The Princesse Edmond De Polignac, Erik Satie's Socrate, and A
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FLS, Volume XXXIV, 2007 Queer Sexualities Samuel N. Dorf Northwestern University “Étrange n’est-ce pas?”: The Princesse Edmond de Polignac, Erik Satie’s Socrate, and a Lesbian Aesthetic of Music? The commission and early reception of composer Erik Satie’s Socrate (1918) stands stylistically apart from the rest of the canonical modernist and neoclassical works from the interwar period. Commissioned by the lesbian American Princesse Edmond de Polignac, the work represents a unique window into a private queer musical aesthetic hitherto unac- knowledged by scholars. By examining Socrate and Polignac’s salon against the background of other liberal wealthy American lesbians in Paris, other salons, and political and social concerns, a richly complex narrative of sex, gender, nationality, politics, and identity emerges. ________________________ In 1916 the wealthy lesbian American expatriate Princesse Edmond de Polignac (née Winnaretta Singer) approached Erik Satie with an unusual commission, asking for music to accompany a read- ing of Plato’s dialogues in the ancient Greek for herself and two of her close friends. The work that became Socrate (an austere ode to the martyred philosopher, for chamber orchestra and four sopranos) has only confused countless scholars who have tried in vain to place it within one specific style or movement. The work’s clear, simply adorned musical lines have been viewed as modernist, neoclassical, and even minimalist, but all scholars seem to agree that it really defies categorization. Its singularly bizarre qualities were not lost on the composer himself, either, for after the first public performance of Socrate, the composer turned around to witness the audience giggling 88 FLS, Vol. XXXIV, 2007 and snickering. “Étrange n’est-ce pas?” he remarked to the man sitting next to him.1 In my examination of Socrate — its author, the culture of its patron’s salon, and its early performance history — what emerges is a complex counter-narrative to the established detached modernist account. My perspective appeals to a particular proto-feminist and lesbian aesthetic specific to the circle of the Princesse de Polignac and her salon. While I do not doubt the significance of the modernist reception, this study sets out to emphasize a different narrative, one specific to the woman who commissioned this most unusual work. In January of 1917, within a week of completing the music for the ballet Parade, Satie had already begun his next work, a piece for four voices and small orchestra based on the life of Socrates.2 His first descriptions of Socrate, even before significant work had begun on the piece, indicate the tone in which the composer sought to create this music, “blanche & pure comme l’Antique,” as he wrote to his friend Valentine Gross.3 Less than two weeks later he was to write Gross again: Je travaille à la “ViedeSocrate.” J’ai trouvé une belle traduction: celle de Victor Cousin. / Platon est un collaborateur parfait, très doux & jamais importun. Un rêve, quoi! / J’ai écrit à ce sujet à la bonne Princesse. / Je nage dans la félicité. Enfin! je suis libre, libre comme l’air, comme l’eau, comme la brebis sauvage. / Vive Platon! Vive Victor Cousin! / Je suis libre! très libre! Quel bonheur!…4 –––––––––– 1 This story is retold in James Harding’s biography of the composer (183). 2 Satie’s original working title, Vie de Socrate, was eventually replaced by the simpler Socrate, which was later replaced with the official title: Socrate: Drame Symphonique en trois parties avec voix. The final title reflects Satie’s genre definition of the work; it expresses his desire for the work not to be staged, but rather to be performedinaconcert hall setting. 3 Je m’occupe de la “ViedeSocrate.” / J’ai une frousse de “rater” cette œuvre que je voudrais blanche & pure comme l’Antique. J’en suis “tout chose” & ne sais plus où me mettre. / Ce qu’il y a une belle chose à écrire avec cette idée, c’est “innouï” — inoui est mieux, pour le vulgaire, bien entendu. (Erik Satie to Valentine Gross, 6 January 1917, Correspondance presque complète 273-74). 4 Erik Satie to Valentine Gross, 18 January 1917, Correspondance presque complète 277-78..