Erik Satie
In 1911 Maurice Ravel played some of Satie’s piano pieces in public. Suddenly people began to take notice of Satie. They realized that he had been one of the first Impressionist composers. Debussy conducted his Gymnopédies in his arrangement for orchestra. Music critics started to write articles about Satie. He was at last becoming famous. He had some humorous piano pieces published. He was earning some money from his compositions, so he was able to give up playing in cabarets. He met Jean Cocteau who introduced him to Diaghilev for whom he wrote the music for Parade. Some people loved it, some hated it, but people were taking notice of him. He was asked to write more theatre music. He was a very important influence on the six composers who were known as Les Six. He was asked to write a symphonic drama which he called Socrate. Many musicians think it is his best piece.