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Embryons DesschsEmbryons desschs ("Dried up embryos") is a piano composition by Erik Satie, composed in the summer of 1913. The composition consists of three little "movements", each taking about two to three minutes to play. The music The parts of the composition are: 1. (Dessicated embryo) 'of a Holothuroidean' (30 june 1913), dedicated to Suzanne Roux: -
- See: sea cucumber. Note that this type of animal has no eyes.
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- The music of this first part of the composition concentrates on the so-called "purring" of the holothuroidea, besides making fun of Losa Puget's song Mon rocher de Saint Malo ("My rock of Saint Malo" - a then popular salon composition, which Satie had probably played numerous times in his cabaret pianist career). That this song is intended is already clear from the introduction Satie writes above the score: "... I observed a Holothuroidea in the bay of Saint-Malo." Further he writes following remarks in the score, when "quoting" the melody of the song: "What a nice rock!" and the second time: "That was a nice rock! How sticky!".
2. (Dessicated embryo) 'of a Edriophthalma' (1 july 1913), dedicated to Edouard Dreyfus: -
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- It is not clear whether Satie had in mind any of these animals in particular, or that he just wanted to make reference to this group of crustaceans in general, for their "underdog"-like qualities (which he describes as subdue and morose in the score). Anyway, in this part of the composition he makes fun of Frederic Chopin's funeral march (by the way calling it a "famous" MAZURKA by SCHUBERT - now, there is no "famous" mazurka by Schubert: Schubert composed many dances, but no mazurkas - mazurkas are Polish dances: Chopin had been the most famous Polish composer that ever lived in Paris, and he had particularily favoured the composition of mazurkas... there's the link Satie makes with a curb).
3. (Dessicated embryo) 'of a Podophthalma' (4 july 1913), dedicated to Jane Mortier: -
- Podophthalmia are stalk-eyed crustaceans, like crabs and lobsters (and various types of mostly larger shrimp), now grouped as Decapoda (i.e. ten-legged crustaceans).
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- In the score, Satie mentions the "hunter"-like qualities of podophthalmia, so the music is conceived as a miniature hunt. Note that hunts have quite a tradition in classical music, from early baroque keyboard music, over Vivaldi, several classical era composers and romantic opera composers to Csar Franck. Nonetheless, in music a hunting sea animal can be considered a one-of-a-kind.
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- Satie also points out that podophthalmia are delicious nourriture: he was particularly fond of this kind of sea-food himself.
The crustaceans In the 20th century both Edriophthalmata and Podophthalmia would become classified in the Malacostraca class of the Crustacea subphylum of the Arthropoda phylum: the use of the terms Edriophthalmata and Podophthalmia became obsolete with regard to the taxonomy of crustaceans. As to the sources Satie might have had to make references to Podophthalmia and Edriophthalmata: in early Darwinism these crustaceans (and notably also their embryos) were studied by Fritz Mller, in his book Facts and Arguments for Darwin, published in German in 1863, and available in English in 1869. The images below are taken from the Project Gutenberg publication of that book (E-text N 6475): -
- From CHAPTER 8 - DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY OF EDRIOPHTHALMA:
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- FIGURE 36. Embryo of Ligia in the egg, magnified 15 diam. B. yelk; L. liver.
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- FIGURE 38. Embryo of a Philoscia in the egg, magnified 25 diam.
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- FIGURE 39. Embryo of Cryptoniscus planarioides, magnified 90 diam.
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- FIGURE 43. Embryo of a Corophium, magnified 90 diam.
- From CHAPTER 7 - DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY OF PODOPHTHALMA:
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- FIGURE 34. Embryo of a Squilla, magnified 45 diam. a. heart.
The book also shows other development stages of these animals (zoea, larva), even odder in shape. Anyway, none of the animals described by Satie in his embryons desschs were invented by him: in fact his descriptions can be considered as fairly accurate. External links
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