Gnossiennes: Erik Satie’s love for making up words

We know that Mr. Erik Satie was a great fan of inventing new words for his compositions. As an anecdote goes, he once presented himself as “gymnopaedist” not quite knowing himself what this word actually meant and if it existed at all. That’s when his famous “Gymnopedies” appeared. Among other words coined by Satie were the ‘vexations’ or ‘croquis et agaceries’, all meaning a separate type of a music composition.

“Gnossiennes” also was a new name by the inventive composer. Although a non-existing word too, it was attempted to find explanations to. There are versions that ‘gnossienne’ might derive from the name of either ‘ogive’, an architectural element, or ‘gnosis’, as in ‘gnosic sect’ Satie was involved in.  Others think that it might have the root in ‘gnossus’ and relate to the myths about Theseus, Minotaur and Ariadne, taking into account that at the time of the composition there were several interesting archaeological excavations made.

Minotaur

All in all, there are 6 ‘obvious‘ Gnossiennes. But there is also a seventh music piece – “Le Fils des étoiles” – that contains a music form of a Gnossienne according to Satie himself, as he wrote while corresponding with his publisher. All the 7 are charming anyway and can be rather compared with “dances”. Their easy listening character was the reason for all the Gnossiennes to be frequently used in numerous films and shows. It's most often for piano (vid.), but here, enjoy a lovely guitar arrangement of “Gnossienne No.1” from G. Pylarinos.

Joplin’s Entertainer arranged for violin and piano

Not so long ago there was a post dedicated to the music of Scot Joplin and his being under-recorded among the American colleagues. Today I would like to dedicate another post to this wonderful composer and one of his great works – “The Entertainer”.

"The Entertainer" Cover

The song that partially got its popularity after sounding in the Oscar-winning movie The Sting is sometimes associated with the revival of the ragtime music. After the release of the “Piano Rags” recording by Nonesuch label it became the company’s first million-selling record. Among other music recognition item are the top in Billboard pop chart, number 10 on the “Songs of the century” list and number 5 in the "Best-Selling Classical LPs" Billboard.

Did you ever buy ice cream cones in one of those colorful street trucks? Remember the familiar tune? Right, Joplin’s easy-listening Entertainer is the mostly widely used tune there. The song has been recorded in various arrangements, and modern composers have their own versions. Take this lovely piano-violin arrangement by Ariel Davydov. And the younger the composers’ generation the more eternal the Entertainer is. Have a look at the brilliant Ukrainian performer and composer Stepan Grytsay in the video! I so love the duet of these instruments.