MESSE DES PAUVRES

After several hours of musical movement through the streets of Brno during the SATIE CITY project, the city will fall silent.
Inside the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, a new world premiere will unfold: Méditation avant la Messe des pauvres (Meditation before the Mass for the Poor) by composer Peter Graham, followed by Erik Satie’s enigmatic Messe des pauvres (Mass for the Poor).
This deeply meditative and mysterious work invites profound focus and inner reflection.
Organist Jaroslav Šťastný and the Brno Academic Choir promise an unforgettable spiritual experience, where the past and present meet in a dialogue beyond words.

Messe des pauvres

The Messe des pauvres (Mass for the Poor) by French composer Erik Satie (1866–1925) is one of the most enigmatic works Satie left behind — and perhaps one of the most haunting in all of sacred music.

Its seven sections do not correspond to any established liturgy; the piece appears to have been composed purely for Satie’s own spiritual needs. Written between 1893 and 1895, it emerged during a difficult period when the composer sought inner peace following the collapse of his only known romantic relationship.
Longing for inner peace, Satie founded his own church, appointing himself its high priest, choirmaster, and sole member. He issued various proclamations, cursing those he considered enemies. Some fragments of the Messe des pauvres were published in these eccentric circulars.

The Mass remained hidden until after Satie’s passing. It was Darius Milhaud who arranged for its publication, while Olivier Messiaen gave its first complete performance in 1939 during his organist tenure at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris. Edgard Varèse held the work in high regard, calling it a “prelude to electronic music.”

The structure of the piece is highly unconventional: the mixed choir appears only in the first two sections, with the remaining parts entrusted solely to the organ.
At first glance, the music may seem simple, dominated by straightforward chords. Yet beneath this apparent simplicity lies an intricate modular construction, treating chords as independent sonic blocks rather than following traditional harmonic progressions.
Unexpected dissonances appear without resolution, revealing Satie’s radical approach — anticipating developments in music by several decades.

The organ solos are characterized by repetitive rhythmic values, yet performance directions such as “very Christianly,” “without ostentation,” “with renunciation,” and “with considerable forgetting of the present” suggest a subtle, flexible tempo — a breathing, living pulse.

In the final section, a static prayer emerges, shimmering with luminous chords that seem to foreshadow the later harmonic language of Olivier Messiaen.

Jaroslav Šťastný

Méditation avant la Messe des pauvres

Peter Graham’s Méditation avant la Messe des pauvres draws on fragments of Satie’s melodies, though transformed and reimagined.
This meditative prelude is designed to evoke a sense of anticipation and inner stillness, preparing the listener for the spiritual journey that follows in Satie’s remarkable work.

Peter Graham