I’m going to take a detour, so bear with me. In 2015 I was visiting Sri Lanka for work. In several houses I saw people had TV’s from a brand called Singer. Wasn’t that an old Dutch manufacturer of sewing machines?
A short search later I understood Singer was founded in New York 1851 and is worldwide operating. So it is not Dutch, my first mistake. It is also not only producing sewing machines. My second. Sri Lanka was their prime location in Southeast Asia. Singer also sponsored concerts in the 60s and 70s to advertise their record players. Names like Procol Harum and the Incredible String Band. And in 1968 they even sponsored the famous comeback tour of Elvis.
Winnaretta Singer was heir to some of the family fortune, and with it she sponsored the arts. She commissioned Satie for some music to accompany her readings of Greek philosophers. After some changes it resulted in a symphonic drama for one voice and piano. Texts were taken from three fragments of Plato’s writings about his teacher Socrates.