Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (1866 – 1925), who 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, Surrealism, repetitive music, and the
Theatre of the Absurd.
Aside from influencing the music of Claude Debussy and
Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie also played a lead role in
the Parisian avant-garde movement and left his mark...(+)
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (1866 – 1925), who 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, Surrealism, repetitive music, and the
Theatre of the Absurd.
Aside from influencing the music of Claude Debussy and
Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie also played a lead role in
the Parisian avant-garde movement and left his mark
directly on the musical world by initiating the "cult
of the music hall," with works like La Diva de l'Empire
(The Star of the Empire) (c. 1900). Known as the
"cafe-concert" songs, this work and its accompanying
two others, Tendrement and Je te veux, became his most
popular pieces for voice. The works were written while
Satie was attempting to avoid living in poverty by
supporting himself as a pianist in a Montmartre
cabaret. The songs were written for Paulette Darty,
"Queen of the Slow Waltz." They marked a shift in his
career away from the Rosicrucian idealism and his more
serious works and toward a period of humor and
mischief.
La Diva de l'Empire was originally written for voice
and piano, but it was the transcription for solo piano
by Hans Ourdine that made the work famous. La Diva was
not a "waltz chantee," Darty's typical repertoire, but
a cakewalk song, with a strutting rhythm. Using a
moderate march tempo, the music depicts a diva of
Napoleon's time; however, Satie later gave it the
humorous subtitle, "American intermezzo." Making their
way through the work's several interpretive problems,
the pianist is required to maintain a strict rhythm,
while the vocalist sings with her distinctive "rubato
de diva." Slightly imitative of the imperial era of
Offenbach's music, this brisk, cheerful song, which is
touched by cynicism and filled with Anglicisms, is best
summed up by one of its lines -- "C'est à la fois
très très innocent et très très excitant" (It is at
once very, very innocent and very, very exciting).
Although La Diva de l'Empire was probably quite popular
in its original form in the cabaret clubs, Satie chose
to later create a version for beer-hall orchestra. In
retrospect, the work may appear a bit dated; however,
considering the fact that it was completed nearly 15
years prior to the time when serious composers began
experimenting with jazz techniques, its originality is
quite remarkable. In 1903, shortly after these
"cafe-concert" pieces were written, Satie, nearly 40
years old, decided to work over his technique by
modestly registering as a student at the Schola
Cantorum, where he studied with Vincent d'Indy and
Albert Roussel. After receiving his diploma, which gave
him the "authority" to compose, he continued on the
path he had initiated with La Diva de l'Empire,
creating works which were slightly comic in nature,
while furthering his reputation as a unique, yet
bizarre man.
Source: AllMusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/la-diva-de-lempir
e-song-for-voice-piano-mc0002392056).
Although originally created for Solo Piano, I created
this Arrangement of the "La Diva de l'Empire" (The Diva
of the Empire) for Flute & Concert (Pedal) Harp.
SHEET MUSIC