Editing Erik Satie (section)

===Montmartre===
In 1887, at the age of 21, Satie moved from his father's residence to lodgings in the [[9th arrondissement of Paris|9th arrondissement]]. By this time he had started what was to be an enduring friendship with the romantic poet [[Patrice Contamine de Latour|Contamine de Latour]], whose verse he set in some of his early compositions, which Satie senior published.<ref name=grove/> His lodgings were close to the popular {{lang|fr|[[Le Chat Noir|Chat Noir]]|italic=no}} cabaret on the southern edge of [[Montmartre]] where he became an habitué and then a resident pianist. The Chat Noir was known as the "temple de la 'convention farfelue'" – the temple of zany convention,<ref>Rey, p. 14</ref> and, as the biographer [[Robert Orledge]] puts it, Satie, "free from his restrictive upbringing … enthusiastically embraced the reckless bohemian lifestyle and created for himself a new persona as a long-haired man-about-town in frock coat and top hat". This was the first of several personas that Satie adopted over the years.<ref name=grove/>

[[File:Santiago Rusinol Portrait of Eric Satie at the harmonium.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|alt=Man in top hat, smoking a cigarette, seated at a musical keyboard|Satie by [[Santiago Rusiñol]], 1890s]]

In the late 1880s Satie styled himself on at least one occasion "Erik Satie – gymnopédiste",<ref>Orledge, p. 6</ref>{{refn|Later he referred to himself at least once as a "phonometrician" (meaning "someone who measures sounds") after being called "a clumsy but subtle technician" in a book about contemporary French composers published in 1911.<ref>Innes and Shevtsova, p. 151</ref>|group=n}} and his works from this period include the three ''[[Gymnopédies]]'' (1888) and the first ''[[Gnossiennes]]'' (1889 and 1890). He earned a modest living as a pianist and conductor at the Chat Noir, before falling out with the proprietor and moving to become second pianist at the nearby Auberge du Clou. There he became a close friend of [[Claude Debussy]], who proved a kindred spirit in his experimental approach to composition. Both were [[Bohemianism|bohemians]], enjoying the same café society and struggling to survive financially.<ref>Whiting, p. 172</ref> At the Auberge du Clou Satie first encountered the flamboyant, self-styled "Sâr" [[Joséphin Péladan]], for whose mystic sect, the Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique du Temple et du Graal, he was appointed composer.<ref>Rey, p. 33</ref> This gave him scope for experiment, and Péladan's salons at the fashionable Galerie Durand-Ruel gained Satie his first public hearings.<ref name=grove/><ref>Gillmor, pp. 76–77</ref> Frequently short of money, Satie moved from his lodgings in the 9th arrondissement to a small room in the rue Cortot not far from [[Sacré-Cœur, Paris|Sacre-Coeur]],<ref>Rey, p. 17</ref> so high up the Butte Montmartre that he said he could see from his window all the way to the Belgian border.{{refn|"La vu s'étend jusqu'à la frontière belge".<ref>Lajoinie, p. 21</ref>|group=n}}

By mid-1892 Satie had composed the first pieces in a compositional system of his own making (''{{Lang|fr|Fête donnée par des Chevaliers Normands en l'honneur d'une jeune demoiselle}}''), provided incidental music to a [[chivalric]] [[esoteric]] play (two ''{{Lang|fr|Préludes du Nazaréen}}''), had a hoax published (announcing the premiere of his non-existent ''{{Lang|fr|Le bâtard de Tristan}}'', an anti-Wagnerian opera),<ref>Whiting, p. 151</ref> and broken away from Péladan, starting with the "''Uspud''" project, a "Christian Ballet", in collaboration with Latour.<ref>Whiting, p. 156.</ref> He challenged the musical establishment by proposing himself – unsuccessfully – for the seat in the [[Académie des Beaux-Arts]] made vacant by the death of [[Ernest Guiraud]].<ref name=w152>Whiting, p. 152</ref>{{refn|Satie repeated this gesture twice – on the deaths of [[Charles Gounod]] in 1894 and [[Ambroise Thomas]] in 1896. Professors from the Conservatoire were elected on both occasions.<ref>Pasler, Jann. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008232 "Dubois, (François Clément) Théodore"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 September 2021{{subscription required}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524182753/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008232 |date=24 May 2021 }}; and Duchen, p. 120</ref>|group=n}} Between 1893 and 1895, Satie, wearing quasi-priestly dress, was the founder and only member of the [[Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor|Eglise Métropolitaine d'Art de Jésus Conducteur]]. From his "''Abbatiale''" in the rue Cortot, he published scathing attacks on his artistic enemies.<ref name=grove/>

[[File:Suzanne-Valadon-1885.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=young white woman with dark hair in extravagant hat|[[Suzanne Valadon]], 1885]]
In 1893 Satie had what is believed to be his only love affair, a five-month liaison with the painter [[Suzanne Valadon]]. After their first night together, he proposed marriage. They did not marry, but Valadon moved to a room next to Satie's at the rue Cortot. Satie became obsessed with her, calling her his Biqui and writing impassioned notes about "her whole being, lovely eyes, gentle hands, and tiny feet".<ref name=r49>Rosinsky, p. 49</ref> During their relationship Satie composed the ''Danses gothiques'' as a means of calming his mind,<ref>Orledge, p. 157</ref> and Valadon painted his portrait, which she gave him. After five months she moved away, leaving him devastated. He said later that he was left with "nothing but an icy loneliness that fills the head with emptiness and the heart with sadness".<ref name=r49/>

In 1895 Satie changed his image once again, this time to that of "the Velvet Gentleman". From the proceeds of a small legacy, he bought seven identical [[Dun Cow|dun]]-coloured suits. Orledge comments that this change "marked the end of his Rose+Croix period and the start of a long search for a new artistic direction".<ref name=grove/>