Satie, Erik (Alfred Leslie)

French composer. His piano pieces, such as the three Gymnopédies (1888), are precise and tinged with melancholy, and parody romantic expression with surreal commentary. His aesthetic of ironic simplicity, as in the Messe des pauvres/Poor People's Mass (1895), acted as a nationalist antidote to the perceived excesses of German Romanticism.

Mentor of the group of composers Les Six, Satie promoted the concept of musique d'ameublement (‘furniture music’), anticipating the impact of radio. A commission from Diaghilev led to the ballet Parade (1917), with instrumentation for siren, typewriter, and steamship whistle, and he invented a new style of film music for René Clair's Entr'acte (1924).