Satie: Sports et Divertissenents 17. Le Tango - wind quintet

Sports et divertissements (Sports and Pastimes) is a cycle of 21 short piano pieces composed in 1914 by Erik Satie.

The set consists of a prefatory chorale and 20 musical vignettes depicting various sports and leisure activities. First published in 1923, it has long been considered one of his finest achievements.

Musically it represents the peak of Satie's humoristic piano suites (1912-1915), but stands apart from that series in its fusion of several different art forms. Sports originally appeared as a collector's album with illustrations by Charles Martin, accompanied by music, prose poetry and calligraphy. The latter three were provided by Satie in his exquisite handwritten scores, which were printed in facsimile.

This is my arrangement for wind quintet of No.17. Le Tango (perpétuel)(The [Perpetual] Tango)
Tempo marking - Modéré & très ennuyé (Moderately & with great boredom.)

Satie's satirical look at the tango craze that swept Western Europe in the pre-World War I era. On January 10, 1914, Archbishop of Paris Léon-Adolphe Amette denounced the dance as immoral and forbade it to practicing Catholics.
In his text Satie appears to agree with the cleric's ruling by calling the tango "the Dance of the Devil", but then adds a droll glimpse of Satan's domestic life: "It's his favorite. He dances it to cool off. His wife, his daughters & his servants get cool that way."

The music is intentionally banal, an attenuated, vaguely "Spanish" tune wandering aimlessly through several keys over a persistent tango rhythm. 

As a final joke the repeat signs at the beginning and end of the score indicate the piece is to be played ad infinitum, presenting a hellish eternity of musical monotony.Satie had earlier "suggested" 840 repetitions of his (then unpublished) 1893 piano piece Vexations, but in Le Tango he took this notion to its logical (and unperformable) conclusion.

I recommend playing the piece twice.
 
Check out my other Satie arrangements