Eric Satie Quiz Questions and Answers
Q1. In what year was Erik Satie born?
A. 1865
B. 1866
C. 1867
D. 1868
Answer: B. 1866
Q2. Where was Erik Satie born?
A. Paris
B. Arcueil
C. Honfleur
D. Normandy
Answer: C. Honfleur
Q3. What was Erik Satie’s full birth name?
A. Eric Alfred Leslie Satie
B. Erik Antoine Satie
C. Alfred Eric Satie
D. Leslie Erik Satie
Answer: A. Eric Alfred Leslie Satie
Q4. What was the profession of Erik Satie’s father, Alfred Satie?
A. Pianist
B. Shipping broker and music publisher
C. Composer
D. Painter
Answer: B. Shipping broker and music publisher
Q5. What was the nationality and descent of Erik Satie’s mother, Jane Leslie?
A. French
B. Scottish
C. British, of Scottish descent
D. Irish
Answer: C. British, of Scottish descent
Q6. How many siblings did Erik Satie have, and what were their names?
A. One sister, Olga
B. Two brothers, Conrad and Henri
C. A sister Olga and a brother Conrad
D. Three sisters
Answer: C. A sister Olga and a brother Conrad
Q7. What tragic event involving his mother occurred in 1872 when Erik Satie was six years old?
A. She abandoned the family
B. She died under mysterious circumstances, found drowned
C. She remarried
D. She moved back to Britain
Answer: B. She died under mysterious circumstances, found drowned
Q8. After his mother’s death, where were Erik Satie and his brother sent to live?
A. With their father in Paris
B. With maternal grandparents in Britain
C. With paternal grandparents in Honfleur
D. To a boarding school in Normandy
Answer: C. With paternal grandparents in Honfleur
Q9. In what year did Erik Satie begin formal music studies at the Paris Conservatoire?
A. 1878
B. 1879
C. 1880
D. 1881
Answer: B. 1879
Q10. Why was Erik Satie expelled from the Paris Conservatoire in 1882?
A. For poor performance and indolence
B. For starting a student protest
C. Due to family financial issues
D. For composing unauthorized music
Answer: A. For poor performance and indolence
Q11. What was Erik Satie’s first known composition, written in 1884?
A. Gymnopedie No. 1
B. A short Allegro for piano
C. Gnossienne No. 1
D. Valse-ballet
Answer: B. A short Allegro for piano
Q12. In what year did Erik Satie compose his famous Gymnopedies?
A. 1886
B. 1887
C. 1888
D. 1890
Answer: C. 1888
Q13. Which series of piano pieces, known for lacking bar lines, did Erik Satie begin composing in 1889?
A. Sarabandes
B. Gnossiennes
C. Ogives
D. Danses gothiques
Answer: B. Gnossiennes
Q14. What is the title of Erik Satie’s 1917 ballet that featured collaborations with Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso?
A. Mercure
B. Relache
C. Parade
D. Socrate
Answer: C. Parade
Q15. Which work by Erik Satie, composed between 1917 and 1918, sets excerpts from Plato’s dialogues?
A. Messe des pauvres
B. Socrate
C. Le Fils des étoiles
D. Genevieve de Brabant
Answer: B. Socrate
Q16. In what year did Erik Satie move to a small room in Arcueil, where he lived in isolation until his death?
A. 1898
B. 1899
C. 1905
D. 1910
Answer: A. 1898
Q17. Which institution did Erik Satie attend as a mature student from 1905 to 1912 to improve his compositional technique?
A. Paris Conservatoire
B. Schola Cantorum
C. Académie des Beaux-Arts
D. Ecole Normale de Musique
Answer: B. Schola Cantorum
Q18. What scandalous ballet collaboration with Francis Picabia and Rene Clair did Erik Satie create in 1924?
A. Parade
B. Mercure
C. Relache
D. Uspud
Answer: C. Relache
Q19. Which group of young French composers, including Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud, was heavily influenced by Erik Satie?
A. Les Apaches
B. Les Six
C. The Arcueil School
D. The Rose+Croix
Answer: B. Les Six
Q20. What political party did Erik Satie join after the assassination of Jean Jaures in 1914?
A. The Socialist Party
B. The Communist Party
C. The Radical Party
D. The Nationalist Party
Answer: A. The Socialist Party
Q21. What musical style is Erik Satie often credited as a precursor to, due to his use of repetition and simplicity?
A. Impressionism
B. Minimalism
C. Romanticism
D. Serialism
Answer: B. Minimalism
Q22. Which composer’s opera Pelléas et Melisande profoundly influenced Erik Satie upon its 1902 premiere?
A. Claude Debussy
B. Richard Wagner
C. Maurice Ravel
D. Igor Stravinsky
Answer: A. Claude Debussy
Q23. What term did Erik Satie coin in 1917 for background music intended to blend with ambient noise?
A. Ambient music
B. Musique d’ameublement
C. Furniture symphony
D. Tapisserie sonore
Answer: B. Musique d’ameublement
Q24. Which modern composers, such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich, have cited Erik Satie as a significant influence?
A. Romantic symphonists
B. Serialists
C. Minimalist pioneers
D. Jazz improvisers
Answer: C. Minimalist pioneers
Q25. How did Erik Satie’s music contribute to the reshaping of French musical identity in the early 20th century?
A. By embracing Wagnerian complexity
B. Through simplicity, clarity, and rejection of excess
C. Via elaborate orchestrations
D. With operatic grandeur
Answer: B. Through simplicity, clarity, and rejection of excess