La belle excentrique (The Eccentric Beauty) is a dance suite for small orchestra by French composer Erik Satie. A parody of music hall clichés, it was conceived as a choreographic stage work and by modern standards can be considered a ballet.[1][2] Satie gave it the whimsical subtitle "fantaisie sérieuse" ("A Serious Fantasy"). It was premiered at the Théâtre du Colisée[3] in Paris on June 14, 1921, conducted by Vladimir Golschmann. The composer later arranged it for piano four hands.
- ^ A contemporary balletic performance of La belle excentrique is "An Eccentric Beauty Revisited", presented by the New York Theatre Ballet in 2012. See http://www.balletdance.com/201105/NYTB10Mar2012.html
- ^ The Bibliothèque nationale de France, which holds the bulk of Satie's manuscripts, categorizes La belle as a ballet. See http://data.bnf.fr/14794222/erik_satie_la_belle_excentrique__piano/
- ^ Opened in 1912, the 622-seat Théâtre du Colisée was located at 38 Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris. In 1933 it was purchased by Gaumont and converted into a movie theatre. The venue closed in the mid-1980s and was demolished in 1988.