In the "screw you" list of composers, there's a special place for Erik Satie and his music. He didn't seem like a very ambitious artist, and he was quickly regarded as "untalented" by some of his scumbag teachers. So we was sent to the army, which he didn't enjoy at all. He thought "you know what? I'll stay a whole winter night shirtless on the outside until I develop bronchitis. Fuck you, army."
And he did, so he went back to Paris to play his own music in cabarets. He also started writing some of his own music, with strange old titles such as "gymnopedies", "gnosiennes" and "sarabandes".
Some say Satie was a precursor of Debussy and Ravel, much more famous composers for their "disruption" from the romantic music of the time. But although he met both (and Stravinsky!), Satie didn't seem to step away from the romantic language as a whole. Instead he wanted to develop his own musical language, his own style, and even his own religion (yeah, he was the priest of an unipersonal church, lol). And he incited his friends to do the same.
Leaving the pseudo-mystical thing, he went on to write some more of his very characteristic music, making fun of all kinds of musical clichés (he once put a bit of Chopin's "funeral march" in his music and wrote "the famous Schubert's mazurka"). All while making significant advances in the art of not giving a fuck about what they say about him. When critics accused his music for not having "shape", he wrote "three pieces in the shape of a pear".
He also wrote a ballet ("Parade") with some odd instrumentation. Pistols, buzzes, typewriters, you name it. People went crazy. Musical critic Jean Poueigh was particularly harsh about this ballet so Satie sent him a postcard "you're nothing but an arse, but an arse without music". He was sent to prison for eight days. Lol.
After seeing that people were more fond of his earlier music, Satie founded "Le nouveaux jeunes" (a youth composers group - he was 52, but ok), from where emerged some other incredible french composers such as Poulenc, Honegger and Milhaud. Still, none of them were as eccentric as Satie, who kept searching for the avant-garde, defying conventions and inspiring many other composers.
His music was a clear influence not only for the impressionists, but also for the minimalists such as Steve Reich, John Cage, and even more "actual" composers such as Michael Nyman or Arvo Pärt. This piece consists of a 140-note-series to be repeated 840 times, in a performance that could go from 9 to 35 hours. John Cage loved it.
His comic warning to the courageous musicians willing to play it defines Erik Satie pretty well, so I'll just leave you with it:
It would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.
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