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1 (one;  /ˈwʌn/ or UK /ˈwɒn/) is a number, a numeral, and the name of the glyph representing that number. It represents a single entity, the unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of "unit length" is a line segment of length 1.

As a number[link]

One, sometimes referred to as unity, is the integer before two and after zero. One is the first non-zero number in the natural numbers as well as the first odd number in the natural numbers.

Any number multiplied by one is the number, as one is the identity for multiplication. As a result, one is its own factorial, its own square, its own cube, and so on. One is also the empty product, as any number multiplied by one is itself, which produces the same result as multiplying by no numbers at all.

As a digit[link]

The glyph used today in the Western world to represent the number 1, a vertical line, often with a serif at the top and sometimes a short horizontal line at the bottom, traces its roots back to the Indians, who wrote 1 as a horizontal line, much like the Chinese character 一. The Gupta wrote it as a curved line, and the Nagari sometimes added a small circle on the left (rotated a quarter turn to the right, this 9-look-alike became the present day numeral 1 in the Gujarati and Punjabi scripts). The Nepali also rotated it to the right but kept the circle small.^[1] This eventually became the top serif in the modern numeral, but the occasional short horizontal line at the bottom probably originates from similarity with the Roman numeral Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \mathrm{I} . In some European countries (e.g., Germany), the little serif at the top is sometimes extended into a long upstroke, sometimes as long as the vertical line, which can lead to confusion with the glyph for seven in other countries. Where the 1 is written with a long upstroke, the number 7 has a horizontal stroke through the vertical line.

While the shape of the 1 character has an ascender in most modern typefaces, in typefaces with text figures, the character usually is of x-height, as, for example, in .

The 24-hour tower clock in Venice, using J as a symbol for 1

Many older typewriters do not have a separate symbol for 1 and use the lowercase l instead. It is possible to find cases when the uppercase J is used, while it may be for decorative purposes.

Mathematics[link]

Mathematically, 1 is

• in arithmetic (algebra) and calculus, the natural number that follows 0 and precedes 2 and the multiplicative identity of the integers, real numbers and complex numbers;
• more generally, in abstract algebra, the multiplicative identity ("unity"), usually of a ring.

One cannot be used as the base of a positional numeral system; sometimes tallying is referred to as "base 1", since only one mark (the tally) is needed, but this is not a positional notation.

The logarithms base 1 are undefined, since the function 1^x always equals 1 and so has no unique inverse.

In the real-number system, 1 can be represented in two ways as a recurring decimal: as 1.000... and as 0.999... (q.v.).

Formalizations of the natural numbers have their own representations of 1:

• in the Peano axioms, 1 is the successor of 0;
• in Principia Mathematica, 1 is defined as the set of all singletons (sets with one element);
• in the Von Neumann cardinal assignment of natural numbers, 1 is defined as the set {0}.

In a multiplicative group or monoid, the identity element is sometimes denoted 1, especially in abelian groups, but e (from the German Einheit, "unity") is more traditional. However, 1 is especially common for the multiplicative identity of a ring, i.e., when an addition and 0 are also present. When such a ring has characteristic n not equal to 0, the element called 1 has the property that n1 = 1n = 0 (where this 0 is the additive identity of the ring). Important examples are general fields.

One is the first figurate number of every kind, such as triangular number, pentagonal number and centered hexagonal number, to name just a few.

In many mathematical and engineering equations, numeric values are typically normalized to fall within the unit interval from 0 to 1, where 1 usually represents the maximum possible value in the range of parameters.

Because of the multiplicative identity, if f(x) is a multiplicative function, then f(1) must equal 1.

It is also the first and second numbers in the Fibonacci sequence and is the first number in many other mathematical sequences. As a matter of convention, Sloane's early Handbook of Integer Sequences added an initial 1 to any sequence that did not already have it and considered these initial 1's in its lexicographic ordering. Sloane's later Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences and its Web counterpart, the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, ignore initial ones in their lexicographic ordering of sequences, because such initial ones often correspond to trivial cases.

One is neither a prime number nor a composite number, but a unit, like -1 and, in the Gaussian integers, i and -i. The fundamental theorem of arithmetic guarantees unique factorization over the integers only up to units (e.g., 4 = 2² = (-1)⁶×1²³×2²).

The definition of a field requires that 1 must not be equal to 0. Thus, there are no fields of characteristic 1. Nevertheless, abstract algebra can consider the field with one element, which is not a singleton and is not a set at all.

One is the only positive integer divisible by exactly one positive integer (whereas prime numbers are divisible by exactly two positive integers, composite numbers are divisible by more than two positive integers, and zero is divisible by all positive integers). One was formerly considered prime by some mathematicians, using the definition that a prime is divisible only by one and itself. However, this complicates the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, so modern definitions exclude units.

One is one of three possible values of the Möbius function: it takes the value one for square-free integers with an even number of distinct prime factors.

One is the only odd number in the range of Euler's totient function φ(x), in the cases x = 1 and x = 2.

One is the only 1-perfect number (see multiply perfect number).

By definition, 1 is the magnitude or absolute value of a unit vector and a unit matrix (more usually called an identity matrix). Note that the term unit matrix is sometimes used to mean something quite different.

By definition, 1 is the probability of an event that is almost certain to occur.

One is the most common leading digit in many sets of data, a consequence of Benford's law.

The ancient Egyptians represented all fractions (with the exception of 2/3 and 3/4) in terms of sums of fractions with numerator 1 and distinct denominators. For example, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \frac{2}{5} = \frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{15} . Such representations are popularly known as Egyptian Fractions or Unit Fractions.

The Generating Function that has all coefficients 1 is given by

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \frac{1}{1-x} = 1 + x + x^2 + x^3 + \cdots .

This power series converges and has finite value if and only if, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): | x | < 1 .

Table of basic calculations[link]

In technology[link]

• The resin identification code used in recycling to identify polyethylene terephthalate
• Used in binary code along with 0

In science[link]

• The atomic number of hydrogen

In philosophy[link]

In the philosophy of Plotinus and a number of other neoplatonists, The One is the ultimate reality and source of all existence.

In fiction[link]

• The characters Thomas the Tank Engine, Skarloey and Godred from The Railway Series and Thomas and Friends have this number.
• Numbuh 1, a character from Codename: Kids Next Door.
• The character Francesco Bernoulli from Cars 2 is numbered 1.
• Mr. One from One Piece.
• The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard is numbered 01.
• Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation, refers to his second-in-command, Will Riker as Number One.

In sports[link]

• 1 is the lowest number permitted for use by players of the National Hockey League (NHL), as the league has banned 00 and 0. (The highest number permitted is 98.)
• Many sports use 1 as their standard scoring increment—examples include goals in a large number of sports, runs in baseball and cricket, and points in volleyball. Examples where 1 is a non-standard increment, or used for one of several possible classes of scores, are listed below by sport.
• In Australian rules football, 1 point is awarded to the attacking team for a behind, scored when:
  • The ball is kicked by the attacking team and passes between a goal post (taller post) and the nearest behind post (shorter post) on the defensive side of the field without touching the behind post.
  • The ball passes between the defending team's goal posts, but either (1) was not kicked by the attacking team or (2) hit a goal post.
  • The defending team deliberately forces the ball between any two of its own posts. This particular score is officially called a "rushed behind".
• In baseball scoring, the number 1 is assigned to the pitcher.
• In basketball:
  • 1 point is awarded for a successful free throw.
  • The number 1 is used to designate the point guard position.
• In football (soccer):
  • 1 point is awarded for a successful goal
  • The number 1 is occasionally given to the goalkeeper
• In Gaelic football, hurling and camogie, a "point", with a scoring value of 1, is awarded when the attacking team legally sends the ball over the opponent's crossbar (above the goal).
• In gridiron football codes, one point is awarded under the following circumstances:
  • In almost all leagues, for a successful place kick after a touchdown. In American football, the score is formally known as a "try", although the terms "extra point", "conversion", "PAT" (for "point after touchdown"), and "point after" are far more commonly used. In Canadian football, the score is formally and popularly called a "convert". Conversions can also be scored by the now-rare drop kick; in standard American and Canadian football, such a conversion is worth 1 point, while most forms of indoor football, including the Arena Football League, award 2 points for a drop-kicked conversion.
  • In six-man football, one point is awarded for a successful conversion from scrimmage after a touchdown. Note that in standard 11-man (American) or 12-man (Canadian) football, place kicks are worth 1 point and conversions from scrimmage worth 2; this is reversed in six-man because the reduced number of players makes kicked conversions much more difficult.
  • In Canadian football only, a single or "rouge" is awarded when the ball is legally kicked into the opponent's end zone (except for a successful field goal), and the receiving team does not return, or kick, the ball out of its end zone. (In American football, the same play would result in a touchback and no points.)
  • Some forms of indoor football in the U.S. award a "single", similar to the Canadian score, on kickoffs only.
• In rugby league:
  • A drop goal is worth 1 point.
  • In most competitions (though not the European Super League, which uses static squad numbering), the starting fullback wears jersey number 1.
• In rugby union:
  • The starting loosehead prop wears the jersey number 1.
  • In the early years of the sport (prior to 1890), conversions, penalties, drop goals, and goals from mark were all worth 1 point. At that time, a try was worth no points, only giving the attacking team the right to attempt a conversion. In 1890–91, tries were rewarded with 1 point, while all other scores were increased in value. After that time, all scores have been worth at least 2 points (the goal from mark was abolished in 1977).
• The jersey number 1 has been retired by several North American sports teams in honor of past playing greats or other key figures (or, in one case, a team's fans):
  • In Major League Baseball:
    • The Boston Red Sox, for Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr.
    • The Cincinnati Reds, for manager Fred Hutchinson.
    • The Los Angeles Dodgers, for Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese.
    • The New York Yankees, for Billy Martin, who both played for and managed the team.
    • The Philadelphia Phillies, for Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn.
    • The Pittsburgh Pirates, for manager Billy Meyer.
    • The St. Louis Cardinals, for Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.
  • In the NBA:
    • The Boston Celtics, for founding owner Walter Brown, a member of the Hall of Fame as a contributor.
    • The Milwaukee Bucks, for Hall of Fame player Oscar Robertson.
    • The Portland Trail Blazers, for founding owner Larry Weinberg. Unlike most numbers so honored, this number remains in circulation for players.
    • The Sacramento Kings, for Hall of Fame player Nate Archibald, honoring the number's retirement when the team was known as the Kansas City Kings.
    • The Seattle SuperSonics, for Gus Williams. The team has since relocated to become the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the Thunder have yet to issue any number retired by the franchise in Seattle.
    • The Utah Jazz, for Frank Layden, who served the team first as head coach and then as president.
  • In the NFL:
    • The New York Giants, for Hall of Famer Ray Flaherty.
    • The Tennessee Titans, for Hall of Famer Warren Moon, who played for the team in its past incarnation as the Houston Oilers.
  • In the NHL:
    • The Chicago Blackhawks, for Hall of Famer Glenn Hall.
    • The Detroit Red Wings, for Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk.
    • The Montreal Canadiens, for Hall of Famer Jacques Plante.
    • The New York Rangers, for Hall of Famer Eddie Giacomin.
    • The Minnesota Wild, for their fans.
    • The Philadelphia Flyers, for Hall of Famer Bernie Parent.
    • The Toronto Maple Leafs have a policy of not retiring numbers unless the player honoured either died or suffered a career-ending incident while a member of the team. Other players whose numbers would otherwise be retired instead have their numbers enshrined by the team as "Honoured Numbers", which remain in circulation for future players. The number 1 is currently honoured for Hall of Famers Johnny Bower and Turk Broda.

See also[link]

Mathematics portal

• −1
• One (word)
• Root of unity

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1 (number) (category)

Look up one in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

vep:1 (lugu)

Martha Argerich at the age of 21 in 1962

Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine pianist.

Early life[link]

Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three (the provenance of the name Argerich is uncertain: some say it is Catalan, while others maintain it originates from Croatia).^[1] At the age of five, she moved to teacher Vincenzo Scaramuzza who stressed to her the importance of lyricism and feeling. Argerich gave her debut concert in 1949 at the age of eight. The family moved to Europe in 1955 where Argerich studied with Friedrich Gulda in Austria. Juan Perón, then the president of Argentina, made their decision possible by appointing her parents to diplomatic posts in the Argentine Embassy in Vienna. She later studied with Stefan Askenase and Maria Curcio.^[2] Argerich also seized opportunities for brief periods of coaching with Madeleine Lipatti (widow of Dinu Lipatti), Abbey Simon, and Nikita Magaloff.^[3] In 1957, at sixteen, she won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition, within three weeks of each other. It was at the latter that she met Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli whom she would later seek out for lessons during a personal artistic crisis at the age of twenty, though she only had four lessons with him in a year and a half.^[4] Her greatest influence was Gulda, with whom she studied for 18 months.

Professional career[link]

Argerich rose to international prominence when she won the seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965, at age 24. In 1965, she debuted in the United States in the Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. In the same year, she also made her first recording, including works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Liszt, which received critical acclaim. In 1965, she recorded Chopin's Scherzo No. 3, Polonaise, Op. 53, and other short works in the later years.

Argerich has often remarked in interviews of feeling "lonely" on stage during solo performances.^[5] Since the 1980s, she has staged few solo performances, instead focusing on concertos and, in particular, chamber music, and accompanying instrumentalists in sonatas. She is noted especially for her recordings of 20th century works by composers such as Rachmaninoff, Messiaen and Prokofiev. One notable compilation pairs Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (recorded in December 1982 with the Radio Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under direction of Riccardo Chailly) with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (February 1980, Symphonie Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Kirill Kondrashin).

Argerich is also famous for her interpretation of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor, which she has recorded several times and continues to perform.

Argerich has also promoted younger pianists, both through her annual festival and through her frequent appearances as a member of the jury at important competitions.^{[citation needed]} The pianist Ivo Pogorelić was thrust into the musical spotlight partly as a result of Argerich's actions: after he was eliminated in the third round of the 1980 International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Argerich proclaimed him a "genius" and left the jury in protest.^[6] She has supported several artists including Gabriela Montero, Mauricio Vallina, Sergio Tiempo, Gabriele Baldocci and others.^[7][8]

Argerich is president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and performs each year at the Lugano Festival, Switzerland. She also created and has been General Director of the Argerich Music Festival and Encounter in Beppu, Japan, since 1996.

Her aversion to the press and publicity has resulted in her remaining out of the limelight for most of her career. Nevertheless she is widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of her time.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Argerich has been married three times. Her first marriage was to composer-conductor Robert Chen, with whom she had a daughter, Lyda Chen, who is a violist. From 1969 to 1973, Argerich was married to conductor Charles Dutoit, with whom she had a daughter, Annie Dutoit. Argerich continues to record and perform with Dutoit. Her third husband was pianist Stephen Kovacevich, with whom she had a daughter, Stephanie.^[10]

In 1990, Argerich was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. After treatment, the cancer went into remission, but there was a reoccurrence in 1995, eventually metastasizing to her lungs and lymph nodes. Following aggressive treatment at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, which included the removal of part of her lung and use of an experimental vaccine, Argerich's cancer went into remission again. In gratitude, Argerich performed a Carnegie Hall recital benefiting the Institute.^[11] As of 2012^[update], Argerich remains cancer-free.^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

• The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette 2005 Japan
• Praemium Imperiale 2005 Japan
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):
  • Claudio Abbado (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 (2006)
• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:
  • Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev for Prokofiev (Arr. Pletnev): Cinderella Suite for Two Pianos/Ravel: Ma Mere L'Oye (2005)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
  • Charles Dutoit (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3/Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (2000)
• Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal (1997)
• International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition: 1st prize (1965)
• Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition: 1st prize (1957) ^[12]
• Geneva International Music Competition: 1st prize (1957)
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[13]

See also[link]

Piano portal

• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich
• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich II
• List of Argentines

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Argerich--Discography," (August 11, 1999)
• Ross, Alex; 'Madame X', November 12, 2001, a profile of Argerich in The New Yorker
• Martha Argerich, evening talks, the award-winning documentary film about Argerich by Georges Gachot - (imdb link)
• Orga, Ates, River Plate Queen (1978, 2006), an interview with Argerich first published in the 1979 International Music Guide
• MUSIC FESTIVAL Argerich's Meeting Point in Beppu, a music festival sponsored by the Argerich Arts Foundation of Beppu, Japan
• The Martha Argerich Project
• Argerich Music news, concert schedule, articles, recordings
• Argerich's repertoire through the years
• Martha Argerich biography, CD and concert review by cosmopolis.ch
• Martha Argerich Project Brings Talent to Lugano by Euro News, June 15, 2009

Charles Dutoit
Background information
Birth name	Charles Édouard Dutoit
Born	(1936-10-07) 7 October 1936 (age 75) Lausanne, Switzerland
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Conductor, pedagogue
Associated acts	Gothenburg Symphony Montreal Symphony NHK Symphony Orchestre National de France Philadelphia Orchestra Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Charles Édouard Dutoit, (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl e.dwaːʁ dy.twa]) OC GOQ (born 7 October 1936) is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music. He has made influential modern recordings of Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette and Maurice Ravel's ballets Daphnis et Chloé and Ma mère l'oye. He currently serves as the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Biography[link]

Dutoit was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, studied there and graduated from the Geneva Conservatory where he won first prize in conducting, then he went to the Music Academy in Siena by the invitation of Alceo Galliera. In his younger days, he frequently attended Ernest Ansermet's rehearsals and had a personal acquaintance with him. He also worked with Herbert von Karajan at Lucerne as a member of the festival youth orchestra and studied with Charles Munch at Tanglewood. Dutoit began his professional music career in 1957 as a viola player with various orchestras across Europe and South America. In January 1959, he made his debut as a professional conductor with an orchestra of Radio Lausanne and Martha Argerich. From 1959 he was a guest conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. After this, he was the conductor for Radio Zurich until 1967, when he took over the Bern Symphony Orchestra from Paul Kletzki, where he stayed for eleven years.

While head of the Bern Symphony, he also conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico from 1973 to 1975, and Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony from 1975 to 1978. Dutoit was principal guest conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra in the early 1980s.

In 1977, Dutoit became the Artistic Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM). During his tenure, the recording profile and reputation of the OSM increased.^[1][2] He has earned more than 40 international awards and distinctions, including two Grammy Awards (USA), several Juno Awards (Canada), the Grand Prix du Président de la République (France), the Prix mondial du disque de Montreux (Switzerland), the Amsterdam Edison Award, the Japan Record Academy Award, and the German Music Critics' Award. He and the OSM made many recordings for the Decca/London label.

Although a pre-eminent cultural figure in a city proud of its Old World pedigree, Dutoit was impopular among his own musicians in Montreal for his harsh management style, apparently using fear and insults as motivation, to the point where some members broke down in tears after rehearsals. By April 2002 dissonance was festering, and after initiating dismissal procedures against two musicians who had stood up to him some players called in the Québec Musicians Guild. The union went public; its president saying that Dutoit had harassed his musicians for at least 10 years, treating them with derision and condescension. Upon hearing this Dutoit abruptly resigned, never to conduct in Montreal again.^[3]

1984

Dutoit first conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980. From 1990 to 1999, he was music director of the orchestra's summer concerts at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Since 1990, he has been the artistic director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer festival in Saratoga Springs, New York, a post he will relinquish in August 2010. In 1991, he was made an Honorary Citizen of the city of Philadelphia.

Since 1990, Dutoit has directed the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. From 1991 to 2001, Dutoit was Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, with whom he made a number of critically lauded recordings and toured extensively. In 1996, he was appointed principal conductor of Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is also one of a handful of non-Canadian citizens to be a Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec.

In February 2007, he was named chief conductor and artistic adviser of The Philadelphia Orchestra, for a contract of four years, effective September 2008.^[4] In April 2007, Dutoit was named principal conductor and artistic director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as of 2009.^[5] Since July 2009 Dutoit has also served as the music director of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Dutoit shuns publicity and protects his private life from the media. He has been married four times, including a marriage to the world-renowned concert pianist Martha Argerich, to the economist Marie-Josée Drouin, and to Canadian violinist Chantal Juillet.^[7] His first marriage was to Ruth Cury, by whom he has a son, Ivan, who lives in Santa Monica, California with his family. He also has a daughter, Anne-Catherine, by his marriage to Argerich.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Charles Dutoit at Allmusic
• Charles Dutoit biography at EMI Classics
• Charles Dutoit interview by Bruce Duffie
• Journal d'une création – Film directed by James Dormeyer with Chantal Juillet, Charles Dutoit and André Prévost

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010)

Erik Satie
Born	Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (1866-05-17)17 May 1866 Honfleur, France
Died	1 July 1925(1925-07-01) (aged 59) Paris, France
Occupation	Pianist, Composer
Partner	Suzanne Valadon

Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (pronounced: [eʁik sati]) (17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925; signed his name Erik Satie after 1884) was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde. His work was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism, repetitive music, and the Theatre of the Absurd.^[1]

An eccentric, Satie was introduced as a "gymnopedist" in 1887, shortly before writing his most famous compositions, the Gymnopédies. Later, he also referred to himself as a "phonometrician" (meaning "someone who measures sounds") preferring this designation to that of a "musician", after having been called "a clumsy but subtle technician" in a book on contemporary French composers published in 1911.^[2]

In addition to his body of music, Satie also left a remarkable set of writings, having contributed work for a range of publications, from the dadaist 391 to the American culture chronicle Vanity Fair. Although in later life he prided himself on always publishing his work under his own name, in the late nineteenth century he appears to have used pseudonyms such as Virginie Lebeau and François de Paule in some of his published writings.

Early life and training[link]

Satie house and museum in Honfleur

Satie was the son of Alfred Satie and his wife Jane Leslie (née Anton), who was born in London to Scottish parents. Erik was born at Honfleur in Normandy; his home there is open to the public. When Satie was four years old, his family moved to Paris, his father having been offered a translator's job in the capital. After his mother's death in 1872, he was sent, together with his younger brother, Conrad, back to Honfleur, to live with his paternal grandparents. There, he received his first music lessons from a local organist. When his grandmother died in 1878, the two brothers were reunited with their father in Paris, who remarried (a piano teacher) shortly afterwards. From the early 1880s onwards, Satie started publishing salon compositions by his step-mother and himself, among others.

In 1879, Satie entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he was soon labelled untalented by his teachers. Georges Mathias, his professor of piano at the Conservatoire, described his pupil's piano technique in flatly negative terms, "insignificant and laborious" and "worthless".^[3] Émile Descombes called him "the laziest student in the Conservatoire".^[4] Years later, Satie related that Mathias, with great insistence, told him that his real talent lay in composing. After being sent home for two-and-a-half years, he was readmitted to the Conservatoire at the end of 1885, but was unable to make a much more favourable impression on his teachers than he had before, and, as a result, resolved to take up military service a year later. However, Satie's military career did not last very long; within a few months he was discharged after deliberately infecting himself with bronchitis.^[5]

Career[link]

Montmartre[link]

A caricature of Eric Satie by Santiago Rusiñol, 1891

In 1887, Satie left home to take lodgings in Montmartre. By this time, he had started what was to be an enduring friendship with the romantic poet Patrice Contamine, and had had his first compositions published by his father. He soon integrated with the artistic clientele of the Le Chat Noir Café-cabaret, and started publishing his Gymnopédies. Publication of compositions in the same vein (Ogives, Gnossiennes, etc.) followed. In the same period he befriended Claude Debussy. He moved to a smaller room, still in Montmartre (rue Cortot N° 6), in 1890. By 1891 he was the official composer and chapel-master of the Rosicrucian Order "Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique, du Temple et du Graal", led by Sâr Joséphin Péladan, which led to compositions such as Salut drapeau!, Le fils des étoiles, and the Sonneries de la Rose+Croix. Satie gave performances at the Salon de la Rose + Croix, organized by Péladan.

By mid-1892, he had composed the first pieces in a compositional system of his own making (Fête donnée par des Chevaliers Normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle), had provided incidental music to a chivalric esoteric play (two Prélude du Nazaréen), had had his first hoax published (announcing the premiere of Le bâtard de Tristan, an anti-Wagnerian opera he probably never composed), and had broken with Péladan, starting that autumn with the Uspud project, a "Christian Ballet", in collaboration with Contamine de Latour. While the comrades from both the Chat Noir and Miguel Utrillo's Auberge du Clou sympathised, a promotional brochure was produced for the project, which reads as a pamphlet for a new esoteric sect.

In 1893, he met the young Maurice Ravel for the first time, Satie's style emerging in the first compositions of the youngster. One of Satie's own compositions of that period, the Vexations, was to remain undisclosed until after his death. By the end of the year he had founded the Eglise Métropolitaine d'Art de Jésus Conducteur (the Metropolitan Church of Art of the Leading Christ). As its only member, in the role of "Parcier et Maître de Chapelle" he started to compose a Grande messe (later to become known as the Messe des pauvres), and wrote a flood of letters, articles and pamphlets showing off his self-assuredness in religious and artistic matters. To give an example: he applied for membership of the Académie Française twice, leaving no doubt in the application letter that the board of that organisation (presided by Camille Saint-Saëns) as much as owed him such membership. Such proceedings without doubt rather helped to wreck his popularity in the cultural establishment. In 1895 he inherited some money, allowing him to have more of his writings printed, and to change from wearing a priest-like habit to being the "Velvet Gentleman".

Move to Arcueil[link]

By mid-1896 all of Satie's financial means had vanished, and he had to move to cheaper and much smaller lodgings, first at the Rue Cortot,^[6] and two years later, after he'd composed the two first sets of Template:Pièces froides in 1897, to Arcueil, a suburb some five kilometres from the centre of Paris. During this period he re-established contact with his brother Conrad for numerous practical and financial matters, disclosing some of his inner feelings in the process. The letters to Conrad made it clear that he had set aside any religious ideas.

From 1899 on Satie started making money as a cabaret pianist, adapting over a hundred compositions of popular music for piano or piano and voice, adding some of his own. The most popular of these were Je te veux, text by Henry Pacory; Tendrement, text by Vincent Hyspa; Poudre d'or, a waltz; La diva de l'"Empire", text by Dominique Bonnaud/Numa Blès; Le Picadilly, a march; Légende californienne, text by Contamine de Latour lost, but the music later reappears in La belle excentrique; and many more, many of which have been lost. In his later years Satie would reject all his cabaret music as vile and against his nature,^[7] but for the time being, it was an income.

Only a few compositions that Satie took seriously remain from this period: Jack in the Box, music to a pantomime by Jules Depaquit (called a "clownerie" by Satie), Geneviève de Brabant, a short comic opera on a serious theme, text by Lord Cheminot, The Dreamy Fish, piano music to accompany a lost tale by Lord Cheminot, and a few others that were mostly incomplete, hardly any of them staged, and none of them published at the time.

Both Geneviève de Brabant and The Dreamy Fish have been analysed by Ornella Volta as containing elements of competition with Claude Debussy, of which Debussy was probably not aware, Satie not making this music public. Meanwhile, Debussy was having one of his first major successes with Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, leading a few years later to ‘who-was-precursor-to-whom’ debates between the two composers, in which Maurice Ravel would also get involved.

In October 1905 Satie enrolled in Vincent d'Indy's Schola Cantorum de Paris to study classical counterpoint while still continuing his cabaret work. Most of his friends were as dumbfounded as the professors at the Schola when they heard about his new plan to return to the classrooms, especially as d'Indy was an admiring pupil of Saint-Saëns, not particularly favoured by Satie. Satie would follow these courses at the Schola, as a respected pupil, for more than five years, receiving a first (intermediate) diploma in 1908. Some of his classroom counterpoint-exercises, such as the Désespoir agréable, were published after his death. Another summary, of the period prior to the Schola, also appeared in 1911: the Trois morceaux en forme de poire, which was a kind of compilation of the best of what he had written up to 1903.^{[citation needed]}

Something that becomes clear through these published compilations is that Satie did not so much reject Romanticism and its exponents like Wagner, but that he rejected certain aspects of it. From his first composition to his last, he rejected the idea of musical development^{[citation needed]}, in the strict definition of this term: the intertwining of different themes in a development section of a sonata form. As a result, his contrapuntal and other works were very short; the "new, modern" Fugues do not extend further than the exposition of the theme(s). Generally, he would say that he did not think it permitted that a composer take more time from his public than strictly necessary.^{[citation needed]} Also Melodrama, in its historical meaning of the then popular romantic genre of "spoken words to a background of music", was something Satie avoided. His 1913 Le piège de Méduse could be seen as an absurdistic spoof of that genre.

In the meantime, other changes had also taken place: Satie had become a member of a radical socialist party, and had socialised with the Arcueil community: Amongst other things, he'd been involved in the "Patronage laïque" work for children. He also changed his appearance to that of the 'bourgeois functionary' with bowler hat, umbrella, etc. He channelled his medieval interests into a peculiar secret hobby: In a filing cabinet he maintained a collection of imaginary buildings, most of them described as being made out of some kind of metal, which he drew on little cards. Occasionally, extending the game, he would publish anonymous small announcements in local journals, offering some of these buildings, e.g. a "castle in lead", for sale or rent.

Height of success and influence[link]

Erik Satie: project of bust, 1913

Starting in 1912, Satie's new humorous miniatures for piano became very successful, and he wrote and published many of these over the next few years (most of them premiered by the pianist Ricardo Viñes). His habit of accompanying the scores of his compositions with all kinds of written remarks was now well established so that a few years later he had to insist that these not be read out during performances.^{[citation needed]} He had mostly stopped using barlines by this time. In some ways these compositions were very reminiscent^{[according to whom?]} of Rossini's compositions from the final years of his life, grouped under the name Péchés de vieillesse.

However the acceleration in Satie's life did not come so much from the success of his new piano pieces; it was Ravel who inadvertently triggered the characteristics of Satie's remaining years and thus influenced the successive progressive artistic and cultural movements that rapidly manifested themselves in Paris over the following years. Paris was seen as the artistic capital of the world, and the beginning of the new century appeared to have set many minds on fire.^{[citation needed]} In 1910 the "Jeunes Ravêlites", a group of young musicians around Ravel, proclaimed their preference for Satie's earlier work from before the Schola period, reinforcing the idea that Satie had been a precursor of Debussy.

At first Satie was pleased that at least some of his works were receiving public attention, but when he realised that this meant that his more recent work was overlooked or dismissed, he looked for other young artists who related better to his more recent ideas, so as to have better mutual support in creative activity. Thus young artists such as Roland-Manuel, and later Georges Auric, and Jean Cocteau, started to receive more of his attention than the "Jeunes".

As a result of his contact with Roland-Manuel, Satie again began publicising his thoughts, with far more irony than he had done before (amongst other things, the Mémoires d'un amnésique and Cahiers d'un mammifère).^[8]

With Jean Cocteau, whom he had first met in 1915, Satie started work on incidental music for a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (resulting in the Cinq grimaces). From 1916, he and Cocteau worked on the ballet Parade, which was premiered in 1917 by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso, and choreography by Léonide Massine. Through Picasso Satie also became acquainted with other cubists, such as Georges Braque, with whom he would work on other, aborted, projects.

With Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, and Germaine Tailleferre Satie formed the Nouveaux jeunes, shortly after writing Parade. Later the group was joined by Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud. In September 1918, Satie – giving little or no explanation – withdrew from the Nouveaux jeunes. Jean Cocteau gathered the six remaining members, forming the Groupe des six (to which Satie would later have access, but later again would fall out with most of its members).

From 1919 Satie was in contact with Tristan Tzara, the initiator of the Dada movement. He became acquainted with other artists involved in the movement, such as Francis Picabia (later to become a Surrealist), André Derain, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Hugo and Man Ray, among others. On the day of his first meeting with Man Ray, the two fabricated the artist's first readymade: The Gift (1921). Satie contributed writing to the Dadaist publication 391. In the first months of 1922 he was surprised to find himself entangled in the argument between Tzara and André Breton about the true nature of avant-garde art, epitomised by the failure of the Congrès de Paris. Satie originally sides with Tzara, but manages to maintain friendly relations with most players in both camps. Meanwhile, an "Ecole d'Arcueil" had formed around Satie, with young musicians like Henri Sauguet, Maxime Jacob, Roger Désormière and Henri Cliquet-Pleyel.

Finally he composed an "instantaneist" ballet (Relâche) in collaboration with Picabia, for the Ballets Suédois of Rolf de Maré. In a simultaneous project, Satie added music to the surrealist film Entr'acte by René Clair, which was given as an intermezzo for Relâche.

Personal life[link]

Satie and Suzanne Valadon, an artists' model and artist in her own right, and a long-time friend of Miguel Utrillo (and mother of Maurice Utrillo), began an affair early in 1893. After their first night together, he proposed marriage. The two did not marry, but Valadon moved to a room next to Satie's at the Rue Cortot. Satie became obsessed with her, calling her his Biqui, and writing impassioned notes about "her whole being, lovely eyes, gentle hands, and tiny feet". During their relationship, Satie composed the Danses gothiques as a kind of prayer to restore peace of mind, and Valadon painted a portrait of Satie, which she gave to him. After six months she moved away, leaving Satie broken-hearted. Afterwards, he said that he was left with "nothing but an icy loneliness that fills the head with emptiness and the heart with sadness".^[9] It is believed this was the only intimate relationship Satie ever had.^[10]

Death[link]

After years of heavy drinking, Satie died on 1 July 1925 from cirrhosis of the liver.^[11] He is buried in the cemetery in Arcueil. There is a tiny stone monument designating a grassy area in front of an apartment building—'Parc Erik Satie'. Over the course of his 27 years in residence at Arcueil, no one had ever visited his room. After his death, Satie's friends discovered compositions that were totally unknown or thought to have been lost. The orchestral score to Parade was thought, by Satie, to have been left on a bus years before. These were found behind the piano, in the pockets of his velvet suits, and in other odd places, and included the Vexations; Geneviève de Brabant and other unpublished or unfinished stage works; The Dreamy Fish; many Schola Cantorum exercises; a previously unseen set of "canine" piano pieces; and several other works for piano, many untitled. Some of these would be published later as additional Gnossiennes, Pièces froides, Enfantines, and furniture music.

Media[link]

Gymnopedies – La 1 Ere. Lent et Douloureux

Performed by Robin Alciatore. Courtesy of Musopen

Gnossienne 1

Composed c. 1890.

Gnossienne 2

Composed c. 1890.

Gnossienne 3

Composed c. 1890.

Recordings and arrangements[link]

Piano works[link]

Recordings of Satie's piano works have been released by Cristina Ariagno, Jean-Pierre Armengaud, Jean-Joël Barbier, Aldo Ciccolini, Claude Coppens (live recording), Reinbert de Leeuw, Eve Egoyan, Philippe Entremont, Frank Glazer, Olof Höjer, Michel Legrand, Jacques Loussier, Anne Queffélec, Bill Quist, Pascal Rogé, João Paulo Santos, Yūji Takahashi, Branka Parlić, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, John Lenehan and Daniel Varsano, among others.

Orchestral and vocal[link]

• A recording of historical importance is Template:Erik Satie, Les inspirations insolites, re-issued by EMI as a 2-CD set, containing among other pieces: Geneviève de Brabant (in a version before Contamine's text had been recovered), Le piège de Méduse, Messe des pauvres, etc.
• Many other recordings exist: Parade/Relâche (Michel Plasson / Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse), Satie: Socrate [etc.] (Jean-Paul Fouchécourt / Ensemble), and recordings of songs, e.g., by Anne-Sophie Schmidt.

Arrangements in popular music[link]

• In 1968, Blood Sweat & Tears released their eponymous second album, which included an adaptation of Erik Satie's Gymnopédie #1 (arranged by Dick Halligan) which they titled as Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (First and Second Movements). The first movement is a straightforward elaboration of the basic theme using flutes, an acoustic guitar and a triangle. The second is a far more abstract variation using only brass instruments. In 1969, Halligan received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance for the piece.
• In 1974, the jazz flutist Hubert Laws recorded an arrangement by Bob James of the "Gymnopedie #1" in his "In the Beginning" double album. The band featured keyboardist Bob James, guitarist Gene Bertoncini, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Steve Gadd, three strings, and Hubert's brother Ronnie Laws on tenor sax.
• In 1979 the band "Sky" (Tristan Fry, Francis Monkman, Kevin Peek, Herbie Flowers, and John Williams) included a version of Gymnopedie No1, which was arranged by John Williams, on the band's first album, which was entitled "Sky"
• In 1980, Gary Numan's 7-inch "We Are Glass" featured "Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement)" on the B-side.
• In 1987, the Serbian electronic music composer Mitar Subotić on his debut album Disillusioned! recorded a twenty-five minute long instrumental track "Thanx Mr. Rorschach - Ambijenti na muziku Erika Satija" ("Thanx Mr. Rorschach - Ambient to the music by Erik Satie"), as a kind of a musical Rorschach test to the music by Satie.
• In 1989, the Vienna Art Orchestra (directed by Mathias Rüegg) released The Minimalism of Eric Satie, a 2-LP set on the Swiss HatART label that included "reflections" on a number of Satie's works, notably three performances of Vexations in various instrumental/vocal combinations.
• In 1990, Movement 98's (Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne) single "Joy and Heartbreak" used the opening phrase of Trois Gymnopedies as the intro and instrumental.
• In 1994, Malcolm McLaren arranged Gnossienne 3&4 in his concept album Paris.
• In 1999, electronic music act Plaid's CD "Restproof Clockwork" included a track called "Tearisci" which is an uncredited version of Satie's "Pièces Froides, No. 2: Danses De Travers: III. Encore".
• In 2000, ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett released the album, "Sketches of Satie", performing Satie's works on acoustic guitar, with contributions by his brother John on flute.
• The English electronic duo Isan recorded versions of the three Gymnopédies for a 2006 7-inch single, "Trois Gymnopedies" on the Morr Music record label.
• The 2006 video game Mother 3 features an arrangement of the 1st Gymnopedie as background music, titled "Leder's Gymnopedie".
• The 2006 movie The Painted Veil features Gnossienne No. 1 throughout the film.
• The 2nd movement of his Gymnopédies has been used in the original soundtrack of 2010 Japanese animated film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya by Kyoto Animation studio. The full Gymnopédies as long as Gnossiennes are included in the 2nd CD of this OST.
• Ogive Number 2 (incorrectly labelled Ogive Number 1) was re-recorded electronically by William Orbit on his album Pieces in a Modern Style
• In 2011, singer-songwriter Tori Amos released an album entitled Night of Hunters, where her song "Battle of Trees" is a variation on Gnossienne no. 1.
• In 2011, Satie's "Gnossienne No.1" was used in the film Hugo.