John improvised the instruments he worked with, resulting in the unique music that he produced. He studied with richard buhlig, henry cowell, adolph weiss, and arnold schoenberg. In doing this research, i will come to a conclusion on what is considered correct performance practice in john cages aria from a variety of interpreters performers, hopefully giving my performance of the work the most accurate performance practice possible. Lectures and writings by john cage wesleyan university press, 1961. John cages 433, yale university press, 2010, 272 pp, pdf. Composition59 this article, translated into german by christian wolff, first. In silence, he explains a lot of the techniques he used when composing, and discusses the value and meaning of music. Silence is a collection of some of the essays and lectures that have made john cages name synonymous with all that is unpredictable and exciting in contemporary miusic. John cages 433, a comprehensive study of this work could not have been written in the 20th century gann xii. Silence is a collection of some of the essays and lectures that have made john cage s name synonymous with all that is unpredictable and exciting in contemporary miusic. Hear joey ramone sing a piece by john cage adapted from james joyces finnegans wake. John cage simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Silence is a collection of essays and lectures cage wrote during the period from 1939 to 1961. Pdf at the boundary between art and sound, where music and silence, space and time, instruments and concepts continually intermingle, the.
There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. So i gave up the notion of communication as impractical in my case. If youre familiar with cage s ideas, youll want to read these texts, some of which can be a bit offputting by their form. This detailed literature summary also contains topics for discussion and a free quiz on silence. Jan 14, 20 john cage s silent musical composition 433 is the most revolutionary work in any medium of the 20th century. Lectures and writings by john cage middletown, ct wesleyan university press,1973, 109. May 15, 2015 the new york public library for the performing arts, in connection with the john cage trust and his publisher, c. John cage 1912 1992 was an american composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and provocative artist. Pdf on dec 1, 1997, stephen davies and others published john cages 4. There is always something to see, something to hear. John cages 1958 work aria for solo voice has quite a rich history of performance practice and has been recorded by countless important vocalists since its composition. If youre familiar with cages ideas, youll want to read these texts, some of which can be a bit offputting by their form. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. John cage sonata v from sonatas and interludes inara ferreira, prepared piano duration.
Silence played a major role in several of cages works composed before 4. This is a classic book of writings by john cage, mostly about music and art. A living archive was a display his original manuscripts, concert programs, photos and videos about his music. John cage was not the first, nor the last composer to critically question and transgress the borders between music and noise in addition to the borders between music and silence and between silence and noise. John cages ideas on sound, easily the most influential among the post war arts, were. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and nonstandard use of musical instruments, cage was one of the leading figures of the postwar avantgarde. If you listen to beethoven, its always the same, but if you listen to traffic, its always different. Watch a surprisingly moving performance of john cages 1948 suite for toy piano woody guthries fan letter to john cage and alan hovhaness 1947 josh jones is a writer and musician based in durham, nc. Cage was also an author, and his book saenee was described by john rock well in the new york times as the most influential conduit of oriental thought and religious ideas into the artistic vanguardnot just in music but in dance, art and poetry as well. John cage silence lectures and writings, 50th anniversary. Jensen john cage, chance operations, and the chaos game. Pianist david tudor walked out on stage on august 29, 1952, in woodstock, ny, sat down at the piano and closed the lid.
A search query can be a title of the book, a name of the author, isbn or anything else. The headnote preceding each one makes grateful acknowledgment of its precise source. Nuova versione john cage silence book pdf aggiornata. It was a tone in which all tones resounded while at the same time it contained all the silence. The page numbers in brackets in the introduction to each extract refer to that book. These are extracts from the 50th anniversary edition of silence.
Lectures and writings is a book by american experimental composer john cage 19121992, first published in 1961 by wesleyan university press. Silence lectures and writings by john cage do, cas wesleyan. It was printed in the brochure accompanying george avakians recording of my twentyfiveyear retrospective concert at town hall, new york, in 1958. Many presume that the pieces purpose was deliberate provocation, an attempt to insult, or get a reaction from, the audience. He is considered to be the most distinguished american composers of the 20th century by critics. A composer we commonly associate with coin tossing, whose most famous piece called for the performer not to make a single sound, he upended longheld. John cage, a leading figure of the american musical avantgarde and lecturer and writer extraordinary, dedicated himself to the search for new horizons in musical composition. An album called classical graffiti included a track titled a one minute silence which described precisely what it was, and was credited to battcage. And this silence, almost anywhere in the world today, is traffic. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot. Ur dessa tankar kring zen skapade cage olika system for att skapa musik genom bland annat slump och for att pa sa satt eliminera konstnarlig inspiration och kreativa val ur sina kompositioner. Psychologist silvia ostertag during a masterclass of cellist pablo casals. John adams, in his memoir hallelujah junction, describes how a reading of cages 1961 book silence encouraged him to drop out of east coast academia, pack his belongings into a vw. For an excellent disscusion of the concerto for prepared piano and.
Silence and silencing douglas kahn that a disagreeable noise should be as grateful to the ear as the sweet tones of a lyre is a thing i shall never attain to. John cage is the outstanding composer of avantgarde music today. Ein weg zu john cages stillem stuck 433, saarbrucken 2001. When composer john cage wrote 433 four minutes, thirtythree seconds, it would become his most famous and controversial piece. John cage at the cabrillo music festival, 1977, photographed by betty freeman. This collection of essays and presentations by noted composer and musical innovator john cage attempts to capture on paper both the intellectual and stylistic creativity with which he approached his work. Frasi di john cage 51 frasi citazioni e frasi celebri. The work was dedicated to and originally performed by cathy berberian and, as such, this premiere performance established many standards and common practices that have become accepted as. Peters, put together an exhibit in 2012 in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Njegov oce john milton cage je bil izumitelj, mati lucretia.
Recent and upcoming exhibitions at hmkv in dortmund germany and the berkeley art. John cage was a renowned american musician, philosopher, writer, artist and music theorist. John cage s books published by wesleyan are, silence. Pdf keine stille john cages 433 christian gruny academia. He published silence in 1961, which included lectures and writings from the period 19391958. Coomaraswamy john cages ideas on sound, easily the most influential among the post. Nov 21, 2010 john cage was one astonishing individual. Cage and the i ching chance operations played a carefully controlled role within john cages compositional process, but the use of chance still remains a controversial aspect of his work that many simply fail to understand. In 1952, at black mountain college, he presented a theatrical event considered by many to have been the first happening. John cage at the university of illinois, 195269, 1999. Zalerts allow you to be notified by email about the availability of new books according to your search query. John cages 433 is one such work in need of this type of deeprooted examination, and as kyle gann notes in the opening of his book, no such thing as silence. The audience at the world premiere was prepared to listen to this piece divided into three movements. The following text is made up of questions and quotations.
For an excellent disscusion of the concerto for prepared piano and orchestra see james pritchett, the music of john cage. Trawling through cages writings and examining the score and performance of the piece, gann elaborately reconstructs the genesis of 433 in the hope of making a case for it as a serious, galvanising work. Med letoma 1944 in 1945 je john napisal dve deli, ki jih je posvetil svojim starsem. Silence quotes showing 115 of 15 there is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. Indeed, this is often how we are advised to approach cages famous silent work, 4. Sep 05, 2012 33 musicians on what john cage communicates we asked musicians from yoko ono to nona hendryx to lou reed what theyve taken from the late composers musical and philosophical ideas. John cages 433 is a solemn justification for what many at the time and since perceived as a prank or a hoax. He was one of the first composers or musicians to introduce different styles of music to popular culture. Our new desktop experience was built to be your music destination. Writings 79 82 many of these lectures and articles have been delivered or published elsewhere in the past two decades. Dec 15, 2010 a performance by william marx of john cage s 433. The audience, generally prepared for what will follow, namely nothing, may sometimes wonder what could be printed on those pages.
John cage, 433, performed by william marx cage continued to develop his theories on silence and chance events throughout his voluminous body of work. John cages silent musical composition 433 is the most revolutionary work in any medium of the 20th century. Oct 29, 2015 john cage, 433, performed by william marx cage continued to develop his theories on silence and chance events throughout his voluminous body of work well into his eighties, influencing many contemporary musicians along the waytoru takemitsu, philip glass and steve reich to name but a few. Like as far as consistency of thought goes, i prefer inconsistency.
John cage xii silence 1 this page intentionally left blank. Bil je ameriski skladatelj, filozof, glasbeni teoretik, pesnik, umetnik, grafik in tudi zbiralec gob. Dont have to mean anything that is, in order to give us deep pleasure. Snyder interviewed cage, wrote the first doctoral thesis on him in 1970, contributed the cage timeline to richard kostelanetzs monograph, john cage, authored several other works on the composer, and was the dedicatee of cages piece, one. In most of the performances of john cages famously silent composition 433, the performer sits in front of what appears to be sheet music as in the performance below. Performance practice in john cages aria 2015 daniel. Deceptive cadence watch and hear a handful of clips that form an introduction to the master provocateurs work. The sound experience which i prefer to all others, is the experience of silence. John cage database includes a complete catalogue of cages music with details on individual compositions, as well as a discography, a bibliography and a list of forthcoming performances of cages work. Cage possesses one of the rarest qualities of the true creator that of an original mind and whether that originality pleases, irritates, amuses or outrages is irrelevant. While the title and songwriter seemed to be obvious references to john cage, batt claimed that it was a reference to clint cage a pseudonym batt had registered for himself. The quotations are some from the writings of others and some from my own writings. September 5, 1912 august 12, 1992 was an american composer, music theorist, artist, and philosopher. Snyder interviewed cage, wrote the first doctoral thesis on him in 1970, contributed the cage timeline to richard kostelanetzs monograph, john cage, authored several other works on the composer, and was the dedicatee of cage s piece, one.
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