From the Auberge du Clou to Arcueil

Abstract If the Chat Noir had nurtured Satie’s nonconformist spirit, the Auberge du Clou was the arena in which he began vigorously to assert that spirit, by committing ‘all his natural and spiritual resources’ to ‘a public role of heterodoxy’. The Clou was the backdrop to most of the eccentric exploits by which Satie is still remen1bered in anecdotes, and to most of the decisive developments in his bohemian career: the encounters with Debussy and with numerous painters; the Rosicrucian adventure and its aftermath in the Metropolitan Church; the striving for an esoteric style of composition to match his esoteric persona. Satie made still other noteworthy contacts during these years.