The pieces in this volume originated in 1897 (Pièces froides) and between 1913 and 1915. After the slow success of his early works, Satie, during the middle period of his creativity, sought new paths. He abandoned the compositional rigour of his mystical and meditative pieces. The characteristics of his new works are, on the one hand, the unmistakable concentration of his style of composition together with quicker tempos, and on the other, the combination of music with texts. Satie avoids romantic and impressionistic sounds even more consistently than before.