I need help with translation of Satie's phrases

[radmila]

Can somebody help me with translation of the following phrases from Satie's Gnossinnes.
tres luisant
Du bout de la pensee
Postulez en vous meme
Sur la langue

Is there any website I can go to?
Thanks
 

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

If I should be wrong, please correct me.

Tres luisant- with great shining.

Du bout de la pensee- At the tip of one's thoughts.

Postulez en vous meme- wonder about yourself.

Sur la langue- Stick out your tongue.

[jakev2.0]

Sur la langue - On the tongue

[debussy symbolism]

Sur la langue - On the tongue

I wonder if that should really made a huge difference in the interpretation. However who am I to say having not played the piece or even begun to study Satie's work.

[jakev2.0]

Don't bother with Satie.   

[debussy symbolism]

Having actually sightread some of his work, namely the "trois gnossiennes," I admit that I do really enjoy them. The harmonic language is really unique, and Satie clearly shows a great proficiency in innovating new scales and such. I am however surprised at some of his notes during the pieces. Some are really bizarre.

[radmila]

Stick out your tongue
Is that the advice to the performer to do it literarly? Interesting.

[iumonito]

You should really do a lot of Satie before your tackle Slominsky.  On the other hand, you very much can do PDQ Bach first (or second, or third, or other, or not).

There is a material difference between "on the tongue" and "stick you tongue out" particularly if a later instruction requires the performer to bite.  I have the urtext and sadly there is no indication of what interpretation should be followed.  However, I book on the performance practices of Satie's music (translated into English by J.L. Borges, of all people) clearly indicates that it is supposed to be either one or the other.

Enjoy your Satie.  Very much do not understimate the aesthetic purpose of this music.  A smile if not a thing to underappreciate.

[thierry13]

Can somebody help me with translation of the following phrases from Satie's Gnossinnes.
tres luisant
Du bout de la pensee
Postulez en vous meme
Sur la langue

Is there any website I can go to?
Thanks
 

Very shiny
on the tip of the tought
Postulate in yourself
On the tongue

That's exactly what it means lol.

[amanfang]

I think I read somewhere that those types of comments were supposed to be parodies (or rather making fun of) of Debussy's long instructions or something like that.

[pars]

Don't bother with Satie.   

Not a terribly helpful post - if you like Satie's music then why not play it?

I read his direction 'on the tip of the tongue' to be 'as if searching for something' - I was not aware of his tongue in cheek poke at Debussy 

 i just love Gnoissienne No 4   

[ail]

Not a terribly helpful post - if you like Satie's music then why not play it?

I read his direction 'on the tip of the tongue' to be 'as if searching for something' - I was not aware of his tongue in cheek poke at Debussy 

 i just love Gnoissienne No 4   

Satie was just excentric, with titles as 'Embryons dessechés' and other such like. I never take him too seriously. However, I tend to interpret 'sur la langue' (on the tongue) as something soft, that you can feel very well.
'Du bout de la pensée' (something like 'from the end of your thought') I try to play like something distant, something that is far away in the past and I have to reminisce about.
'postulez-en vous même' shoudl be essentially the same as 'questionnez-vous', and I attribute it to the general rise of hte melody there, as if one were really asking a question.
Aside from that, I have many difficulties trying to turn Satie's comments into useful directions for playing.

Alex