Twenty Short Pieces for Piano (Sports et Divertissements) (Dover Music

Composer Erik Satie (1866–1925) exercised a profound effect on twentieth-century music. His innovative harmonies, freedom of form, and mastery of musical understatement influenced a diverse company of modern masters, ranging from Debussy and Ravel to Milhaud, Poulenc, and Cage. This is a facsimile of an extremely rare collection of the French master's brilliant thumbnail sketches — both musical and verbal — of various outdoor sports and amusements. Satie created these pieces to accompany an album of charming, sophisticated drawings by Charles Martin, a well-known illustrator of the day. The composer also added droll verbal commentaries and inscribed both words and music in an exquisite calligraphic hand. Published in the 1920s in a limited edition, the album is very scarce today. This modestly priced edition of a rare treasure features black-and-white illustrations and English translations of Satie's eccentric verbal notations.