Satie’s score for Parade is regarded as an important work of early avant-garde modernism, reflecting a collaborative artistic endeavor involving Cocteau, Picasso, Diaghilev, Massine, and Satie, and helping to spawn the development of minimalism. This work attracted considerable attention in Paris, and its appropriation of cinema and jazz into the musical fabric of the work demonstrates Satie’s fascination with American culture. The “Ragtime du Paquebot” at the end of the second movement demonstrates rhythmic modeling from Irving Berlin’s 1912 popular song That Mysterious Rag. This intentional imitative gesture invited complaints of plagiarism. Other instances of Satie’s thematic borrowings are observed his melodic and orchestral quotations of Stravinsky and Debussy in the cabaret tunes and circus music themes in the third movement, “Acrobates.” These borrowing attempts, however, are mocking in nature. All the artists involved in this collaboration characteristically adopted a creatively defiant stance against tradition and convention. Satie rejected the adherence to a defined school of artistic or aesthetic thought, and his style of modern simplicity pervades the entire work. In spite of many criticisms, Parade was lauded for its stylistic innovation and departure from traditional forms and conventions. It is viewed as the culmination of avant-garde artistic expression and demonstrated a modernistic approach to creativity.

Works: Satie: Parade.

Sources: Irving Berlin: That Mysterious Rag (12).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Jingyi Zhang