Classical Composer: | Satie, Erik |
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Work: | 4 Ogives |
Year Composed: | 1886 |
Instrumentation: | pf |
Publisher: | Éditions Durand-Salabert-Eschig |
Duration: | 00:09:00 |
Period: | 20th Century |
Work Category: | Instrumental |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
As the manuscripts are lost, we only know that the Ogives existed sometime before they appeared in a small private edition in January 1889. They are sometimes dated to 1886 or 1887, and the reasoning behind this might be the inspiration of the dominating ogival windows in the church of St Laurent right next to Satie's father's music shop at 66 boulevard de Magenta (and the Gare de l'Est). However, an alternative account says that they were inspired by the Gothic architecture in Notre Dame Cathedral. Whichever version is true, the Ogives are again re-creating a bygone age.
Satie's material simply consists of plainsong-type themes in octaves divided into two halves, which are made into a complete piece by harmonizing them in two modal ways—the first in thundering, filled octaves, and the second in gentle chords, which are mostly the same, but tend to move as root position chords in contrary motion. The main element that varies in the Ogives is the lengths of their phrases, so their form might be said to be 'chronometric… a function of time and duration', as Alan Gillmor has observed. Thus from something simple came an advanced conception that was way ahead of its time.
Writer: Robert Orledge
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