Satie's Fighting Words
A Surrealist Confronts the Real World
On May 18th, 1917, Erik Satie’s one-act ballet Parade was premiered by Sergei Diaghelev’s Ballet Russes at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. A collaborative triumph of early Modernism, Satie’s score is based on a scenario by Jean Cocteau. Pablo Picasso designed the costumes and sets for the original production.
Much to Diaghelev’s delight, the premiere created a scandal. A faction of the audience continuously disrupting the performance with boos, hisses and catcalls, nearly causing a riot. With World War I soon to enter its third year of unprecedented bloodshed, many Parisians found the ballet’s high-concept banality offensive. Cries of “Sales Boches” (“Dirty Germans”) were hurled at the dancers, with some yelling that all involved should be sent to the battlefronts.
