Le Piège de Méduse
Encyclopedia
Le piège de Méduse is a short play of which Erik Satie
wrote both the text and the incidental music
.
The text of the play was written as a "comédie lyrique" in one act, February-March 1913. In June of the same year Satie added the music, a set of seven little dances, originally composed for piano.
The first printed edition of the text of the play in 1921 contained 3 cubist woodcut engravings by Georges Braque
. The piano version of the music was first published in 1929, a few years after the composer's death. The orchestral score was not published until 40 years later.
.
The nine scenes of the play develop as a funny succession of non sequiturs and misunderstandings, ending in an amicable hug of the protagonists.
The play was privately staged a few month after its completion, in the salons of the parents of Roland-Manuel, who played Baron Méduse's role. Later live performances of the play would become rare, although a notable one, in an English translation by M.C. Richards, took place in the summer of 1948 at Black Mountain College
in North Carolina: John Cage
suggested the project and played the music; Buckminster Fuller
played the role of the Baron Medusa; Merce Cunningham
danced the part of the mechanical monkey; Willem de Kooning
designed the set and Elaine de Kooning
played Frisette; and the play was directed by Arthur Penn
. In 2005, a production using this English translation was presented in Asheville, North Carolina, in a collaboration between the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center and North Carolina Stage Company.http://blackmountaincollege.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=20&year=2005&month=08&day=27&Itemid=44
Several recordings, generally in French and including the music, were published. English translations are available in print.
Several 20th century recordings of the play feature Pierre Bertin
in Méduse's role. When this actor rehearsed the 1921 first public performance of the play, Satie was upset, while he disapproved Bertin's rendering of the play's main character.
, waltz
, mazurka
, polka
, etc.), written in Satie's most humorously straight-faced manner, and reminiscent of some of Satie's other works - the waltz, for example, is a slightly more "mechanical" version of the music reappearing a year later in his Trois valses distinguées du précieux dégouté.
At the private premiere of the Piège, Satie, performing the music, had slid sheets of paper between the strings of the piano for a more mechanical sound. This was supposedly the first appearance of a prepared piano
in the history of music.
At the 1921 public premiere, Darius Milhaud
conducted an orchestra composed of a small string section, some wind instruments and percussion, performing Satie's orchestral version of the music. Satie never had an easy relation towards orchestral music (at least according to his contemporaries), consequently also this orchestration was criticised for showing Satie's limitations in this medium. Satie, however, had probably the limited sound of mechanical music in mind for the seven "toutes petites dances" of the Piège.
's first Ubu play had been premiered in Paris. Ubu Roi
was later to become the most cherished and first example of surrealism in theatre (which would develop into the Theatre of the Absurd
).
Apart from the Piège, Satie had contributed to that emergence of absurdist theatre by publishing a text regarding his theatrical vision as one of his Mémoires d'un amnésique in January 1913, in the Revue musicale SIM. The article was entitled Choses de théâtre.
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...
wrote both the text and the incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
.
The text of the play was written as a "comédie lyrique" in one act, February-March 1913. In June of the same year Satie added the music, a set of seven little dances, originally composed for piano.
The first printed edition of the text of the play in 1921 contained 3 cubist woodcut engravings by Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
. The piano version of the music was first published in 1929, a few years after the composer's death. The orchestral score was not published until 40 years later.
The play
The comically surrealist plot involves the elderly (and very confused) Baron Méduse (his name means Medusa in French), his daughter Frisette (to whom the Baron actually refers as his "fille de lait", which would imply that the Baron was Frisette's wet-nurse), Frisette's young suitor Astolpho, and the Baron's recalcitrant valet Polycarpe. There is also a mechanical monkey, named Jonas, dancing to the intermittent musicEntr'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...
.
The nine scenes of the play develop as a funny succession of non sequiturs and misunderstandings, ending in an amicable hug of the protagonists.
The play was privately staged a few month after its completion, in the salons of the parents of Roland-Manuel, who played Baron Méduse's role. Later live performances of the play would become rare, although a notable one, in an English translation by M.C. Richards, took place in the summer of 1948 at Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
in North Carolina: 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...
suggested the project and played the music; Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
played the role of the Baron Medusa; Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
danced the part of the mechanical monkey; Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
designed the set and Elaine de Kooning
Elaine de Kooning
Elaine de Kooning was an Abstract Expressionist, Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era and editorial associate for Art News magazine...
played Frisette; and the play was directed by Arthur Penn
Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
. In 2005, a production using this English translation was presented in Asheville, North Carolina, in a collaboration between the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center and North Carolina Stage Company.http://blackmountaincollege.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=20&year=2005&month=08&day=27&Itemid=44
Several recordings, generally in French and including the music, were published. English translations are available in print.
Several 20th century recordings of the play feature Pierre Bertin
Pierre Bertin (actor)
Pierre Bertin was a French actor. In 1948 he starred in the film The Lame Devil under Sacha Guitry.-External links:...
in Méduse's role. When this actor rehearsed the 1921 first public performance of the play, Satie was upset, while he disapproved Bertin's rendering of the play's main character.
The music
The musical score is a series of very short dances in popular modes (quadrilleQuadrille
Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...
, waltz
Waltz
The 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...
, mazurka
Mazurka
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
, polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, etc.), written in Satie's most humorously straight-faced manner, and reminiscent of some of Satie's other works - the waltz, for example, is a slightly more "mechanical" version of the music reappearing a year later in his Trois valses distinguées du précieux dégouté.
At the private premiere of the Piège, Satie, performing the music, had slid sheets of paper between the strings of the piano for a more mechanical sound. This was supposedly the first appearance of a prepared piano
Prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
in the history of music.
At the 1921 public premiere, Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius 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...
conducted an orchestra composed of a small string section, some wind instruments and percussion, performing Satie's orchestral version of the music. Satie never had an easy relation towards orchestral music (at least according to his contemporaries), consequently also this orchestration was criticised for showing Satie's limitations in this medium. Satie, however, had probably the limited sound of mechanical music in mind for the seven "toutes petites dances" of the Piège.
The surrealism
Satie wrote his absurdist play some 15 years after JarryAlfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
's first Ubu play had been premiered in Paris. Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
was later to become the most cherished and first example of surrealism in theatre (which would develop into the Theatre of the Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...
).
Apart from the Piège, Satie had contributed to that emergence of absurdist theatre by publishing a text regarding his theatrical vision as one of his Mémoires d'un amnésique in January 1913, in the Revue musicale SIM. The article was entitled Choses de théâtre.