Satie, "Je te veux” (1902)

This song was mentioned at the end of the previous post. Here is that text again, expanded and with additional examples. 

"Je te veux" is one of the better known among Satie’s cabaret songs, where we would definitely expect dominant ninth harmonies. (Satie began working as a pianist at the Parisian cabaret Chat noir in the later 1880s.) One appears immediately in the introduction (box). In the Refrain (the overall design is RCRCR, where R is the Refrain, and C is a couplet [same music but different text]), the major dominant ninth appears in the early or middle part of a period, as is more typical of popular song, and not near the cadence, as we find commonly in “art song.” The circled notes point to the free treatment of degrees in the upper tetrachord in relation to harmony—a heritage of mid-19th century waltz practices.

Thanks to repetition of the opening phrase, V9 is a characteristic sound of the couplets.

Satie, Sarabandes and songs

Erik Satie's distinctive styles--whether the early one of the Trois Gymnopédies or the later one of Parade--make very little use of the major dominant ninth harmony, but to show that he was no stranger to it, at least in his earlier years, here are examples from four stylistically varied pieces, three of them written around the same time as the Gymnopédies.

The 3 Sarabandes (1887) provide an extreme. This is the opening of no. 1. I almost feel I should apologize for the absurd welter of accidentals, in particular the three Bbb9s (enharmonic A9).

Here is a version that I hope is easier to read: it's a transposition up a half step and I've added chord labels.

And the beginning of no. 3. The Db9 becomes a recurring motto chord.

From the 3 Mélodies (1886), the opening of no. 3, "Sylvie." The treatment of sonority and texture is a bit reminiscent of the Gymnopédies. Unlike in the sarabandes, this V9 is an isolated instance.

Finally, from a decade or more later, "Je te veux," one of the better known cabaret songs, where we would definitely expect dominant ninth harmonies. (We should mention that Satie began working as a cabaret pianist in the later 1880s.)