charles Malherbe
Facsimile of Satie's autograph score.
The "House of 4 Chimneys" in Arcueil , where Satie lived from 1898 until his death. The window of Satie's room is on the second floor, next to the drainpipe.