Furniture music
Encyclopedia
Furniture music, or in French musique d’ameublement (sometimes more literally translated as furnishing music), is background music
originally played by live performers. The term was coined by Erik Satie
in 1917.
The first set was apparently never performed (nor the score published) during Satie's lifetime.
The second set contained reminiscences of popular tunes by, amongst others, Camille Saint-Saëns
and Ambroise Thomas
. It was premiered in Paris the year it was composed, as intermission
music to a lost comedy by Max Jacob
. During these intermissions the audience was invited to visit an exposition of children's drawings in the gallery hosting the premiere.
Indications of the intentions of the artists giving the first performance are found in the manuscript of the score:
See also Entr'acte
article for more details regarding the circumstances of this first, and only documented, public performance of furniture music during Satie's lifetime, assisted by the composer himself.
The separate commissioned piece was sent to America. There are no known public performances or publications of this music prior to leaving the European continent. This piece is sometimes presented as furniture music No. 3.
As Satie's pieces of furniture music were very short pieces, with an indefinite number of repeats, this kind of furniture music later became associated with repetitive music
(sometimes used as a synonym of minimal music), but this kind of terminology did not yet exist in Satie's time.
illustrations to press articles and new Satie biographies. The first full publication of sets 1 and 3 followed in the early 1970s. There was no full publication of the 2nd set before the last years of the 20th century.
, as the composer's theory of minimalist
background music. Furniture music appeared as the launchpad for minimalist/experimental/avant-garde music since it was the first instance of music being played or produced out of context: not as a centerpiece but as a cerebral backdrop.
These and other related ideas were picked up by several composers of the neo-Classical/20th Century school of music, accentuating atmosphere and texture over traditional form and movement. The minimalist references and anachronisms weren't solidified until composer John Cage
performed Satie's "hidden" piece Vexations
840 times as requested by Satie's own scribbled notes on the original sheet music.
Background music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
originally played by live performers. The term was coined by Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
in 1917.
The music
Although other selections of Erik Satie's music can be experienced (and are sometimes indicated) as furniture music, Satie himself applied the name only to five short pieces, composed in three separate sets:- 1st set (1917), for fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and stringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, plus a trumpet for the first piece:- 1. Tapisserie en fer forgé - pour l'arrivée des invités (grande réception) - À jouer dans un vestibule - Mouvement: Très riche (Tapestry in forged iron - for the arrival of the guests (grand reception) - to be played in a vestibule - Movement: Very rich)
- 2. Carrelage phonique - Peut se jouer à un lunch ou à un contrat de mariage - Mouvement: Ordinaire (Phonic tiling - Can be played during a lunch or civil marriage - Movement: Ordinary),
- 2nd set, Sons industriels (Industrial sounds, February/March 1920), for piano duet, 3 clarinets and tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
:- Premier Entr'acte: Chez un “Bistrot” (First Entr'acte: At a “BistroBistroA bistro, sometimes spelled bistrot, is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. Home cooking with robust earthy dishes, and slow-cooked foods like cassoulet are typical...
”) - Second Entr'acte: Un salon (Second Entr'acte: A drawing room)
- Premier Entr'acte: Chez un “Bistrot” (First Entr'acte: At a “Bistro
- 1923, commissioned by Mrs Eugène Meyer jr. (living in Washington DC), for small orchestra:
- Tenture de cabinet préfectoral (Wall-lining in a chief officer's office)
The first set was apparently never performed (nor the score published) during Satie's lifetime.
The second set contained reminiscences of popular tunes by, amongst others, Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
and Ambroise Thomas
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
. It was premiered in Paris the year it was composed, as intermission
Intermission
An intermission or interval is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening....
music to a lost comedy by Max Jacob
Max Jacob
Max Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
. During these intermissions the audience was invited to visit an exposition of children's drawings in the gallery hosting the premiere.
Indications of the intentions of the artists giving the first performance are found in the manuscript of the score:
Furnishing divertissementDivertissementDivertissement is used, in a similar sense to the Italian 'divertimento', for a light piece of music for a small group of players, however the French term has additional meanings....
organised by the group of musicians known as the "Nouveaux JeunesLes SixLes six is a name, inspired by The Five, given in 1920 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled "" to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and impressionist music.-Members:Formally, the Groupe des...
"
Furnishing music replaces "waltzWaltzThe waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
es" and "operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic fantasiasFantasia (music)The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form ....
" etc. Don't be confused! It's something else!!! No more "false music"
Furnishing music completes one's property;
it's new; it doesn't upset customs; it isn't tiring; it's FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; it won't wear out; it isn't boring
--quoted in Gillmor, 1988, p 325-326
See also Entr'acte
Entr'acte
' is French for "between the acts" . It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission, but it more often indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production...
article for more details regarding the circumstances of this first, and only documented, public performance of furniture music during Satie's lifetime, assisted by the composer himself.
The separate commissioned piece was sent to America. There are no known public performances or publications of this music prior to leaving the European continent. This piece is sometimes presented as furniture music No. 3.
As Satie's pieces of furniture music were very short pieces, with an indefinite number of repeats, this kind of furniture music later became associated with repetitive music
Repetitive music
Repetitive music is music that features a relatively high degree of repetition in its creation or reception. Examples includes minimalist music, krautrock, disco , some techno, some of Igor Stravinsky's compositions, barococo, and the Suzuki method...
(sometimes used as a synonym of minimal music), but this kind of terminology did not yet exist in Satie's time.
Publication
For a quarter of a century after the composer's death, all of the furniture music pieces remained hidden from the general public, apart from being mentioned in early Satie biographies. By the end of the 1960s parts of the furniture music started to appear as facsimileFacsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
illustrations to press articles and new Satie biographies. The first full publication of sets 1 and 3 followed in the early 1970s. There was no full publication of the 2nd set before the last years of the 20th century.
Revival
Several decades after Satie's death furniture music was revived, largely due to the American composer John CageJohn Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, as the composer's theory of minimalist
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
background music. Furniture music appeared as the launchpad for minimalist/experimental/avant-garde music since it was the first instance of music being played or produced out of context: not as a centerpiece but as a cerebral backdrop.
These and other related ideas were picked up by several composers of the neo-Classical/20th Century school of music, accentuating atmosphere and texture over traditional form and movement. The minimalist references and anachronisms weren't solidified until composer John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
performed Satie's "hidden" piece Vexations
Vexations
Vexations is a noted musical work by Erik Satie. Apparently conceived for keyboard , it consists of a short theme in the bass whose four presentations are alternatively heard unaccompanied and played with chords above...
840 times as requested by Satie's own scribbled notes on the original sheet music.
External links
- Cage’s Place In the Reception of Satie - a 1999 paper by Matthew ShlomowitzMatthew ShlomowitzMatthew Shlomowitz is a composer of contemporary classical music.He was raised in Adelaide, Australia and studied with Bozidar Kos at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and with Brian Ferneyhough at Stanford University...
, published on Niclas Fogwall's "Erik Satie" website. This article contains a quote of MilhaudDarius MilhaudDarius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
's definition of Furniture Music, as it was presented at the first public performance (Milhaud being one of the performers). - UbuWeb's Eric Satie: Conceptual Works page offers some rare recordings of Satie's Furniture Music pieces by the Ars Nova Ensemble for download.