John Cage

John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. He is well known for his 1952 composition

4′ 33″

The premiere of the three-movement 4′ 33″ was given by David Tudor on August 29, 1952, at Woodstock, New York as part of a recital of contemporary piano music. The audience saw him sit at the piano, and lift the lid of the piano. Some time later, without having played any notes, he closed the lid. A while after that, again having played nothing, he lifted the lid. And after a period of time, he closed the lid once more and rose from the piano. The piece had passed without a note being played, in fact without Tudor or anyone else on stage having made any deliberate sound, although he timed the lengths on a stopwatch while turning the pages of the score. Only then could the audience recognize what Cage insisted upon, that ?There is no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound.? Richard Kostelanetz suggests that the very fact that Tudor, a man known for championing experimental music, was the performer, and that Cage, a man known for introducing unexpected non-musical noise into his work, was the composer, would have led the audience to expect unexpected sounds. Anybody listening intently would have heard them: while nobody produces sound deliberately, there will nonetheless be sounds in the concert hall (just as there were sounds in the anechoic chamber at Harvard). It is these sounds, unpredictable and unintentional, that are to be regarded as constituting the music in this piece. The piece remains controversial to this day, and is seen as challenging the very definition of music.

Related Topics:
4′ 33″ - August 29 - 1952 - Woodstock, New York - Richard Kostelanetz - Definition of music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One theory for the time length of the piece 4? 33? is that the 4? 33? expressed in seconds is 273 seconds. ?273 degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature that can be obtained in any macroscopic system is referred to as Absolute zero. Since the piece involved absolutely no playing for 4? 33?, this is a plausible theory.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While it may challenge the definition of music, it does not challenge any definition of composition — the earliest score was written on conventional manuscript paper using graphic notation similar to that used in Music of Changes, with the three movements precisely scored to reflect their individual lengths. The most famous version of the score is the so-called Tacet edition, which is features three movements all on one page, each labelled tacet ? the traditional musical term for when a musician does not play for a movement. The score provides no time limits for any of the parts neither the whole piece, and as would be very cagean the duration of the first performance was decided using chance operations. The piece can have any duration and thus any title, but is stuck with the famous first performance duration and title (ie. movement I: 30″- movement II: 2′23″- movement III: 1′40″). Cage himself refers to it as his silent piece and writes; "I have spent many pleasant hours in the woods conducting performances of my silent piece... for an audience of myself, since they were much longer than the popular length which I have published. At one performance... the second movement was extremely dramatic, beginning with the sounds of a buck and a doe leaping up to within ten feet of my rocky podium." (in John Cage: Silence, lectures and writings).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is one problem though if one wish to regard the unpredictable sounds to constitute the music in this piece. This comes clearly forward in the recording of the piece by Amadinda Percussion Group, in which the group places themselves in a park. One hears birdsongs, of course, only interrupted twice due to the pauses following each part. If the sounds during the parts are the music, then the sounds between the parts are not, and then the Amadinda recording is true to its source. However, in a performance the listener would not be able to distinguish the parts in sounds, but only in the acts of the performer(s). In this respect Cage?s Silent Piece does not constitute any music or sounds, but theater.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

4′ 33″ has been recorded on several occasions, one version being ?performed? by Frank Zappa (part of A Chance Operation: The John Cage Tribute, on the Koch label, 1993). An 'orchestral' version of 4′ 33″ given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in January 2004. The Magnetic Fields double album Distant Plastic Trees/The Wayward Bus (Merge Records, 1991) is divided with 4? 33? seconds of silence. Musical group Sonic Youth (recording with several guests under the moniker Ciccone Youth) also caused a stir when it was questioned whether a track off their "Whitey Album" which featured nothing but 63 seconds of silence, an apparent tribute to John Cage, should be available as an individual download through Apple?s iTunes. Prick (a 1994 album by the often warped experimental metal group The Melvins) features a 90 second song, ?Pure Digital Silence? which was indeed, digital silence, excepting a brief introduction in a ?obviously fake Brit accent?. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:y2jv7i7og7or

Related Topics:
Frank Zappa - BBC Symphony Orchestra - BBC - Radio 3 - The Magnetic Fields - Distant Plastic Trees - The Wayward Bus - Sonic Youth - Ciccone Youth - ITunes - Metal - The Melvins

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2002, British songwriter Mike Batt released an album containing a track called A one minute silence, credited to himself and John Cage. The estate of Cage launched a lawsuit against Batt, claiming it infringed the copyright of the earlier Cage work. The case was settled out of court for a large undisclosed sum. However, Cage?s friends, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, released a piece entitled ?Two Minutes Silence? on the album ?Life with the Lions ? Unfinished Music Part 2? to no apparent lawsuits. It is understood that the lawsuit against Batt was initiated because of the "Batt/Cage" credit, not because the track was a silent composition.

Related Topics:
Mike Batt - Yoko Ono - John Lennon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~