Vexations
Vexations is a noted work by Erik Satie. It consists of a short chordal passage, and is intended to be repeated 840 times.On the score, it is written that "Pour se jouer 840 vois de suite ce motif, il sera bon de se prÃÂéparer au prÃÂéalable, et dans le plus grand silence, par des immobilitÃÂés sÃÂérieuses" - "In order to play this motif 840 times to yourself, it will be useful to prepare yourself beforehand, in great silence and serious immobility."
The work was first played the prerequisite 840 times, by a team of pianists: John Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Philip Corner, Viola Farber, Robert Wood, MacRae Cook, John Cale, David Del Tredici, James Tenney, Howard Klein (the New York Times reviewer, who coincidentally was asked to play in the course of the event) and Joshua Rifkin, with two reserves, on September 9, 1963, from 6 pm to 12.40 pm the following day.
The piece's title is probably so called as the notation of the chords makes liberal use of enharmonic equivalents, making it difficult to immediately read.
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