Vexations is a noted work by Erik Satie. It consists of a short chordal passage, and is intended to be repeated 840 times. Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression), as its name implies, is a series of chords played in an order. ...

On the score, it is written that "Pour se jouer 840 fois de suite ce motif, il sera bon de se préparer au préalable, et dans le plus grand silence, par des immobilités sérieuses": "In order to play this motif 840 times consecutively to oneself, it will be useful to prepare oneself beforehand, and in utter silence, by grave immobilities."

First public performance

The work was first played in public the requisite 840 times, by a team of pianists: John Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Philip Corner, Viola Farber, Robert Wood, MacRae Cook, John Cale, David Del Tredici, James Tenney, Howard Klein (the New York Times reviewer, who coincidentally was asked to play in the course of the event) and Joshua Rifkin, with two reserves, on September 9, 1963, from 6 pm to 12.40 pm the following day. Although, doubtlessly, John Cage was instrumental for some misconceptions about Erik Satie's work in general, nonetheless his 4' 33" composition could maybe be seen as the perfect "prelude" to Erik Satie's Vexations - how otherwise to execute the prescribed "immobilités sérieuses"? Premiere, from French language première meaning first, generally means a first performance. Premieres for theatrical, musical, and other productions are often extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media attention. ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. ... David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 - August 13, 1996) was a pianist and composer of experimental music. ... Christian Wolff (born March 8, 1934) is an American composer of experimental classical music. ... Philip (Lionel) Corner (April 10, 1933—) is a composer as well as trombonist, vocalist, and pianist. ... John Cale (born March 9, 1942) is a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer. ... David Del Tredici, born March 16, 1937 in Cloverdale, California, is a contemporary composer. ... James Tenney (August 10, 1934 in Silver City, NM) is an American composer and influential music theorist. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ...

Meaning

The piece's title was not explained by Satie. The piece was first printed in 1949 (in facsimile form, by John Cage in Contrepoints N°6). The assertion that the Vexations would be the second piece in a 3-part "Pages mystiques" appears uncertain, and not going back further than the 1969 edition of the work (by Max Eschig), a period when Erik Satie's editors seemed determined to publish any of his compositions in a three-part structure. Anyway, conjectures regarding the meaning of the Vexations (and their title) were construed long after Satie's death (in most cases supported by not more than minute indications), amongst others: 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... do i even know who you are??? // Headline text Bold textAn Editor is a person who prepares text—typically language, but also images and sounds—for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. ...

• The notation of the chords makes liberal use of enharmonic equivalents, making it difficult to immediately read.
• The Vexations could be interpreted as Satie's coming to terms with Wagnerism, which was riding high in musical life of those days: Satie definitely loathed all kinds of "Germanic" music (so not only Richard Wagner's, but also the music of Wagner's German antipodes). He loathed even more the French contemporary composers emulating what he experienced as Wagner-like romanticism (e.g. Camille Saint-Saëns, César Franck,...). In this interpretation the Vexations would be Satie's (ironic?) defiance that he could outdo music as lengthy and intense as e.g. Wagner's Ring or Liszt's Années de Pèlerinage, using only the limited (one would be tempted to say "minimalist", but that would be an anachronism) resources that were compatible with his own views on the true nature of French music - and/or, corresponding to his then more than modest means. Note that it is all but clear that his ideas about the limpid nature of French music had fully developed in this early stage. Whatsoever, the Vexations can be seen as an attack on - or a parodic emulation of - what in Wagnerian music is known as "unendliche Melodie" (never-ending melody), which is a melody supported by a sheer endless progression of complex chords - which harmonically doesn't exactly lead anywhere. In mood and compositional technique this brings the Vexations near to the - certainly mocking - "Choral inappétissant" ("unsavoury Choral", Autograph Audio), the first (introductory) piece of "Sports et divertissements", which he composed more than 20 years later, after he had studied conventional harmony for several years.
• The Vexations were written in a period that Satie's approach to harmony was at least exotic, rather related to a modal line of thought than to conventional harmony. In order to understand what follows it should be appreciated that, in those days, the only two established harmonic systems in western music were either the (older) modal system - which was up for some kind of revival, by e.g. Gabriel Fauré -, at the one side, and the conventional harmonic system of tonal music, firmly instored since late baroque era, on the other (the - Germanic - twelve tone system being still more than a decade away, while also Claude Debussy - much nearer to Satie - appears not to have questioned classic tonality till shortly after the Vexations were written, see: [1]). Harmonically the Vexations appear to be an exercise in non-resolving tritones, one of the anathemata of conventional harmony (i.e.: in conventional harmony tritones are not forbidden as such, but they should be immediately resolved in the next chord, what doesn't happen in the Vexations). In historical modal music tritones were cursed as such, known as Devils in music (and thus totally anathema). It is not certain whether the various sects and cults frequented by Satie in those days would have had theological objections and/or sympathies towards these particular "Devils", and/or to the fact that the "motif" is subdivided in parts of 13 beats. Maybe Satie's intent was nothing more than to prove that any harmonic and rhytmic system was only a matter of habit for the hearer (and not resulting from innate or divine preconception, as his contemporaries would think): so that after listening 840 times to a chordal system that is at odds with any habitual one, and set in an odd metre, one would possibly start to experience this new system to be as natural as any other - an experiment he was likely to have taken serious, and maybe directly or indirectly influenced Debussy and/or Ravel. An intended reference to Rossini's piano pieces "Des tritons s’il vous plaït (Montée-descente)" (also exploring tritones) or "Un rien sur le mode enharmonique" is very unlikely, while not yet published at that time. A reference to Liszt's "Bagatelle ohne Tonart" ("bagatelles without a key", see: [2]), written a decade earlier, is maybe possible, but, apart from being uncertain that Satie ever heard about this music (and equally that he would have had more than incidental knowledge of its underlying "Zukunftsharmoniesystem" theory, which was rather the idea of making tonality wane by means of excessive consecutive modulations, extending the Wagnerian style), arguably the Vexations - lacking any form of conventional modulation - are written in a key of C (which would be something like "C tritonal", while neither Minor nor Major, nor any Modal key), I, V and IV being the bass-notes starting respectively 3 groups of 4 quarter-note beats from the start of every measure on, moving towards an unresolved III in the 13nd and final beat. Note that this clash of the Vexations with any prior harmonic system is rarely discussed, not even in public concert reviews: maybe after all Satie was right, habituation to some atonality would settle in one day or another - although it has to be said that a decade after composing the Vexations Satie would give himself considerable effort to conform to the tonal system (but that could have been intended partly as a reductio ad absurdum).
• Although the date of composition is uncertain (supposedly mid 1893), the Vexations appear to have been composed shortly after a brief, but intense, relation with Suzanne Valadon, the nearest Erik Satie ever got to a relation with a woman. One of the testimonies of this relation is, apart from the pictures they drew of each other, Satie's optimistic composition "Bonjour Biqui" (April 1893), Biqui being a nick-name for his beloved, and the composition being an echo of how Satie was customary to greet her. This composition takes, on paper, almost as much room as the Vexations, but contains no indication that it should be played more than once; thus, when executed, it is (not quite, but effectively) infinitely shorter than the Vexations. Still, both compositions could be seen to have a mantra-like quality, one gay and the other arid (what remains, of course, is the question as to how Satie would (or would not) have appreciated the idea of a "mantra"). Regardless, it would not be all that surprising that Satie—being "vexé" ("angry", or even "spiteful") about being rejected by his "Biqui"—wanted to disenchant himself from what she had meant to him, by composing a piece that would help him forget all such frivolous feelings. Possibly he was relieving himself with a kind of musical curse (given the implications of "Devils" and the unlucky number "13" described in the previous paragraph).
• Maybe Satie was spoofing the Perpetuum mobile genre: many 19th century composers had composed such - then very popular - separate pieces with an 'indefinite' number of repeats, mostly leaning on enthralling virtuosity: references like "immobilities"; a DEFINITE (but out of proportion high) number of repeats; an unconventional harmony; "very slow", instead of the usual very rapid movement of a Perpetuum mobile; etc..., all might indicate that Satie was making a parody of this genre, trying to get even with the cheap effects of content-less virtuosity in an uninspired harmonical and rhytmical scheme, that his contemporaries would use to suggest "rapture" to their public (... by writing a contrasting intimistic piece that could induce mystical trance of another kind).
• The deeply rooted idea (from its first publication on) that the Vexations might have been intended by Satie as an experiment regarding boredom appears to find few support in ideas expressed by Satie himself (condemning composers that bored their public in any way). But this might be an explanation why Satie never publicised the Vexations.
• Other (not less cumbersome, because at least anachronistic) explanations involve Dadaism (which was only invented by the end the 2nd decade of the 20th century); Musique d'ameublement (also not before the end of the 2nd decade of the 20th century, at which time Satie described it as a novelty); conceptual art (not before 1960s); etc... - In other words: one could as well, and less anachronistic, call the Vexations a "typical" fin de siècle product.

Why Satie chose 840 as the number of repetitions also has been subject to conjecture: no conclusive argument showed up why he would have preferred this number to any other. The fact that 840 is the product of the numbers from 4 to 7 does not shed much additional light on the meaning that the number 840 might have had to Satie, though it has to be noted that the esoteric sects or cults Satie had been involved in up till the moment that he wrote the Vexations could be supposed to have some interest in numerology. When Satie started his own sect, supposedly around the same time as (or shortly after) composing the Vexations, he showed a keen assuredness about numbers (e.g. in the printed pamphlet listing the numbers of each type of adherent the sect was supposed to have acquired, some of these numbers going back to biblical data). In music, an enharmonic is a note which is the equivalent of some other note, but spelled differently. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Wagnerism is a set of philosophical ideals put forward by Richard Wagner which states the traits of a true German among other aesthetic ideas. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 in Leipzig – February 13, 1883 in Venice) was an influential German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his groundbreaking symphonic-operas (or music dramas). His compositions are notable for their continuous contrapuntal texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate... Antipodal points on the surface of a sphere are diametrically opposite; on the other side of a globe. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. ... César Franck César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (December 10, 1822 – November 8, 1890) was a composer and organist. ... Han Solos line, Jabba, youre a wonderful human being, is ironic—Jabba the Hutt, pictured here, is neither wonderful nor a human being. ... Der Ring des Nibelungen or, translated commonly as The Ring of the Nibelungen into English but more correctly as The Nibelungs Ring, is a series of four epic operas. ... Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer. ... Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) are three suites by Franz Liszt for solo piano. ... Minimalist music is a genre of post-1960s classical music and experimental music which displays some or all of the following features: emphasis on consonant harmony, if not functional tonality; reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells, with subtle, gradual, and/or infrequent variation... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is something that is out of its natural time or appears to be. ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883) was an influential German composer, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas. ... A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression), as its name implies, is a series of chords played in an order. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ... In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ... In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ... Portrait with oils of Gabriel Fauré by John Singer Sargent, about 1889 (in the Paris Museum of Music) Gabriel Urbain Fauré (May 12, 1845 – November 4, 1924) was a French composer. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ... Tonality is the character of music written with hierarchical relationships of pitches, rhythms, and chords to a center or tonic. ... Baroque music is Western classical music from the Baroque era, after the Renaissance music era and before the Classical music era proper. ... Twelve-tone technique is a system of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Resolution in western tonal music theory is the need for a sounded note and/or chord to move from a dissonance or unstable sound to a more final or stable sounding one, a consonance. ... The augmented fourth between C and F# forms a tritone. ... Anathema (Greek Word: meaning 1. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ... The augmented fourth between C and F# forms a tritone. ... Resolution in western tonal music theory is the need for a sounded note and/or chord to move from a dissonance or unstable sound to a more final or stable sounding one, a consonance. ... In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ... The augmented fourth between C and F# forms a tritone. ... Diabolus In Musica is an album by the thrash metal band Slayer. ... Anathema (Greek Word: meaning 1. ... A sect is a small religious or political group that has branched off from a larger established group. ... This article does not discuss cult in its original sense of religious practice; for that usage see Cult (religion). ... 13 (Thirteen) is the natural number following 12 and preceding 14. ... See also the beat disambiguation page. ... Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds over time. ... Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist, best known for his orchestral work, Boléro, and his famous 1922 orchestral arrangement of Modest Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition. ... Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 — November 13, 1868) was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... The augmented fourth between C and F# forms a tritone. ... Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer. ... Bagatelle (from French by way of the Italian bagattella, a trifle) is a game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past pins (which act as obstacles) into holes. ... In music theory, the key identifies the tonic triad, the chord, major or minor, which represents the final point of rest for a piece, or the focal point of a section. ... In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key (tonic, or tonal center) to another, also known as a key change. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883) was an influential German composer, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas. ... In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key (tonic, or tonal center) to another, also known as a key change. ... In music theory, the key identifies the tonic triad, the chord, major or minor, which represents the final point of rest for a piece, or the focal point of a section. ... Tonality is the character of music written with hierarchical relationships of pitches, rhythms, and chords to a center or tonic. ... Tonality is the character of music written with hierarchical relationships of pitches, rhythms, and chords to a center or tonic. ... Atonality describes music which departs from the system of tonal hierarchies that characterizes the sound of classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. ... Tonality is the character of music written with hierarchical relationships of pitches, rhythms, and chords to a center or tonic. ... Reductio ad absurdum (Latin for reduction to the absurd, traceable back to the Greek ἡ εις άτοπον απαγωγη, reduction to the impossible, often used by Aristotle) is a type of logical argument where we assume a claim for the sake of argument, arrive at an absurd result, and then conclude the original assumption must... Suzanne Valadon (September 23, 1865 - April 7, 1938) was a French painter. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... This article is about a musical term. ... This article is about a musical term. ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is something that is out of its natural time or appears to be. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Furniture music, or musique d’ameublement, was French avant-garde composer Erik Saties theory of minimalist background music. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Conceptual art, sometimes called idea art, is art in which the ideas embodied by a piece are more central to the work than the means used to create it. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is something that is out of its natural time or appears to be. ... Fin de siècle is French for End of the Century. The term turn-of-the-century is sometimes used as a synonym, but is more neutral (lacking some or most of the connotations described below), and can include the first years of a new century. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Esotericism refers to knowledge suitable only for the advanced, privileged, or initiated, as opposed to exoteric knowledge, which is public. ... A sect is a small religious or political group that has branched off from a larger established group. ... This article does not discuss cult in its original sense of religious practice; for that usage see Cult (religion). ... Numerology is the study of the purported mystical relationship between numbers and the character or action of physical objects and living things. ... The Bible (From Greek βιβλια—biblia, meaning books, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is the sacred scripture of Christianity. ...

Finally, considering the many questions that remain regarding the composition, it could be seen in a tradition of Riddle music, somewhere between the "riddle fugues" of Bach's Musikalische Opfer and Elgar's Enigma Variations. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748 portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 – 28 July 1750)[1] was a German composer and organist of the baroque period, and is widely acknowledged[2] as one of the greatest composers in the Western tonal tradition; indeed, many critics and scholars... The Musical Offering (German title Musikalisches Opfer or Das Musikalische Opfer), BWV 1079, is a collection of canons and fugues and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, based on a musical theme by Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) and dedicated to him. ... Sir Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 â€“ 23 February 1934) was an English composer, born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Ann. ... Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra (Enigma),op. ...

Execution

There is no indication that Satie intended the Vexations for public performance (and certainly not as a "tour de force" of endurance to impress - or bore to death - a public) - the introductory text he wrote, as quoted above, rather indicating it was intended as a one-person experience (e.g. as a restrained way to work off anger, or, in order to get one's ears tuned to an unconventional harmonic system and metre). Satie did no effort to get either "Vexations" or "Bonjour Biqui" published during his life, scarcely, or not at all, communicating about their existence (there were more of his compositions sharing this fate). Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ...

As to the total duration of the work, and whether it is to be played loud or silent, it is hard to ascertain what Satie's intentions were:

• No metronomical tempo indication: the score mentions "Très lent" (very slow), which could mean anything while the composition has not a melody that could be experienced as falling in one or another "natural" cadence - at least not at first sight: some (e.g. the pianist Armin Fuchs, who executed the work in its entirety several times) argue there is a natural candence nonetheless (26 quarter-note beats per minute in Fuchs' case, which extends total execution to 28 hours).
• It is not clear whether Satie intended the bass-line (equal to both halves of the composition) to be repeated in between of EVERY half vexation: his precise instruction is "À ce signe il sera d'usage de présenter le thème de la Basse" - "At this sign customarily the theme of the Bass will be presented" (the "sign" occurring in between of every half Vexation): "être d'usage" not really being an obligation. There is more to be said about this sign: modern executions and editions of the score usually interpret that for every Vexation the "thème de la Basse" is to be played twice, while the original manuscript of Satie indicates the "sign" for playing this theme three times: once preceding (and quite above) the "motif", and once after every half of the "motif", which seems to indicate that the "thème de la Basse" has to be played before the "motif" is played the first time (which is usually done), but also that it is the "thème de la Basse" concluding the complete cycle (and not the 840th pass of the second half of the motif, as it is usually interpreted). This would extend the total execution time with about half a minute.
• Even the 840 repeats have been questioned, for several reasons: in a "Mantra" or "habituation" approach there is not much sense in counting exactly how many times one repeats the "motif" to oneself. Also the indication Satie gives does not implicate it is mandatory to repeat 840 times: it is only a remark about the kind of preparation that is needed in the event that one wants to play it 840 times consecutively to oneself. There is no certainty Satie ever played the Vexations (or knew them executed), either with or without repeats (probably neither, because in the course of such action it probably would have emerged that the A on the 6th beat of the second half of the motif needs an accidental one way or another: either a pitch-changing accidental, like for the A's immediately before - beat 2 - or after - beat 8 - this A, either a natural, to make the middle melody of the second half of the motif identical to the high-pitch melody of the first half. Probably in most performances the imaginary natural is played, see for example this online PDF version of the Vexations, having added the ♮).
• No indication whatsoever regarding at what volume it has to be played.
• It is not clear whether exactly the same speed and volume for every repetition is advisory: in the "vexation"-anger comparison mentioned above, it would not be impossible to imagine moods (expressed by tempo and volume, and additional expression by means of arpeggio, rubato, and the like) swinging from "rage" to "dejection", and everything in between, all along the same sitting, in a sort of "Etudes d'execution transcendente"-style - while obviously the standard interpretation, which is a monotonous execution (keeping to the same tempo and volume) throughout, maximally avoiding romantic implication, is more than arguably correct too.
• While the bass-note ending the motif is a major third above the first bass-note of the motif, even an execution with a modulating progression for every repeat would not be unthinkable: Satie nowhere indicates that the "motif" (which is by definition a musical entity NOT tied to a particular key) or the "bass theme" is to be executed at the same pitch every time.

Although, formally, there is no unambiguous indication either that the Vexations should be played on the piano, there is however little doubt that this is the intended instrument, an execution on another keyboard instrument - like e.g. the then popular harmonium - not being impossible. A mechanical wind-up metronome in motion A metronome is a device that produces a strict rhythm. ... In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... An accidental is a musical notation symbol used to raise or lower the pitch of a note from that indicated by the key signature. ... Natural is defined as of or relating to nature; this applies to both definitions of nature: essence (ones true nature) and the untouched world (force of nature). The natural sciences such as physics, chemistry etc. ... This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... Modulation is the process of varying a carrier signal, typically a sinusoidal signal, in order to use that signal to convey information. ... The piano Piano is a common abbreviation for pianoforte, a large musical instrument with a keyboard (see keyboard instrument). ... A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played with a musical keyboard. ... This article is on the musical instrument; for information on other kinds of harmonia, see harmonium (disambiguation). ...

Ornella Volta (from the Archives Erik Satie in Paris) prepares a dossier with several studies regarding this work and its executions. This dossier, that as of July 2005 has not yet been published, will contain a full analysis and a facsimile reproduction of the original partition. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

Downloadable MIDI files

From Wikipedia a ZIP-file containing, in MIDI format, two different computer-generated versions of the Vexations can be downloaded. The downloadable file contains also a readme regarding the parameters that were used for these interpretations or renderings of the Vexations. See also for details. The ZIP file format is the most widely-used compressed file format in the IBM PC world. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ... A readme (or read me) file contains information about other files in a directory and is very commonly distributed with computer software. ... Interpretation, or interpreting, is an activity that consists of establishing, either simultaneously or consecutively, oral or gestural communications between two or more speakers who are not speaking (or signing) the same language. ... Rendering has several different usages: Rendering (computer graphics) is the process of producing the pixels of an image from a higher-level description of its components. ... Image File history File links Warning: This file may contain malicious code, by executing it your system may be compromised. ...

External links

• Description of the Vexations by Stephen Whittington, including a reduced image of the manuscript
• Serious Immobilities: On the centenary of Erik Satie's Vexations by Stephen Whittington
• A short harmonic analysis of Vexations and a music sample (half a vexation) can be found on: http://www.af.lu.se/~fogwall/samples.html
• Understanding Satie's 'Vexations' by Robert Orledge - This article includes an elaborate analysis of the Vexations compositional system, a facsimile and transcription of the Bonjour Biqui composition, etc...
• The Vexations recording homepage containing, amongst other interesting topics, a life recorded MIDI-version of the Vexations, and the EEG of the pianist Armin Fuchs during the 28 hours he played them, leading to the conclusion that a trance can't be avoided when keeping scrupulously to Satie's instructions.
• Vexations and its performers by Gavin Bryars
• web vex web form that allows a user to generate arbitrary length realizations of vexations (between 16 and 9999 repetitions).