Description
The final piece of the same 1913 set Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois, its title puns on Chabrier's orchestral showpiece España. The title itself mangles the word España, and the music takes the same teasing attitude towards Spanish-style music.
It is in A minor and 3/4. Borrowing the shape of a Spanish-style dance, Satie exaggerates its rhythms and harmonies to gently mock the exoticism fashionable at the time. At about one minute fifteen seconds and some 791 notes, it is packed tight, driven along by the energy of a triple-time dance.
Rated intermediate, its bass goes below a 61-key keyboard, but on 76 keys an octave shift fits every note. Busy with notes, it calls for quick, precise fingerwork. Slowing the playback to learn the bouncing rhythms exactly, and looping chord-heavy passages with A-B, will steady it. The mischief of its overblown Spanish gestures, which can make a listener laugh outright, comes through best when the rhythm is sharp.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Erik Satie was a French composer from Honfleur who worked in Montmartre's cabarets while pursuing a highly individual musical aesthetic. Known for spare, understated music and whimsically titled works, he later influenced minimalist and ambient music. This site includes the Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes, along with "Danse maigre."
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