Work

Erik Satie

Erik Satie Composer

Je te veux (I Want You), café-concert song

Performances: 18
Tracks: 15
MIDIs: 3
Loading...
Musicology:
  • Je te veux (I Want You), café-concert song
    Year: 1897
    Genre: Solo Song / Lied / Chanson
    Pr. Instrument: Voice

Je te veux (I Want You) is a setting of a text by Henry Pacory. The song may be connected, according to Satie scholars, to Paulette Darty, a Parisian burlesque chanteuse. It is a valse chantée, a waltz song, well-suited to Darty's reputation as "Queen of the Slow Waltz." Satie composed a number of songs with her in mind and actually performed this piece with her in 1909, some 12 years after it was composed.

Like his other cabaret songs, Je te veux was rearranged both for solo piano and for a number of instrumental combinations, including voice with a small orchestra, full orchestra, and solo voice. The music may also appropriately be played, as musicologist Alan Gillmor notes, by a cabaret band. The song has a simple refrain/verse/refrain structure, although later reorchestrated instrumental versions included a new section (a trio) added on to the piece. The raucousness and raunchiness of this piece made it interesting and entertaining to Parisian music-hall audiences. It is important to note, however, that the song's text was even raunchier before Satie watered it down, making it fit for public audition.

© All Music Guide


Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.
AMG
Select a performer for this work
Loading...
 
© 1994-2009 Classical Archives LLC — The Ultimate Classical Music Destination ™