Satie Idylle

Avant-dernières pensées (Next-to-last Thoughts) is a piano composition by Erik Satie. It is the last of his humorous piano suites of the 1910s, and is one of the more frequently performed of Satie's later piano works. Originally entitled Étrange rumeurs (Strange Rumors), the three pieces comprising Avant-dernières pensées were completed between August 23 and October 6, 1915. Satie dedicated them to three colleagues:

Idylle, for Claude Debussy

Aubade, for Paul Dukas

Méditation, for Albert Roussel

Érik Satie (1866 – 1925) was a French composer and pianist, as well as a colorful figure in the early twentieth century Parisian avant-garde. He is perhaps best known for his short piano pieces, such as Gnossiennes.

Averse to the Romanticism of Richard Wagner, he produced fascinating music of a simple, timeless, directionless, repetitious, eccentric, whimsical, satirical, and humorous nature. He was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism, repetitive music, and the Theatre of the Absurd.

Tutorial

• Idylle

Sheetmusic at imslp.org