Satie Seen Through His Letters: ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION [Paperback]

Ornella Volta (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This whimsical book about the eccentric Parisian composer Erik Alfred Leslie Satie (1866-1925) confirms his position as one of the most bizarre personalities in music history. Gathered by a determined iconographer, the director of the Satie Foundation in Paris, and arranged somewhat chronologically by topic, such as "Friends," and "Lawsuits," these letters to Cocteau, Debussy, Milhaud, Picasso, Ravel and Stravinsky, among others, many of which have not been previously published, give us a picture of Satie the friend, student, neighbor, composer and musical influence, and of the only adherent to a religion that he founded. Illustrated with line drawings by Cocteau, Magritte and Picasso, as well as Satie's own musical scores and logos, this book will entrance and delight those interested in Parisian cultural life in the early 20th century.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Interest in Satie, one of music's eccentrics, may revive, for today's minimal music owes much to his aesthetic of restraint and purity. The eccentricity, the strange and humorous behavior, are illuminated in this correspondence, which includes letters from and to Satie and letters between other luminaries of Satie's milieu. Mixed with biographical context, the letters are arranged thematically, and in loose chronological order, in chapters such as Birth, Friends, Sects, Lawsuits, and ones on major works. Included are a chronology and an accounting of the whereabouts of the actual artifacts. Though valuable for the character portrait it provides, this collection has too many omissions to satisfy the need for a thoroughly documented complete English edition. Recommended for music collections.
- Steven J. Squires, Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lib.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071452980X
• ISBN-13: 978-0714529806
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,167,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book!, March 21, 2007

By 

A. Klein (Bogotá, Colombia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Satie Seen Through His Letters: ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION (Paperback)

Erik Satie is one of the most fascinating names in the world of music. His complex personality does indeed require a deep study and extensive research.

From that point of view, this is the essential Erik Satie book. It's a complete study on the man from letters that were collected and translated (a task to be applauded), including numerous pictures to die for. From the first page to the last, it's clearly seen that the whole project was a labor of love, dedicated to a man that respected and was faithful to the field of art. A beautiful book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPERB BOOK!, October 12, 2008

By 

James Griffin "Book Crazy" (Amarillo,TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Satie Seen Through His Letters: ART OF LITERARY TRANSLATION (Paperback)

This is one of those jewels for Satie-Lovers.....truth is, this is the "Meat" so many of us die-hards have longed for endlessly through the years. This is not some author's "ideas" about Erik- it is actually what was going down in Satie's wonderful, "barbed-wit" brain. Here, in Ornella's brilliant compilation we are amused at Satie's threatening letters to the critic, "Willy", his outrage directed toward the Director of the Paris National Opera Theatre for refusing to perform his ballet score for "Uspud"! Erik's letters give us the wonderful workings of the Satie mind; we delight in his fantastic, decorative art. Finally, we "think" that we know him a bit better. Hurray to this book!