Instances of musical borrowing are identified within a study of Erik Satie's relationship with America and its music. Five works from 1900 through 1905 exhibit ragtime stylistic traits, and in Parade (1917), Irving Berlin's That Mysterious Rag is used as a rhythmic model. Borrowing also occurs in Musique d'Ameublement (1923), which uses a phrase resembling Sing a Song of Sixpence, the English nursery rhyme. This musical reference might have been Satie's method of indicating that his commission was easy to fulfill.

Works: Satie: Prélude de La Mort de Monsieur Mouche (80-82), La Diva de l'Empire (81), Le Piccadilly (81), Légende Californienne (82), Parade (84-85), Musique d'Ameublement (92-93).

Sources: Sing a Song of Sixpence (92-93); Berlin: That Mysterious Rag (84-85).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan