Scholarly record

HOW TO “FURNISH” THE PUBLIC SPACE WITH (ARTISTIC) BACKGROUND MUSIC ERIK SATIE AND BRIAN ENO

Sylwia Makomaska

Abstract

The French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a colourful and enigmatic figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde. Being active in several spheres of art, in an atmosphere of fin de siècle, he proposed and implemented the concept of musique d'ameublement (“furniture music”). In his vision music was supposed to play an extravagant role (as it was perceived in that period) of an acoustic background accompanying all daily events and not absorbing the attention of the listener. Satie’s idea can be treated as one of the sources of inspiration for ambient music, an electronic music genre, whose name was introduced in the 1970s by a British composer, Brian Eno (born in 1948), who, like Satie, considered music as an element of the environment, perceived in the same way as the colour of light or the sound of falling rain. The main aim of this paper is to reconstruct and compare the main aspects of Satie’s and Eno’s visions of background music, geared to create acoustic background filling the public space. The discussion will be supplemented by a musical analysis of selected Satie’s and Eno’s pieces in both cases taking into account the performance context, audience reactions and the general problem of an inattentive way of listening.

Publication Impact Profile

No metrics available.

PLUMX see details

DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2018H/61/S16.060

Publication details

Back to publication list