Vexations
Vexations is a musical work by Erik Satie. Apparently conceived for keyboard (although the single page of manuscript does not specify an instrument), it consists of a short theme in the bass whose four presentations are heard alternatingly unaccompanied and played with chords above. The theme and its accompanying chords are written using enharmonic notation. The piece is undated, but scholars usually assign a date around 1893–1894 on the basis of musical and biographical evidence. The piece bears the inscription "In order to play the motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and  in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities" ("Pour se jouer 840 fois de suite ce motif, il sera bon de se préparer au préalable, et dans le plus grand silence, par des immobilités sérieuses"). From the 1960s onward, this text has mostly been interpreted as an instruction that the page of music should be played 840 times, although this may not have been Satie's intention. Publication. Satie did not publish the work in his lifetime, and is not known ever to have performed or mentioned it. The piece was first printed in 1949 (in facsimile form, by John Cage  in "Contrepoints" No. 6). The first American publication of the piece was in "Art News Annual", vol. 27 (1958), again in facsimile. The first British publication was as an engraved example in an article by Peter Dickinson in "Music Review", vol. 28 (1967). In 1969 the publisher Éditions Max Eschig produced the first commercial edition of the work, placing it second in a collection of three so-called "Pages mystiques". Since there is no musicological evidence linking "Vexations" to the other works in the volume, its appearance in that context indicates nothing more than an editor's desire to publish  Satie's uncollected compositions in three-part assemblages such as the "Gymnopedies", "Gnossiennes", etc. First public performance. "Vexations" appears to have had no performance history before the idea gained ground that the piece was required to be played 840 times. The first of the marathon performances of the work in this way was produced by John Cage and Lewis Lloyd at the Pocket Theatre in Manhattan by the Pocket Theatre Piano Relay Team, organized by Cage. Pianists included: John Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Philip Corner, Viola Farber, Robert Wood, MacRae Cook, John Cale, David Del Tredici, James Tenney, Howard  Klein (the "New York Times" reviewer, who coincidentally was asked to play in the course of the event) and Joshua Rifkin, with two reserves, on 9 September 1963. Cage set the admission price at $5 and had a time clock installed in the lobby of the theatre. Each patron checked in with the clock and when leaving the concert, checked out again and received a refund of a nickel for each 20 minutes attended. "In this way," he told Lloyd, "People will understand that the more art you consume, the less it should cost." But Cage had underestimated the  length of time the concert would take. It lasted over 18 hours. One person, an actor with The Living Theater, Karl Schenzer, was present for the entire performance. Meaning. Satie never explained the piece's title. Conjectures regarding the meaning of Vexations (and its title) were construed long after Satie's death (in most cases supported by little evidence.) Finally, considering the many questions that remain regarding the composition, it could be seen in a tradition of "riddle music", somewhere between the "riddle canons" of Bach's "Musikalische Opfer" and Elgar's "Enigma Variations". Execution. There is no indication that  Satie intended the Vexations for public performance – the introductory text he wrote, as quoted above, rather indicating it was intended as a one-person experience (e.g. as a restrained way to work off anger, or in order to get one's ears tuned to an unconventional harmonic system and metre). Satie made no effort to get either "Vexations" or "Bonjour Biqui" published during his life, scarcely, or not at all, communicating about their existence (there were more of his compositions sharing this fate). As to the total duration of the work, and whether it is to be played aloud or  silently, it is hard to ascertain what Satie's intentions were: Cage's own intervallic analysis made for the first performance is in Lloyd's collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University along with the performers' time keeper sheets from that concert. Although there is no unambiguous indication that the Vexations should be played on the piano – an execution on another keyboard instrument, like the then popular harmonium, not being impossible – there is little doubt that this is the intended instrument. Ornella Volta (from the Archives Erik Satie in Paris) has been preparing a dossier  with several studies regarding this work and its executions. This dossier, which has not been published, is intended to contain a full analysis and a facsimile reproduction of the original score. The team at MakerBot Industries has programmed one of their robots to perform "Vexations". It was performed for the public for the first time at a 2010 New York City Maker Faire. The performance was based on the one by Armin Fuchs in Dresden in the year 2000. On 12 December 2012, French pianist Nicolas Horvath performed in the Palais de Tokyo a non-stop solo version lasting 35  hours. In September 2016, during the three days of the sci-tech Trieste Next festival, the pianist and multimedia artist Adriano Castaldini performed an open-air solo of the entire Vexations, conceiving a very new way of interpreting the piece, i.e. making "audible" the psycho-physical experience of vexation by connecting his body to the live electronic processing of the piano sound: during the performance, the pianist wore a sensor system (EEG, EMG, GSR and temperature sensors) not simply for medical feedback, but to process medical data in real time using a software (coded by Castaldini himself) that turned data  into control values for the piano sound live processing (the sound was captured by seven microphones inside the piano). On 2 December 2017, alt-classical concert series ChamberLab hosted a marathon performance of Vexations as a fundraiser for the American Civil Liberties Union, and raised $16,731.85 in pledges and donations. The event was open to all musicians, and 34 participated throughout the day at the Hotel Congress in Tucson, Arizona. On 30 May 2020, Igor Levit performed all 840 repetitions of Vexations at the B-sharp Studio, Berlin. The performance streamed on Periscope, Twitter and other platforms, including on  The New Yorker's website. Levit said the recital was in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, his reaction to which he characterised as a "silent scream" (""stumme Schrei""). The 840 sheets of music were sold individually to assist out-of-work musicians. From the 29 to 30 January 2021, Bot_pianist.ver, a robot made by ATOD, performed all 840 repetitions of Vexations for 19 hours 30 minutes at Platform-L Contemporary Art Center in Seoul. It was a part of 'Furniture Music' in the 4th Industrial Revolution Era: a convergence of an exhibition and performance; a reconstruction of Satie's 'Vexations ' conducted by PyoungRyang Ko. This work was a part of the Art & Tech Project by Arts Council Korea (ARKO) and Hanyang Industry-university Cooperation Foundation. The convergence of the exhibition and the performance was streamed on YouTube: On 3 February 2021, 12 players and composers performed at the Hall of Halls, The music box museum in Kiyosato at the southern foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains, Japan. The performers were Mana Fukui, Wataru Iwata, Masakazu Yamamoto, KaoLi, Taro Yoshihara, Keitaro Yamaguchi, Kazuya Saegusa, Sachiko Kawano, Mamoru Yamamoto, Satoka Yokoyama, Shunichi Komatsubara, and Ayumi Satake. Instruments used were piano, french horn, trumpet , cello, double bass, key harmonica, voice, organetta (street organ), organite (hand-cranked music box). In March 2021, Wataru Iwata contacted Alain Lefebvre of the Belgian Off label and they came up with the following idea: 21 artists should record the piece 40 times each to reach the total requested by Erik Satie. The 21 volumes will be released one by one every week starting from the 21st week of 2021. One request for each participant: play the piece 40 times on the instrument, at the tempo and arrangement of their choice. The artists are: Japan – Mana FUKUI, Ayumi SATAKE, Yuna  WATARASE,Taro YoSHIHARA, Shido IZUKAWA,KaoLi, Masakazu YAMAMOTO, Shintaro KAMIJYO, Sachiko KAWANO, Yusuke KOROYASU, Keitaro YAMAGUCHI, Wataru Iwata. Belgium: Synapses, Graźyna Bienkowski, Jozef Dumoulin, Céline Lory et Gil Mortio. Ukraine: Dmytro RADZETSKYI. France: Christophe PETCHANATZ. England: Chris JONES. Italy: Daniele MORELLI. Swiss: Institut de Pataphysique Appliquée, Esther KRETZINGER et Georges-E. SCHNEIDER. They responded and recorded their versions on piano (various with multiple effects), melodica, vocals, flute, percussion, shakuhachi, French horn, violin, computer, organetta and guitar. https://vexations840.bandcamp.com On 13 August 2021, American pianist Aaron D. Smith performed a non-stop solo version lasting 36 hours and 22 minutes in Salt  Lake City's Sugar House neighborhood. It is known to be the longest non-stop solo piano version ever performed. This performance was conducted alongside six dancers in conjunction with the Interdisciplinary Arts Collective.