Satie Trois Gnossiennes

The Gnossienes are several piano compositions written by Erik Satie in the late 19th century. Satie coined the word 'gnossiene' to define a new type of piece (he had done something similar before with the appropiation of the word 'ogive' for his Ogives, a set of piano pieces published in 1889). The name 'gnossiene' has been said to derive from 'gnosis' (Satie was apparently involved with gnostic movements around the time we composed the first Gnossienes). The first set of gnossienes (the Three Gnossienes) was written around 1890 and first published in 1893. There is a second set of pieces, commonly known as Gnossienes 4, 5, and 6, which was published posthumously in 1968. It is not clear if these pieces were actually conceived as a set or even meant to be titled 'gnossienes'. Like the Sarabandes and the Gymnopedies, the Gnossiennes are sometimes considered as dances, though it is not certain that this classification comes from Satie himself. The musical vocabulary of the Gnossiennes is a continuation of that of the Gymnopédies, and which later led to more harmonic experimentation in compositions like the Danses Gothiques. These series of compositions are all at the core of Satie's characteristic 19th century style, and in this sense differ from his early salon compositions, his turn-of-the-century cabaret compositions, and his post-Schola Cantorum piano solo compositions, starting with the Préludes Flasques in 1912.
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Trois Gnossiennes (complete)
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Trois Gnossiennes (complete)

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