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Modéré
As with the Allegro, the Modéré (Moderate) confuses title with tempo marking. These are in fact the only two works where Satie, perhaps deliberately, used this sort of ambiguity.Both the date of the composition of Modéré, 15 July 1893, and its starkly simple language lead us to class the piece among the preparatory studies for the Messe des Pauvres (Mass for the Poor), which Satie composed (but left unfinished) for the ceremonies at the Église Métropolitaine d'Art de Jésus Conducteur, which he founded exactly three months later on 15 October 1893, with the aim of "changing society by means of music and painting".
Ornella Volta, May 1995
