The Trois Gnossiennes, composed in 1890, two years after the Trois Gymnopédies, may have been inspired by some of the music at the 1889 Universal Exhibition. While Debussy's attention to the Javanese kampong is noted, the influence of the musicians of the Romanian pavilion on the composer of the Gnossiennes is too little known. Like Satie and before him, they "enjoy these slow movements, which lend themselves so well to expressing the contemplative and dreamy feelings they seem to carry within them. Often the song of the violin or flute, sustained by prolonged minor chords, sometimes for a very long time without changing, has the character of a very free improvisation that is barely outlined: the result is a vague and monotonous impression, with a lullaby-like and captivating charm. [...] The tonality is almost always minor, or at least belongs to the different varieties of the minor world; the influence of oriental scales, with their very characteristic augmented intervals, can be felt; or there are bizarre cadences, such as that of a major melody concluding with a relative minor. […] Whatever the case, it is delicate and full of charm. »

The only thing left is the title, so deliberately precious and rare that it could have passed for a neologism. Satie did not invent it, however, borrowing it from his erudite reading of Greek authors and other archaeological works that attest to its existence in ancient Greece. Gnossiennes refers to the inhabitants of Knossos, but it probably also evokes gnosis (from the Greek gnôsis, knowledge, but also a religious philosophy close to Platonism and Manichaeism) for Satie, who was so fond of "spiritual" wordplay.
A spiritual evocation, then, a journey in time beyond his beloved Middle Ages, but also a disorientation in space towards the birthplace of humanity, this ancient Greece which, in his mind sometimes pagan, sometimes Christian, joins Chaldea in the East of his dreams, the artistic materialisation of the original paradise where "all is order and beauty, luxury, calm and voluptuousness".

Posthumous publications

Extending the series of Trois Gnossiennes published by Satie in 1893, three separate unnamed pieces appeared in 1968 under the titles Gnossiennes N°4, 5 and 6:
- Gnossienne No. 4, with arpeggiated rather than chordal accompaniment, dates from the following year of the composition of the Trois Gnossiennes, 1891.
- Gnossienne N°5, on the other hand, dates from 1889, a year before the composition of the Trois Gnossiennes but the same year as the Universal Exhibition. Its very free melodic line and flowery rhythm could also have been inspired by the virtuoso playing of Romanian folk musicians - even if it is devoid of any exoticism.
- Gnossienne No. 6, from 1897, is a very pretty piece that deserved to be published posthumously, but is Gnossienne in name only. The writing is very different and bears witness to the change in Satie's style in these few years.
A final piece, Gnossienne No. 7, is sometimes added to the previous ones, and for good reason. It comes from the beautiful incidental music composed in December 1891 for Le Fils des Etoiles, a three-act "pastorale kaldéenne" by Joséphin Péladan. Reused by the composer in his Trois Morceaux en forme de Poire (1903), it is the only piece designated by himself, apart from the initial Trois Gnossiennes, as a Gnossienne.

Frédéric Cellier - 2002

Along his university studies (DEA in musicology, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne), Frédéric Cellier was awarded three first prizes and a development prize at the CNR of Nice and won first prize at the International Competition of Musical Execution - soloist category – of Stresa (Italy).
He is the laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and accredited teacher at the CNR of Nice, the CNR of Marseille, and at the CRR Olivier Messiaen of Avignon (France).
Frédéric Cellier is the interpreter of Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet Bb and piano with Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Françaix or Gabriel Tacchino, but also performs his own version for clarinet, piano and string orchestra of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue for Wynton Marsalis or under the baton of Adrian Gershwin, grandson of the composer.
Founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions, he is the author of pieces of light music and a considerable number of arrangements in all styles and for all instruments acclaimed by numerous personalities in the music world:

"Frédéric Cellier has produced a number of adaptations of Georges Auric's works with such talent and precision that I consider them a natural addition to his chamber music catalogue."
Michèle AURIC - Georges Auric's widow

"To Frédéric Cellier, excellent musician and tireless arranger."
Jean FRANÇAIX - Composer and pianist

"Arranging a musical work is always a delicate and risky exercise, because it requires both modifying it so that it can be played by the desired instruments and preserving its very essence. But that is exactly what Frédéric Cellier has done, preserving the nuances, subtleties and soul of the original works while breathing new life into them.
His arrangements give all the musicians the chance to perform these compositions specially revisited for their instrument, and make music lovers rediscover them in a new light."
Adrian GERSHWIN - George Gershwin’s grandson

"Congratulations for your beautiful new orchestration and rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue."
Wynton MARSALIS - Trumpet player, composer, bandleader, general and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

"It is outstanding that Frédéric Cellier has managed to transpose Saxophone Marmalade from the saxophone to the clarinet. I thank him for it and wish its great and deserved success. "
Manuel ROSENTHAL - Conductor, composer and Maurice Ravel’s pupil

"I am very happy to tell you how much I appreciated your transcription of the Capriccio, based on Francis Poulenc's Le Bal Masqué. It perfectly reflects the spirit and verve of the score for two pianos that I had the opportunity to play and record with Jacques Février, and it was a great pleasure for me to premiere it in Montpellier."
Gabriel TACCHINO - Pianist, Francis Poulenc’s specialist

"I must tell you that I really like your transcriptions and that I think the tone of the instruments you have chosen suits perfectly our beloved composer."
Ornella VOLTA - Musicologist, president of the Erik Satie’s Foundation