 During these years, Varèse became acquainted with Erik Satie and Richard Strauss, as well as with Claude Debussy and Ferruccio Busoni, who particularly influenced him at the time.He also gained the friendship and support of Romain Rolland and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, whose "Œdipus und die Sphinx" he began setting as an opera that was never completed.On 5 January 1911, the first performance of his symphonic poem "Bourgogne" was held in Berlin.