Gnossienne No 1 by Erik Satie

"When Satie wrote the Gnossiennes in 1889, nobody knew what that meant-for a good reason: that word did not exist; Satie had invented it. Lately there have been thoughts that the word may etymologically be related to Gnosis, a Greek noun for knowledge, but no sources confirm a direct link.
Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer. Born in Honfleur on May 17, 1866, he spent most of his life in Paris. He financed his Bohemian lifestyle mainly by playing the piano at the Montmartre Cabaret bars “Le Chat Noir,” and “Le Lapin Agile.”
Satie played a significant role in re-shaping a French musical identity in the early 20th century, and he did so by creating a music of simplicity, clarity, and popularity. It was a complex period when his country yearned for more independence. France had just lost the region of Alsace and Lorraine in the French-Prussian war (1870-1871); and it would take until the end of World War I (1918) for France to regain it. The longing for independence was also reflected in music representations, since the rich German musical traditions, deeply anchored in music by Bach and culminating in late romantic masterworks by Wagner, were also dominating French musical teachings and concert halls.
“Experience is a form of paralysis,” Satie said. He seemed to have followed his own motto when he published his music many years before he completed a formal music education at the Schola Cantorum. From the beginning, Satie offered a refreshingly different and compelling music. It featured an unheard kind of minimalism (decades before the genre ‘minimalism’ was coined), was surprising and easily likeable, and had unusual titles. Satie’s music appealed to a broad audience that reached far beyond the intellectual and artistic Parisian circles." source: blogs.loc.gov/...