Satie's 'Entr'Acte' - A Model of Film Music

Society for Cinema & Media Studies University of Texas Press Satie's "Entr'acte:" A Model of Film Music Author(s): Douglas W. Gallez and Satie Source: Cinema Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Autumn, 1976), pp. 36-50 Published by: University of Texas Press on behalf of the Society for Cinema & Media Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1225448 Accessed: 21-10-2015 01:44 UTC

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Satie'sEntr'acte.A Model of Film Music Douglas W. Gallez

To be interested in Satie one must be disinterested to begin with, accept that a sound is a sound and a man is a man, give up illusions about ideas of order, expressions of sentiment, and all the rest of our inherited aesthetic claptrap. -John Cagel No consideration of film music can afford to overlook the unique contribution of that eccentric genius of the twenties, Erik Satie. Simple, flowing, sometimes ingratiating, his music lends itself well to film, particularly to collage films in experimental cinema.2 Never has the cinematic affinity of Satie's music been better demonstrated than in the score he wrote to accompany Rene Clair's film interlude for Francis Picabia's Dadaist ballet, Reldche (1924).3 It is an inventive score without peer, at once durable and distinguished, says Virgil Thomson. Its excellence "is due to Satie's having understood correctly the limitations and possibilities of a photographic narrative as subject matter for music."4 Satie's score provides a useful model for today's composers and film makers, especially because it anticipated over 50 years ago some of the structural concepts now in vogue in the arts.5 1 John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, ]966), p. 82. 2 Bruce Baillie, "inspired by a lesson from Satie," affectionately included a snippet or two of a Satie work in the soundtrackof his Castro Street (1966)-see David Curtis, Experimental Cinema (New York: Dell, 1971), p. 120. Film maker Harold Becker edited his Eugene Atget (1963) in loving synchronization with orchestrated versions of Satie's Trois Gymnopedies. The Gymnopedies have been used and imitated in television commercials, even in one for a feminine deodorant. Satie might not have disapproved, what with his insistence on musique d'ameublement. In a prospectus sent to Jean Cocteau he wrote: "We want to establish a music designed to satisfy 'useful' needs. Art has no part in such needs. Furnituremusic creates a vibration; it has no other goal." -cited in Roger Shattuck,The Banquet Years:The Origins of the Avant-Gardein France, 1885 to World War I, rev. ed. (New York:Vintage, 1968), p. 169. 3 Satie's work is variously called "Entr'acte cinematographique,""Entr'acte symphonique," or "Cinema"-see Shattuck, p. 170. The two piano versions of the score are entitled "Cinema." 4 Virgil Thomson, Music Right and Left (New York: Holt, 1951), pp. 98-99 passim. 5 A misconception was published some years ago that Satie's music had been lost.

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Musique d'ameublement a notion of Satie maintained that music, like wallMatisse's, Following decorative without be could attracting attention. Intended to be paper, heard but not listened to, such music accorded with Satie's philosophy, L'Esprit Nouveau. The New Spirit was a philosophy which, while emphasizing humility and renunciation, minimized musical emotion and activity in favor of clarity and directness.7 Superficial and utilitarian, this so-called musique d'ameublement (furniture music) had little intrinsic value, but Satie believed that music derived meaning from its utility-an idea, says Cage, that agrees with Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy.8 It is said that Satie "worked scrupulously over a few pieces [mobiliers musicaux] and humbled his art in a manner that was half penance, half gag."9 Collaborating with others, he mounted a performance of the musique d'ameublement at the Galerie Barbazange in Paris in March, 1920. This initial experiment in self-effacement failed, because those attending listened to the music despite Satie's pleas that they should ignore it.10 Nevertheless, even if Satie intended only to pull the legs of the musical public and the critics, the concept of musique d'ameublement was prophetic. By daring to advance furniture music Satie became the "Father of Muzak."ll He soon used his idea most successfully in the score for Entr'acte. This simply is not true; various versions are available from Editions Salabert. They were used during the research for this monograph. Also, the music has been recorded; see Candide Records 31018, compatible stereo, "Entr'acte symphonique du ballet 'Relache,'" performed by the ensemble Die Reihe, conducted by Friedrich Cerha. Cf. David Curtis, note, p. 23: "Satie's music no longer survives and there is an alternative version [of Entr'acte] suggesting that Picabia had hoped to use the 'interval murmur of the theatre audience as a background noise for this [silent] film, but they all fell silent, as though the sight of [Clair's] extraordinarycortege had taken their breath away. Picabia, enraged, shouted at the audience, "Talk, can't you, talk!" Nobody did.' Hans Richter Dada, Art and Anti-Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1965." Perhaps the misconception of the "lost"music is Richter's. 6 Matisse had written, "What I dream of is an art without any disquieting or preoccupying subject, . . . something analogous to a good armchair."-cited in Shattuck, p. 169. Stravinskylater drew upon the wallpaper analogy to deplore the value of film music: "Film music? It's wallpaper!" 7 Cage, loc. cit. On p. 76, Cage quotes Satie: "There'llprobably be some music, but we'll manage to find a quiet corner where we can talk." This remark, epitomizing Satie's attitude toward music in his last years, seems to refer to musique d'ameublemenlt.Conceivably the ironic allusion to music in a public place-music which Satie and his companion could ignore and which reflected Satie's attitude of resignation-derived from his hard experience as a Montmartrecabaret pianist, when as many patrons ignored his music as paid it heed. 8 Cage in Richard Kostelanetz, ed., John Cage (New York: Praeger, 1970), p. 191. 9 Shattuck,p. 169. 10 Darius Milhaud, Notes sans nmusique (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1949), p. 137.

11 An apt sobriquet by student Tom Roth, San Francisco State University, November, 1969. See also Shattuck, p. 169: "Since that day [at the Galerie Barbazange] jukeboxes, radios, television, music while you work, canned music, audiotherapy-a whole

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Most students of film are familiar with Clair's witty excursion into the world of Dada, which Arthur Knight succinctly described in The Liveliest

Art:

. . . amidst the imagery of Paris in miniature and a game of chess played on a rooftop ledge, Borlin [premier danseur of the Ballet Suedois] is killed by a shot aimed at an amusement park target. The funeral begins with the hearse drawn by a camel, the mourners setting out in majestic slow motion after it. But somehow the hearse breaks loose from its moorings, and soon the entire procession is racing in hot pursuit through the streets of Paris. The leaves blur overhead. Clair cuts in a ride on a roller coaster to heighten the sense of speed, or mounts his camera on the front of a car as it races down a curving mountain road. Suddenly the hearse stops, the coffin falls out, and up pops Borlin smiling and unharmed . . .12 That is the essence of the action depicted on the screen. To arrive at a Satie's musico-cinematic achievement, it is important to examthe film content, but also Satie's working notes in the form of the degree of precision in synchronization of the music with the music itself.

judgment of ine not only a cue sheet, the film, and

Satie's Cue Sheet Satie's plan for "Cinema" is an early example of a film music cue sheet. (See Figure 1.) 13 Commencing with the title, Satie sketches the measures and repetitions of ideas, the key changes and rehearsal cues, and occasionally indicates the screen action: "Cheminees, ballons qui explosent" (Chimneys, exploding balloons); "Gants de boxe & allumettes" (Boxing gloves and matches); etc. His layout ends just before the appearance of the ballerina.14

race of creatures-have sprung into existence to fill the aural background of our lives the way interior decoration fills the visual background." Paul Hindemith, in A Composer's World: Horizons and Limitations (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952), pp. 211-213, brilliantly excoriates environmental music, a "relentlessly running music faucet." 12 ArthurKnight, The Liveliest Art (New York: The New American Library, 1959), p. 102. 13 Pierre-Daniel Templier, Erik Satie, trans. Elena L. French and David S. French (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1969), plate 83 [no pagination]. 14 This is apparently at Scene 109 in the description of the action provided in Rene Clair, A Nous la Liberte and Entr'acte, trans. Richard Jacques and Nicola Hayden (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970), p. 125. A curious discrepancycan be seen between the piano versions of "Cinema" and Satie's orchestral score and cue sheet. The piano scores indicate "ballons sur les toits," but the orchestral score and cue sheet show "bateaux sur les toits." Study of the film and published script indicates that a paper boat floats through the air superimposedover rooftops. Satie's note, therefore, is the accurate description of the action. See scenes 94-107 in Clair, pp. 124-125.

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Figure 1. Satie's Cue Sheet Cinema 1 --

2

Titre

A "Relache" 'heminees, ballons qui explosent pChimneys, exploding balloons]

[Title]

111

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C,ants de boxe & allumettes [Box-

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[Part II]

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16 13

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Prises d'air, jeu d'echecs et bateaux sur les toits (60) [High angle shots, chess game and boats over rooftops]

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[Part III]

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iGdggloves and matches]

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[Part I]

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1

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Unfortunately, we do not have easy access to the rest of Satie's working notes, if indeed they survive.15 Perhaps it would be useful to compare his complete plan with the musical score, but it seems likely that such examination would merely confirm that Satie proceeded consistently throughout his notes. We would probably continue to see signs of haste-corrections and deletions, unlike much of his elegant calligraphy-combined with the workmanlike shorthand of the practical composer. Let it suffice, then, to describe Satie's musical shorthand for Sheet A (Fig. 1), and assume that his method was consistent throughout the plan. The cue sheet is primitive in terms of today's sophisticated kind prepared by music cutters, but it was quite adequate for Satie. The sheet is divided into three parts: numbers 1-6 comprise Part I; numbers 7-12, Part II; numbers 13-17, Part III. We can tell where Satie made divisions, for he began a fresh cumulative count of elapsed bars at numbers 7 and 13. The following key-not Satie's-helps us understand his shorthand: Key 4

Plain numeralsindicate the number of bars of music within a secti;n of a part, with the exception of those numeralsfollowed by a dash.

20

Underlined numerals indicate the number of bars elapsed from the beginning of the parts.

O

Circlednumeralsindicate rehearsalcues for the orchestra.

|:

:I

Themusicalsymbolfor a repetitionof whateverit surrounds.

All other symbols and combinations of numerals are indicators of initial musical key, key changes, and time signatures. Conforming Music and Film To determine the correspondences between Satie's music and Clair's film challenges the researcher. The problem has to do with discrepancies in lengths and running times reported for the film, compounded by other data about the score and a recording of it. 15The cited cue sheet was in the possessionof DariusMilhaud,one of Satie'sdisciples.Possiblysomeor all of the otherplansfor the Entr'actemusicsurviveand are now heldby Milhaud'swidow.

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Sadoul reported the approximate footage of Entr'acte to be 1,398 feet.16 At 20 frames per second average projection speed (estimated) the running time would be about 1842minutes. The publisher of the score lists a duration of 18 minutes,17 and a recorded performance of it lasts 17,2 minutes.18 Yet a script taken from the screen19 reports a running time of 22 minutes, which agrees with the performance time specified in Satie's orchestral score. This last duration seems most likely, and the projection speed which would account for it is within the silent range of 16 to 18 frames per second. Examination of the piano reduction of Satie's score reveals no precise indication of tempos. At the outset Satie specifies "Pas trop vite" (not too fast); for the funeral march he indicates "plus lent" (slower); for the chase he provides no sign of accelerating tempo, but afterward he directs "lent" (slow); finally, at the very end, "Large et lourd en retenant" (broad and heavy while holding back). Although these occasional directions derived from the orchestral score do not specify the proper tempo for synchronization, other directions in the same score clearly show that Satie relied on the orchestra conductor, Roger Desormiere, to adjust tempo and to repeat segments as needed to synchronize the music and screen action.20 The orchestral score, autographed November, 1924, contains metronome markings apparently supplied by one or more conductors, but the composer did not specify them.2l The range of tempos is generally from very slow 16 Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Films, trans. ed., and updated by Peter Morris (Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress, 1972), p. 103. 17 Erik Satie, Cinema: Entr'acte symphonique de "Reldche,"reduction pour piano 2 mains (Paris: Editions Salabert, 1972), following p. 14. 18 The Cerha recording referred to in note 5 above. Comparison of this performance with the piano scores for Entr'acte indicate that Cerha included many repetitions of Satie's building-block musical elements and made two deletions. Study of the orchestral score reveals that not all of these repetitions conform with Satie's specifications. Because the score is highly mechanistic-that is, extremely repetitious without variation -it is no wonder that the recorded version is about 20 per cent shorter than the film accompaniment. Thus the problem of rationalizing conformance of music and picture is further confused. 19 Clair, p. 114.

20 This can be considered an orchestral equivalent of piano vamping until the artist

being accompanied is ready to begin. In the sequence immediately preceding the funeral procession, Satie's score indicates "faire cette reprise jusqu'a ce que Picabia ait tue Borlin. Arreter-puis enchainer" (make this repetition until Picabia has killed Borlin. Stop-then proceed). Again, at the end of the chase before the coffin falls from the hearse and Borlin emerges, Satie's score states "faire cette reprise X fois, jusqu'a la chulte du cercueil" (make this repetition X times, until the coffin falls). Finally, just before the end of the film, Satie specifies in his score "faire cette reprise jusqu'a ce que Borlin rentre dans l'ecran. Arreter, puis enchainer-" (make this repetition until Borlin returns to the screen. Stop, then proceed-). 21 Satie's music for the complete ballet Reldche, excluding "Cinema," contains a range of metronome indications, implying that the composer knew specifically what tempos were required for the dancers. In contrast, the tempo for the earlier Satie ballet, Parade, is virtually unvaried, about M.M. J = 72 (an andante, or "walking" tempo).

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(M. M. J-46 or J-92) for the slow-motion procession (cortege au ralenti), through M. M.)= 92 for the ballerina and funeral march sequences, to a quick-step march tempo (M. M.J= 120) for the opening and closing sequences. The author regrets not having had access to the sound version of Entr'acte, released in 1968, in which the Satie score was synchronized with the images. Since Henri Sauguet, a Satie disciple, conducted the orchestra for this version,22 and the film running time conforms with the performance time indicated in the Satie score (22 min.), this version probably provides definitive answers to questions of tempo and synchronization. Possibly the conductors' annotations to the orchestral score examined were made by Sauguet and Cerha (they were in French and German), but probably not by Desormiere. (Some annotations in the score were in English.) The Music Satie told Clair that he had written "pornographic" music for Entr'acte, although not sufficiently so as to make "a lobster blush." In his last years, the "old master of young music" hadn't lost his mordant wit.23 Satie's music isn't pornographic, of course, nor is it embarrassing enough to make any creature blush. As Shattuck points out, The construction of the music could not be more primitive. Satie merely uses eight measures,as the unit that most closely matches the average length of a single shot in the film. He fills each of these units with one stereotyped phrase repeated eight times. Between the units he inserts a double line, a new signature, and frequently a change in tempo. The transitions are as abrupt and arbitraryas the cuts in the film. Typical measures lend themselves to infinite repetition and do not establish any strong tonal feeling.24 Delightfully vulgar and simple, the score is ruthlessly mechanical, characterized by endless repetitions without variation. This music should not be listened to for its own sake, for stripped from the film, it becomes tediously obnoxious. But with Clair's silly, light-hearted pictures, Satie's music works hand in glove; it is just right. What is banal and grotesque when heard alone somehow is apropos when experienced with the visuals. It subtly mocks the funeral procession and the mourners running in slow motion; in the chase of the hearse, the score vigorously propels the action. The music is objective, totally lacking in ostentation, and truly cinematic because it involves short fragments of music bound together by an The differentsectionsof the scoresare notatedto be more,or less active,workingwithin the steadyoveralltempo.The mechanicalpulse (Takt)is like that generatedby the clicktrackin modernfilm scoring. 22 Clair, p. 114 . 23 Clair, pp. 109-110 passim.

24Shattuck,pp. 170-171.

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underlying, insistent rhythm. Various eight-bar phrases of stereotyped melodic fragments and harmonic progressions accompany the screen action. Because Entr'acte is essentially a collage of absurd, playful images mounted in rapid succession, Satie's music is equally fragmentary. Clearly, Satie did not slavishly adhere to the illogical visual content of Clair's collage; he wisely concerned observed,

himself with chan,ges of rhythm and tempno. As Mellers

Satie realized that m0ontage . . . makes the film's rhythm, which the rhythm of the music must reveal. In so far as the music is a commentary on the action and the transitory visual images, it must depend on brief snippets rather than on sustained passages developed melodically and harmonically. These snippets must usually succeed one another without modulation, which would be disturbing to continuity; but although they cannot be formalized in any of the orthodox musical structures, they can be organized in recurrent patterns by the use of rhythmic ostinati and mechanical percussion.25

Since Satie rarely illustrated, concentrating instead on the film's dynamism,

the music was self-effacing, a quality we know to be particularly in accord with the composer's musical philosophy. The observation that Satie's musical snippets "cannot be formalized in any of the orthodox musical structures" perhaps is valid, depending on Mellers's definition of "orthodox." Entr'acte's musical structure is a rondo-a common musical form-which features the ideas given in Figure 2. The three examples are featured in

the score, with greatest prominence given to Example 1. It appears eight times in the composition. Some two dozen other musical fragments are interpolated between the three cited examples. Example 1 irregularly recurs; its several reappearances are unpredictable. In sum, the Entr'acte music can well be considered

an unorthodox rondo, but not a classical one.

Rhythms, Meters, and Phrasing Satie's permutating rhythms and shifting meters are more subtle and intricate than his melodies and harmonies. Figures 3 and 4 chart these permutations, based on scansion of Cinema. As can be seen, most of the music is in duple meter (2, ,6); some parts are in triple meter (i); the funeral march and a brief section following it are in quadruple meter (C). Most of the cellular parts of the composition are eight measures long. Occasionally a four-measure part occurs-for example, the last four bars of the composition, which are in i meter (Fig. 4 [g]). In this instance, however, the tempo is so slow that the time length approximates that of a faster -eight-measure

part. Each of the four measures of

is so accented that the

25 W[ilfrid] H. M[ellers], "Film Music: The Musical Problem,"in Eric Blom, ed., Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (New York: St. Martin's, 1954), vol. 3, p. 103.

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