[Untitled]
Medium: any instruments having specified ranges
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Date: August 8-September 13, 1931
First performance: none (never performed)
Sources: Paris?, estate of Don Sample
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1961h, 234-235; Cage 1991c, ***; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 16.
[Untitled]
Medium: unknown
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Date: 1934?, while studying with Henry Cowell in New York
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
[Untitled]
Description: exercises in counterpoint for no specific instruments
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Date: between 1935-1937
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 7, folder 4; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 18; Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg Institute
Publication: facs. of one exercise in Begegnung
mit Arnold Schnberg, ed. Margret Jestremski, Ernst Hilmar. Duisburg: Stadt
Duisburg, 1993, 26.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment (possibly belonging to Marriage at the Eiffel Tower)
Medium: percussion
Date: between 1935-1943
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 903.
[Untitled]
Medium: two violins, viola, and violoncello
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Date: 1936
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 59; Boehmer 1967b, 173.
[Untitled]
Description: music for an aquatic ballet
Medium: instrumentation unknown, but including water gongs
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Commission: University of California, Los Angeles, Physical Education Department
Date: prior to July 2, 1938
First performance: July 2, 1938
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1961h, 86.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment (possibly belonging to Marriage at the Eiffel Tower)
Medium: two pianos
Date: circa 1939
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 47.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: two prepared pianos
Date: between 1944-1948, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 904.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified notes (possibly belonging to Three Dances)
Medium: two prepared pianos
Date: between 1944-1949, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 905.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified worksheets, possibly belonging to Williams Mix or Works of
Calder
Medium: magnetic tape
Date: circa 1952, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 906.
[Untitled]
Medium: piano?
Date: between 1951-1962, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 908.
[Untitled]
Note: known as
Black Mountain Piece;
also known as Theatre Piece No. 1
Text: indeterminate
Medium: ***concerted action involving paintings, dance, three speaking voices
reading poetry or lectures, dance, film and slide projections, gramophone
recordings, radios, piano music
Extent: unknown
Duration: 45 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: August 1952
First performance: August 1952
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 172
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1959g; Cage 1961h, x; Cage/Charles 1976, 44, 165-167; Cage/Kirby
and Schechner 1965, 52-53, 55; Cage/Kostelanetz 1968WE/1970, 27; Cage/Raymond
and Roberts 1980, 9-10; Fetterman 1996a, 97-104; Goldberg, R. 1978; Miller, L.E. 2002a; Thorman 2002, 36, 38, 65.
Unidentified work for
magnetic tape using feedback noise
Date: circa 1953
Sources: present location unknown
Literature: Eimert 1953.
Unfinished work for
magnetic tape
Date: circa 1953
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 907.
[Untitled]
Description: unfinished work
Medium: magnetic tape
Date: 1953?, unfinished
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073** box 1, folder 2; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 909
Literature: Pritchett 1988a, 261-271.
[Untitled]
Medium: voice
Date: 1953, unfinished
Sources: Dsseldorf, estate of Joseph Beuys; New York, Public Library, JPB
94-24 folder 1075
Literature: Pritchett 1988a, 271-274.
[Untitled]
Description: sound sculpture for the Lippold Room at Pan Am Building, New York
Date: 1961-1962, unfinished
Note: since sculptor Richard Lippold refused to exhibit his golden cobweb in
the Pan Am Building [now Grand Central Building] until the background music was
removed, Cage designed a sound and image sculpture in which the background
music was combined with the sounds of the electronic surveillance cameras; the
project was cancelled, however, when the Pan Am Building authorities agreed to
switch off the background music
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 910
Literature: Ericson 1962; Revill 1992, 202.
[Untitled]
Medium: harpsichord
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: for Antoinette Vischer (1909-1973)
Date: 1969 or earlier
First performance: unknown
Sources: Basle, Paul Sacher Stiftung
Publication: none.
[Untitled]
Medium: piano?
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: for Joan
Mir
Date: circa 1970
First performance: unknown
Sources: Barcelona, estate of Joan Mir (fair copy)
Publication: none.
[Untitled]
Medium: organ
Date: unknown, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 902.
Unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: circa 1972
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 919.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment for orchestra
Date: circa 1972
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 911 (notes, 1 leaf, 22 x 28
cm, unmarked vellum paper, blue ballpoint ink).
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: circa 1972 or thereafter
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 912 (draft, 2 leaves, 28
cm, 1 leaf white paper, 1 leaf blue paper, ballpoint).
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: between 1972-1985
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 913 (notes, 1 leaf, 28 cm,
vellum paper, ballpoint).
[Untitled]
Choreography: Charles Atlas and Merce Cunningham, Westbeth
Medium: piano?
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Date: fall 1974
First performance: February 14, 1975
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
[Untitled]
Medium: for violin? possibly belonging to Freeman
Etudes or Chorals
Date: between 1977 and 1980, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 916. [Untitled] (sketches,
2 leaves, 32 x 24 cm, 10-stave vellum music paper, King Brand No. D2, pencil,
colored pencil, and ballpoint).
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment possibly belonging to Freeman Etudes
Medium: violin?
Date: between 1977 and 1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder *** (notes, 1 leaf, 28 cm,
white paper, pencil, colored pencil, and ballpoint).
[Untitled]
Description: contribution to Miloslav Cerný, Wisdom Is Passing, Stupidity Is Eternal
Medium: flute
Date: after March 26, 1979
Sources: Kyjov, collection Miloslav Cerný
Publication: none.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: circa 1988-1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 920.
[Etudes]
Medium: recorder
Dedication: for Pete Rose
Date: circa 1980
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 915 (notes, 1 leaf, 28 cm,
white paper, ballpoint).
Literature: Cage/Harrison 1980, 6; Rothstein 1981a.
[Untitled]
Medium: at least 8, possibly 12 sound systems (lp playbacks with at least 12
records of good dance music [popular, rock, etc.], amplifiers, loudspeakers)
arranged around the stage and to be operated by the dancers
Date: May 19, 1982
First performance: November 6, 1982
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: Cage 1982LETTER
Literature: none.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: between 1982 and 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1076 (sketch, 1 leaf, 43 x
28 cm, unmarked music paper, ballpoint).
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: circa 1984?, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 918
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: circa 1984?, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 926
[Untitled]
Medium: installation in empty S.N.C.F. [French railways] container with
amplified sounds from outside the container
Note: possibly identical with Silent
Environment
Date: prior to March 21, 1985
First performance: March 21-May 20, 1985
Sources: present location unknown
Literature: Declerq 1985.
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: between 1988 and 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 921 (sketch, 5 leaves, 28
cm, vellum music paper, ballpoint).
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified fragment
Medium: unknown
Date: between 1989 and 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 923 (notes, 1 folder and 4
leaves, folder 23 x 30 cm, file folder, Oxford # 752 1/3, 4 leaves 28 cm, white
paper, ballpoint and print-out).
[Untitled]
Description: unidentified sketch
Medium: trombone and percussion
Date: between 1991 and 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 924 (notes, 1 leaf, 28 cm,
white paper, ballpoint and print-out).
[Untitled]
Medium: piano
Commission: Yvar Mikhashoff, Anthony De Mare, and Stephen Drury (to be funded by
the National Endowment for the Arts)
Date: 1992, never begun.
Sources: none
Publication: none.
0'00"
Medium: a performer using amplification to present any disciplined action
Note: alternative title: 4'33"
No. 2; third of a group of works of which Atlas Eclipticalis is the first and Variations IV is the second; included in Song Books as Solo for Voice 8; 0'00" No.
2 and 0'00" No.
2B are Solos for Voice 23 and 26, respectively
Extent: six sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Yoko Ono and Toshi Ichiyanagi
Date: October 24-25, 1962
First performance: October 24, 1962
Sources: present location unknown, private collection; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 285
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1962 (Peters; 6796); draft (private
collection) in Wortlaut, ed. Christel
Schppenhauer. Kln: Galerie Schppenhauer, 1989, 94
Literature: Cage 1964b, 143; Cage/Bodin and Johnson [and Deborah Hay] 1965BANDINTERVJU/1988,
69-70; Cage/Charles 1976, 210-211; Cage/Retallack 1996, 199; Fetterman 1996, 84-90; Griffiths
1981a, Cage, 39, 43; Kostelanetz 1970d, 143; Kostelanetz 1988b, 69, 193;
Pritchett 1993, 138-140, 144, 146-149, 150, 153, 155-156, 167; Rivest
1996a, 96-114.
0'00" No. 2
Medium: two or more performers playing a game on a playing area (table or
board) amplified with contact microphones
Extent: 1 sentence
Duration: indeterminate
Date: 1968
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: as "Solo for Voice 23." In John Cage, Song Books. New York: Henmar Press, 1970, 87 (Peters; 6806a)
Literature: none.
1'1/2" for a String Player. See 26'1.1499"
for a String Player.
1'5 1/2" for a String Player. See 26'1.1499"
for a String Player.
1'14" for a String Player. See 26'1.1499"
for a String Player.
1'18" for a String Player. See 26'1.1499"
for a String Player.
4'33"
Note: title changes to be that of the actual time-length of the performance
Medium: any instrument or combination of instruments (environmental sounds);
various notations; various versions: different number of movements; without
instruments (1971-1972 and 1986***)
Extent: instructions for performance (4 sentences); I (1 system); II (1
system); III (1 system) [conventional notation]; version in proportional
notation***
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Irwin Kremen
Date: August 1952
First performance: August 29, 1952
Sources: Durham, North Carolina, collection Dr. Irwin
Kremen; Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 4; New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 171
Publication: in Source: Music of the Avant
Garde 1, no. 2 (July 1967), 46-54; repr. New York: Henmar Press, 1993
(Peters; 6777a) [proportional notation]; New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters;
6777); in Kuhn, R. and Kreutz 1991, 142-143 [conventional notation]
Literature: Bauer, J. 2002; Betz 1999; Borum 1982-1983; Brooks, W. 2007; Cage 1961h, 98n; Cage 1962e, 25; Cage 1970d, 118; Cage 1990f, 19-27;
Cage 1991c, 67; Cage 1993d, 43, 52, 109, 155, 243; Cage, Kremen, and Tudor/Austin 1967; Cage,
Shattuck, and Gillmor 1982, 24; Cage/Charles 1976, 210; Cage/Duckworth 1989,
21-22; Cage/Goldberg 1976, 105; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 64; Cage/Kobler
1968?CHECK/1988, 65; Cage/Kostelanetz 1968WE/1970, 12, 20; Cage/Raymond and
Roberts 1980, 9; Cage/Retallack 1996, 77, 112, 136; Cage/Reynolds 1962CHECK/1962, 51; Cage/Sweeney-Turner 1991, 3; Cage/White, R. 1978, 6; Campbell,
Mark R. 1992; Charles 1983a; De Visscher 1989b; De Visscher 1992b; Duckworth 1972, 99-101, 113, 115, 116; Emmerik, P. van 1998b; Erdmann 1993f, 51-52;
Fetterman 1996, 69-84; Gann 2010; Gligo 1971; Gligo 1998; Goehr, L. 1992, 264-265; Griffiths
1981a, 1, 28, 33, 36, 45; Gutmann
1999; Henck 1985b; Kahn, D.
1997a; Kepler 1982, 18-34; Kostelanetz 1969INFERENTIAL/1970, 106n, 107-108; Kostelanetz
1970d, 20, 118; Kostelanetz 1988b, 65-67, 81-82, 100, 105, 188, 206, 216; Kresky 1994; Mche 1988; Maier, T.M. 2001a; Maier,
T.M. 2002; Metzger, H.-K. 1998; Montague
1982; Naglia 1989-1990; Nyman 1974, 2, 3, 22-23, 29, 41, 51; Orem 2000; Pritchett
1993, 2, 25, 59-60, 69, 145, 206n11; Rivest 1996a, 96-114; Shultis
1995; Solomon 1998; Sontag 1969a; Thorman 2002, 21, 22,
23, 154, 155, 156, 160, 203, 216;
Tielebier-Langenscheidt 1979; Toop 1968, 10-11; Tudor/Oehlschlgel 1997, 69-70; Vaes 2009, 755; Veselinović-Hofman
1998; Villasol 1992; Wagner, M.
1982.
4'33" No. 2. See 0'00".
26'1.1499" for a String Player
Note: incorporates five short works composed in 1953: 57 1/2" for a String Player, 34-38, 1'5 1/2" for a String Player, 39-43, 1'1/2" for a String
Player, 44-48, 1'18" for a
String Player, 49-53, and 1'14"
for a String Player, 54-58
Medium: violin, viola, violoncello, or contrabass ad libitum with auxiliary
instruments***[list]; may be performed with 27'10.554"
for a Percussionist, 31'57.9864"
for a Pianist, 34'46.776" for a
Pianist, and 45' for a Speaker [text],
as a solo or ensemble for any combination of pianists, string players,
percussionists, and a speaker; the title to be appropriately changed to
indicate the length in minutes and seconds and decimal fractions of the latter,
and the instrumentalists involved
Extent: 85 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for June Herman (57 1/2"
for a String Player), Broadus Erle (1'5
1/2" for a String Player), Matthew Raimondi (1'1/2" for a String Player), Seymour Barab (1'18" for a String Player), Walter
Trampler (1'14" for a String Player)
and to Harold Coletta (26'1.1499"
for a String Player)
Date: May 1953 (57 1/2" for a
String Player) and June 14, 1953 (1'5
1/2" for a String Player), June 28, 1953 (1'1/2" for a String Player), June 29, 1953 (1'18" for a String Player), June
30, 1953 (1'14" for a String Player)
and August-September 1955 (26'1.1499"
for a String Player)
First performance: October 15, 1955
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 193-195, 954-955
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6779)
Literature: Cage 1961e, 147n; Cage 1961h, 146-147, 156-157; Cage 1962e, 26; Cage
1979c, 8-9; Cage 1993d, 55, 56, 119, 156; Cage/Charles 1976, 34, 50; Charles 1970a; Griffiths 1981a, 30-33; Pritchett 1988a, 242-261, 285-290; Thorman
2002, 40.
27'10.554" for a Percussionist
Note: earlier title 7'7.614" for
a Percussionist
Medium: percussionist using any instruments from the categories metal, wood,
skin, others; pre-recorded tape may be used to assist in the performance
Note: may be performed in whole or part, with or without 45' for a Speaker [text], 34'46.776" for a Pianist, 31'57.9864" for a Pianist, and 26'1.1499" for a String-Player, as
a solo or ensemble for any combination of pianists, string players,
percussionists, and a speaker; the title to be appropriately changed to
indicate the length in minutes and seconds and decimal fractions of the latter,
and the instrumentalists involved
Extent: 109 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: completed January 14, 1956
First performance: February 2, 1962
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 211-213, 957
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6778)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 146-147; Cage 1962e, 26; Cage 1979c, 8-9; Cage 1993d, 55, 56,
119; Cage/Charles 1976, 34, 50;
Charles 1970a; Cudd 1998;
Griffiths 1981a, 30-33; OConnor, G.A. 1966; Pritchett 1988a, 291-301; Ranta 1969; Thorman
2002, 40.
31'57.9864" for a Pianist
Medium: prepared piano and indeterminate sound sources (whistles, vocal
noises, percussion instruments)
Note: to be performed in whole or part, with or without 45' for a Speaker [text], 34'46.776"
for a pianist, 27'10.554" for a
Percussionist, and 26'1.1499"
for a String-Player, as a solo or ensemble for any combination up to two
pianists, five string players, percussionist, and speaker; the title to be
appropriately changed to indicate the length in minutes and seconds and decimal
fractions of the latter, and the instrumentalists involved; ***may be played
alone or in combination, and in whole or in part, the title to be appropriately
changed to indicate time in minutes and seconds and the instrumentalists involved
(score of the piece for string player) [maximum number of perf.***]
Extent: 69 systems
Duration: indeterminate between *** and maximum 31 minutes and 57.9864 seconds
Date: 1954
First performance: October 17, 1954
Commission: Donaueschinger Musiktage
Dedication: for Paul Williams and Vera Williams
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 4-5,
940073** rolls 4-6; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 201
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6780)
Literature: Cage 1959h/1970, 76; Cage 1961h, 146-147, 153, 156; Cage 1962e, 26-27;
Cage 1973d, [vii]; Cage 1979c, 8-9; Cage 1993d, 54, 119; Cage/Charles 1976, 43; Cage/Kirby and
Schechner 1965, 61; Charles 1970a; Griffiths 1981a, 30-33; Pritchett 1988a, 274-285; Thorman
2002, 40.
33 1/3
Medium: ***at least twelve record players possibly to be operated by the
audience and a large number of records
Extent: *** sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Date: 1969 in Davis, California [revised in 1986***ME]
First performance: November 21, 1969
Sources: Budapest, collection Andrs Wilheim
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1980b; Cage/Charles 1976, 169-170; Cage/Helms 1972[TAPE 59];
Dinwiddie 1970; Hosokawa 1993; Thorman 2002, 94; Zeller 1978, 116.
34'46.776" for a Pianist
Note: title to be appropriately changed to indicate the length in minutes
and seconds and decimal fractions of the latter, and the instrumentalists
involved
Medium: prepared piano and indeterminate sound sources (for example whistles,
vocal noises, percussion instruments)
Note: ***combinations: 31, 26, 27 and 45 for a Speaker
Extent: 174 systems
Duration: indeterminate between *** and 34 minutes and 47 seconds
Commission: Donaueschinger Musiktage
Dedication: for Paul Williams and Vera Williams
Date: 1954
First performance: October 17, 1954
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 1-3,
940073** rolls 1-3; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 201-202
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6781)
Literature: Cage 1959h/1970, 76; Cage 1961h, 146-147, 153, 156; Cage 1962e, 26-27;
Cage 1973d, [vii]; Cage 1979c, 8-9; Cage 1993d, 55, 119; Cage/Charles 1976, 43; Cage/Darter 1982, 22;
Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 61; Charles 1970a; Frst-Heidtmann 1979,
229-245; Griffiths 1981a, 30-33; Kostelanetz 1970d, 76; Kostelanetz 1988b, 67, 108; Pritchett 1988a, 274-285; Pritchett
1993, 100-102, 109; Thorman 2002, 40-41.
49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs
Medium: any number of performers or listeners or record makers; transcriptions
may be made for other cities (or places) by assembling through chance
operations a list of 147 addresses and then, also through chance operations,
arranging these in groups of three
Extent: 147 addresses (first version); map (second version)
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: on the occasion of the move of Rolling
Stone to New York
Date: completed November 22, 1977 (first version); and prior to October 6,
1977 (second version)
First performance: November 21, 1977
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 547-551
Publication: Rolling Stone no. 249
(October 6, 1977), 39 (second version); in Waltzes
by 25 Contemporary Composers. New York [etc.]: C.F. Peters Corporation,
1978, 15-17 (Peters; 66735) (first
version).
52/3
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Landrover
Medium: indeterminate music for three musicians performing in
succession
Extent: unknown
Duration: 52 minutes
Date: 1972
First performance: February 1, 1972
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Miller, L.E. 2002a, 165; Thorman 2002, 117;
Vaughan 1997, 182-183, 295.
57 1/2" for a String Player. See 26'1.1499"
for a String Player.
59 1/2" for a String Player
Medium: violin, viola, violoncello, or contrabass, to be used as a solo or
ensemble for any combination of pianists, string players, [percussionists] and
***45' for a Speaker
Extent: 5 systems
Duration: 59.5 seconds
Dedication: for Claus Adam (1917-1983)
Date: July 2, 1953
First performance: presumably May 7, 1962
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 193-194, 196, 956
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6776)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 26; Cage 1993d, 54; Griffiths 1981a, 30; Pritchett 1988a, 242-261.
1O1
Note: title is
to be spelled with capital O
Medium: orchestra
consisting of piccolo, two flutes, alto flute, three oboes, English horn, three
clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, three bassoons, contrabassoon,
six horns in F, four trumpets in C, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba,
four percussionists playing bullroarer (player 1), bullroarer and seven
angklungs (player 2), bullroarer and piano (player 3), bullroarer and four
contrabass marimbas (player 4), timpani (medium, small), piano, harp, eighteen
violins I, sixteen violins II, eleven violas, eleven violoncellos, eight
contrabasses
Extent:
instructions for performance (40 sentences); piccolo (2 systems), flute 1 (4
systems), flute 2 (2 systems), alto flute (7 systems), oboe 1 (2 systems), oboe
2 (2 systems), oboe 3 (2 systems), English horn (2 systems), clarinet 1 (7
systems), clarinet 2 (2 systems), clarinet 3 (6 systems), bass clarinet (2
systems), bassoon 1 (2 systems), bassoon 2 (2 systems), bassoon 3 (2 systems),
contrabassoon (2 systems), horn 1 in F (2 systems), horn 2 in F (2 systems),
horn 3 in F (2 systems), horn 4 in F (2 systems), horn 5 in F (2 systems), horn
6 in F (2 systems), trumpet 1 in C (2 systems), trumpet 2 in C (2 systems),
trumpet 3 in C (2 systems), trumpet 4 in C (2 systems), trombone 1 (2 systems),
trombone 2 (2 systems), bass trombone (2 systems), tuba (2 systems), percussion
1 (1 system), percussion 2 (2 systems), percussion 3 (2 systems), percussion 4
(2 systems), timpani (2 systems), piano (12 systems), harp (12 systems), violin
I-1 (1 system), violin I-2 (10 systems), violin I-3 (7 systems), violin I-4 (5
systems), violin I-5 (8 systems), violin I-6 (8 systems), violin I-7 (4
systems), violin I-8 (8 systems), violin I-9 (6 systems), violin I-10 (5
systems), violin I-11 (5 systems), violin I-12 (1 system), violin I-13 (5
systems), violin I-14 (2 systems), violin I-15 (6 systems), violin I-16 (7
systems), violin I-17 (5 systems), violin I-18 (7 systems), violin II-1 (5
systems), violin II-2 (5 systems), violin II-3 (7 systems), violin II-4 (5
systems), violin II-5 (7 systems), violin II-6 (1 system), violin II-7 (3
systems), violin II-8 (9 systems), violin II-9 (6 systems), violin II-10 (4
systems), violin II-11 (7 systems), violin II-12 (5 systems), violin II-13 (5
systems), violin II-14 (7 systems), violin II-15 (1 system), violin II-16 (4
systems), viola 1 (7 systems), viola 2 (7 systems), viola 3 (5 systems), viola
4 (3 systems), viola 5 (8 systems), viola 6 (9 systems), viola 7 (4 systems),
viola 8 (5 systems), viola 9 (3 systems), viola 10 (6 systems), viola 11 (6
systems), violoncello 1 (6 systems), violoncello 2 (5 systems), violoncello 3
(5 systems), violoncello 4 (8 systems), violoncello 5 (1 system), violoncello 6
(9 systems), violoncello 7 (6 systems), violoncello 8 (8 systems), violoncello
9 (5 systems), violoncello 10 (2 systems), violoncello 11 (2 systems),
contrabass 1 (4 systems), contrabass 2 (7 systems), contrabass 3 (8 systems),
contrabass 4 (2 systems), contrabass 5 (3 systems), contrabass 6 (7 systems),
contrabass 7 (5 systems), contrabass 8 (7 systems)
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Commission: Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard
University
Dedication:
Date: between July 3-November 1988
First performance: April 6, 1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 779-780, 1070-1071
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1989 (Peters; 67265)
Literature: Cage, John 1988-1989; Cage 1993d, 197-199,
246; Dyer 1989a; Erdmann 1992e;
Swed 1993a.
103
Medium:
orchestra consisting of four flutes (flute 3 doubling on piccolo, flute 4
doubling on alto flute), four oboes (oboe 3 and 4 doubling on English horns),
four clarinets in B flat (clarinet 4 doubling on bass clarinet), four bassoons
(bassoon 4 doubling on contrabassoon), four horns in F, four trumpets in C,
four tenor trombones (tenor trombone 4 doubling on bass trombone), tuba, two
percussionists (each using any nine instruments), two timpani players, violins
I, violins II, violas, violoncellos, and contrabasses (strings in any number of
each kind but totalling seventy players); may be performed with One11
[film]
Extent:
instructions for performance (17 sentences, 1 table); flute 1 (42 systems),
flute 2 (45 systems), flute 3 (42 systems), flute 4 (45 systems), oboe 1 (44
systems), oboe 2 (40 systems), oboe 3 (37 systems), oboe 4 (46 systems),
clarinet 1 (39 systems), clarinet 2 (39 systems), clarinet 3 (38 systems),
clarinet 4 (47 systems), bassoon 1 (44 systems), bassoon 2 (40 systems),
bassoon 3 (35 systems), bassoon 4/ contrabassoon (44 systems), horn 1 (38 systems),
horn 2 (33 systems), horn 3 (32 systems), horn 4 (47 systems), trumpet 1 (38
systems), trumpet 2 (39 systems), trumpet 3 (38 systems), trumpet 4 (38
systems), trombone 1 (35 systems), trombone 2 (41 systems), trombone 3 (36
systems), trombone 4 (40 systems), tuba (36 systems), timpani 1 (81 systems),
timpani 2 (78 systems), percussion 1 (84 systems), percussion 2 (77 systems),
violins I (80 systems), violins II (82 systems), violas (85 systems),
violoncellos (78 systems), contrabasses (85 systems)
Duration: between
89 minutes and 30 seconds and 90 minutes
Dedication: for Henning Lohner, Wolfgang Becker-Carsten and the Klner
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Date: September 1991, New York
First performance: September 19, 1992, Cologne, Philharmonie,
Klner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Arturo Tamayo, director
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 878-882
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67433)
Literature: Cage 1992d; Cage 1992f; Cage 1993d, 202;
Cage/Retallack 1996, 192; Frobenius 1999; Metzger, H.-K. 1992d; Tamayo 1992.
108
Medium: orchestra consisting of piccolo, two flutes,
alto flute, three oboes, two English horns, three clarinets in B flat, two bass
clarinets, three bassoons, two contrabassoons, seven horns in F, five trumpets
in C, three tenor trombones, two bass trombones, tuba, five percussionists each
using any four different, very resonant instruments, eighteen violins I,
sixteen violins II, twelve violas, twelve violoncellos, and eight contrabasses
Note: may be performed simultaneously with One8, One9 or Two3
Extent:
instructions for performance (19 sentences); piccolo (9 systems), flute 1 (13
systems), flute 2 (15 systems), alto flute (12 systems), oboe 1 (11 systems),
oboe 2 (12 systems), oboe 3 (16 systems), English horn 1 (10 systems), English
horn 2 (13 systems), clarinet 1 (9 systems), clarinet 2 (12 systems), clarinet
3 (13 systems), bass clarinet 1 (14 systems), bass clarinet 2 (10 systems),
bassoon 1 (12 systems), bassoon 2 (12 systems), bassoon 3 (12 systems),
contrabassoon 1 (12 systems), contrabassoon 2 (16 systems), horn 1 in F (15
systems), horn 2 in F (10 systems), horn 3 in F (15 systems), horn 4 in F (11
systems), horn 5 in F (14 systems), horn 6 in F (13 systems), horn 7 in F (10
systems), trumpet 1 in C (12 systems), trumpet 2 in C (11 systems), trumpet 3
in C (10 systems), trumpet 4 in C (13 systems), trumpet 5 in C (10 systems),
tenor trombone 1 (13 systems), tenor trombone 2 (14 systems), tenor trombone 3
(12 systems), bass trombone 1 (11 systems), bass trombone 2 (11 systems), tuba
(14 systems), percussion 1 (12 systems), percussion 2 (10 systems), percussion
3 (14 systems), percussion 4 (11 systems), percussion 5 (14 systems), violin
I-1 (10 systems), violin I-2 (11 systems), violin I-3 (13 systems), violin I-4
(12 systems), violin I-5 (16 systems), violin I-6 (13 systems), violin I-7 (12
systems), violin I-8 (14 systems), violin I-9 (14 systems), violin I-10 (12
systems), violin I-11 (13 systems), violin I-12 (14 systems), violin I-13 (9
systems), violin I-14 (11 systems), violin I-15 (13 systems), violin I-16 (12
systems), violin I-17 (12 systems), violin I-18 (11 systems), violin II-1 (10
systems), violin II-2 (12 systems), violin II-3 (13 systems), violin II-4 (15
systems), violin II-5 (12 systems), violin II-6 (13 systems), violin II-7 (14
systems), violin II-8 (10 systems), violin II-9 (14 systems), violin II-10 (9
systems), violin II-11 (12 systems), violin II-12 (11 systems), violin II-13
(11 systems), violin II-14 (13 systems), violin II-15 (15 systems), violin
II-16 (11 systems), viola 1 (14 systems), viola 2 (10 systems), viola 3 (11
systems), viola 4 (13 systems), viola 5 (12 systems), viola 6 (14 systems),
viola 7 (13 systems), viola 8 (14 systems), viola 9 (11 systems), viola 10 (13
systems), viola 11 (14 systems), viola 12 (13 systems), violoncello 1 (12
systems), violoncello 2 (15 systems), violoncello 3 (11 systems), violoncello 4
(14 systems), violoncello 5 (13 systems), violoncello 6 (11 systems),
violoncello 7 (13 systems), violoncello 8 (12 systems), violoncello 9 (11
systems), violoncello 10 (11 systems), violoncello 11 (14 systems), violoncello
12 (11 systems), contrabass 1 (13 systems), contrabass 2 (10 systems),
contrabass 3 (13 systems), contrabass 4 (10 systems), contrabass 5 (12
systems), contrabass 6 (11 systems), contrabass 7 (11 systems), contrabass 8
(11 systems)
Duration: 43 minutes and 30 seconds
Commission: Sddeutscher Rundfunk
Dedication: for the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart
Date: April 1991
First performance: November 30, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 841, 855, 883-885
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67414)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 202-203; Cage/Retallack 1996, 264; Jahn 1991.
Ad Lib
Choreography: Merce Cunningham and Jean Erdman
Note: the music for this choreography was originally written by Gregory
Tucker (1942), and later replaced with the music of Cage
Medium: piano
Extent: 98 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to February 14, 1943
First performance: February 14, 1943
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 92-94
Publication: in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 12-16 (Peters; 68030)
Literature: none.
Address
Medium: for three groups of musicians performing Erik Saties Musique dameublement, five performers
at a conference table, each operating a cassette machine and any number of
pre-recorded cassette tapes (this constitutes the composition Cassette), as well as twelve
record-players and any number of records to be operated by the audience, and an
electric bell
Extent: unknown
Duration: 45 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1977
First performance: December 7, 1977
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Hamm et al. 1980; Rushefsky 1977b; Thorman 2002, 94.
Alla ricerca del silenzio perduto
Medium: prepared train
Subtitle: three excursions in a prepared train; variations on a theme by Tito
Gotti (with the assistance of Walter Marchetti and Juan Hidalgo)
Extent: 30 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Dedication: for Tito Gotti
Date: December 1977
First performance: June 26-28, 1978
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 543
Publication: unauthorized ed. As Cage 1979a. In Nino Monastra, Il treno di John Cage = Cages train = Le train the Cage. Bologna:
Grafis e Fylkingen (Le trasgressioni; 2), 1979, 23-31
Literature: Block 1980SUMME; Cage 1979a; Cage 1979q; Cage/Anonymous 1977; Cage/Degli
Esposti 1977; Charles 1978a; Farabet 1978; Gotti 1979; Gotti/Monastra and
Veggi 1979; Hosokawa 1985; Monastra 1979; Prato 2003.
Allemande
Medium: clarinet in B flat
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: late summer 1934
First performance: spring 1935
Sources: present location unknown (probably lost)
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1961h, 234; George, W.B. 1971, 47; Kopp 1981, 145.
America Was Promises
Text: Archibald MacLeish, 1939
Choreography: Bonnie Bird
Medium: narrator and (presumably) piano four hands (or two pianos)
Extent: 1. Of Voyage; 2. Of Discovery; 3. Of The Land; 4. Of Corruption; 5. Of
Westward Movement; 6. Of Building; 7. Of Restlessness; 8. Of Realization; 9. Of
Declaration
Duration: 40 minutes
Date: 1940
First performance: May 7, 1940
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Amores
Medium: prepared piano and three percussionists using three graduated tom
toms, three graduated woodblocks (player 1); three graduated tom toms, pod
rattle, two graduated woodblocks (player 2); three graduated tom toms, two
graduated woodblocks (player 3)
Note: the title derives from Edward Estlin Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys, 1923, section Amores (XI poems); (3)
incorporated [with modifications] from third movement of Trio (circa 1936)
Extent: I. Solo (15 measures); II. Trio (100 measures); III. Trio (33
measures); IV. Solo (100 measures)
Duration: approximately 9 minutes
Dedication: for Rue Shaw
Date: January-February 1943
First performance: February 7, 1943
Sources: New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Mary Flagler Cary Collection, Cary
311; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 95-97, 936
Publication: in New Music: A Quarterly of
Modern Compositions 16, no. 4 (July 1943), 1-12; repr. New York: Henmar
Press, 1960 (Peters; 6264); New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6264p)
[pocket score]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 15, 33; Cage 1982r; Cage 1993d, 9, 39, 40,
67, 68; DeLio 2009; Griffiths 1981a, 4, 20; Fischer,
R.K. 1974; Frst-Heidtmann 1979,
160-175; Kostelanetz 1988b, 59, 108; McPhee 1943-1944; Minor 1977; MM 1978 or after; Moore, T.D. 1987; Parris 1961-1962;
Pritchett 1993, 22, 24, 27; Schick 1995; Welsh 1987-1988; Williams, B.M. 1990,
28-61.
And the Earth Shall
Bear Again
Choreography: Valerie
Bettis
Medium: prepared
piano
Extent: 112
measures
Duration:
approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds
Dedication: for
Valerie Bettis
Date: November
1942
First performance: December
6, 1942
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 86-7 no. 19; JPB 94-24 folder 66-68
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6811); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 1: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, 2000, 18-24 (Peters; 67886a)
Literature: Hilger
1990, 41-47.
Apartment House 1776
Text: indeterminate
Medium: four voices (ad libitum on magnetic tape), any number of musicians
using any suitable melody or keyboard instruments (clarinet, violoncello, and
any drum ad libitum); Protestant, Sephardic, and American Indian songs, and
Negro calls and hollars (live or recorded); may be performed with Renga to be substituted by a
musicircus (live or recorded) appropriate to another occasion than the
Bi-Centennial of the U.S.A. When the right to play music is not granted by a
copyright owner, monophonic imitations in the manner either of Cheap Imitation or four-part imitations
in the manner of Apartment House 1776 (Harmonies
I, II, III, etc.) may be composed
Model: for Tunes: Anonymous, Barrel of
Sugar (VII); The Beggar Boy (II); La belle Catherine (III);
Lovely Nancy (IV); New New Nothing (XI); Over the River to Charley (VI); Rural Felicity (XIV); Saraband (VIII); Singlings of Johnsons Troop (IX); Stone Grinds All (XII); Succesful
Campaign (X); Upon a Summers Day
(I); The White Cockade (XIII); Young
Widow (V); for Harmonies: Supply Belcher, Rapture (XXV, XLII), Reflection
(XXVII); William Billings, Bellingham from The Continental Harmony (XV), Framingham from The Psalm-Singers Amusement (XXXV),
Funeral Anthem I Heard a Great Voice from The Singing Masters Assistant (III), Heath from The Singing-Masters Assistant (XXI),
Judea from The Singing Masters
Assistant (XXVI), The Lord Descended from Above from The New-England Psalm-Singer (V), The Lord Is Risn Indeed (INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION) (XXXVIII),
Mansfield from Music in Miniature
(II), Newburn from Music in Miniature
(XXXIII), Old North or Morning Hymn from The
New-England Psalm-Singer (XVIII), Saint Hellens (XXIII), Saint Thomas
from The Continental Harmony (XXIV),
Weymouth from The Continental Harmony
(XXXIX), Wheellers Point from The
New-England Psalm Singer (XI), Worcester from The Singing Masters Assistant (XIII); Benjamin Clark, Drum Book, 1797 (March I-IV): On the Roads to Boston (15), Mount Vernon (16), Happy Lover (17), The
Woodcutter (18); Jacob French, Association
(XVII), Coelestis (XXXVII), Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates (IV), Wisdom (XXII); Andrew Law, Bloomfield (XLIV), Castle Street (XLIII), Detroit
(XVI), Dover (IX), Greenwich (XXVIII), Larrs Lane (VII), Litchfield
(XXXII), Littleton (XII), New Windsor (XXXI), New York (XIX), Tempest
(XXX), Trumpet (XXIX), Tyndale (VIII); James Lyon, Brunswick (XIV), Cookfield (I), 57th Psalm
Tune (XXXVI), Is there Not an
Appointed Time? (X), The New 50th
Psalm Tune (XL), O Give Thanks
(XX), Psalm 17 (VI), Saint Peters (XXXIV), Standish Tune (XLI); for Imitations:
J(ohann) F(riedrich) Peter, Die mit
Trnen sen (II); Simon Peter, Siehe
meine Knechte (I)
Extent: 14 tunes, solos for any suitable instruments CHECK; 4 marches, drum
solos transcribed by James Barnes; 44 harmonies, for the most part both
quartets and solos, for any suitable instruments or instrument including
18th-century ones if they are available even if they dont balance with what
else is going on***; 2 imitations of Moravian church music for violoncello
(Imitation I), for clarinet in *** (Imitation II); Tune I (64 measures); Tune II
(48 measures); Tune III (64 measures); Tune IV (64 measures); Tune V (80
measures); Tune VI (64 measures); Tune VII (32 measures); Tune VIII (32
measures); Tune IX (64 measures); Tune X (64 measures); Tune XI (32 measures);
Tune XII (80 measures); Tune XIII (64 measures); Tune XIV (64 measures); March
I (8 measures); March II (20 measures); March III (18 measures); March IV (20
measures); Harmony I (20 measures); Harmony II (23 measures); Harmony III (35
measures); Harmony IV (231 measures); Harmony V (135 measures); Harmony VI (17
measures); Harmony VII (18 measures); Harmony VIII (14 measures); Harmony IX
(15 measures); Harmony X (129 measures); Harmony XI (16 measures); Harmony XII
(27 measures); Harmony XIII (19 measures); Harmony XIV (18 measures); Harmony
XV (28 measures); Harmony XVI (15 measures); Harmony XVII (26 measures);
Harmony XVIII (26 measures); Harmony XIX (127 measures); Harmony XX (63
measures); Harmony XXI (29 measures); Harmony XXII (110 measures); Harmony
XXIII (25 measures); Harmony XXIV (56 measures); Harmony XXV (21 measures);
Harmony XXVI (17 measures); Harmony XXVII (36 measures); Harmony XXVIII (116
measures); Harmony XXIX (25 measures); Harmony XXX (16 measures); Harmony XXXI
(15 measures); Harmony XXXII (21 measures); Harmony XXXIII (17 measures);
Harmony XXXIV (13 measures); Harmony XXXV (30 measures); Harmony XXXVI (18
measures); Harmony XXXVII (27 measures); Harmony XXXVIII (133 measures);
Harmony XXXIX (33 measures); Harmony XL (24 measures); Harmony XLI (18
measures); Harmony XLII (21 measures); Harmony XLIII (21 measures); Harmony
XLIV (14 measures); Imitations I (83 measures); Imitation II (68 measures)
Duration: indeterminate?***
Commission: made possible with funds provided by the National Endowment on the
Arts 1975-1976
Dedication: for Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in observance of the
Bicentennial of the United States of America and also for the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York
Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Date: May-August 1976
First performance: September 30, 1976
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 528-533, 914, 930, 988-989
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1976 (Peters; 6819); arrangement by Roger
Zahab (New York, November 1985) of 13 of the 44 harmonies for violin and
keyboard instrument (duration approximately 38 minutes) as Thirteen Harmonies. New York: Henmar Press, 1986 (Peters; 67117)
Literature: Anonymous 1976RENGA; Bernstein, D.W. 2001b; Cage 1976b; Cage 1976UNTITLED; Cage 1979c,
133-134; Cage 1993d, 102-104; Cage/Cope 1980, 7-9; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 75, 76, 79;
Griffiths 1981a, 43, 44; Kostelanetz 1988b, 34, 80,
83, 85-86, 119-122, 234; Schning
1979***, 21/1982, 91; Thorman 2002, 154, 159; Zimmermann, W. 1992.
Aria
Text: John Cage
Medium: voice (any range: originally intended for mezzo-soprano: ***see score Fontana Mix); may be performed
simultaneously with Fontana Mix, Concert for Piano and Orchestra or Song Books (implicitly)
Model: John Cage, Fontana Mix, 1958
Extent: instructions for performance (11 sentences) and 20 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Date: November or December 1958
First performance: January 5, 1959
Dedication: for Cathy Berberian
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 232-233
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6701)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 20; Cage 1982r; Cage 1993d, 58; Cage/Charles 1976, 179; Cage/Mimaroğlu
1965; Crawford, H. 1971; Epperson 1974; Griffiths 1981a, 36, 38; Lies 1992; Mathon 1990-1991; Mathon 1995-1996;
Petkus 1986, 135-142; Schwartz, E. 1971; Stoanova 1987; Thorman
2002, 71, 72, 73, 84, 102, 178, 206.
ASLSP
Medium: piano or organ
Extent: instructions for performance (15 sentences); eight pieces of 2 systems
each
Duration: indeterminate
Date: January 1985
First performance: July 14-18, 1985; October 10, 1985
(official)
Commission: Friends of the Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and
Performing Arts
Dedication: to the memory of Madolyn Leonard
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 765, 1052-1054
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67070)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 139-140.
Assemblage (in collaboration with Gordon Mumma and David Tudor)
Medium: magnetic tape
Film: Richard Moore, Assemblage
Extent: unknown
Duration: 59 minutes
Date: October 14-November 3, 1968
First performance: unknown
Note: produced for KQED film group in San Francisco, California
Date: completed November 1968
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cross, L.M. 1974, 769; ***Cunningham/Lesschaeve 1980/1985, 220;
1980/1986, 275; Thorman 2002, 213; Vaughan 1997, 166-167, 190, 294.
Atlas Borealis with the Ten thunderclaps
Text: James Joyce, Finnegans Wake.
New York: Viking, 1939, 3, 23, 44, 90, 113, 257, 314, 332, 414, 424
Medium: chorus and orchestra
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
borealis 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie Věd, 1962
Date: planned from 1966, but never realized
Sources: present location unknown
Literature: Cage 1970f, 171; Cage 1971b; Cage 1973h, 70, 117; Cage 1979c, 133;
Cage 1980e; Cage 1983DIARY, 165; Cage 1993d, 227; Cage/Charles 1976, 112, 140, 174, 211-213, 212n; Cage/Emmerik 1991, 82; Cage/Finegan, Koppel
and Haskell 1969, 15; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 74; Cage/Kostelanetz
1968[WE]/1970, 20; Cage/Raymond and Roberts 1980, 6; Cage/Schnberger 1978;
Cage/Schning 1982, 81; Cage and Hiller/Austin 1968, 13; Kostelanetz
1970d, 20.
Atlas Eclipticalis
Medium: any solo
from or combination of the following eighty-six instrumental parts, using live
electronics ad libitum: three flutes (each doubling on piccolo and alto flute
ad libitum), three oboes (each doubling on English horn and any saxophones ad
libitum), three clarinets (each playing in any key and doubling on bass or
contrabass clarinet ad libitum), three bassoons (each doubling on contrabassoon
ad libitum), five horns (1, 3 treble clef, 2, 4-5 bass clef), three trumpets
(each playing in any key), three trombones (1-2 tenor, 3 bass), three tubas
(each playing in any key), three timpani players (each player using four pedal
instruments), nine percussionists using miscellaneous unspecified non-pitched
instruments, three harps (bass and treble clefs changing ad libitum),
twenty-four violins (1-12 one octave higher than written), nine violas (all
octave higher ad libitum), nine violoncelli (octave higher ad libitum), and
three contrabasses; conductor
Note: instruments may be amplified using Cartridge Music (controls operated
by an assistant to the conductor); may be performed in whole or part with Solo for Voice 45 and Solo for
Voice 48 from Song Books and with Winter Music
Note: first of a group of works of which Variations
IV is the second and 0'00"
is the third
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
eclipticalis 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie Věd, 1958
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences, i-***roman numerals) and
1740 systems (violins 1-96, violas 97-132, violoncellos 133-168, contrabasses
169-180; flutes 181-192, oboes 193-204, clarinets 205-216, bassoons 217-228;
horns 229-248, trumpets 249-260, trombones 261-272, tubas 273-284; timpani
285-296, percussion 297-332; harps 333-344; conductor [including assistant***]
345-348)
Duration: indeterminate (material provided to last at least 40 minutes if performed
in its entirety***)
Commission: Pierre
Mercure for the Montreal Festivals Society
Dedication: for Guy
G. Nearing (violin 1); Remy Charlip (violin 2); Nam June Paik (violin 3);
Walter Hinrichsen and Evelyn (violin 4); Henri Pousseur and Thea (violin 5); Robert
Wood and Marilyn (violin 6); Lois Long (violin 7); Richard K. Winslow and Betty
(violin 8); W. Robert Thompson and Mary (violin 9); Paula Madawick (violin 10);
Robert Rauschenberg (violin 11); Kurt Michaelis (violin 12); Norman Rudich and
Linda (violin 13); Keith McGary and Donna (violin 14); Arthur Josephson and
Mary Caroline (violin 15); Nicola Cernovich (violin 16); Louis Silverstein
(violin 17); Lawrence Halprin and Ann (violin 18); Chaloner Spencer and Helen
(violin 19); Pegeen Rumney (violin 20); Sigmund Neumann (violin 21); Raymond
Grimaila (violin 22); George Avakian and Anahid (violin 23); Robert Dunn and
Judith (violin 24); Edgar Anderson and Dorothy (viola 1); Viola Farber (viola
2); Christian Wolff (viola 3); Karlheinz Stockhausen and Doris (viola 4);
Connie Wilson and Louella Bacon (viola 5); Bruce Markgraf and Rosemary (viola
6); Luciano Berio and Cathy (viola 7); Morton Feldman and Cynthia (viola 8);
Jasper Johns (viola 9); Dr. David R. Telson and Paula (violoncello 1); Hans
Austen and Sulamith (violoncello 2); William Jefferys (violoncello 3); Pierre
Mercure (violoncello 4); James Sykes and Clay (violoncello 5); Ross Gortner and
Priscilla (violoncello 6); Louis Mink and Pat (violoncello 7); Joe Peoples and
Ruth (violoncello 8); Shareen Blair (violoncello 9); Leonard Meyer and Lee
(contrabass 1); Steve Paxton (contrabass 2); yvind Fahlstrm and Barbro
(contrabass 3); Ralph Pendleton (flute 1); Carl Viggiani and Jane (flute 2);
David Gordon and Valda Setterfield (flute 3); Mell Daniel and Minna (oboe 1);
Mary Bauermeister (oboe 2); Istvn Anhalt and Beata (oboe 3); Ralph Ferrara
(clarinet 1); C. H. Waddington (clarinet 2); Robert H. Knapp and Johnsia
(clarinet 3); Mauricio Kagel and Ursula (bassoon 1); Willard Lockwood and
Louise (bassoon 2); Richard Maxfield (bassoon 3); Gira Sarabhai (horn 1); Jose
Gomez-Ibanez and Lidia (horn 2); Emile de Antonio (horn 3); Esther Dam (horn
4); Benedicte Pesle (horn 5); Richard Lippold and Louise (trumpet 1); David
McAllester and Susan (trumpet 2); Toshi Ichiyanagi (trumpet 3); Ihab Hassan
(trombone 1); Milton Cage and Crete Cage (trombone 2); Peggy Guggenheim
(trombone 3); Nathan Shapira and Irene (tuba 1); Walter Van Tilburg Clark and
Barbara (tuba 2); J. R. T. Bueno and Emily (tuba 3); David Tudor (timpani 1);
Merce Cunningham (timpani 2); Earle Brown and Carolyn (timpani 3); Norman O.
Brown and Beth (percussion 1); Samuel Green and Bunnie (percussion 2); Martha
Gerhart (percussion 3); Marian Vaine (percussion 4); Ben Johnston and Betty
(percussion 5); Paul Weiss (percussion 6); Johanna Alida Ribbelink (percussion
7); Clara Mayer (percussion 8); Marston Bates and Nancy (percussion 9); Tania
Senff (harp 1); Grace Bacon (harp 2); Reginald Arragon and Gertrude (harp 3);
Victor R. Butterfield and Mrs. Butterfield (conductor)
Date: June 1961-January 1962; individual parts: June-July 1961 (violin 7, 8,
21, viola 1, violoncello 1, contrabass 1, flute 1, oboe 1, clarinet 2, 3,
bassoon 2, horn 2, trumpet 2 [revised September 1961], trombone 2, tuba 3,
timpani 2, percussion 1, 9, harp 3); June-August 1961 (violin 10, 11, 22, viola
7, 9, violoncello 3, 4); June-July 21, 1961 (general directions, directions for
percussion and directions for conductor and assistant); June-September 1961
(violin 17); June-September 1961 (viola 3, 4); June-December 1961 (violin 2-4,
6); June-December 1961 (violin 14, 16, 18, 19, 23, 24, viola 2, 8, oboe 2, 3,
clarinet 1, bassoon 1, 3, horn 1, 3, 4, 5, trumpet 1, 3, trombone 1, 3, timpani
1, 3, percussion 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, harp 1, 2); June 1961-January 1962
(violin 1, 5, 9, 12, 13, 15, 20, viola 5, 6, violoncello 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
contrabass 2, 3, flute 2, 3, tuba 1, 2)
First performance: August 3, 1961
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 279-281, 283-284, 965-967,
1083; Zurich, collection Jedlicka family
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 and 1962 (Peters; 6782)
Literature: Beeler 1973; Blum 1981; Cage 1962e, 30; Cage 1964b; Cage 1967o, 69;
Cage 1976d; Cage 1986e; Cage 1993d, 61-62, 106, 246; Cage/Charles 1976, 211-212; Cage/Cope 1980, 16; Cage/Gagne and Caras
1982, 75-76; Downes 1970; Gockel
1985; Kostelanetz 1970d, 143-144; Nyman 1976b; Oliveros 1980; Pritchett 1993,
124.
Bacchanale
Choreography: Syvilla Fort
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 186 measures
Duration: 6 minutes
Dedication: for Syvilla Fort (1917-1975)
Date: March 1940
First performance: April 28, 1940
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 28-30
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6784); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 1: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 4-17 (Peters; 67886a)
Literature: Bunger 1973/1981, 53; Cage 1962e, 15; Cage 1973d; Cage 1979c, 7-8; Cage 1993d, 7, 35-36,
117, 118; Cage/Charles 1976,
29-30, 41; Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Frst-Heidtmann 1979, 152-159; Griffiths 1981a,
13-14, 18; Kostelanetz 1970d, 129; Levitz 2005; Rhodes, C.S. 1995; Tomkins 1965a, 89-90; Vaes 2009, 714-717.
The Beatles 1962-1970
Medium: piano and magnetic tape (or six pianos***)
Model: The Beatles, The Beatles
1962-1970
Extent: 45 measures (part I), *** measures (part II), *** measures (part III),
*** measures (part IV), *** measures (part V), *** measures (part VI)
Duration: between 7 minutes and 15 seconds and 8 minutes
Dedication: for Aki Takahashi
Date: August 1989
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Bird Cage
Medium: a performer using twelve magnetic tapes (containing electronically
processed sounds of three categories: birds in aviaries made March or April
1972, in the Aviary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in Bombay Hook Wildlife
Refuge near Dover, Delaware; Cage singing Mureau;
and environmental sounds) to be played back in a space in which people are free
to move and birds to fly
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences); 3 sets of 2 columns
consisting of 88 numbers each
Duration: indeterminate (duration of individual tapes varies between 25 minutes
14 seconds and 27 minutes 55 seconds when played back at 19 cm per second)
Date: April 1972
First performance: August 30, 1972
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 424-425, 981
Realization: of tapes by John Cage and Joel Chadabe (April 1972, Albany, New York,
Albany studio), produced at the State University of New York in Albany
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1972 (Peters; 6810)
Literature: Chadabe 1972; Chadabe 1975, 173; Chadabe 1983; Thorman
2002, 122.
A Book of Music
Medium: two prepared pianos
Extent: Part One (measures 1-455); Part Two (measures 456-1639)
Duration: approximately 30 minutes
Date: May-August 1944
First performance: January 21, 1945
Dedication: for Robert Fizdale and Arthur Gold
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 110, 938
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6702)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 19; Cage 1973d; Cage 1979c, 8, 185; Cage 1991c, 64-65; Cage 1993d, 9, 10, 40,
118; Cage/Cope 1980, 21; Griffiths
1981a, 19; Zuber 1992.
Branches
Medium: any number of percussionists using amplified plant materials, at least
one of which a pod rattle from a poinciana tree and at least one (preferably
several) are cacti
Note: alternative title Improvisation
Ib
Note: each performance of Branches
includes a performance of Child of Tree
Extent: ***sentences
Duration: 8 minutes or multiple thereof
Date: 1976
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 534-535, 990-991, 1008
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1976 (Peters; 66684)
Literature: Barkema and Blaauw 1978; Cage 1993d, 101-102; Cage/Darter 1982, 22; Cage/Fletcher and Moore
1983; Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 76-77; Cage/Reynolds
1979, 582; Cage/Schnberger 1978; Cage/Smith, S.S. 1983, 5-7; Griffiths 1981a,
42-43; Gronemeyer 1983; Kim 2008; Kostelanetz 1988b, 93.
But What about the Noise of Crumpling Paper
Which He Used to Do in order to Paint the Series of "Papiers
froisss" or Tearing up Paper to Make "Papiers dchirs"? Arp
Was Stimulated by Water (Sea, Lake, and Flowing Waters like Rivers), Forests.
Medium: three to ten percussionists each using at least two only slightly
resonant instruments, also involving water, paper, etc.***
Extent: instructions for performance (10 sentences); each player 10 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Date: August 1985
Commission: Les Percussions de Strasbourg
Dedication: in celebration of the work of Jean Arp on the occasion of the
centenary of his birth, for Les Percussions de Strasbourg
First performance: April 15, 1986; November 16, 1986 (official)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 665-667
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67074)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 140-141; Croset 1987-1988.
c C/omposed Improvisation
Medium: any solo from or combination of snare drum, [Ned] Steinberger bass
guitar, and one-sided drums with or without jangles
Extent: *** sentences (1), *** sentences (2), *** sentences (3)
Duration: 8 minutes or multiples thereof
Commission: Robert Black (solo for Steinberger bass guitar)
Dedication: for Robert Black (solo for Steinberger bass guitar), Stuart Smith
(solo for snare drum) and Glen Velez (solo for one-sided drums)
Date: June 26, 1987 REVISEDand in 1990 in New York (solo for snare drum),
July 4, 1987 and 1990 in New York (solo for Steinberger bass guitar); and 1990
in New York (solo for one-sided drums with or without jangles)
First performance: September 28, 1987 (preview
performance, Steinberger bass guitar); October 6, 1987 (first performance,
Steinberger bass guitar); October 3,
1988 (snare drum); December 2, 1990 (possibly first performance of version for
one-sided drums)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 759-764, 793-794 [793 also
contains notation referring to I-VI***]
Publication: in The Noble Snare: Compositions
for Unaccompanied Snare Drum, vol. 2, ed. Stuart Saunders Smith. Baltimore,
Maryland: Smith Publications, 1988, 24-25 [snare drum]; New York: Henmar Press,
1990 (Peters; 67318a-c) [Steinberger bass guitar (REVISED), snare drum,
one-sided drums]
Literature: Baker, J.C. 2004.
Cartridge Music
Medium: one to forty performers using up to twenty record players, instruments
or objects amplified by means of cartridges or contact microphones, or for two
or more*** performers using amplified piano or amplified cymbal; may be
performed with Atlas Eclipticalis (***ausgesteuert
nach), Song Books (Solo for Voice 45
and 48), Winter Music
Note: alternative titles: Duet for
Cymbal and Piano Duet, Trio, or ...***; this score was used in
composing Where Are We Going? And What
Are We Doing? [text], On Robert
Rauschenberg, Artist, and His Work [text], Rhythm Etc. [text], Jasper
Johns, Stories and Ideas [text]
Extent: *** systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: July 1960
First performance: September 15, 1960
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 3 folder 6; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 262-266, 294***, 959, 961; Zurich,
collection Jedlicka family
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6703)
Literature: Balzano 1980a; Beeler 1973; Cage 1961h, 194; Cage 1962d; Cage 1962e,
34; Cage 1967o, 43, 73, 120; Cage 1993d, 60-62; Cage/Charles 1976, 41-42; Cage/Cope 1980,
14-15; Cage/Darter 1982, 22, 26; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 76-77; Cage/Mimaroğlu
1965; Collins,
Nicolas 2007; Fetterman 1996,
59-67; Henck 1985a; Kostelanetz 1970d, 144-145; Sonntag 1981, 57-68; Thorman 2002, 66, 78,
79-80, 81, 82, 83, 88, 95; Zimmerman
1962-1963.
Cassette
Medium: five performers at a conference table, each operating a cassette
machine and any number of pre-recorded cassette tapes
Extent: unknown
Duration: 40 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1977
First performance: December 7, 1977
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Hamm et al. 1980; Rushefsky 1977b; Thorman 2002, 94.
A Chant with Claps
Text: John Cage
Medium: voice (c' to c'') and handclaps
Extent: 31 measures
Duration: approximately 1 minute
Dedication: for Sidney Robertson Cowell (1903-1995)
Note: presumably composed as a house-warming present to Sidney Cowell when
she and Henry Cowell moved up to Shady, New York
Date: late 1942 or early 1943
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1077, JPB 96-59
Publication: none
Literature: none.
Les chants de Maldoror pulvriss par lassistance mme
Medium: a francophone public of no more than 200 persons
Text: John Cage, original text
Model: Comte de Lautramont [pseudonym of Isidore-Lucien Ducasse], Les chants de Maldoror, 1868-1869
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences), 200 pages
Duration: 1 minute and 30 seconds
Dedication: none
Date: December 1971
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 419-422
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1971 (Peters; 6809); instructions for performance published as Cage 1987-1988a
Literature: Thorman 2002, ix, 6, 28, 113, 149, 150-154, 158, 160, 161, 198, 206.
Cheap Imitation (Piano)
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Second Hand
Medium: piano
Model: Erik Satie, Socrate: Drame
symphonique en trois parties. Paris: Editions de la Sirne, 1919 (vocal
score)
Extent: I (176 measures); II (206 measures); III (294 measures)
Duration: approximately 35 minutes
Dedication: originally dedicated to Virgil Thomson; recalled
Date: December 1969; completed December 14, 1969
First performance: January 8, 1970
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 305; Washington, D.C.,
Library of Congress, ML 30.3c.C23 no. 1, Koussevitzky Collection
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1970 (Peters; 6805)
Literature: Bernstein, D.W. 2001b;
Brooks, W. 1981; Cage 1972LETTER-OTTE-A; Cage 1972LETTER-OTTE-B; Cage 1973h,
xiii-xvi passim, 132; Cage 1977e; Cage 1982b, 52-54; Cage 1982LETTER-TO-BLUM;
Cage 1987-1988d; Cage 1993d, 93-94; Cage/Charles 1976, 177, 179; Cage, Shattuck and Gillmor 1982; Charles 1971[a]/1978, 43; Erdmann 1993f,
143-155; Erdmann and Vogel 1996; Francis, J.R. 1976, 56-60; Goldberg, J. 1986,
18-27; Griffiths 1981a, 41;
Huber, N.A. 1980; Huber, N.A. 1984; Jensen, M. 2009; Jordan 1979, 17; Kostelanetz
1988b, 79-80; New Yorker 1973; Nimczik 1989a; Nimczik 1989b; Nimczik
2004; Nyman 1974, 31; Nyman
1976[***]; Oehlschlgel 1979; Ruiter 1993, vol. 1, 141-142; Thorman
2002, 48.
Cheap Imitation (Orchestra)
Medium: orchestra without conductor consisting of twenty-four to ninety-five musicians:
one to three piccolos, one to three flutes, one to three alto flutes, one to
three oboes, one to three English horns, one to three clarinets in B flat, one
to three bass clarinets in B flat, one to three bassoons, one to three alto
saxophones in E flat, one to three horns in F, one to three trumpets in C, one
to three trombones, one to three tubas, one to three harps, piano, celesta,
guitar, marimba, timpani ad libitum, orchestral bells ad libitum, glockenspiel,
vibraphone ad libitum, one to twelve violins I, one to twelve violins II, one
to nine violas, one to nine violoncellos, one to three contrabasses
Model: Erik Satie, Socrate: Drame
symphonique en trois parties. Paris: Editions de la Sirne, 1919 (vocal
score)
Extent: I (176 measures); II (206 measures); III (294 measures)
Duration: approximately 35 minutes
Commission: Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress
Dedication: for the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation and dedicated to the
memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky
Date: February 1970-Late 1972
First performance: May 13, 1972
Sources: Minneapolis, Minnesota, collection Martin Friedman; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 306, 321-418; Washington, D.C., Library of Congress,
ML 30 .3c.C23 no. 1, Koussevitzky Collection
Publication: parts [copied by Carlo Carnivale]. New York: Henmar Press, 1972
(Peters; 6805a)
Literature: Cage 1972[Letter?s TO OTTE: 2x A EN B?]; Cage 1973h, xiii-xvi; Cage
1977e; Cage 1987-1988d; Cage 1993d, 94-95; Cage/Barnard 1980, 7; Cage/Charles 1976, 142-143,183-184n2; Huber, N.A.
1980; Jensen, M. 2009; Nee 1980a; Thorman 2002, 152.
Cheap Imitation (Violin)
Medium: violin
Model: Erik Satie, Socrate: Drame
symphonique en trois parties. Paris: Editions de la Sirne, 1919 (vocal
score)
Extent: 1. 176 measures; 2. 206 measures; 3. 294 measures
Duration: approximately 35 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1977 in New York and completed before 21 September
First performance: November 4, 1977
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 544-545, 997
Publication: ed. Paul Zukofsky. New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66754)
Literature: Bray 1980; Cage 1977e; Cage 1981l; Cage 1993d, 93; MM
1978 or after; New York State School
Music News 1977 or later; Zukofsky
1982.
Cheap Imitation (Violin and Piano)
Medium: violin and piano
Model: Erik Satie, Socrate: Drame
symphonique en trois parties. Paris: Editions de la Sirne, 1919 (vocal
score)
Extent: 1. 176 measures; 2. 206 measures; 3. 294 measures
Duration: approximately 35 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1977, unfinished, incomplete, rejected***
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 546
Literature: Zukofsky 1982, 168.
Cheap Imitation (Violoncello)
Medium: violoncello
Date: circa 1981, unfinished
Dedication: none
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 591
Publication: none.
Cheap Imitation No. 2. See Song
Books.
Cheap Imitation No. 3. See Song
Books.
Cheap Imitation No. 4. See Song
Books.
Cheap Imitation No. 5. See Song
Books.
Cheap Imitation No. 6. See Song
Books.
Chess Pieces
Medium: piano
Note: related to Chess Piece
(artwork)
Extent: I (12 measures); II (12 measures); III (12 measures); IV (12
measures); V (12 measures); VI (12 measures); VII (12 measures); VIII (12
measures); IX (12 measures); X (12 measures); XI (12 measures); XII (12
measures); XIII (12 measures); XIV (12 measures); XV (12 measures); XVI (12
measures); XVII (12 measures); XVIII (12 measures); XIX (12 measures); XX (12
measures); XXI (12 measures); XXII (12 measures)
Duration: approximately 8 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to December 12, 1944 (sketch and draft dated 1943)
First performance: 2005 or 2006
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 99
Publication: ed. Margaret Leng Tan. New York: Henmar Press, 2005 (Peters; 68110).
Child of Tree
Note: the title derives from James Joyce, Finnegans Wake. New York: Viking Press, 1939, 556, line 19
Note: alternative title Improvisation
I or Improvisation Ia
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Solo
Medium: percussionist using amplified plant materials, at least one of which
is a pod rattle from a poinciana tree and at least one (preferably several) are
cacti (opuntiae)
Extent: 26 sentences and 5 tables
Duration: 8 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1975
First performance: March 8, 1975
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 431, 1008
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1975 (Peters; 66685)
Literature: Bakan, Bryant, and Li 1990; Barkema and Blaauw 1978; Cage 1993d, 101, 102; Cage/Cope 1980, 13; Cage/Darter 1982, 22;
Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Cage/Reynolds 1979, 582; Cage/Schnberger 1978;
Cage/Smith, S.S. 1983, 5-7; Griffiths 1981a, 42-43; Kim 2008;
Kostelanetz 1988b, 93.
Chorals
Medium: violin
Model: Erik Satie, Douze petits chorals,
revised by Robert Caby. Paris [etc.]: Salabert, 1968, nos. 1, etc.; as
published in Song Books, Solo for
Voice 85***
Extent: I (3 systems); II (3 systems); III (2 systems); IV (1 system); V (2
systems); VI (2 systems); VII (2 systems); VIII (2 systems); IX (2 systems)
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1978
First performance: September 21, 1978
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1078
Publication: ed. Paul Zukofsky. New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 66762)
Literature: Cage 1981l; Cage 1982b, 53; Cage 1993d, 105; Raynor 1985; Zukofsky 1982.
Choruses from The Persians. See Greek Ode.
_, _ _ Circus on _
Text: indeterminate
Medium: voice (optionally on magnetic tape) or magnetic tape (as a radio play)
or tapes or any number of musicians, or any combination of these categories ***
means for translating a book into a performance without actors, a performance
which is both literary and musical or one or the other
Extent: 38 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: Klaus Schning for Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne
Dedication: for Klaus Schning
Date: early September 1979
First performance: October 20, 1979; October 22, 1979 (first
broadcast); May 24, 1980 (version with both tapes played simultaneously:
'60-'80***); January 19, 1981 (first live performance)
Realizations: (1) by John Cage in collaboration with John David Fullemann (between
June 15 and August 15, 1979), as Roaratorio,
an Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake, after James Joyce, Finnegans Wake. New York: Viking Press, 1939 [the title derives
from p. 41], radio play (text: John Cage, Writing
for the Second Time through Finnegans Wake) co-produced by Westdeutscher
Rundfunk, Sddeutscher Rundfunk and Katholieke Radio Omroep Hilversum, duration
approximately 60 minutes; Cage authorized a multiple tape version for 2 stereo
tapes (made for radio broadcast and concert use), lasting approximately 30
minutes each; 4 loudspeakers) with instructions for playing the tapes
overlapping or simultaneously***, 1980; (2) by John Cage, [Untitled], after
Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung,
unfinished; Cage completed Writing
through Die Verwandlung I, 1983
Sources: Bensberg, collection Klaus Schning; New York, Public Library, JPB
94-24 folder 581-583, 1019-1020
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1979 (Peters; 66816); repr. in Cage 1982k,
173, 175; repr. in Aufbrechen Amerika.,
ed. Bojan Budisavljevic. Bochum: Stadt Bochum [etc.], 11, 13; ***?first chapter
of Listing through Finnegans Wake published as Cage 1979hLISTING
Literature: Cage 1980e; Cage 1982a; Cage 1982k; Cage 1990f, 439-440; Cage/Boenders
1980, 221; Cage/Kraglund 1982; Cage/Parfitt 1982; Cage/Rolland 1981; Cage/Schning 1982, 107; Cage/Timar, Frasconi,
and Ingelevics 1981, 10-11; Crampton 1985; Ferguson and Schottlaender
1993[***reproductions of worksheets]; Koning 1980; Kostelanetz 1987d; Mller, H.-C. 1985; Perloff, M. 1987; Perloff,
M. 1991, 149-161; Pritchett 1996; Reichert 1985; Schning 1982; Shimoda 1982; Smith, Gr.
1983; Timper 1990, 246-248; Thorman
2002, 206; Vormweg 1979.
The City Wears a Slouch Hat
Text: Kenneth Patchen
Note: there were two different versions of this composition; only the
manuscript material of the second version survives
Medium: narrator and ***four, five or six percussionists using five tin cans,
bell, two bongos, two cowbells, 1 maraca, Chinese woodblock, music stand,
Turkish cymbal, three temple gongs, tom tom (player 1); teak woodblock, large
tom tom, bell, claves, thundersheet, edges of tom toms, Balinese gongs, music
stand, iron pipe (player 2); ratchet, tractor, thundersheet, tam tam, horn
(player 3); whistle, buzzer, telephone, metronome, rattle, [bass strings of]
piano (player 4); records: auto [automobile or any motor sound], variable
frequency record, airplane, rain, wind, ocean, [steel] coil, baby cries (player
5); two muted gongs, large Chinese cymbal, water gong, alarm bell, oxen bell,
marimbula, washboard, music stand (player 6) [***also water gong, bass drum,
Siamese rattle, Chinese gongs, Japanese temple gongs (Anonymous 1942RADIO)]
Extent: *** measures
Duration: approximately 40 minutes
Commission: Columbia Broadcasting System for their Columbia Workshop radio play
series on WBBM radio in Chicago
Dedication: for Xenia Cage
Date: Late 1941-late May 1942
First performance: May 31, 1942 (broadcast)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 88-70, JPB 94-24 folder 84-85
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming (Peters; 67497)
Literature: Cage 1951a, 12, 13; Cage 1993d, 38-39, 63,
64, 240; Cage/Charles 1976,
193-194; Cage/Schning 1982, 91; Cage/Schning 1983, 291-293; Gann
1990aESSENTIAL; Thorman 2002, 36, 206.
A Collection of Rocks
Text: vocalise
Medium: mixed chorus (vocalise) consisting of sopranos 1, sopranos 2, altos 1,
altos 2, tenors 1, tenors 2, basses 1, basses 2 and orchestra consisting of
flutes 1, flutes 2, oboes, clarinets 1 in B flat, clarinets 2 in B flat, alto
saxophones in E flat, tenor saxophones in B flat, baritone saxophones in E
flat, bassoons, horns in F, trumpets 1 in C, trumpets 2 in C, tenor trombones,
violins, violas, violoncellos
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences); parts (*** systems)
Duration: *** 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 minutes
Date: October 1984
First performance: April 19, 1985
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 620-622, 1041
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1984 (Peters; 67041)
Literature: ***NNBCage 1985PREFACE TO SCORE = PROGRAM NOTES; Cage 1988c; Cage 1993d, 180-182; Gligo 1987; Kostelanetz 1988b, 154;
Thorman 2002, 189.
Composition for Three Voices
Medium: any three or more instruments encompassing the ranges d' to d''', a to
a'', and d to d'' respectively
Extent: 36 measures
Duration: approximately 4 minutes
Dedication: for Pauline Schindler [ne Gibling]
Date: completed January 15, 1934
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 12
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1974 (Peters; 6704)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 27; Cage 1993d, 5, 6; Griffiths 1981a, 1-3.
Concert for Piano and
Orchestra
Medium: any solo from or any combination of piano, flute (ad libitum doubling
on alto flute and piccolo), clarinet in B flat, bassoon (ad libitum doubling on
baritone saxophone), trumpet in B flat (ad libitum doubling on trumpets in F,
D, C, and E flat), tenor trombone, tuba in F (ad libitum doubling on tuba in B
flat), three violins, two violas, violoncello, contrabass, conductor (optional)
Note: to be performed with or without/***possible superpositions with Aria, Cartridge Music, Fontana Mix,
Indeterminacy: New Aspect of Form in
Instrumental and Electronic Music [text], Solo for Voice 1, Solo for
Voice 2, Song Books, WBAI; the title may change according to
the instrumentation, for instance Concert for Piano, Violin, and Tuba
Extent: instructions for performance per part (*** sentences); Solo for piano
(63 pages on several systems); flute, alto flute, and piccolo (60 systems);
clarinet in B flat (60 systems); bassoon and baritone saxophone (60 systems);
violin 1 (80 systems); violin 2 (80 systems); violin 3 (80 systems); viola 1
(80 systems); viola 2 (80 systems); violoncello (80 systems); contrabass (80
systems); trumpets in E flat, F, D, C, and B flat (60 systems); trombone (60
systems); tubas in F and B flat (60 systems); conductor (*** sentences, 51
systems)
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: Elaine
De Kooning
Dedication: for
Elaine De Kooning
Date: 1957-1958; Solo for Piano completed March 27, 1958
First performance: May 15,
1958
Sources: Berlin, Gelbe Musik (***); Berlin, private collection; Evanston,
Illinois, Northwestern University Music Library; Los Angeles, Getty Center,
940073 box 3 folder 6-7, box 4 folder 1-3; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24
folder 217-231; Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Dorothy and Herbert
Vogel Collection
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6705) [piano]; parts for violins
1-3 [pages 1-16, 17-32, 33-48], violas 1-2 [pages 49-64, 65-80], trumpets in E
flat, F, D, C, and B flat [pages 81-92], violoncello [pages 93-108], tubas in F
and B flat [pages 109-120], clarinet in B flat [pages 121-132], flute, alto
flute and piccolo [pages 133-144], bassoon and baritone saxophone [pages
145-156], contrabass [pages 157-172], trombone [pages 173-184], conductor
[optional]. New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6705a-n)
Literature: Block and Freybourg 1983, 186; Blum 1981; Cage 1959e; Cage 1959g; Cage
1959h; Cage 1961h, 28, 31, 260; Cage 1962e, 31; Cage 1967o, 135-136; Cage 1982r; Cage 1993d, 56-58, 69,
76, 246; Cage/Charles 1976,
36-37, 40, 143-144, 159-160, 211; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 24-25; Cage/Helms
1972[recording only? ***Neues Forvm]; Cage/Kumpf 1975; Cage/Retallack 1996, 296-298; Cage/Reynolds 1979, 587-588; Charles 1978c,
131-138; Dempster 1979; Duckworth
1972, 105-10, 117; Erdmann 1993f, 65-68; Francis, J.R. 1976, 79-87; Fueter,
Thurneysen and Welti 1969; Goodman, N.
1968, 187-190; Griffiths 1981a, 33-36; Holzaepfel 1993, 197-312; Holzaepfel
2001; Kostelanetz 1970d, 130-131; Kostelanetz 1988b, 68-69; Mayer, H. 1964, 279-280; Metzger, H.-K. 1959b;
Metzger, H.-K. 1991; Nee 1980b; Pritchett 1988a, 306-308; Pritchett 1993,
112-124; Ptz 1980; Read 1969-1970; Rehfeldt 1977, 57, 75; Rivest
1996a; Sylvester 1989b; Thorman 2002, 71, 75; Weeks
1979.
Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber
Orchestra
Medium: prepared piano and chamber orchestra consisting of flute (doubling on
piccolo), oboe, English horn, two clarinets, bassoon, horn, trumpet, tenor
trombone, bass trombone, tuba, four percussionists using small and medium
timpani, snare drum, large tom tom (timpani stick, wire brush), small suspended
Turkish cymbal, large suspended Turkish cymbal, 2 closely pitched brake drums
(leather beater), high claves, Chinese wood block, suspended Indo-Chinese
rattle, pod rattle, amplified coil of wire inserted in pick-up arm of
phonograph played with fingernail, electric buzzer (player 1); tambourine,
glockenspiel, medium suspended Chinese cymbal, Turkish finger cymbals,
suspended medium gong, thin (high) thundersheet, anvil, metal container (waste
basket) (metal beater), marimbula, high jazz wood block, 2 teak wood blocks, 2
temple blocks, North West Indian wood rattle, recording of generator (player
2); large timpano, large bass drum (including wood on wood of instrument),
suspended gong, medium size muted gong (yarn beater), muted Balinese gong, Japanese
temple gong (leather beater), water gong, wind glass, 2 Porto Rican maracas,
large guiro (wire scraper), low claves (player 3); xylophone, chimes, lions
roar, small Chinese cymbal, large Chinese cymbal, small gong, large tam tam,
medium size single maracas, radio (player 4; also assistant to orchestral
pianist), harp, celesta (doubling on piano), two violins, viola, violoncello,
contrabass
Extent: First Part (207 measures); Second Part (*** measures); Third Part.
(*** measures)
Duration: approximately 22 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: First Part July-August 1950; Second Part completed October 3, 1950;
Third Part completed February 1951
First performance: October 12, 1952
Sources: Buffalo, New York, estate of Yvar Mikhashoff; Los Angeles, California,
Getty Center, 940073* box 2 folder 2, box 2 folder 4, box 3 folder 1-2; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 165, 945-947
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6706) [score]; New York: Henmar
Press, 1960 (Peters; 6706a) [piano solo part]
Literature: Boulez/Cage 1990, 123-124, 150-153; Cage 1961h, 25; Cage 1962e, 32-33;
Cage 1979c, 8; Cage 1993d, 51, 118; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 72; Cage/Charles 1976, 33, 35, 98; Erdmann
1990c, 256-257; Frst-Heidtmann
1979, 52, 212-228; Griffiths 1981a, 22-24; Kessler 1995; Kostelanetz
1988b, 63; Pritchett 1988a,
34-87; Pritchett 1988b; Upton 1993;
Vaes 2009, 975.
Concerto Grosso
Medium: four television sets and twelve radios
Extent: unknown
Duration: inderminate
Dedication: none
Date: late 1979
First installation: January 20-March 2, 1980, Berlin, Akademie
der Knste, Fr Augen und Ohren
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1980b; Cage 1993d, 133.
Credo in Us
Libretto: Merce Cunningham
Choreography: Merce Cunningham (Husband, Shadow) and Jean Erdman (Wife, Ghouls
Rage)
Medium: four percussionists using two muted gongs, five tin cans (player 1);
five tin cans, electric buzzer, tom tom (player 2); piano, hands on wood, tom
tom (player 3); radio or phonograph (player 4)
Note: original subtitles: A Dramatic Playlet and A Suburban Idyll; only
the music of the revised version is published (without the libretto)
Extent: Untitled (1 measure); Curtain (7 measures); Facade One (142 measures);
3. First Progression (88 measures); Untitled (49 measures); Facade Two (47
measures [in score counted together with previous section: 96 measures]);
Second Progression (84 measures); Facade Three (20 measures); Third Progression
(107 measures); Coda Facade (37 measures)
Duration: approximately 20 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: July 1942, revised October 1942
First performance: August 1, 1942 (original version); October
20, 1942 (revised version)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 69-72
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1962 (Peters; 6795) [facs. and engraved]
(Revised version.) CHECK
Literature: Cage 1962e, 35; Cage 1982r; Cage 1993d, 8; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 70; Cage/Helms
1972CONVERSATIONS/1978, 29, 31; Cage/Kumpf 1975; Cage/Raymond and Roberts 1980,
7; Hosokawa 1993; Kostelanetz
1988b, 12, 62.
Crete
Medium: piano
Extent: 12 measures
Duration: approximately 30 seconds
Date: circa 1945
First performance: unknown
Dedication: for Crete Cage
Sources: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Music Library
Publication: none
Literature: none.
Dad
Medium: piano
Extent: 17 measures
Duration: approximately 30 seconds
Date: circa 1945
First performance: unknown
Dedication: for Milton Cage
Sources: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Music Library
Publication: none
Literature: none.
Dance Music for Elfrid Ide
Choreography: Elfrid Ide
Medium: six percussionists; six players using handclaps, claves, rattle,
whisk, cowbells, 6 tom toms, slitblock (first movement); four players using
slide whistle, cymbal, toy piano, ratchet, squawker, bass drum, low tom tom,
three muted gongs (second movement); piano and two players using claves,
slapstick, rattle (third movement)
Extent: three movements
Duration: approximately 15 minutes
Dedication: for Elfrid Ide
Date: 1940
First performance: May 20, 1941
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 95-3 folder 1089-1090; Oakland,
California, Mills College
Publication: ed. Don Gillespie. New York: Henmar Press, 2006 (Peters; 68140) [score];
New York: Henmar Press, 2006 (Peters; 68140a) [parts].
Dance to the West
Choreography: Ruth Hatfield
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: 4 minutes
Date: 1942
First performance: 1942
Sources: in the possession of the heirs of Ruth Hatfield
Publication: none.
Dance/4 Orchestras
Medium: orchestra divided into four groups; full orchestra: piccolo, flute,
alto flute, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet, 2
bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in C, tenor trombone, bass
trombone, contrabass trombone, tuba, timpani, 3 percussionists using ***,
piano, harp, 8 violins I, 8 violins II, 6 violas, 5 violoncellos, 3
contrabasses
Extent: instructions for performance (21 sentences); orchestra I (***
measures); orchestra II (*** measures); orchestra III (*** measures); orchestra
IV (*** measures)
Duration: approximately 30 minutes***
Commission: Dennis Russell Davies and the Cabrillo Music Festival
Dedication: for Dennis Russell Davies and the Cabrillo Music Festival
Date: January 1982
First performance: August 22, 1982
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1030-1031
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1982 (Peters; 66911)
Literature: Cage 1982d; Cage 1993d, 133-134.
Daughters of the Lonesome Isle
Choreography: Jean Erdman
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 482 measures
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: [prior to February 4] 1945
First performance: presumably February 4, 1945
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 123, 129
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6785); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, 2000, pp. 47-73 (Peters; 67886b)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 16; Hilger 1990, 41-47.
Demonstration of the Sounds of the Environment
Medium: three hundred people silently following a chance-determined path
through the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: fall 1971
First performance: fall 1971
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1973h, xiii; Cage/Helms 1972CONVERSATIONS/1978, 27.
Dialogue
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: two performers presenting any actions
Extent: ***systems
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: prior to August 12, 1967 [***Fetterman 1992, 341: according to
Cunningham, the first was done at the Walker Art Gallery]
First performance: presumably August 12, 1967
Sources: Budapest, collection Andrs Wilheim; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24
folder 1007-1009
Evanston, Illinois,
Northwestern University Music Library, Room 209, file cabinet [1], drawer [4]. Dialogue (realization, 2 leaves, 36 cm,
yellow ruled paper, pencil) [***Fetterman 1992, 468 and transcription in
appendix VI, 458-61]
Publication: none
Literature: Cage and Cunningham/Todd and Cockrell 1981; Fetterman 1996, 121-124; Thorman
2002, 206.
A Dip in the Lake: Ten Quicksteps, Sixty-one
Waltzes, and Fifty-six Marches for Chicago and Vicinity
Medium: for any number of performers, listeners or makers of recordings;
transcriptions may be made for other cities, or places, by assembling through
chance operations a list of four hundred and twenty-seven addresses and then,
also through chance operations, arranging these in ten groups of two, sixty-one
groups of three, and fifty-six groups of four
Extent: ***
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: Raymond Wilding White for Chicago
magazine
Dedication: none
Date: prior to April 10, 1978
First performance: April 10, 1978
Sources: Chicago, Illinois, Museum of Contemporary Art; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folders 566-569, 1013
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 66761) [address list]
Literature: Cage 1993d, 105; Cage/Von Rhein 1982.
La Diva de lEmpire (Erik
Satie)
Medium: an
arrangement of Erik Satie, Intermezzo Amricaine from La Diva de lEmpire for brasserie orchestra [flute,
clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, two percussionists, piano, violin,
violoncello, and contrabass]; since the instrumentation is not identical with
Saties, possibly arranged by Cage
Date: 1949
Dedication: none
First performance: December
17, 1949
Publication: none.
Double Music
Note: parts for player 2 and 4 were composed by Lou Harrison
Medium: four percussionists using six graduated water buffalo bells, six
graduated muted brake drums (player 1); two sistra, six graduated sleighbells,
five brake drums, thundersheet (player 2); three graduated Japanese temple
gongs, tam tam, six graduated cowbells (player 3); six muted Chinese gongs, tam
tam (slightly lower in pitch than third players), water gong (player 4);
substitutions may be made
Extent: 200 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: April 1941
First performance: May 14, 1941
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 60-63, 931
Publication: New York [etc.]: C.F. Peters, 1961 (Peters; 6296) [score]; New York:
Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6296a) [parts]; New York [etc.]: C.F. Peters, 1961
(Peters; 6296p) [pocket score]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 35; Cage 1991c, 63; Cage 1993d, 7, 37-38; Carey 1978; Griffiths 1981a, 13; Keezer 1970,
15-23; Parris 1961-1962.
Dream
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: piano
Extent: 47 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes and 30 seconds
Dedication: none
Date: 1948 [presumably prior to May 7]
First performance: May 8 or August 20, 1948
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 146-147
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6707); repr. in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48. New York: Henmar
Press, [1998], pp. 66-67 (Peters; 67380); New York: Henmar Press, 1974 (Peters;
6707a) [authorized arrangement for solo viola and viola ensemble by Karen
Phillips]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 7; Cage 1993d, 12; Francis, J.R. 1976, 33-34; Naglia 1989-1990.
Duet for Cymbal. See Cartridge
Music.
Duet for Two Flutes
Medium: two flutes
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: 1934 [or 1935?]
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Kostelanetz 1988b, 67;
Rossum 1988, 20.
Ear for Ear
Text: vocalise on e, a, and r
Medium: two or more voices (the first g-f', the other or others b-d')
Extent: 11 systems
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: for Ear magazine
Date: January 20, 1983
First performance: April 8, 1983
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: in Ear 8, no. 1-2
(February-May 1983), 1; repr. New York: Henmar Press, 1983 (Peters; 66957);
repr. Ear 15, no. 5
(July-August 1990), 18.
Eight
Choreography: Trisha Brown, Astral Converted
Medium: flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in C,
tenor trombone and tuba
Extent: instructions for performance (3 sentences); flute (86 systems), oboe
(87 systems), clarinet (86 systems), bassoon (91 systems), horn in F (85
systems), trumpet in C (87 systems), tenor trombone (83 systems), tuba (87
systems)
Duration: between 59 minutes and 45 seconds and 60 minutes
Commission: Trisha Brown Dance Company
Dedication: Trisha Brown Dance Company
Date: before May 14, 1991
First performance: May 14, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 872
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67409).
Eight Whiskus (voice)
Text: John Cage
Note: transcription as Eight Whiskus
(violin)
Medium: solo voice (e-d'')
Extent: instructions for performance (8 sentences); I (6 systems); II (5
systems); III (5 systems); IV (6 systems); V (2 systems); VI (6 systems); VII
(5 systems); VIII (2 systems)
Duration: approximately 5 minutes (varies according to the tempi chosen)
Dedication: for Joan La Barbara
Date: November-November 21, 1984
First performance: May 14, 1985
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 623-624, 1042
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67051).
Eight Whiskus (violin)
Medium: violin
Note: transcription of Eight Whiskus
(voice)
Extent: instructions for performance (11 sentences); I (6 systems); II (5
systems); III (5 systems); IV (6 systems); V (2 systems); VI (6 systems); VII
(5 systems); VIII (2 systems)
Duration: approximately 5 minutes (varies according to the tempi chosen)
Dedication: for Malcolm Goldstein
Date: March 1985
First performance: April 23, 1986
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 668-669, 1055
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67051a).
Eighty
Medium: orchestra consisting of seven alto flutes, seven English horns, seven
clarinets in B flat, seven trumpets in C, sixteen violins I, fourteen violins
II, twelve violas, ten violoncellos
Extent: instructions for performance (1 sentence); each part 15 systems
Duration: between 28 minutes and 15 seconds and 30 minutes
Date: January-February 1992
Dedication: for Andrs Wilheim
First performance: June 17, 2009 (broadcast of recorded multitracked
performance); October 28, 2011
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folders 895, 900-901
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67467)
Literature: Pritchett 1993, 203.
Electronic Music for Piano
Medium: any number of pianos with electronics (microphones, amplifiers,
loudspeakers)
Extent: 29 lines plus 1 system
Duration: indeterminate
Date: September 2, 1964
Dedication: for David Tudor
First performance: September 11, 1964
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1965 (Peters; 6801).
Encounter
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: piano
Model: includes material used in Prelude
for Six Instruments in A Minor
Extent: I (36 measures); II (54 measures); III (52 measures); IV (149
measures)
Duration: 5 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to May 12, 1946
First performance: May 12, 1946
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 127
Publication: none.
Essay
Medium: computer-generated tape
Description: installation using thirty-six cassette recordings [with voice on tape]
Text: John Cage, Writings through the
Essay: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, 1985
Extent:
Duration: indeterminate (individual recordings circa 14 minutes [stratified
version]; circa 17 minutes [unstratified version]).
Dedication: none
Date: early 1987?
Realization: John Cage, at the Center for Computer Music of the City University of
New York, Brooklyn College, Charles Dodge, director, with the assistance of
Victor Friedberg, Frances White, and Kenneth Worthy; and at Synesthetics Inc.
with the assistance of Paul Zinman
First performance: presumably June 12, 1987
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 19** (Peters; EP 67180R)
Literature: Cage/Diliberto 1988.
Etcetera
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Un jour ou deux
Medium: ***[orchestra consisting of] flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet,
horn, tuba, six percussionists using CHECK, two pianos, two violins, viola,
violoncello, and contrabass (all performers doubling on a non-resonant
cardboard box CHECK in addition to his instrument(s), each player using a
non-resonant cardboard box, preferably a transfer file box), three conductors
and magnetic tape (a recording of the environment in which the material was
written, made by David Behrman, late summer 1973, approximately 90 minutes)
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
australis 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie Věd, 1964
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences); 20 parts, each part ***
measures or systems, A-materials *** systems
Duration: indeterminate, but not longer than 90 minutes (***see score)
Dedication: none
Date: August 1973
First performance: November 6, 1973
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 426, 982, 1081
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1973 (Peters; 6812)
Literature: Cage 1979c, 182; Cage 1993d, 98, 246; Cage/Bosseur 1973, 31-32; Charles 1973b;
Pritchett 1996.
Etcetera 2/4 Orchestras
Medium: orchestra (divided into four groups) and magnetic tape; orchestra
consisting of piccolo, flute, alto flute, two oboes, English horn, two
clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, bassoon, contrabassoon, four
horns in F, three trumpets in C, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba,
harp, four percussionists using any instruments with which sliding tones can be
produced, piano, twelve violins I, twelve violins II, eight violas, six violoncellos,
four contrabasses; magnetic tape recording made by Andrew Culver
Extent: instructions for performance (30 sentences); orchestral groups A I-IV
(40 systems); solos B1-5 (80 systems)
Duration: 30 minutes
Dedication: for Tōru Takemitsu and the Suntory International Program for
Music Composition
Date: December 1985
First performance: December 8, 1986
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 670, 1049, 1056-1058
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1986 (Peters; 67119)
Literature: Cage 1988c, 8-11; Cage 1990f, 444; Cage 1993d, 98,
141-142, 177, 179, 181, 246; Kostelanetz 1988b, 164; Pritchett 1996.
Etudes
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: 1931 or 1932
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Etudes Australes
Medium: piano
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
australis 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie Věd, 1964
Extent: Etudes I-XXXII, 8 systems each
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Grete Sultan
Date: 1974-1975
First performance: ***January 25, 1975? (partial); June 16,
1975 (Etude VII); November 18, 1975 (first consecutive performance of
I-VIII); March 10, 1977 (Etude
XII and XIII); November 4, 1977 (Etude XIV, XV, and XVI); April 23 and 25, 1982 (complete)
Sources: Berlin, collection Gelbe Musik; Bochum, Galerie Inge Baecker;
Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Music Library; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 428-430, 984-985, 1081
Publication: copyist manuscript facsimile ed. by Carlo Carnevali, Wilmia Polnauer.
New York: Henmar Press, 2 volumes, 1975 (Peters; 6816a/b and c/d)
Literature: Block, R. and Freybourg 1983, 186-187; Brennecke 1982c; Burge 1976-1977; Burge 1979; Cage 1974f, 12-13; Cage
1979c, 184; Cage 1975d; Cage 1978c; Cage 1978e; Cage 1982b, 54-55; Cage 1982r;
Cage 1990f, 438; Cage 1993d, 93, 99-101, 107, 108, 245; Cage/Darter 1982, 20, 28-29; Cage/Retallack
1996, 125, 181, 192, 202, 203, 243; Clarke, G.E. 1977, 185; Clavier 1976; Garvey 1977; Hayes 1977; Kostelanetz 1993a; Kostelanetz 1997b; MM 1978 or after; Saxer 2000; Schroeder, M. 1993; Schulte, M. 1991a.
Etudes Boreales
Medium: violoncello, piano (the pianist also using fingers, nails, plectrum,
timpani stick, yarn-covered gong beater, rubber, wood and metal beaters) or
both; when these pieces are played together the title is Etudes Boreales for Cello Solo and Piano Solo
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
borealis 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie Věd, 1962
Extent: violoncello: each etude (I-IV) 12 systems; piano: each etude (I-IV) 12
systems
Duration: each etude approximately 4 minutes
Dedication: for Jack Kirstein (violoncello); in memoriam Jeanne Kirstein (piano)
Date: 1978
First performance: 1981 (violoncello); April 5, 1987 (piano and
violoncello)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 570-575, 1014-1017, 1082
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1981 (Peters; 66327) [piano]; New York: Henmar
Press, 1981 (Peters; 66328) [violoncello]
Literature: Cage 1985i; Cage 1993d, 105-108, 135; Cage/Holmes 1981, 2; Cage/Retallack 1996, 124; Cage/Timar, Frasconi, and Ingelevics 1981, 14.
Europeras 1 & 2
Text: indeterminate (varies according to arias chosen by the singers)
Medium: any number of voices, chamber orchestra consisting of two flutes
(flute 1 doubling on piccolo), piccolo (doubling on flute 3), two oboes (oboe 1
doubling on English horn), English horn, two clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet
in B flat, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets in C, two tenor
trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, two violins, viola,
violoncello, contrabass (amplified solo strings), magnetic tape (mix of 48
records called Truckera), and organ ad libitum
Model: Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio
(1804-1814); Vincenzo Bellini, Norma
(1831), La sonnambula (1831); Georges
Bizet, Carmen (1875); Claude Debussy,
Pellas et Mlisande (1902); Gaetano
Donizetti, Don Pasquale (1843), L'elisir d'amore (1832), La fille du rgiment (1840), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835); Friedrich
von Flotow, Martha (1847); Christoph
Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice
(1762); Charles Gounod, Faust (1859),
Romo et Juliette (1867); Jules
Massenet, Manon (1884), Werther (1891); Giacomo Meyerbeer, Le prophte (1843); Wolfgang Amad
Mozart, Cos fan tutte (1790), Don Giovanni (1787), Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail (1782), Idomeneo (1781), Le nozze di Figaro (1786); Die
Zauberflte (1791); Modest Mussorgsky, Boris
Godunov (1874); Jacques Offenbach, Les
contes d'Hoffmann (1881), La
prichole (1868); Amilcare Ponchielli, La
Gioconda (1876); Giacomo Puccini, La
Bohme (1896), Madama Butterfly
(1904), Manon Lescaut (1893); Nicolai
Rimsky-Korsakoff, Le coq dor, 1907;
Gioacchino Rossini, Il barbiere di
Siviglia, 1816; L'Italiana in Algeri
(1813); Saint-Sans, Samson et Dalila
(1877); Bedr'ich Smetana, The Bartered
Bride (1866); Johan Strauss, Die
Fledermaus, 1874; Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Eugen Onegin (1879), La pique
dame (1890); Ambroise Thomas, Mignon
(1866); Giuseppe Verdi, Aida (1871), Un ballo in maschera (1859), Don Carlos (1867), Ernani (1844), Falstaff
(1893), La forza del destino (1862), Macbeth (1847), Luisa Miller (1849), Nabucco
(1842), Otello (1887), Rigoletto (1851), Simone Boccanegra (1857), La
traviata (1853), Il trovatore
(1853), I vespri siciliani (1855);
Richard Wagner, Der fliegende Hollnder
(1841), Gtterdmmerung (1874), Lohengrin (1846-1848), Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg
(1862-1867), Parsifal (1877-1882), Das Rheingold (1854), Siegfried (1871), Tannhuser (1843-1844), Tristan
und Isolde (1857-1859), Die Walkre
(1856); Carl Maria von Weber, Der
Freischtz (1821)
Extent: instructions for performance (24 sentences); Europera 1: flute
1/piccolo (610 measures); flute 2 (559 measures); piccolo/flute 3 (206
measures); oboe 1 (606 measures); oboe 2 (635 measures); English horn (295
measures); clarinet 1 (873 measures); clarinet 2 (720 measures); bass clarinet
(236 measures); bassoon 1 (610 measures); bassoon 2 (592 measures); horn 1 (378
measures); horn 2 (397 measures); trumpet 1 (451 measures); trumpet 2 (346
measures); tenor trombone 1 (366 measures); tenor trombone 2 (275 measures);
bass trombone (281 measures); tuba (302 measures); timpani (117 measures);
percussion (175 measures); organ (236 measures); violin 1 (470 measures);
violin 2 (489 measures); viola (456 measures); violoncello (553 measures);
contrabass (492 measures); Europera 2: flute 1/piccolo (336 measures); flute 2
(293 measures); piccolo/flute 3 (168 measures); oboe 1 (261 measures); oboe 2
(236 measures); English horn (87 measures); clarinet 1 (338 measures); clarinet
2 (496 measures); bass clarinet (136 measures); bassoon 1 (363 measures);
bassoon 2 (313 measures); horn 1 (187 measures); horn 2 (186 measures); trumpet
1 (177 measures); trumpet 2 (253 measures); tenor trombone 1 (111 measures);
tenor trombone 2 (140 measures); bass trombone (158 measures); tuba (130
measures); timpani (108 measures); percussion (66 measures); organ (110
measures); violin 1 (236 measures); violin 2 (273 measures); viola (269
measures); violoncello (200 measures); contrabass (203 measures)
Duration: 90 minutes (Europera 1); 45 minutes (Europera 2), separated by an
intermission during which the 3'40" film, Wagner's Ring, is shown non-stop
Commission: Oper Frankfurt
Date: between 1985 and early 1987 in New York [***begun after April 2, 1985
(date commission); completed early 1987; folder 673 dated June 2, 1985; folder
737 dated between December 16, 1986 and March 11, 1987; folder 750 dated
February 2, 1987; folder 738 dated March 28, 1987; folder 747 dated April 7,
1987; folder 745 dated April 28, 1987; folder 744 dated May 19, 1987; folder
736 and 743 dated May 27, 1987; folder 746 dated August 3, 1987 and August 11,
1987; folder 742 dated August 11, 1987; folder 675 dated August 19, 1987;
folder 676 dated July 12, 1987; folder 739 dated September 30, 1987]
First performance: December 12, 1987
Sources: Berlin, collection Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn; New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 671-750, 1059-1062
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1986 (Peters; 67100a [instructions (i.e. program
note and samples of the realization for the first performance); ***synopses?];
67100b) [instrumental parts]
Literature: Bernstein, D.W. 2001b;
Bobak 1992; Cage 1987j; Cage 1987-1988b; Cage 1993d, 206-211, 213, 241, 245, 255, 256; Cage/Anonymous 1987JohnPROGRAMbook***1990?;
Cage/Lohner 1989, 252-253; Cage/Metzger 1987; Cage/Metzger and Riehn 1987b;
Cage/Polling 1987; Cage/Schmidt 1988; Durner 1988; Fetterman 1996, 167-180;
Hunter 1988-1989; Kanold 1999; Kostelanetz 1988e; Kuhn, L.D. 1992; Kuhn, L.D. 1994; Lindenberger
1994; Lindenberger 1998; Metzger, H.-K. 1987; Piccolomini 1988;
Raimi 1987; Rebhahn 2001; Reininghaus 1989; Riehn 1987; Swed 1994;
Tappe 1993; Williams, H.W. 1993;
Zuber 1990.
Europeras 3 & 4
Text: indeterminate
Medium: eight voices [***any ranges], six in Europera 3, two in Europera 4],
two pianos [in Europera 3, piano solo in Europera 4***], at least six
performers using thirteen gramophones = 6 gramophone operators each operating 2
gramophones [with 300 78 rpm-discs in Europera 3***], 1 record operator
[operating 1 phonograph in Europera 4***], 1 lighting operator [using 75
projectors in Europera 3, 32 in Europera 4***]; 1 magnetic tape operator
[=Truckeras]
Model: Franz Liszt, Opern-Phantasien,
ed. Emil von Sauer. Frankfurt [etc.]: C.F. Peters, s.a. (Klavierwerke; vol. 7,
8), 2 vols.; Franz Liszt, Klavierwerke,
ed. Emil von Sauer. Frankfurt [etc.]: C.F. Peters, s.a. (Klavierwerke; vol. 12)
Extent: unknown
Duration: 70 minutes (Europera 3); 30 minutes (Europera 4)
Date: before June 17, 1990 (***Europera 3 dated June 1, 1990)
First performance: June 17, 1990
Commission: Almeida Festival, ETC CHECK
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 795-817
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming (Peters; 67350)
Literature: Bernstein, D.W. 2001b; Cage 1993d, 249; Cage/Caux 1990; Cage/Fousnaquer 1990; Cage/Retallack
1996, 226, 309n12; Fetterman
1996, 180-183.
Europera 5
Text: indeterminate
Medium: two singers (the second chosen by the first), piano, Victrola,
magnetic stereo tape (labeled Truckera, in six 30-second parts to be heard
six times during a performance), radio, silent television screen, light
operator using 24-48 lights, and director
Extent: *** systems
Duration: 60 minutes
Commission: North American Music Festival Buffalo and De IJsbreker Amsterdam
Date: completed April 1991
First performance: April 18, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 834-836
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming (Peters; 67405)
Literature: Bernstein, D.W. 2001b; Cage 1993d, 203-204;
Cage/Retallack 1996, 201n24, 225-227, 230, 299-304, 306-309,
333-340; Fetterman 1996, 183-187;
Metzer 2000.
Europera 6
Medium: instrumentation unknown
Date: presumably never begun [or in 1992], unfinished
Sources: present location unknown.
Evne/EnvironneMetzment
Medium: a performer moving chairs and an audience possibly producing sounds
Extent: 3 sentences
Duration: 60 minutes
Date: summer-fall 1981
First performance: November 21, 1981
Sources: present location unknown
Publication [limited ed.]: Metz: Rencontres internationales de musique
contemporaine (poster with instructions), 1 p.
Literature: Cage/Masson 1981.
Exercise
Medium: orchestra consisting of an indeterminate number of soloists
Extent: 14 sentences
Duration: unknown
Date: November 1973; revised December 1984
First performance: November or December 1973
Dedication: for Marcello Panni
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 983
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Bosseur 1973, 31.
Experiences No. 1
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Experiences
Note: the original music for Cunninghams choreography was originally
composed by Livingston Geerhart and subsequently replaced by Cages music
Medium: two pianos
Extent: 112 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Date: 1945
First performance: January 9, 1945
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 148-150
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6708a)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 11; Cage 1993d, 10; Erdmann 1993f, 104-109.
Experiences No. 2
Text: Edward Estlin Cummings, Tulips
and Chimneys (1923), Chimneys: Sonnets-Unrealities, III [***ttb]
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: voice (range g-a' or any transposition)
Extent: 112 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Date: 1948, prior to April 21
First performance: April 21, 1948
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 151-153
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6708b)
Literature: Brooks, W. 2007; Cage 1962e, 20; Cage 1993d, 10; Petkus 1986, 101-111.
Fads and Fancies in the Academy
Choreography: Marian Van Tuyl
Medium: four percussionists (player I: snare drum, handclap; player II: 2 tom
toms, handclap, washtub, brake drum, string piano; player III: piano, handclap;
player IV (in IIb only): metronome, metal wastebasket; player V (in IIIa only):
speech (one of the dancers)
Extent: I. Axioms. a. The Pupil Is Eager to Learn (68 measures); b. The Pupil
is Constitutionally Lazy (47 measures); c. We Deal with the Total Child (71
measures); II. A Short Historical Sketch. a. Reactionaries (60 measures); b.
Revolutionaries — Pitched Battle (55 measures); III. Vistas of the
Future. a. Pessimist (64 measures); b. Optimist (111 measures)
Duration: approximately 30 minutes
Date: July 1940
First performance: July 27, 1940
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 49
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 20*** (Peters; 67524) [score]; New York:
Henmar Press, 20*** (Peters; 67524a) [parts].
The Feast
Choreography: Nina Fonaroff
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: 20 minutes
Dedication: unknown
Date: [presumably prior to April 29] 1945
First performance: presumably April 29, 1945
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Fifteen Domestic Minutes
Description: radio play consisting of nine parts for the playing of records at the
same time in different radio stations [Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles,
California; Washington, D.C.; New York], two seapkers (one male, one female),
all to be brought together in one station and rebroadcast live
Text: John Cage, after James Joyce, Finnegans
Wake. New York: Viking, 1939
Extent: instructions for performance (22 sentences); Denver, Colorado (three
parts, 59 systems and 3 diagrams); Los Angeles, California (two parts, 50
systems and 2 diagrams); Washington, D.C. (two parts, 38 systems and two
diagrams); New York (two parts, 26 systems and two diagrams); speech parts (two
parts)
Duration: 15 minutes
Commission: National Public Radio
Dedication: for Ev Grimes and the National Public Radio
Date: August 1982
First broadcast: November 5, 1982
Sources: present location unknown***, collection Ev Grimes; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 598-602
Publication: none.
Fifty-eight
Medium: concert
band consisting of 3 piccolos, 4 flutes, 3 alto flutes, 4 oboes, 3 English horns,
4 clarinets in B flat, 3 bass clarinets in B flat, 4 bassoons, 3
contrabassoons, 4 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C, 4 tenor trombones, 3 soprano
saxophones in B flat, 3 alto saxophones in E flat, 3 tenor saxophones in B
flat, 3 baritone saxophones in E flat, 3 tubas
Extent:
instructions for performance (3 sentences); piccolo 1 (70 systems), piccolo 2
(65 systems), piccolo 3 (64 systems), flute 1 (65 systems), flute 2 (68
systems), flute 3 (67 systems), flute 4 (69 systems), alto flute 1 (63
systems), alto flute 2 (68 systems), alto flute 3 (63 systems), oboe 1 (64
systems), oboe 2 (65 systems), oboe 3 (67 systems), oboe 4 (69 systems),
English horn 1 (67 systems), English horn 2 (69 systems), English horn 3 (70
systems), clarinet 1 (71 systems), clarinet 2 (70 systems), clarinet 3 (67
systems), clarinet 4 (61 systems), bass clarinet 1 (69 systems), bass clarinet
2 (64 systems), bass clarinet 3 (71 systems), bassoon 1 (68 systems), bassoon 2
(61 systems), bassoon 3 (65 systems), bassoon 4 (68 systems), contrabassoon 1
(68 systems), contrabassoon 2 (65 systems), contrabassoon 3 (66 systems), horn
1 (67 systems), horn 2 (66 systems), horn 3 (70 systems), horn 4 (68 systems),
trumpet 1 (65 systems), trumpet 2 (65 systems), trumpet 3 (64 systems), trumpet
4 (66 systems), trombone 1 (69 systems), trombone 2 (65 systems), trombone 3
(67 systems), trombone 4 (66 systems), soprano saxophone 1 (71 systems),
soprano saxophone 2 (66 systems), soprano saxophone 3 (67 systems), alto
saxophone 1 (60 systems), alto saxophone 2 (67 systems), alto saxophone 3 (71
systems), tenor saxophone 1 (66 systems), tenor saxophone 2 (69 systems), tenor
saxophone 3 (64 systems), baritone saxophone 1 (67 systems), baritone saxophone
2 (64 systems), baritone saxophone 3 (68 systems), tuba 1 (65 systems), tuba 2
(64 systems), tuba 3 (67 systems)
Duration: between
44 minutes and 45 seconds and 45 minutes
Commission: Steirischer Herbst
Dedication: for Solf Schaefer and the sterreichische Rundfunk for Musikprotokoll
92
Date: March 1992
First performance: October
11, 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 894
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67500)
Literature: Cage/Retallack 1996, 207, 243-244, 342-343.
First Chapter of
Ecclesiastes. See The
Preacher.
First Construction (in Metal)
Note: original title Construction in
Metal
Medium: six percussionists with assistant using tubular bells, suspended
thunder sheet (there are five graduated thunder sheets for players 1, 3, 4, 5,
and 6; this one gives the highest sound) (player 1); piano (with assistant
applying a metal rod on the strings used or slowly sliding the rod, pianist
using also a gong beater) (player 2); suspended thundersheet, suspended string
of small sleigh bells, twelve graduated oxen bells or graduated Balinese button
gongs suspended horizontally (player 3); suspended thundersheet, four graduated
muted automobile brake drums, eight graduated cowbells, three graduated
Japanese temple gongs (player 4); suspended thundersheet, four graduated
suspended Turkish cymbals, four graduated muted anvils or pieces of
non-resonant metal, 4 graduated suspended Chinese cymbals (player 5); suspended
thundersheet, four graduated muted gongs placed flat on pads, water gong, tam
tam, suspended gong (player 6)
Extent: 265 measures
Duration: approximately 9 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: November 1939
First performance: December 9, 1939
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 37-45
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1962 (Peters; 6709) [score]; New York: Henmar Press,
1962 (Peters; 6709a) [parts]
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1961h, 20, 23-25, 28-30; Cage 1962e, 35;
Cage 1991c, 60-61; Cage 1993d, 6-7, 34-35; Duckworth 1972, 72-75, 84; Griffiths 1981a, 8-12; Hughes, E.D. 1990;
Kostelanetz 1970d, 127-128; Ravenscroft 2006; Rivest 1996a, 34-48; Williams, B.M. 1990, 61-108.
Five
Medium: any five voices (vocalise) or instruments or combination thereof
having specified ranges (1. d'-c'''; 2. c'-e''; 3. f-c'' sharp; 4. a flat-g';
5. e-b')
Extent: instructions for performance (3 sentences, 5 systems); each part 5
systems
Duration: between 4 minutes and 15 seconds and 5 minutes
Dedication: for Wilfried Brennecke and the Wittener Tage fr neue Kammermusik
Date: January 1988
First performance: June 27, 1988; April 21, 1989 (official)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1066-1067
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1988 (Peters; 67214)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 246; Cage/Sweeney-Turner 1991, 4, 5.
Five2
Medium: English
horn, two clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet, and timpani
Extent:
instructions for performance (2 sentences); English horn (3 systems), clarinet
1 (5 systems), clarinet 2 (5 systems), bass clarinet (5 systems), timpani (3
systems)
Duration: between
4 minutes and 15 seconds and 5 minutes
Dedication: for
Mauricio Kagel on his sixtieth birthday
Date: May 1991
First performance: January
19, 1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 862-863
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67413)
Literature: none.
Five3
Medium:
trombone, two violins, viola, and violoncello
Extent:
instructions for performance (3 sentences, 1 system); trombone (47 systems),
violin 1 (21 systems), violin 2 (12 systems), viola (26 systems), violoncello
(25 systems)
Duration: between
39 minutes and 30 seconds and 40 minutes
Dedication: for
James Fulkerson and the Mondriaan Kwartet
Date: October
1991
First performance: June 28,
1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 864-866
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67420)
Literature: none.
Five4
Medium: soprano
saxophone in B flat, alto saxophone in E flat and three percussionists, player
I using any four instruments, player II using any three instruments, and player
III using any five instruments
Extent:
instructions for performance (7 sentences); soprano saxophone (8 systems), alto
saxophone in E flat (6 systems), percussion 1 (9 systems), percussion 2 (7
systems), percussion 3 (8 systems)
Duration: between
4 minutes and 45 seconds and 5 minutes
Dedication: to the
memory of Stefan Wolpe
Date: October
1991
First performance: April
25, 1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 867-868
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67430)
Literature: none.
Five5
Medium: flute,
two clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat and percussionist using any
five instruments
Extent:
instructions for performance (5 sentences); flute (7 systems), clarinet 1 (5
systems), clarinet 2 (6 systems), bass clarinet (6 systems), percussion (7
systems)
Duration: between
4 minutes and 45 seconds and 5 minutes
Dedication: for
Thomas Nee
Date: October
1991
First performance: unknown
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 869
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67431)
Literature: Valkenburg 2010b, 93-105.
Five Hanau Silence
Medium: any number of performers recording environmental sounds of Hanau at
specified locations, dates, and times
Extent: 2 sentences, schedule, map of Hanau
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: October 1991
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Realization: W. Sterneck and others, April 6-16,1992, Hanau
Publication: in Cage and Sterneck 1992, 9-11; slightly different repr. in
Cage/Retallack 1996, 344
Literature: Cage/Retallack 1996, 244; Cage and Sterneck 1992.
Five Songs for Contralto
Text: Edward Estlin Cummings, XLI
Poems, 1925, Chansons innocentes, I (no. 1), II (no. 2); Tulips and Chimneys, 1923, Tulips,
Chansons innocentes, III (no. 3), IV (no. 4), V (no. 5)
Medium: voice (contralto) and piano
Extent: I. Little four paws (29 measures); II. Little Christmas tree (65
measures); III. In Just- (62 measures); IV. Hist whist (54 measures); V.
Tumbling hair [original title Another comes] (9 measures)
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: July 1938
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 31
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6710)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 20; Cage 1993d, 6;
Griffiths 1981a, 5, 6; Petkus 1986, 29-54; Pritchett 1993, 10, 14, 15.
Five Stone Wind
Note: earlier title Five Stone
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: percussionist using nine spheric clay drums in three sizes and two
performers using indeterminate sound sources
Extent: part for Michael Pugliese (33 systems); part for David Tudor (31
systems); part for Takehisa Kosugi (extent unknown)
Duration: approximately 60 minutes (Michael Puglieses part between 60 minutes
and 45 seconds and 61 minutes and 30 seconds; David Tudors part between 59
minutes and 45 seconds and 60 minutes and 30 seconds; Takehisa Kosugis part
between 59 minutes and 15 seconds and 60 minutes)
Dedication: none
Date: 1988
First performance: June 16, 1988 (partial); July 9, 1988
(complete preview); July 30, 1988 (official); December 6, 1988 (as Five Stone Solo)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 769-772
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming (Peters; 67389)
Literature: Cage, Kosugi, Pugliese, Tudor and Vaughan 1991[FIVE, NNB
LINERNOTESMode24].
A Flower
Choreography: Louise Lippold
Text: vocalise
Medium: voice (any range) and closed piano
Extent: 50 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: for Louise Lippold
Date: June 1950
First performance: possibly January 21, 1951; presumably
January 20, 1952
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 944
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6711)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 21; Griffiths 1981a, 22; Petkus 1986, 112-117.
Fontana Mix
Medium: indeterminate instruments, sound sources or theatrical actions***; may
be combined with Aria, Concert for Piano and Orchestra, Solo for Voice 2, Song Books, WBAI
Note: Cage used Fontana Mix for
the composition of Aria, Sounds of Venice, Theatre Piece, Water Walk,
WBAI
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences); *** systems/diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: November 1958
First performance: January 5, 1959
Realization: for magnetic tape by John Cage, November 1958-January 1959, Milan, Radio Audizione Italiana, Studio di Fonologia Musicale, with technical assistance of Marino Zuccheri; the recorded sounds consisted of four categories: city, country, human, synthetic
Sources: Berlin, collection Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn; Beverly
Hills, California, collection
Betty Freeman; Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 3;
New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 234-245
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6712) [score]; partial repr. Aspen [New York] no. 7
(1968); New York: Henmar Press,
1960 (Peters; 6712a) [realization for 4 single-track magnetic reel tapes, 19
cm/second; 17 minutes each]; New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6712b)
[realization for 2 double-track magnetic reel tapes, 19 cm/second; 17 minutes
each]
Literature: Bttinger 1990; Cage
1959g; Cage 1962e, 39-40; Cage, John 1971FONT; Cage 1982r; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965,
61-62; Cage/Mimaroğlu 1965; Ernst
1977, 161-162; Hunchuk 1990; Pritchett 1988a, 3-4, 308-310; Pritchett 1996; Selmer Bandwagon 1971 or 1972; Stockhausen 1978A***; Thorman 2002, 45, 71,
73, 75, 84; Zuccheri 1962-1963.
For M.C. and D.T.
Medium: piano
Extent: 5 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Date: before or during August 1952
First performance: August 1952
Dedication: for M.C. Richards [or Merce Cunningham?] and David Tudor
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1962 (Peters; 6713)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 7; Francis, J.R. 1976, 55.
For Paul Taylor and
Anita Dencks
Choreography: Paul
Taylor, Duet
Medium: piano
and indeterminate sound sources
Note: a version with five notes has been extant;
currently a version with four notes is in circulation (as in Reynolds, R.
1980a)
Extent: 1 system
Duration: 3
minutes
Dedication: for Paul
Taylor and Anita Dencks
Date: September
1957
First performance: October
20, 1957
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073* box 3 folder 3
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6714)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 7; Cage 1993d, 56; Francis, J.R. 1976, 87; Griffiths 1981a, 35; Holzaepfel 1992; Reynolds, R. 1980a.
Foreboding
Choreography: Nina Fonaroff
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: unknown
Date: [prior to April 5 or 12] 1946
First performance: April 5 or 12, 1946
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Forever and Sunsmell
Text: Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962), 50 Poems, 26, 1940
Choreography: Jean Erdman
Medium: voice (any range) and two percussionists using two large Chinese tom
toms (player 1), large suspended Chinese cymbal (player 2)
Extent: 117 measures
Duration: approximately 5 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1942, prior to October 20 (possibly revised in 1944)
First performance: October 20, 1942
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 129, 933
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6715)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 21; Petkus 1986, 77-90.
Four
Medium: two violins, viola, and violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (9 sentences); A. Each part 10 systems;
B. Each part 10 systems; C. Each part 10 systems
Duration: between 9 minutes and 15 seconds and 10 minutes, between 18 minutes
and 30 seconds and 20 minutes or between 27 minutes and 45 seconds and 30
minutes
Commision: Arditti Quartet
Dedication: for the Arditti Quartet
Date: 1989, prior to April 30
First performance: November 24, 1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 790-791
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1989 (Peters; 67304)
Literature: De Visscher 1991c; Erdmann 1992c; Gronemeyer 1993; Pritchett
1993, 200, 203; Snchez 1998; Weisser 1998; Weisser 2003.
Four2
Text: vocalise
Medium: mixed chorus (sopranos, altos, tenors, basses)
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences and table of pronunciation);
sopranos (3 systems), altos (4 systems), tenors (6 systems), basses (6 systems)
Duration: between 6 minutes and 15 seconds and 7 minutes
Dedication: for the Madrigal Choir of the Hood River Valley High School
Date: October 1990
First performance: unknown (presumably in Oregon by the
dedicatee)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 818-819
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67368)
Literature: Cage/Gresham 1991; Pritchett 1993, 200;
Thorman 2002, 143.
Four3
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Beach Birds
Medium: four performers using one or two pianos, twelve rainsticks, and violin
or oscillator
Model: Erik Satie, Vexations
Extent: instructions for performance (10 sentences); Extended Lullaby 1-6 and
7-12 (48 systems); 24 time brackets
Duration: approximately 30 minutes
Date: May 1991
First performance: June 20, 1991
Commission: Prsidialabteilung der Stadt Zrich for the Junifestwochen Zurich
Dedication: for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 855-858
Folder *** Draft (12
folios, waarvan 8 folios 32 x 24 cm, vellum music paper, Circle Blue Print Co.
Quartet [3 x 4 staves])
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67407)
Literature: Cage/Caux 1990; Cage/Sweeney-Turner 1991, 8; Pritchett 1993, 200, 202.
Four4
Medium: four percussionists using any instruments (five for players 1 and 3,
four for players 2 and 4)
Extent: instructions for performance (7 sentences); percussion 1 (22 systems),
percussion 2 (16 systems), percussion 3 (10 systems), percussion 4 (15 systems)
Duration: between 71 minutes and 45 seconds and 72 minutes
Dedication: for Amadinda Percussion Group
Date: October 1991
First performance: presumably July 3, 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 859-860, 873
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67428)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 201; Swed 1993a.
Four5
Medium: saxophone quartet consisting of soprano saxophone in B flat, alto
saxophone in E flat, tenor saxophone in B flat and baritone saxophone in E flat
or multiples thereof
Extent: instructions for performance (7 sentences); soprano saxophone (15
systems), alto saxophone in E flat (15 systems), tenor saxophone (15 systems),
baritone saxophone in E flat (16 systems)
Duration: between 11 minutes and 45 seconds and 12 minutes
Dedication: for John Sampen
Date: October 1991
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 861
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67429)
Literature: none.
Four6
Medium: four performers using indeterminate sound sources
Note: part for player 1 is identical with One7
Extent: instructions for performance (4 sentences); player 1 (43 systems),
player 2 (42 systems), player 3 (45 systems), player 4 (45 systems)
Duration: between 29 minutes and 45 seconds and 30 minutes
Dedication: for Pauline Oliveros to celebrate her sixtieth birthday, and for Joan
La Barbara, Leonard Stein, and William Winant
Date: September 1990 and after and March 1992
First performance: July 23, 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 832-833
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67469)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 205; Nimczik 1998.
Four Dances
Text: vocalise
Choreography: Hanya Holm, A Suite of Four
Dances (First Dance, Second Dance, Third Dance, Finale), title subsequently
changed by Hanya Holm to What So Proudly
We Hail
Medium: prepared?*** piano (also handclap), percussionist (using tom tom,
handclap, footstomp), and voice (tenor, unsophisticated)
Extent: I (110 measures, ***two players); II (170 measures, voice and piano);
III (123 measures, piano); IV (175 measures, piano and percussion)
Duration:
Dedication: none
Date: 1942-1943; completed December 7, 1942 (I); December 18, 1942 (II);
December 19, 1942 (III); January 3, 1943 (IV)
First performance: January 16, 1943
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 91
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67450).
Four Solos for Voice
Text: John Cage
Medium: any solo from or combination of soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor, bass
Extent: instructions for performance (16 sentences); Solo for Voice 93 (19
systems); Solo for Voice 94 (18 systems); Solo for Voice 95 (19 systems); Solo
for Voice 96 (18 systems)
Duration: between 14 minutes and 30 seconds and 15 minutes
Dedication: for Electric Phoenix
Date: April 1988
First performance: June 29, 1988
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 773-774
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1988 (Peters; 67226).
Four Songs of the Moment
Choreography: Dorothy Herrmann
Medium: piano
Extent: In Frenzy (extent unknown); In Dreams (extent unknown); In Memory
(extent unknown); In Action (extent unknown)
Duration: 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1940 [Cerchio 1985***, 44 says 1939]
First performance: May 7, 1940
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Four Walls
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Four Walls: A
Dance Play
Text: Merce Cunningham (Scene VII)
Medium: piano and voice
Extent: Act One: Scene I (88 measures); Scene II (176 measures); Scene III
(103 measures); Dance (180 measures); Scene IV (176 measures); Dance (88
measures); Scene V (176 measures); Scene VI (132 measures); Scene VII (132
measures); Scene VIII (172 measures); Act Two: Scene IX (191 measures); Scene X
(120 measures); Scene XI (120 measures); Scene XII (60 measures); Scene XIII
(594 measures)
Duration: 59 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to August 22, 1944
First performance: August 22, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 113-114
Publication: engr. New York: Henmar Press, 1982 (Peters; 66910)
Literature: Cunningham 1982a, 174-175; Erdmann 1993f, 114-119; Porzio 1992.
Fourteen
Medium: piano
and chamber ensemble consisting of flute (doubling on piccolo), bass flute,
clarinet in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, horn in F, trumpet in C, two
percussionists using any very resonant instruments, two violins, viola,
violoncello, and contrabass
Extent:
instructions for performance (10 sentences); piano solo (22 systems),
flute/piccolo (7 systems), bass flute (5 systems), clarinet (7 systems), bass
clarinet (6 systems), horn in F (8 systems), trumpet in C (9 systems),
percussion 1 (13 systems), percussion 2 (8 systems), violin 1 (9 systems),
violin 2 (9 systems), viola (7 systems), violoncello (9 systems), contrabass (6
systems)
Duration: between
19 minutes and 45 seconds and 20 minutes
Commission:
Musikkollegium Zrcher Oberland
Dedication: Werner
Brtschi and Ren Mller
Date: prior to
May 12, 1990
First performance: May 12,
1990
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 820-822
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67330)
Literature: Brtschi/Husermann and Ronner 1990, 6-7; Cage/Retallack 1996, 76.
Fourth Construction. See Imaginary
Landscape No. 2 (1942).
Freeman Etudes
Medium: violin
Note: earlier title Etudes Australes
for Violin Solo
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
australis 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie Věd, 1964
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences); *** systems (*** x 2 x
thirty-two etudes plus additions)
Duration: approximately 128 minutes (approximately 4 minutes each)
Commission: Betty Freeman (1921-2009)
Dedication: for Betty Freeman
Date: 1977-1980 and 1989-November 1990
First performance: April 24, 1978 (Etudes I-VIII); before or
during December 1979 (I-XVI), performer unknown (Anonymous 1979PREMIERES-MUSIC-EDUCATORS-JOURNAL);
November 8, 1985, Berlin, Sender Freies Berlin, Haus des Rundfunks, Kleiner
Sendesaal; Jnos Negyesy, first German, possibly first performance of nos.
IX-XVI; July 27, 1990 (Etudes XV-XVII); June 29, 1991 (complete)
Sources: Berlin, collection Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn; New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 559-565, 998-1006, 1081
Publication: ed. with Paul Zukofsky. New York: Henmar Press, 1981 and 1992 (Peters;
66813a-d)
Literature: Cage 1978e; Cage 1981l; Cage/Cope 1980, 19-20; Cage/Darter 1982, 21;
Cage/Fletcher and Moore 1983; Cage/Furman and Goldman 1979, 44-45; Cage/Gagne
and Caras 1982, 71, 77; Cage/Holmes 1981, 2; Cage/Timar, Frasconi, and
Ingelevics 1981, 10; Cage/White, R. 1978, 6, 8; Fisher, G. 1994-1995; Gardiner 2003; Holzaepfel 1990; McLellan 1989; Nocera 1987-1988; Pritchett 1994a; Vogels
2007; Zukofsky 1982; Zukofsky
1992; Zukofsky and Cage 1983.
Furniture Music Etcetera
Medium: two pianos
Model: Erik Satie, Musique
dameublement, Tapisserie en fer forg (1917), Carrelage phonique
(1917), Tenture de cabinet prfectoral (1923) (all in piano reduction); John
Cage, Etcetera (1973), piano parts
Extent: 4 systems
Duration: 19 minutes and 52 seconds
Date: April 27, 1980
First performance: May 13, 1980
Dedication: for Aki Takahashi and Yvar Mikhashoff
Sources: present location unknown (photocopy of autograph draft in New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 588, 2 pages)
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Timar, Frasconi, and Ingelevics 1981, 14.
Greek Ode
Text: Aeschylus, Persai, verses
852-908 in transliterated Greek
Note: title previously encountered as Choruses
from The Persians
Medium: voice (range ***) and piano
Extent: 1. Strophe alpha; 2. Antistrophe alpha; 3. Strophe beta; 4. Antistrophe
beta; 5. Strophe gamma; 6. Antistrophe gamma; 7. Epoidos; *** systems
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Date: prior to October 1932
First performance: November 1932
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 928; San Francisco, California, San Francisco
Public Library, Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, Harry Hay Papers
Literature: Cage 1961h, 234; Cage 1993d, 29; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 16.
The Hag
Text: unknown
Medium: voice and piano
Extent: unknown
Date: 1981 or 1982
First performance: 1981 or 1982; apparently performed from
manuscript at the Kathleen Ferrier Competition in 1981 or 1982 by a student
named Ann Dawson (whose teacher was Carilyn Crawshaw at the Royal Northern
College of Music)
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Haikai (1984)
Medium: flute and zoomoozophone (a 31-tones-per-octave, 129 tube metallophone
tuned in just intonation)
Extent: instructions for performance (8 sentences); 16 systems
Duration: approximately 15 minutes
Commission: Newband with a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts
Dedication: for Dean Drummond and Stefani Starin
Date: July 1984
First performance: March 9, 1985
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 625-627, 1043-1045
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming (Peters; 67388)
Literature: Drummond 1982-1983
Haikai (1986)
Medium: eight performers on gamelan degung (suling, bonang, jengglong, saron,
panerus, gambang, kendang, and kempul and gong)
Extent: instructions for performance (14 sentences); I (1 system); II (1
system); III (1 system); IV (1 system); V (1 system); VI (1 system); VII (1
system); VIII (1 system)
Duration: 20 minutes
Dedication: for Si Pawit, gamelan degung of the Evergeen Club
Date: October 1986
First performance: April 5, 1987
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 751-754
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1986 (Peters; 67145)
Literature: Cage, John 1987HA;
Cage/Emmerik 1991, 82; Siddall 1987, 16.
Haiku
Medium: any number of performers using indeterminate sound sources
Extent: 1 table and 3 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: January 1958
First performance: September 6, 1987
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 4; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 246
Publication: none.
Haikus
Medium: piano
Extent: I. For My Dear Friend, Who (9 measures); II. (What Stillness!) (9
measures); III. The Green Frogs Voice (9 measures); IV. The River Plurabelle
(9 measures); V. Haiku (5) (9 measures); VI. Haiku (6) (9 measures; V and VI
may actually be a single piece comprising 18 measures)
Duration: ***
Dedication: I presumably for Virgil Thomson
Date: 1950-1951 in New York; completed October 5, 1950 (1); March 5, 1951
(2); March 6, 1951 (3), March 8, 1951 (4); March 16, 1951 (5); no date,
presumably after March 16, 1951 (6)
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 166; NOTE***: sketches in
folder 952 on manuscript of Sixteen
Dances are irrelevant to Haikus
Publication: none.
Haitian Rhythms
Choreography: Syvilla Fort
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: unknown
Date: circa 1940
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Levitz 2005.
Ho to AA
Text: Charles
Tracy
Choreography: Bonnie
Bird
Medium: voice
and piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: prior to
March 24, 1939
First performance: March
24, 1939
Sources: present
location unknown
Publication: none.
A House Full of Music
Text: indeterminate
Medium: a large number of children and youngsters (pupils from local music
schools) simultaneously playing or singing their repertoire
Extent: unknown
Duration: 90 minutes
Dedication: none
Commission: European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
Date: June 7, 1981, Bremen-1982
First performance: May 10, 1982
Sources: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University, Music Library
Publication: none.
HPSCHD
Note: composed with Lejaren Hiller; with the assistance of Laetitia Snow and
James Cuomo (computers used Illiac II, IBM 7094)
Medium: any combination of one to seven amplified harpsichords and one to
fifty-one magnetic tapes (recorded September 1, 1968 [a.o.], ca. 20'30"
each) for 1 to 51 monaural machines [1 to 30 amplifiers] to be used in whole or
part in any combination with or without interruptions to make an indeterminate
concert of any agreed-upon length having two to 58 separate channels with
loudspeakers around the audience; in addition to playing his own solo, each
harpsichordist is free to play any of the others (in program of first
performance)
Model: Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata in f minor Op. 57; Ferruccio Busoni, Sonatina seconda; John Cage, Winter Music; Fryderyk Chopin, Prlude en r mineur opus 28; Louis
Moreau Gottschalk, The Banjo; Lejaren
Hiller, Sonata No. 5 for Piano, 1961, IV, Finale, Allegro
Moderato-Prestissimo; Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, (ascribed) Musikalische
Wrfelspiele, Kchel Anhang C 30.01; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Fantasy in c minor K. 475, measures 1-10
(Solos III and IV); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata in B flat major K. 281,
first movement, measures ***, second movement, measures 1-32 (solos III and
IV); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata in G major K. 283, first movement, measures
1-47 (Solos III and IV); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata in D major K. 284,
first movement, measures 1-32, second movement, measures 1-24 (Solos III and
IV); Sonata in C major K. 330, first movement, measures 1-32 (Solos III and
IV); Arnold Schnberg, Drei Klavierstcke
Op. 11; Robert Schumann, Carnaval Op.
9, Reconnaissance (Solos V and VI)
Extent: 600 systems (solo I), 1280 measures (solo II), 1280 measures (solo
III), 1280 measures (solo IV), 1280 measures (solo V), 1280 measures (solo VI),
2 sentences (solo VII), 51 tapes
Duration: indeterminate
Date: September 1967-March 8, 1969
First performance: May 16, 1969
Dedication: for Antoinette Vischer
Realization: of tapes by John Cage and Lejaren Hiller (1968) with the assistance of
James Cuomo, Paul Krabbe, and James Stroud
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073* box 3 folder 4; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 300-304, 969-979
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1969 (Peters; 6804) [manuscripts prepared by
Cage, Allan Harlock and Richard Herbert Howe)
Literature: Cage 1972[LETTER TO OTTE, APRIL 29]; Cage 1972[LETTER TO OTTE,
FEBRUARY 11]; Cage 1973h, 65; Cage 1979c, 133; Cage and Hiller/Austin 1968;
Cage/Barnard 1980, 7; Cage/Charles 1976, 139-142, 180, 194-196, 197-199; Cage/McGuire
and Arnold 1985, 8; Cardew 1972; Chadabe
2007; Charles 1971[c]/1978;
Duckworth 1972, 124-42, 150; Erickson 1975, 190-192; Ernst 1977, 139-140; Heimbecker 2008; Heimbecker FORTHCOMING; Henahan 1972; Hiller 1970; Hiller 1972; Husarik 1983; Kobrin 1970;
Miller, L.E. 2002a, 163-165; Palmer, L.
1989; Schning 1979/1982, 81; Thorman 2002, 157; Troxler
1976, 86-90.
Hymnkus
Medium: any solo from or combination of alto flute, clarinet in B flat, alto
saxophone in E flat, tenor saxophone in B flat, bassoon, tenor trombone, two
percussionists using any instruments, accordion, two pianos, voice (vocalise),
violin, and violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (11 sentences); alto flute (8 systems),
clarinet (8 systems (8 systems), alto saxophone in E flat (8 systems), tenor
saxophone (8 systems), bassoon (9 systems), tenor trombone (8 systems),
percussion 1 (8 systems), percussion 2 (8 systems), accordion (8 systems),
piano 1 (7 systems), piano 2 (8 systems), voice (9 systems), violin (9
systems), violoncello (8 systems)
Duration: 30 minutes
Dedication: for Matthew Kocmieroski and the New Performance Group
Date: 1986, presumably prior to May 14
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 755-756, 1079
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1986 (Peters; 67158)
Literature: Cage 1988c, 9; Cage/Emmerik 1991, 82; Instrumentalist 1987.
Hymns and Variations
Text: vocalise
Medium: twelve amplified voices (three sopranos, three altos, three tenors,
three basses)
Model: William Billings, Heath from The
Singing Masters Assistant; William Billings, Old North or Morning Hymn
from The New-England Psalm-Singer
Extent: Hymn (26 measures); Hymn (29 measures); I (29 measures); II (26
measures); III (26 measures); IV (29 measures); V (26 measures); VI (26
measures); VII (29 measures); VIII (29 measures); IX (29 measures); X (26
measures)
Duration: approximately 24 minutes
Date: January 1979
First performance: June 10, 1979
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 584-586, 1021-1022
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1979 (Peters; 66812)
Literature: Brooks, W. 1993c; Cage/Smith, S.S. 1992, 48; Kostelanetz 1988b, 98-99;
Thorman 2002, 48, 154.
Imaginary Landscape No. 1
Note: earlier title Imaginary
Landscape
Medium: four percussionists using two Victor constant frequency test records
(***Victor Frequency Record 84522 B, Victor Constant Note Record No. 24 (84519
B) played on a variable-speed phono turntable (player 1); one Victor constant
frequency test record (***Victor Frequency Record 84522 A) played on a
variable-speed phono turntable (player 2); large Chinese cymbal (player 3);
string piano (manually muted piano, also using gong beater) (player 4); to be
recorded in a radio studio and presented as a broadcast or recording
Extent: 70 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: Spring 1939
First performance: Spring 1939
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 46-48
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6716)
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1962e, 35-36; Cage 1967o, 142; Cage/Charles 1976, 41; Cage/Holmes 1981, 3;
Campana 1989b; Collins, Nicolas 2007; Duckworth 1972, 75-78, 84; Griffiths 1981a, 7-8; Hosokawa 1993; Key, S.
2002; Kostelanetz 1970d, 128; Kostelanetz 1988b, 157-158; Wilson, P.N. 1997.
Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (1940)
Choreography: Bonnie Bird
Medium: three percussionists using records of constant and variable
frequency (1. Victor Record 84522
B, 433 cps (33 rpm) and 1000 cps (78 rpm); Victor Record 84522 A, 33 and 78
rpm), tam tam, large Chinese cymbal (THIRD player) and prepared piano
Extent: 57 measures
Duration: ***
Date: completed May 1, 1940; withdrawn after first performance
First performance: May 7, 1940
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 50-51
Publication: none
Literature: Kostelanetz 1988b, 61-62.
Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (1942)
Note: original title Fourth
Construction; alternative title March
No. 1
Medium: five percussionists using five tin cans, blown conch shell (player 1);
five tin cans (player 2); five tin cans (player 3); ratchet, bass drum, buzzer,
water gong, metal wastebasket (player 4); amplified coil of wire (attached to
phonographic pick up arm and then amplified with loudspeaker), buzzer, lions
roar (player 5)
Extent: 252 measures
Duration: approximately 7 minutes
Date: April 1942
First performance: May 7, 1942
Dedication: for Lou Harrison
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 73-77
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6721)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 37; Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Kostelanetz 1988b,
61-62.
Imaginary Landscape No. 3
Medium: six percussionists using audio frequency oscillator, variable speed
turntable with constant frequency record, amplifier and loudspeaker (player 1);
five tin cans (player 2); five tin cans (player 3); battery-operated electric
buzzer, variable speed turntable with continuously variable frequency record,
amplifier and loudspeaker (player 4); two muted Balinese button gongs or large
temple blocks, variable speed turntable with record of a generator whine,
amplifier and loudspeaker (player 5); amplified radio aerial coil attached
[***inserted in] to a phonograph pick-up arm, contact-microphone amplified
marimbula, amplifier and loudspeaker (player 6)
Extent: 144 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: for Lavinia Schwartz
Date: February 1942
First performance: March 1, 1942
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 78-82
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6717)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 36; Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Kostelanetz 1988b, 59,
157-158; Smith, S.S. 1978;
Vanlandingham 1971, 56-67; Vanlandingham 1972.
Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Note: alternative title March No. 2
Medium: twenty-four performers using twelve radios
Extent: 144 measures
Duration: approximately 4 minutes and 40 seconds
Dedication: none
Date: April 5-27, 1951
First performance: May 10, 1951
Commission: New Music Society
Dedication: for Morton Feldman
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6718)
Literature: Cage 1952a; Cage 1961h, 26, 30, 34, 57-59, 162; Cage 1962e, 36; Cage
1970d; Cage/Charles 1976, 169; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 72; Charles 1971[c/=
GLOSES, 100]; Cowell, H. 1952; Kostelanetz 1988b, 64, 98-99, 160-161; McGary 1960[in Dunn]/1962, 57; Pritchett
1988a, 158-171; Thorman 2002, 68; Welsh 1984.
Imaginary Landscape No. 5
Choreography: Jean Erdman, Portrait of a Lady
Medium: any forty-two phonograph records to be recorded on eight magnetic
tapes and subsequently to be mixed on tape or disc
Extent: 12 systems
Duration: 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: completed January 12, 1952
First performance: January 18, 1952
Realization: on tape by John Cage in collaboration with David Tudor with technical
assistance of Louis Barron and Bebe Barron, 1952; New York, collection Jean
Erdman (realization, 1 tape recording, presumably lost***)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 173-174, 948
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6719)
Literature: Balzano 1980b; Boulez/Cage 1990, 194; Cage 1961h, 31; Cage 1962e, 37; Di Scipio
1999b; Fetterman 1996, 19-20;
Hosokawa 1993; Kim 2008; Kostelanetz 1970d, 130; Pritchett 1988a, 178-185.
Improvisation I. See Child of Tree.
Improvisation IA. See Branches.
Improvisation II. See Inlets.
Improvisation III
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Duets
Medium: at least four performers each using a cassette machine and identical
sets of six different cassette recordings of music or sound of a single kind
Note: when used as an accompaniment to the dance Duets, the cassettes used are of traditional Irish bodhran playing
Extent: 5 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Date: February 1980
First performance: February 26, 1980
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 589
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Cage/Timar, Frasconi, and Ingelevics 1981, 15; Kim 2008; Kostelanetz
1988b, 93.
Improvisation IV
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Fielding Sixes
Medium: three performers each using a cassette machine having variable
playback speed, and twelve cassette recordings of music or sound of two
different kinds
Note: sometimes performed with four performers
Extent: 9 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Date: prior to June 30, 1980; revised and completed 1982
First performance: June 30, 1980
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1983 (Peters; 66954)
Literature: Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Cage/Timar, Frasconi, and Ingelevics 1981, 15; Kim 2008;
Kostelanetz 1988b, 93; Sears 1981.
Improvisation A + B
Medium: clarinet in B flat, tenor trombone, percussionist (any 8 instruments
plus any chosen auxiliary sounds in A; any 35 sounds in B), voice (B:
indeterminate vocalise on given letters from the alphabet), and violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (5 sentences); clarinet (27 systems);
tenor trombone (32 systems); percussion (30 systems); voice (25 systems);
violoncello (27 systems)
Duration: 90 minutes
Date: between December 1985 and February 27, 1986
First performance: February 27, 1986
Dedication: for BL Lacerta
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 630-633
Publication: none
Literature: Kostelanetz 1988b, 93.
In a Landscape
Choreography: Louise Lippold
Medium: harp or piano
Extent: 226 measures
Duration: approximately 8 minutes
Dedication: for Louise Lippold
Date: August 1948
First performance: August 20, 1948
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6720); repr. in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48. New York: Henmar
Press, [1998], pp. 57-65. (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 7, 24; Francis, J.R. 1976, 34-37; Keyboard 1985.
In the Name of the Holocaust
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Note: title derives from James Joyce, Finnegans
Wake. New York: Viking Press, 1939
Extent: 85 measures
Duration: approximately 7 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: completed December 26, 1942
First performance: February 14, 1943
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 83
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66755); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 1: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 25-29 (Peters; 67886a).
Indices [Earle Brown, arranged by Cage]
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Springweather and People
Medium: arrangement for piano by John Cage
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: unknown
First performance: May 24, 1955
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cunningham 1968CHANGES***.
Inlets
Note: alternative title Improvisation
II
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: three performers each using four amplified, water-filled conch shells
[3 very large, 3 medium large, 3 medium size, 3 small]), a performer using a
blown conch shell, and the sound of pine cones burning (optionally
tape-recorded)
Extent: 13 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: September 1977
First performance: September 10, 1977
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 552-553, 1010
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66787)
Literature: Bargreen 1977a; Barkema
and Blaauw 1978; Cage 1988c, 8; Cage 1990f, 446; Cage/Cope 1980, 20-21;
Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 76-77; Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Cage/Reynolds 1979, 582; Kim 2008;
Kostelanetz 1988b, 93;
Pritchett 1996.
Instances of Silence
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Trails
Medium: any number of cassette players with ***tape cassette recordings with
various categories of environmental sounds
Extent:
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: 1982
First performance: March 16, 1982
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage and Eno/Tannenbaum 1985, 69.
Ixion [Morton Feldman, ***arranged/edited by Cage]
Medium: unknown
Date: 1958
Extent: ***systems
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
First performance: August 17, 1958, New London, Connecticut, Connecticut College
Sources: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University, Music Library
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Feldman 1993, 181.
Jazz Study
Medium: piano
Note: possibly composed for Doris Dennison
Extent: 64 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: approximately 1942
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 934
Publication: in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 8-11 (Peters; 68030).
Lecture on the Weather
Text: Henry David Thoreau, Essay on
the Duty of Civil Disobedience and Walden
Medium: ***twelve amplified speaker vocalists (and/or instrumentalists) with
independent sound systems also using singing voices or any instruments or a
combination thereof, magnetic tapes and a film
Note: Includes recordings by Maryanne Amacher and film (representing
lightning by means of briefly projected negatives of drawings by Thoreau) by
Luis Frangella, a collage of texts by Henry David Thoreau, sounds of wind, rain
and thunder, and a film
Extent: *** systems
Duration: approximately 48 minutes
Commission: Richard Coulter of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in
observance of the Bicentennial of the United States of America
Date: September 1975
First performance: February 26, 1976
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 432-444
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1975 (Peters; 6817); preface separately
published as Cage 1979PREFACE
Literature: Cage 1979c, 3n; Cage/Kostelanetz 1980JOHN/1981, 268-269;
Cage/Zimmermann 1976, 62-63; Griffiths 1981a, 43; Perloff, M. 1991, 21-28; Kostelanetz
1988b, 81-82.
Lidice
Choreography: Marie Marchowsky, There Will Be
Tomorrow (A Dance in Two Scenes)
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: approximately 15 minutes
Dedication: (of the choreography) to the town of Lidice and its simple folk
destroyed by the Fascist invader
Date: early 1943
First performance: January 20, 1943
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Litany for the Whale
Medium: two voices (g-d')
Extent: instructions for performance (7 sentences) and 21 systems
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: late July 1980
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 590
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1981 (Peters; 66880); repr. in Whales: A Celebration, ed. Greg Gatenby.
Boston [etc.]: Little, Brown and Company, 1983, 117
Literature: none.
Living Room Music
Text: Gertrude Stein, from The World
is Round. New York: W.R. Scott, 1939; repr. New York: Young Scott Books,
1966
Medium: four percussionists using any household objects or architectural elements
(magazines, books, cardboard boxes, tables, floors, walls, doors, windows,
respecting some graduation from high to low pitch from first to fourth player)
and performing as speech quartet; if the third movement is included, the fourth
percussionist performs on any instrument having the range c'-d'' sharp
Extent: I. To Begin (36 measures); II. Story [original title Advertisement
for a Book] (50 measures); III. Melody [optional] (64 measures); IV. End (51
measures)
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Commission: Peter Yates
Dedication: for Xenia Cage
Date: after October 7, 1940
First performance: presumably June 3, 1976
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 52-54, 930
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1976 (Peters; 6786)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 37; Griffiths 1981a, 13; Nodine 2007.
Lullaby
Medium: music
box
Model: Erik
Satie, Vexations
Extent:
instructions for performance (1 sentence); 4 systems
Duration:
indeterminate
Commission: Centre
International de Recherche Musicale, Nice
Dedication: none
Date: prior to
April 14, 1991
First performance: December
4, 1991
Sources: present
location unknown
Publication: in Berceuses: Peintures de Corneille, ed.
Michel Redolfi. Paris: Albin Michel; Centre International de Recherche
Musicale; Paris-Muses, 1991, flyleaves
Literature: none.
Marriage at the Eiffel Tower
Note: composed in collaboration with Henry Cowell, George Frederick McKay;
Cowell composed the following movements (dated January 30, 1939): Hilarious
Curtain-Opener; Ritournelle; Two Ritournelles (piano); The Train Finale
(percussion)
Libretto: Jean Cocteau, Les maris de la
Tour Eiffel, 1921, 1924
Choreography: Bonnie Bird
Medium: piano (partly four hands) and three percussionists using toy and
percussion instruments (trombone, fife, siren, ratchet, two harmonicas, yellow
green whistle, flat whistle, police whistle, slide whistle, darling whistle,
xylophone, tom tom, snare drum, bass drum, break drums)
Model: quotations from Antonn Dvořk, Humoresque op. 101, no. 7 in G flat major; Jimmy Mc Hugh, I Cant Give You Anything But Love
(192?***); Felix Mendelssohn, Ein
Sommernachtstraum, Hochzeitsmarsch; Ethelbert Nevin, Mighty Lak a Rose (1901); Jacques Offenbach, Les contes dHoffmann (1881), Barcarolle; Sergey Rachmaninoff,
Preludes, Opus 8; Camille Saint-Sans, Le cygne from Carnaval des animaux; Richard Wagner, Lohengrin (1848), Act III, Hochzeitschor
Extent: You Are on the First Platform of the Eiffel Tower (60 measures); Wedding
March: Rubbish Music (167 measures); Everybody is Deeply Moved (54 measures);
Bravo (after Trouville Bathing Beauty [[Cocteau, p. 57, r. 17]]) (33 measures)
[[[***Cocteau p. 56, r. 34. End of page: cue is YetCocteau p. 57, r. 19]]];
Massacre (48 measures, piano four hands); Photographers Chase (26 measures);
After Child (*** measures);
Radiograms (*** measures); Help Its Biting Me! (31 measures); Radiograms
(Continued) Part 2 (12 measures); Lion (3 measures); Dirge, Funeral March and
Eulogy (*** measures [Eulogy two pages, ***free recitativo]); 3 oClock and
that Oystrich Isnt Back Yet (***
measures); Quadrille (*** measures,
piano four hands [quotes Sailors Hornpipe [Irish Washers Woman] en Yankee
Doodle]; Oof, What a Dance! (15 measures); Return of the Oystrich (*** measures); But Who Are These Two
Gentlemen Who Have Just Come in in Time to Upset the Photographer Again? (***
measures); After Just in Time (21 measures); The Dealer and the Collector
Leave the Eiffel Tower (*** measures); Wedding March (Exit) (22 measures);
Closing Time! (After Exit) (CIRCA*** 13 measures); Toccata (ca. 29 measures,
piano four hands)
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: January-February 1939
First performance: March 24, 1939
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 23, 47, 903
Publication: none
Literature: Lichtenwanger 1986, 166-167.
Meditation. See Tossed As It Is Untroubled.
Metamorphosis
Medium: piano
Note: original title Piano Music Op. 2
Extent: I (115 measures); II (73 measures); III (54 measures); IV (12
measures); V (82 measures)
Duration: approximately 16 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1938; movements completed on April 17 (I), April 14 (II), May 1 (III),
May 8 (IV), May 20 (V)
First performance: October 10, 1938
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 32-33
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6723) [facsimile]; 1966
[engraved]; repr. in John Cage, Piano
Works 1935-48. New York: Henmar Press, [1998], pp. 10-32 (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 8; Cage/Charles 1976, 29, 67; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 17-18;
Duckworth 1972, 62-64; Erdmann 1993f, 30-35; Francis, J.R. 1976, 11-23;
Griffiths 1981a, 5-6.
Mewantemooseicday
Note: original title Godamusicday
Medium: one-day musical exposition centering around the music of Erik Satie
Extent: presumably no notation
Duration: 19 hours
Dedication: none
Date: November 1969
First performance: November 21, 1969
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1973h, 70; Dinwiddie 1970; Glackin 1969; Hurst 1969.
Mirakus2 (songs)
Text: John Cage, Mirakus2
Medium: solo voice (range: d-c'')
Extent: I (4 systems); II (6 systems); III (11 systems); IV (8 systems); V (9
systems); VI (5 systems); VII (8 systems); VIII (6 systems); IX (9 systems); X
(11 systems); XI (9 systems); XII (6 systems)
Duration: approximately 11 minutes (varies according to the tempi chosen)
Dedication: none
Date: November-December 29, 1984
First performance: presumably January 2, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 634-636, 1046
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67067)
Literature: Tōno 1985.
Montestella dIvrea
Note: working title The Park Amplified Project
Note: in collaboration with John Fullemann
Medium: for 30 small electronic systems consisting of a vibration microphone,
amplifier and headphone, to be operated by children of six years and older in
order to amplify the plants and trees surrounding the chapel of Montestella
dIvrea, to be emitted via 12 amplifiers/loudspeaker units
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: 1979-1981, unfinished
Sources: present location unknown
Literature: Cage/Cope 1980, 13; Cage and Fullemann 1982; Pulcini 1984a.
Mozart Mix
Medium: sound installation comprising five cassette players, twenty-five
cassette tape loops and silk-screen print in wooden box, 10 x 86 x 81 cm
Model: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, various works
Extent: poem (mesostic on Mozart), no further notation
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: 1991
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: Berlin: Gelbe Musik, limited edition (36 copies)
Literature: Ebbeke 1992a.
Music for _
Note: title to be completed by adding the number of players performing
Text: John Cage
Medium: any solo from or combination of voice, flute, oboe, clarinet in B
flat, horn in F, trumpet in C, tenor trombone, four percussionists (each using
any 50 [CHECK] instruments), two pianos, two violins, viola, and violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences); voice (101 systems),
flute (47 systems), oboe (53 systems), clarinet (54 systems), horn in F (43
systems), trumpet in C (54 systems), tenor trombone (57 systems), percussion I
(51 systems), percussion II (55 systems), percussion III (48 systems),
percussion IV (52 systems), piano I (54 systems), piano II (47 systems), violin
I (58 systems), violin II (49 systems), viola (55 systems), violoncello (57
systems)
Duration: indeterminate [CHECK] maximum 30 minutes
Dedication: for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, New York New Music Ensemble,
Cincinnati Percussion Group, Zeitgeist [Saint Paul, Minnesota, consisting of
Bob Samarotto, clarinet and saxophone; Greg Theysen or Theisen***, keyboard;
Jay Johnson, percussion; Joe Holmquist, percussion], Jan Williams (percussion
IV) and Yvar Mikhashoff (piano II)
Date: 1984-1987; 1984 PARTLY in New York (flute, clarinet in B flat, tenor
trombone, percussion I, II, III, piano I, violin I, violoncello), 1985 (voice)
and 1987 (oboe, horn in F, percussion IV, piano II, trumpet in C, violin II,
viola) [unfinished part for piano 3, program by Andrew Culver written 1988***;
seventeen parts were finished at the time of Cages death, although no further
parts were added after 1987
First performance: August 15, 1984
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 663-664, 1049-1051
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, clarinet in B flat, flute, percussion I-III,
piano I, trombone, violin, violoncello, 1984; voice, 1985; horn in F, oboe,
percussion IV, piano II, trumpet in C, viola, violin II, 1987 (Peters; 67040)
Literature: NNB***Cage 1985[PROGRAM NOTES ZAGREB]; Anonymous 1989aABOUT; Cage
1985k; Cage 1987MUSIC; Cage 1988c, 8; Cage 1991e; Cage/Anonymous
1988WORKinPROGRESS; Dick 1975; Pritchett 1993, 186-189, 200, 202; Erdmann
1993f, 85-92; Rehfeldt 1977.
Music for Amplified Toy Pianos
Medium: any number of performers using any number of toy pianos amplified by
means of contact microphones
Extent: instructions for performance (8 sentences), 8 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: February 1960
First performance: February 25, 1960
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 4; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 267
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6724)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 38.
Music for Carillon No. 1
Medium: carillon (any range)
Extent: 23 systems (graph version); 35 systems (transcriptions for two-octave
and three-octave instruments)
Duration: 3 minutes and 59 seconds
Dedication: for Mary Caroline Richards
Date: July 10, 1952 (graph version and transcription for three-octave
instrument); March 28, 1958 (transcription for two-octave instrument); July 4,
1960 (directions for reproduction); March 1961 (revision of graph version);
March 5, 1961 (revision of both transcriptions)
First performance: May 15, 1958
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 4; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 175-183
Publication: graph version. New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6725);
three-octave realization. New York: Henmar Press, 1960 [sic] (Peters; 6725b);
two-octave realization. New York: Henmar Press, 1960 [sic] (Peters; 6725a)
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1961h, 163; Cage 1962e, 24-25;
Cage/Charles 1976, 144; Cogan and Escot 1976, 301-304; Kostelanetz 1970d, 129;
Pritchett 1988a, 219-221.
Music for Carillon No. 2
Medium: carillon (any range)
Extent: 3 systems (transcription 6 systems)
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for David Tudor on his birthday 1954
Date: January 20, 1954
Realization: by John Cage; transcribed for a two-octave instrument May 24, 1958
First performance: unknown
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073* box 3 folder 5; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 203, 205, 207
Publication: graph version. As part of John Cage, Music for Carillon Nos. 2 and 3 (Graph). New York: Henmar Press,
1961 (Peters; 6726); New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6726a) [2-octave
transcription]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 25; Pritchett 1988a, 227-228.
Music for Carillon No. 3
Medium: carillon (any range)
Note: this composition is the retrograde inversion of Music for Carillon No. 2
Extent: 3 systems (transcription 6 systems)
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for David Tudor on his birthday 1954
Date: January 20, 1954
Realization: by John Cage; transcribed for a two-octave instrument in January 1961
First performance: unknown
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073* box 3 folder 5; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 203-204, 206-207
Publication: as part of John Cage, Music for
Carillon Nos. 2 and 3 (Graph). New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6726);
2-octave transcription, New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6726b)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 25; Pritchett 1988a, 227-228.
Music for Carillon No. 4
Medium: electronic carillon with percussion and live-electronics or magnetic
tape (ampflified or recorded low wood thud produced by a loglike samanthran)
and feedback (on tape or produced by means of a microphone)
Model: Antonn Bečvř, Atlas
of the Heavens = Atlas coeli 1950.0. Praha: Československ Akademie
Věd = Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1958
Extent: instructions for performance (two-octave version 9 sentences;
three-octave version 10 sentences); 40 systems (all versions)
Duration: 10 minutes
Dedication: for Richard K. Winslow
Date: April 1961 (model and transcription for three-octave instrument);
April 1966 (transcription for two-octave instrument)
First performance: possibly May 4, 1961
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 275, 962-964, 1084-1085;
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel
Collection; Zurich, Kunsthaus
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6727) [three-octave instrument];
New York: Henmar Press, 1966 (Peters; 6727a) [two-octave instrument]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 25; Cage/Charles 1976, 144; Foster, G. 1980a.
Music for Carillon No. 5
Medium: four-octave carillon having 47 bells
Extent: instructions for performance (1 sentence), 10 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Jerry Neff
Date: February 18, 1967
First performance: February 18, 1967
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 298
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1967 (Peters; 6803)
Literature: Cage/Shapiro 1985; Kostelanetz
1987b, 102; Kostelanetz 1988b, 73.
Music for Marcel Duchamp
Film: Hans Richter, Dreams that Money
Can Buy, sequence by Marcel Duchamp, Color Records and Nudes Descending a
Staircase
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 123 measures
Duration: approximately 5 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1947
First performance: 1948
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 135
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6728); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 74-78 (Peters; 67886b)
Literature: Applebaum 1948; Burge 1975-1976; Cage 1951a; Cage 1962e, 16;
Cage/Charles 1976, 193-194; Cage/Roth and Roth 1973, 72; Frst-Heidtmann 1979, 204-212; Griffiths
1981a, 18; Rhodes, C. S. 1995; Schnebel 1984.
Music for Merce Cunningham [Christian Wolff, arranged by Cage]
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Rune
Date: 1959
Medium: originally for six or seven instruments, realization-arrangement by John Cage for piano duo [presumably not identical with Duo [Duet?] for two pianists]
First performance:
Literature: Cage/Feldman 1993, 181.
Music for Piano 1
Choreography: Jo Anne
Melsher, Paths and Events
Medium: piano
Extent: 30
systems
Duration: 3
minutes and 30 seconds
Dedication: for Jo
Anne Melsher [not Joanne Melcher]
Date: December
1952
First performance: December
16, 1952
Sources: Los
Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 5; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 184-185
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6729)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34; Cage 1962e, 8; Cage/Charles 1976,
35-36; Duckworth 1972, 103-104, 116-117; Francis, J.R. 1976, 61-77, 94-97,
99-102 passim; Henck 1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 222-223.
Music for Piano 2
Choreography: Louise Lippold, Dark Thoughts
Medium: piano
Extent: 16 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Louise Lippold
Date: May 1953
First performance: presumably January 10, 1954
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 5; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 197
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6730)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34; Cage 1962e, 8; Cage/Charles 1976,
35-36; Francis, J.R. 1976,
61-77, 94-97, 99-102 passim;
Henck 1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 223-226.
Music for Piano 3
Medium: piano
Note: original title Piano Music No. 3
Extent: 4 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Morton Feldman
Date: June 1953
First performance: unknown
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 5
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6731)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34; Cage 1962e, 8; Cage/Charles 1976,
35-36; Francis, J.R. 1976, 61-77,
94-97, 99-102 passim; Henck
1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 226-227.
Music for Piano 4-19
Medium: any number of pianos
Note: pieces may be performed separately or continuously as one piece; may
be performed alone or together and with or without other cycles of Music for Piano [21-36/37-52, 53-68,
69-84]
Extent: 64 systems [including blanks]
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Eta Harich-Schneider
Date: May 1953
First performance: June 23, 1953
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 5; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 198-199
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6732)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34, 61n; Cage 1962e, 11; Cage/Charles 1976,
35-36; Francis, J.R. 197661-77,
94-97, 99-102 passim; Henck
1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 226-227.
Music for Piano 20
Medium: piano
Extent: 5 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Date: August 8, 1953
First performance: July 1953?
Dedication: for Jimmy Curley
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 5; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 200
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6733)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34; Cage 1962e, 8; Cage/Charles 1976,
35-36; Francis, J.R. 1976, 61-77,
94-97, 99-102 passim; Henck
1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 226-227.
Music for Piano 21-36/37-52
Medium: any number of pianos
Note: may be performed alone or together and with or without other cycles of
Music for Piano [4-19, 53-68, 69-84]
Extent: instructions for performance (8 sentences); 128 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for David Weinrib
Date: completed October 11, 1955
First performance: presumably October 23, 1955
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 4 folder 5
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6734)
Literature: Cage 1957a; Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34, 60-61; Cage 1962e, 12;
Cage/Charles 1976, 35-36; Duckworth 1972, 104-105, 116-117; Francis, J.R. 1976,
61-77, 94-97, 99-102 passim; Henck 1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 228-236.
Music for Piano 53-68
Medium: any number of pianos
Note: may be performed alone or together and with or without other cycles of
Music for Piano [4-19, 53-68, 69-84]
Extent: 64 systems [including blanks]
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Grete Sultan
Date: completed May 7, 1956
First performance: presumably May 18, 1956
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 214
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6735)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 22, 26-28, 30, 34; Cage 1962e, 12; Cage/Charles 1976,
35-36; Duckworth 1972, 105, 116-117; Francis, J.R. 1976, 61-77, 94-97, 99-102 passim; Henck 1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 228-236.
Music for Piano 69-84
Medium: any number of pianos
Note: may be performed alone or together and with or without other cycles of
Music for Piano [4-19, 53-68, 69-84]
Extent: 64 systems [including blanks]
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Lois de Antonio and Emile de Antonio
Date: completed May 8, 1956
First performance: presumably May 18, 1956
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 215
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6736)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 12; Cage/Charles 1976, 35-36; Duckworth 1972, 105,
116-117; Francis, J.R. 1976, 61-77,
94-97, 99-102 passim; Henck
1994b; Pritchett 1988a, 228-236.
Music for Piano 85
Medium: piano and live electronics (amplification and accessory sound devices)
Extent: 8 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Date: October 13, 1962
First performance: unknown
Dedication: for Moriyasu Harumi
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 286
Publication: none
Literature: none.
Music for The Marrying Maiden
Medium: magnetic tape
Text: Jackson Mac Low, The Marrying
Maiden, 1958; music as interludes between the acts
Extent: instructions for performance (11 sentences); 5 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: May 1960
First performance: June 9, 1960
Realization: for tape (using recordings of the rehearsals for the play) by John Cage, with technical assistance of
Richard Maxfield, duration 9 minutes, 1960
Sources: Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Afdeling Prenten, Tekeningen, Fotos; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 268
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6737); New York: Henmar Press,
1960 (Peters; 6737a) [single-track reel tape, 19 cm/second]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 40; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 73-74; Mac Low 1986.
Music for Wind Instruments
Medium: flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, horn in F, and bassoon
Note: originally numbered Op. 4
Extent: I. Trio for Flute, Clarinet, and Bassoon (245 measures); II. Duet for
Oboe and Horn (46 measures); III. Quintet (186 measures)
Duration: approximately 9 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1938; completed October 22 (Trio); October 24 (Duet); October 31
(Quintet)
First performance: March 7, 1939 (Duet only); February 17, 1962
(first known complete performance) (Anonymous 1962eNOTIZENprocess***)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 34-36
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6738a) [parts, with transposed
parts for clarinet in B flat and horn in F]; New York: Henmar Press, 1961
(Peters; 6738b) [score in C]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 24.
Music for Xenia
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: for Xenia Cage (1913-1995)
Date: February 1934
First performance: unknown, Seattle, Washington, performer
unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Music of Changes
Medium: piano (pianist also using cymbal beater, timpani stick, wooden stick,
coated paper, metal and plastic objects***)
Extent: 890 measures
Duration: approximately 43 minutes
Dedication: for David Tudor
Date: Spring-December 1951; completed May 16 (I); August 2 (II); October 18,
1951 (III); December 13 (IV)
First performance: July 5, 1951 (book I); January 1, 1952
(complete)
Sources: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Music Library; Los
Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 5 folder 1-4
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961, 4 books (Peters; 6256; 6257; 6258; 6259)
Literature: Boccadoro 1997; Boulez/Cage 1990, 149-153, 175-176, 195-196; Cage
1952a; Cage 1961h, 20-22, 25-26, 29, 34, 36, 57-59; Cage 1962e, 8; Cage 1967o, 110; Cage 1975f, 68; Cage 1979c, 185; Cage/Charles 1976, 178, 218-219;
Cage/Darter 1982, 21; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 19; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965,
68; Cage/Lohner 1989, 251; Cowell, H. 1952; Decroupet 1995; Duckworth 1972,
94-99; Francis, J.R. 1976, 44-54; Ganz 1965; Gubernikoff 1994; Henck
1982-1983a; Henck 1982-1983b; Henck 1982-1983c; Henck 1991; Henck 1994a;
Janello 1996; Klppelholz 1986; Kostelanetz 1988b, 14, 64,
74, 77, 87, 91, 99, 129, 219; Kraehenbuehl
1961-1962; McKay, J.R. 1977, 119-121, 163, 190-191, 196; Pritchett 1988a,
107-156; Rivest 1996a, 48-80; Rosenblum
1993; Schdler 1990; Tilbury 1974; Tilbury/Parsons 1969; Tudor/Schonfield 1972,
24; Tugny 1996; Vaes 2009,
749-752.
Music Walk
Medium: any number of pianists using a single piano, any number of radios and
indeterminate sound sources (for instance vocalizing)
Extent: instructions for performance (13 sentences) and 19 diagrams (one with
five parallel lines, eight with intersecting lines, ten with points)
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Heinz-Klaus Metzger (1932-2009)
Date: September 24, 1958
First performance: October 14, 1958
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 5 folder 5; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 960
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6739)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 41; Cage 1967o, 136; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 60;
Fetterman 1996, 47-59; Kostelanetz 1988b, 107; Metzger, H.-K. 1959b; Pritchett 1993, 126-128.
Musicircus
Medium: any number of performers who are willing to perform in the same place
and time
Extent: not notated
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: before November 17, 1967
First performance: November 17, 1967
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 299
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1970l; Cage 1973h, xiii; Cage/Charles 1976, 43-44, 127, 180,
196-197, 199; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 79; Charles 1970c; Dickinson 1974;
Griffiths 1981a, 40-41; Husarik 1983; Junkerman 1993; Junkerman 1994.
Musicircus for Children
Text: indeterminate
Medium: approximately eight hundred children (aged 4-12 years) performing
their repertoire (songs they learned in school, several dancing) simultaneously
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: April 1984
First performance: May 19, 1984
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 637, 1080
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Sumner, Burch, and Sumner 1986, 18.
Mysterious Adventure
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: I (52 measures); II (66 measures); III (44 measures); IV (164?***
measures); V ([62?***] measures)
Duration: approximately 8 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1944-1945
First performance: January 9, 1945
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 124-125
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1982 (Peters; 6787); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 26-45 (Peters; 67886b)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 17.
Newport Mix
Medium: an invited audience, each individual in which contributes a tape loop to
the performance
Extent: unknown
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Alice Weston
Date: Spring 1967 in Cincinnati, Ohio
First performance: Spring 1967, Cincinnati, Ohio, Newport Yacht
Club's houseboat; performers unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Charles 1976, 170, 180; Fetterman 1996, 136.
Nocturne
Medium: violin and piano
Extent: 48 measures
Duration: approximately 4 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1947, prior to October 23
First
performance: October 23, 1947
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1972 (Peters; 6740)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 23.
Nohopera
Medium: music theater work using geodesic domes, 'tensegrities' of Buckminster
Fuller
Date: early 1988 to June 1988, unfinished
Dedication: none
First performance: originally scheduled for performance in 1989
in Tokyo
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folders 879-880
Literature: Cage 1990f, 444; Cage/Hiu 1988; Cage/Retallack 1996, 228-234, 341; Palmer,
Robert V. 1988.
Nowth upon Nacht
Text: James Joyce, Finnegans Wake.
New York: Viking Press, 1939, p. 556
Medium: voice and piano; to be performed without break after singing The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
Extent: 15 measures
Duration: approximately 1 minute
Dedication: in memoriam Cathy Berberian
Date: July 1984
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 638
Note: see also Wan Fine Night
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1984 (Peters; 67039).
Ocean
Note: with David Tudor; title derives from J. Campbell's speculation about
James Joyce's book left unfinished at the time of his death
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: orchestra consisting of 150 [112] musicians and live-electronics
Duration: 90 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: conceived 1992, never composed; the orchestral music was composed by
Andrew Culver
First performance: May 18, 1994
Sources: present location unknown
Literature: George, P. 1996b.
One
Medium: piano
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences) and 10 systems
Duration: between 9 minutes and 15 seconds and 10 minutes
Dedication: for Juan Allende-Blin on his sixtieth birthday
Date: December 1987
First performance: February 27, 1988
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1988 (Peters; 67208)
Literature: Erdmann 1993e; Gronemeyer 1993; Schmitz-Stevens 1996; Valkenburg
2010b, 107-109.
One2
Medium: pianist using one to four pianos
Extent: instructions for performance (5 sentences); piano 1 (4 systems), piano
2 (4 systems), piano 3 (4 systems), piano 4 (4 systems)
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Margaret Leng Tan
Date: [completed July] 1989
First performance: November 21, 1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 781, 1072
Publication: none
Literature: Tan 1993.
One3
Note: subtitle 4'33" (0'00")
+ [G clef]; the G clef refers to Sofia Gubaidulina (there is an inner
clock)
Medium: a performer amplifying the sound (or having the sound amplified) in an
auditorium up to feedback level
Extent:
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Yukata Fujishima?
Date: late 1989
First performance: November 14, 1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 782
Publication: none
Literature: Cage/Retallack 1996, 77; Fetterman 1996, 94-95.
One4
Medium: percussionist [solo drummer] using any ten cymbals and / or drums***
Extent: instructions for performance (8 sentences); left hand (6 systems);
right hand (8 systems)
Duration: between 6 minutes and 25 seconds and 6 minutes and 55 seconds
Dedication: for Fritz Hauser
Date: 1990
First performance: presumably December 2, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 823
Publication: engr. New York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67349)
Literature: Gronemeyer 1993; Hauser 1991.
One5
Medium: piano
Extent:
instructions for performance (4 sentences); left hand (21 systems), right hand
(24 systems)
Duration: between
19 minutes and 40 seconds and 20 minutes and 40 seconds
Dedication: for
Ellsworth J. Snyder
Date: May 1990
First performance: April 6,
1991
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 824-826
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67356)
Literature: Erdmann 1992***; Valkenburg 2010b, 109-111.
One6
Medium: violin
Extent: instructions for performance (4 sentences); A (15 systems); B (15
systems); C (15 systems)
Duration: between 43 minutes and 50 seconds and 46 minutes and 50 seconds
Dedication: for Paul Zukofsky
Date: June 1990
First performance: May 22, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 827-828
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67357)
Literature: Haskins 1993.
One7
Text: (if any) vocalise
Medium: a performer using indeterminate sound sources
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences) and 43 systems
Duration: between 29 minutes and 45 seconds and 30 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: September 1990 (and possibly later)
First performance: late 1990 [first known performance January
11, 1991]
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 832
Publication: in John Cage, Four6. New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67469)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 205; Cage/Sweeney-Turner 1991, 2.
One8
Medium: violoncello (played with curved bow); may be performed simultaneously
with 108
Extent: instructions for performance (2 sentences) and 53 systems
Duration: between 43 minutes and 43 minutes and 30 seconds
Dedication: for Michael Bach
Date: April 1991
First performance: November 30, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 837-841, 885
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67408)
Literature: Bach Bachtischa 1991,
28-29, 31-32, [2]; Bach Bachtischa 1996a; Bach Bachtischa 1996b; Cage 1993d, 200, 202,
203; Cage/Retallack 1996, 203n27, 206, 246-252, 262-264, 267-269, 272,
275-276, 288, 345; Gronemeyer
1993.
One9
Medium: sh
Note: may be performed as part of Two3
or any three pieces may be performed simultaneously with 108
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences); 100 systems (each piece
having 10 systems)
Duration: indeterminate between 9 minutes and 30 seconds and 121 minutes: I
(between 10 minutes and 25 seconds and 11 minutes and 40 seconds); II (between
12 minutes and 13 minutes); III (between 13 minutes and 25 seconds and 14
minutes and 40 seconds); IV (between 11 minutes and 45 seconds and 12 minutes
and 45 seconds); V (between 9 minutes and 30 seconds and 10 minutes and 15
seconds); VI (between 10 minutes and 25 seconds and 11 minutes and 40 seconds);
VII (between 11 minutes and 25 seconds and 12 minutes and 25 seconds); VIII
(between 9 minutes and 50 seconds and 10 minutes and 20 seconds); IX (between
12 minutes and 30 seconds and 13 minutes and 45 seconds); X (between 10 minutes
and 10 minutes and 30 seconds)
Dedication: for Mayumi Miyata
Date: July 1991
First performance: January 18, 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 842-846, 1074
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67410).
One10
Medium: violin
Extent: instructions for performance (4 sentences) and 49 systems
Duration: between 24 minutes and 20 seconds and 24 minutes and 30 seconds
Dedication: for Jnos Ngyesy and Mineko Grimmer
Date: completed February 20, 1992
First performance: April 4, 1993
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 886
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67441)
Literature: Haskins 1993.
One13
Note: earlier title Ryoanji
Medium: violoncello (played with curved bow)
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: begun summer 1992 in New York, unfinished
Note: completed by Michael Bach Bachtischa
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 888
Publication: completed version by Michael Bach Bachtischa. New York: Henmar Press,
2009***FORTHCOMING (Peters; 68265)
First performance: October 10, 1993, by Michael Bach, Dresden,
Dresdner Zentrum fr zeitgenssische musik, 7. Dresdner Tage der
zeitgenssischen Musik [with Ryoanji]***
Literature: ***NNB Bach Bachtista; NNB Retallack; NNB Gronemeyer [Donaueschingen
1994 etc.].
Opening Dance
Choreography: Gertrude Lippincott, Introduction
in the Modern Manner
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: 3 minutes
Dedication: for Sue Laub
Date: 1942
First performance: February 20, 1942
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 95-3 folder 1088; Oakland, California,
Mills College
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming*** (Peters; ***).
Ophelia
Choreography: Jean Erdman
Medium: piano
Extent: 187 measures
Duration: approximately 8 minutes and 15 seconds
Dedication: for Jean Erdman
Date: [prior to December 27] 1945
First performance: December 27, 1945
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 128-130
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6788); repr. in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48. New York: Henmar
Press, [1998], pp. 36-48 (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 9.
Orestes
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: piano
Extent: 25 measures (possibly incomplete)
Duration: approximately 5 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: August 1948
First performance: August 20, 1948
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 154
Publication: none.
Organ2/ASLSP
Medium: organ
Extent: I (2 systems); II (2 systems); III (2 systems); IV (2 systems); V (2
systems); VI (2 systems); VII (2 systems); VIII (2 systems)
Duration: indeterminate; varies according to tempi chosen [at least
approximately 30 minutes]
Commission: Gerd Zacher
Dedication: for Gerd Zacher
Date: June 1987
First performance: November 21, 1987
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 766, 1063-1064
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1987 (Peters; 67185)
Literature: Luchese 2010; Zacher 1995.
Our Spring Will Come
Note: music for a dance and melodrama
Text: Langston Hughes
Choreography: Pearl Primus
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 367 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1943
First performance: presumably April 23, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 100-101
Publication: ed. Richard Bunger. New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66763);
repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music
Volume 1: 1940-47. New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 42-58 (Peters;
67886a)
Literature: Cage 1973h, 114-115.
Paragraphs of Fresh Air
Note: title also spelled as s of
Fresh Air
Text: vocalise
Medium: voice and four performers using any instruments and also operating
eleven sound sources consisting of any combination of tape machines, cassette
machines, record players, microphones, and telephone line
Extent: *** systems
Duration: 120 minutes
Dedication: for the Marathon Pledge Week of KFAI, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Dick
Paske)
Date: September 1979
First performance: October 11, 1979
Sources: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Fresh Air Inc., KFAI; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 587
Publication: none.
Party Pieces
Note: title not by Cage; composed in collaboration with Henry Cowell (nos.
3, 9-10, 12-20), Lou Harrison (no. 1-20), and Virgil Thomson (nos. 2, 4-8, 11)
Medium: any melody and keyboard instruments encompassing specified ranges
Extent: I (9 measures); II (11 measures); III (9 measures); IV (9 measures); V
(8 measures); VI (11 measures); VII (10 measures); VIII (8 measures); IX (4
measures); X (5 measures); XI (24 measures); XII (6 measures); XIII (6
measures); XIV (5 measures); XV (5 measures); XVI (6 measures); XVII (5
measures); XVIII (5 measures); XIX (10 measures); XX (10 measures)
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: circa 1944-1945
First performance: August 1982
Sources: present location unknown (presumably in Lou Harrisons estate)
Publication: (including facsimiles of no. 1, 11, and 20, drawings and statements by
Cage, Harrison, and Thomson) as arrangement for flute (doubling on piccolo),
clarinet in B flat, horn in F, bassoon, and piano by Robert Hughes. New York
[etc.]: C.F. Peters Corporation, 1982 (Peters; 66500)
Literature: Cage 1982s; DuPree 1987b; Grsching 1985.
The Perilous Night
Medium: prepared piano
Note: the title refers to an old Irish myth discussed in Joseph Campbell, The
Hero with a Thousand Faces.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1949 (Bollingen Series; 17) [Cage must have known
this book before it was published];
Jasper Johns made an artwork after this composition, Perilous Night, 1982, ink on plastic, 81 x 104 cm
Extent: I (100 measures); II (36 measures); III (108 measures); IV (49
measures); V (24 measures); VI (162 measures)
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: winter 1943-1944
First performance: April 5, 1944
Sources: New York, estate of Grete Sultan; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24
folder 109
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6741); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 1: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 59-80 (Peters; 67886a)
Literature: Cage 1973d, [vi]; Cage 1962e, 17; Cage 1979c, 8; Cage 1991c, 64; Cage/Charles 1976, 30,
52-53; Cage/Shapiro 1985, 110; Tomkins 1965a, 97.
Perpetual Tango. See Sports.
Piano Duet. See Cartridge Music.
Piano Music Op. 2. See Metamorphosis.
Piano Trio. See Cartridge Music.
Pools
Medium: a performer using amplified water-filled conch shells and the sound of
fire (optionally substituted by a magnetic tape recording)
Extent: unknown (probably not notated)
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: before June 15, 1978
First performance: June 15, 1978
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Postcard from Heaven
Medium: one to twenty harps using E bows and superballs ad libitum
Extent: instructions for performance (15 sentences); 60 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: June-July [after July 11], 1982
First performance: September 1982
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 642, 1032-1035
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1982 (Peters; 66923).
The Preacher
Note: title also encountered as First
Chapter of Ecclesiastes
Text: Ecclesiastes, chapter 1, verses 2-5, 7-9, 11, 14
Medium: voice (range: bass ***-***) and piano
Extent: *** measures
Duration: approximately 10 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: fall 1932
First performance: November 1932
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1, 927; San Francisco,
California, San Francisco Public Library, Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, Harry
Hay Papers
Publication: none
Literature: none.
Prelude for Meditation
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 25 measures
Duration: approximately 1 minute
Dedication: none
Date: 1944
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 115
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6742); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 8-9 (Peters; 67886b)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 17; Frst-Heidtmann 1979, 173; Griffiths 1981a, 17.
Prelude for Six Instruments in A Minor
Medium: flute, bassoon, trumpet in B flat, piano, violin, and violoncello
Note: material from this composition used in Encounter
Extent: 100 measures; measures 1-23 [***fully?] identical with the second of Two Pieces for Piano (1946), measures
1-23
Duration: approximately 8 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: May 1946
First performance: May 12, 1946
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 131-132
Publication: none.
Prelude to Flight
Choreography: Syvilla Fort
Medium: piano?
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: before April 28, 1940
First performance: April 28, 1940
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Primitive
Choreography: Wilson Williams
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 123 measures
Duration: approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds
Dedication: none
Date: completed December 24, 1942
First performance: unknown (March 20, 1978?)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 86-87
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66756); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 1: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 31-37 (Peters; 67886a)
Program (KNOBS) for the Listener
Note: in collaboration with Lejaren Hiller
Medium: volume, treble and bass controls for the left and right channels of
preamplifier and record of HPSCHD
Extent: eight sentences; diagram consisting of seven columns
Duration: 21 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: April 1969
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown (at least 10,000 generated results were
distributed)
Publication: New York: Nonesuch Records, 1969-1971 (enclosed with record H-71224).
Quartet
Medium: four percussionists using unspecified instruments
Extent: I. Moderate-Fast (531 beats); II. Very slow (292 beats); III. Axial
Asymmetry. Slow (472 beats); IV. Fast (956 beats); may be performed with only
one (either one) of the slow movements
Duration: approximately 20 minutes
Dedication: none
Note: the rhythmic patterns of the last movement were used in Series re Morris Graves [text]
Date: circa 1936
First performance: late 1936 or winter 1936-1937 (private); fall 1938 (public)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 13-15
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6789)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 38; Cage 1979c, 99n; Cage 1982r; Cage 1991c, 58; Campana
1989b.
Quartets I, V and VI
Text: vocalise
Medium: twelve amplified voices (three sopranos, three altos, three tenors,
three basses) and concert band consisting of four flutes (flute 1 doubling on
alto flute), two oboes, nine clarinets, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, two
bassoons, two alto saxophones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, four horns,
two trumpets, three cornets, three trombones, euphonium, two tubas, and timpani
Note: earlier title Quartet I,
etc.***
Model: orchestration of John Cage, Apartment
House 1776, Harmonies IV; XXI; XXVI
Extent: I (231 measures); V (29 measures); VI (17 measures)
Duration: ***
Commission: (1) University of Wisconsin, River Falls
Dedication: none
Date: after August 1976 in New York and (1) completed December 10, 1976;
presumably 1978 (Quartet V and VI)
First performance: April 27, 1977 (Quartet I); unknown
(complete)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 533, 539-541, 989, 994-996
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6820)
Literature: Zimmermann, W. 1992.
Quartets I-VIII [24 instruments]
Medium: chamber orchestra/twenty-four instruments consisting of flute, two
oboes, clarinet in B flat, two bassoons, two horns in F, five violins I, four
violins II, three violas, three violoncellos, and contrabass
Model: orchestration of John Cage, Apartment
House 1776, Harmonies IV; V; XVIII; XIX; XXI; XXVI; XXVIII; XXXVIII
Extent: I (231 measures); II (135 measures); III (27 measures); IV (127
measures); V (29 measures); VI (17 measures); VII (116 measures); VIII (133
measures)
Duration: approximately 40 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: after August 1976-ca. August 1977 in New York
First performance: February 22, 1977 (partial [I-II]); May 31,
1978 (complete)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 533, 989, 992
New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 989. Quartets I-VIII (draft, on manuscript of Apartment House 1776, 1976).
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 66686)
Literature: Anonymous 1977[liner notes CRAMPS-lp, left column]; Cage
1977QUARTETS; Cage 197[7?, pWDR
programma] = PREFACE-TO-SCORE?; Cage 1982b, 52-54; Cage 1990I-VI [***cross
references Apartment House 1776 to Quartets I-VIII]; Savenko 1983; Zimmermann,
W. 1992.
Quartets I-VIII [41 instruments]
Medium: CHECK small orchestra/forty-one instruments consisting of two flutes,
two oboes, two clarinets in B flat, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets
in B flat, eight violins I, seven violins II, six violas, five violoncellos,
three contrabasses
Model: orchestration of John Cage, Apartment
House 1776, Harmonies IV; V; XVIII; XIX; XXI; XXVI; XXVIII; XXXVIII
Extent: I (231 measures); II (135 measures); III (27 measures); IV (127
measures); V (29 measures); VI (17 measures); VII (116 measures); VIII (133
measures)
Duration: approximately 40 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: after August 1976-ca. August 1977 in New York
First performance: August 20, 1977 (selection)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 533, 536-537, 989, 993
Publication: engr. New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 66687)
Literature: Cage/Hersh 1977; Savenko
1983; Zimmermann, W. 1992.
Quartets I-VIII [93 instruments]
Medium: large orchestra***ninety-three? instruments consisting of three
flutes, four oboes (oboe CHECK doubling on English horn), four clarinets
(clarinet CHECK doubling on E flat clarinet, clarinet CHECK doubling on bass
clarinet), three bassoons, six horns in CHECK, four trumpets in CHECK, three
trombones, tuba, eighteen violins I, fifteen violins II, twelve violas, eleven
violoncellos, and nine contrabasses
Model: orchestration of John Cage, Apartment
house 1776, Harmonies IV; V; XVIII; XIX; XXI; XXVI; XXVIII; XXXVIII
Extent: I (231 measures); II (135 measures); III (27 measures); IV (127
measures); V (29 measures); VI (17 measures); VII (116 measures); VIII (133
measures)
Duration: approximately 40 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: after August 1976-ca. August 1977 in New York
First performance: presumably December 9, 1977
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 533, 538, 989
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 66688)
Literature: Savenko 1983; Zimmermann, W. 1992.
Quest
Choreography: Martha B. Deane
Medium: fifty mechanical toys amplified by a movable microphone with amplifier
and loudspeaker (first movement, improvised) and piano (second movement)
Extent: I. Youth and Confidence (extent unknown); II. Obstacles and Insecurity
(15 measures)
Duration: approximately 10 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to April 28, 1935
First performance: April 28, 1935
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 16-17
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66757) [second movement]; repr.
in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48.
New York: Henmar Press, [1998], p. 4 (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Hering 1946.
R/13 (Where R = Ryoanji)
Medium: percussionist using found objects
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Commission: Kansainvlinen uuden Musiikin Kesakatemia
Dedication: none
Date: July 26-28, 1983
First performance: between July 26-28, 1983
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
Radio Music
Medium: one to
eight radios
Extent: 24
columns***systems; each part is in IV sections
Duration: 6
minutes
Dedication: none
Date: May 1956
First performance: May 30,
1956
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 216
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6783)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 38; Chari 1998; Gramann and Wei 1988; Nimczik
1999.
Renga
Text: vocalise
Medium: seventy-eight musicians using any instruments or voices or a
combination thereof***; to be played alone or (as an occasional piece) with Apartment House 1776 or some other
musicircus (live or recorded) appropriate to another occasion than the Bi-Centennial
of the U.S.A.
Model: Henry David Thoreau, Journal,
passim, 361 marginal drawings
Extent: instructions for performance (10 sentences); 72 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: made possible with funds provided by the National Endowment on the
Arts 1975-1976
Dedication: for Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in observance of the
Bicentennial of the United States of America and also for the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York
Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Date: September 1975-April 1976 in New York, Caracas, Cuernavaca, Toronto,
Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Kyoto, Tokyo, Sapporo
First performance: September 30, 1976
Sources: Beverly Hills, California,
collection Betty Freeman; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 445-527,
986-987
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1976 (Peters; 6818)
Literature: Anonymous 1976RENGA; Brown, ? 1980[***], 8; Cage 1976b; Cage
1976UNTITLED; Cage 1979c, 133-134, 182; Cage/Cope 1980, 7-9?***; Cage/Reynolds
1979, 586; Schning 1979***, 21/1982, 91.
Reunion
Medium: a game of chess played on a board equipped with photoreceptors
(photoresistors) serving as a gating mechanism to transmit or cut off a
plurality of electronic musics (eight amplifiers and loudspeakers) and to
control lights
Extent: unknown
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: 1968
First performance: March 5, 1968
Sources: present location unknown (probably not written down)
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1973h, xiii; Cage 1980g; Cage/Charles 1976, 168; Cage/Helms
1972/1978, 25; Cross, L.M. 1970; Cross,
L.M. 1999; Kubota 1970; Miller,
L.E. 2001; Miller, L.E. 2002a, 162-163; Schwarz, A. 1969; Tudor/Schonfield
1972, 26.
Roaratorio, an Irish circus on Finnegans Wake. See _,
_ _ Circus on _.
Rocks
Medium: any combination of at least six radios, television sets, tape
machines, cassette machines, ad libitum with machines emitting relatively fixed
sounds (e.g. vacuum cleaners, buzzers, alarms, feedback)
Extent: 3 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for David Gordon and Valda Setterfield
Date: May 5, 1986
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 757-758
Publication: none.
A Room
Medium: piano or prepared piano
Extent: 79 measures
Duration: approximately 2 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1943
First performance: unknown
Note: originally intended as the third movement of a concert suite also
incorporating She Is Asleep
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 98
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1968 (Peters; 6790); repr. in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48. New York: Henmar
Press, [1998], pp. 33-35 (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 10, 17; Francis, J.R. 1976, 26-28; Goldberg, J. 1986, 12-15.
Root of an Unfocus
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 83 measures
Duration: approximately 5 minutes
Dedication: for Merce Cunningham
Date: [prior to April 5] 1944
First performance: April 5, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folders 116-117
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6743); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 4-7 (Peters; 67886b)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 17; Hilger 1990, 38-41; Kisselgoff 1982.
Rozart Mix
Medium: at least four performers using at least twelve tape machines and at
least eighty-eight magnetic tape loops
Extent: *** sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Alvin Lucier
Date: April 2-early May 1965
First performance: May 5, 1965
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 291
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1965 (Peters; 6800)
Literature: Bttinger 1990; Cage/Charles 1976, 170-171; Cage/Helms 1972TAPE[also
in printed publication, 1974?***]; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 57;
Cage/Kostelanetz 1968WE/1970, 18-19; Charles 1978c, 139-143.
Ryoanji
Text: vocalise
Medium: any solo from or combination of voice, flute, oboe, tenor trombone,
contrabass, each of these parts with three magnetic tapes ad libitum, and
obbligato percussionist using at least two only slightly resonant instruments
of different material or any twenty instruments capable of producing glissandos
Extent: flute (12 sentences, 32 systems); oboe (12 sentences, 32 systems);
voice (12 sentences, 36 systems); contrabass (11 sentences, 32 systems);
trombones (11 sentences, 32 systems); percussion (6 sentences, 77 measures);
ensemble (13 sentences and 20 77 measures)
Duration: indeterminate up to approximately 35 minutes
Commission: French Ministery of Culture for the Festival Musique du XXme Sicle
dAngers (instrumental ensemble)
Dedication: for Michael Pugliese (percussion); James Ostryniec (oboe); Isabelle
Ganz (voice); Robert Aitken (flute); Jolle Landre (contrabass); James Fulkerson
(trombone)
Date: September 1983 (percussion, oboe); late November 1983 (voice); late
November or early December 1983-January 27, 1984 (flute); March 1984
(contrabass, orchestral obbligato); August 1985 (trombone)
First performance: December 2, 1983
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 606-619, 1036, 1039-1040
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, percussion, oboe, voice, 1983; flute,
contrabass, instrumental ensemble, 1984; trombone, 1985 (Peters; 66986a-g)
Literature: Blum/Straebel 1997; Cage
1984b; Cage 1985j; Cage 1985U; Cage 1988c, 10; Cage 1988R; Cage, John 1990f, 444; Cage/Feldman, Marcus
and Pellizzi 1983, 113-114, 124; Weisser 1998, 97-113.
Score (40 Drawings by Thoreau) and 23 Parts
Text: vocalise
Medium: twenty-three performers using any instruments or voices or combination
thereof and magnetic tape
Note: subtitle Twelve Haiku,
followed by a recording (made by David Behrman) of the dawn at Stony Point, New
York, August 6, 1974
Note: the score was subsequently used for Score (40 Drawings by Thoreau) without Parts: Twelve Haiku (1978)
[etching]
Model: Henry David Thoreau, Journal,
marginal drawings
Extent: instructions for performance (7 sentences); 12 systems
Duration: indeterminate, with a maximum of approximately 83 minutes (the
duration of the tape playback [approximately 41 minutes and 30 seconds] equals
that of the preceding performance)
Commission: Dennis Russell Davies and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Dedication: for Dennis Russell Davies and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Date: July-August 1974
First performance: September 28, 1974
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 427, 1078
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1974 (Peters; 6815)
Literature: Brown, Ka. 1980CAGE, [8]; Cage 1979c, 182; Cage/Dufallo 1989; Cage/Kostelanetz 1980JOHN/1981, 268; Pritchett
1996; Siefert 2002; Toland
1982SCORE.
Scottish Circus
Text: indeterminate
Medium: any number of voices and Scottish or Irish folk instruments
Extent: 12 sentences
Duration: approximately 30 minutes
Commission: Edward MaGuire and the Whistlebinkies
Date: conceived September 1984; composed September 15-20, 1990
First performance: September 20, 1990
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67496)
Literature: Cage/Sweeney-Turner 1991, 3; Cage/Sweeney-Turner
2003.
Sculptures musicales
Note: the title derives from a part of The
Green Box by Marcel Duchamp
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Inventions
Medium: any number of indeterminate sound sources***, each group of sounds
consisting of at least three different sounds
Extent: 8 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: 1989, prior to July 23
First performance: July 23, 1989
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 792
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1989 (Peters; 67348).
The Seasons
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: orchestra consisting of two flutes (flute 2 doubling on piccolo), two
oboes (oboe 2 doubling on English horn), two clarinets in B flat (clarinet 1
doubling on E flat clarinet, clarinet 2 doubling on bass clarinet), two
bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, tenor trombone, bass trombone, harp, piano
(doubling on celesta), two percussionists (using glockenspiel, xylophone, large
suspended Chinese cymbal, suspended Turkish cymbal, tam tam, bass drum),
timpani, eight violins I, six violins II, four violas, three violoncellos, two
contrabasses; piano reduction by the composer
Extent: 535 measures [number of measures based on piano reduction; orchestra
version has different barring ***]; Prelude I (18 measures); Winter (38
measures); Prelude II (33 measures); Spring (85 measures); Prelude III (29
measures); Summer (124 measures); Prelude IV (19 measures); Fall (171
measures); Finale (Prelude I) (18 measures)
Duration: approximately 18 minutes
Commission: Ballet Society
Dedication: for Lincoln Kirstein
Date: January-April 1947; piano reduction completed February 1947
First performance: May 18, 1947
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 136-139, 941
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6744) [orchestra]; New York:
Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6744a) [piano reduction]; the latter repr. in Works for Piano, Prepared Piano and Toy Piano,
Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng Tan. New York: Henmar Press, 2004, pp. 31-51 (Peters;
68030)
Literature: Cage 1947; Cage 1959XNOTES, [10]; Cage 1962e, 10, 33; Cage/Charles
1976, 98; Francis, J.R. 1976, 37-43; Hilger 1990, 47-53; Kostelanetz 1970d, 129;
Maier,
T.M. 2001b.
Second Construction
Medium: four percussionists; player 1 using seven oxen bells (large sleigh
bells), wind glass, Indian rattle, two small maracas; player 2 using snare
drum, five tom-toms, three large Japanese temple gongs, two small maracas, two
large maracas; player 3 using very large tam-tam, five muted gongs; water gong,
light thundersheet; player 4: prepared piano
Extent: 256 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1939-January 1, 1940
First performance: February 14, 1940
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 55-59
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 6791)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 38; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 70-71; Griffiths 1981a, 12.
Selkus2
Text: John Cage
Medium: voice (range: e flat-d'' sharp)
Extent: instructions for performance (8 sentences); I (6 systems); II (6
systems); III (10 systems); IV (5 systems); V (8 systems); VI (6 systems); VII
(6 systems); VIII (7 systems); IX (6 systems); X (6 systems); XI (6 systems);
XII (6 systems); XIII (11 systems)
Duration: approximately 12 minutes (varies according to the tempi chosen)
Dedication: none
Date: November-December 26, 1984
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 639-640, 1046
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67068)
Literature: Cage 1985FIRSTMEETING.
Seven
Medium: flute, clarinet in B flat, percussionist, piano, violin, viola, and
violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (9 sentences); each part 20 systems
Duration: between 19 minutes and 15 seconds and 20 minutes
Commission: Boston Musica Viva, through the New Works program of the Massachusetts
Council and by a grant from the Meet The Composer/Readers Digest Commissioning
Program, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lila
Wallace-Readers Digest Fund
Dedication: for Boston Musica Viva; Voices of Change, Dallas, Texas, and
Continuum, New York
Date: May 1988
First performance: November 18, 1988
Sources: present location unknown [formerly collection of John Cage]; New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 775-777, 1068
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1988 (Peters; 67227)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 246; Gronemeyer 1993.
Seven2
Medium: bass
flute, bass clarinet in B flat, bass trombone, two percussionists using any
very resonant instruments, violoncello, and contrabass
Extent:
instructions for performance (9 sentences); bass flute (28 systems), bass
clarinet (29 systems), bass trombone (26 systems), percussion 1 (24 systems),
percussion 2 (36 systems), violoncello (28 systems), contrabass (27 systems)
Duration: between
51 minutes and 45 seconds and 52 minutes
Commisson: Festival
des Hrens, Erlangen 90
Dedication: for
Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn
Date: [prior
to July 23] 1990
First performance:
September 25, 1990
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 829-831
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1990 (Peters; 67351)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 246; Cage/Retallack
1996, 76.
Seven Haiku
Medium: piano
Extent: I (3 measures); II (3 measures); III (3 measures); IV (3 measures); V
(3 measures); VI (3 measures); VII (3 measures)
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: for Elga [or Elsa?***] (1); Merle Armitage (1893-1975) (2); Aghavni
Uomini (3); Richard Lippold (1915-2002) (4); Maro Ajemian (5); Willem de
Kooning (1904-1997) (6); Sonja Sekula (7)
Date: July 1951 (1); January 21, 1952 (2); June 16, 1951 (3); no date (4);
no date, in New York (5); no date, in New York (6); no date, in New York (7)***
First performance: March 29, 1956 (first known performance); Annandale-on-Hudson,
New York, Bard College [recorded performance by David Tudor***]
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 5 folder 6; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 169
Publication: Black Mountain, North Carolina: Black Mountain Music Press, 1952;
repr. New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6745)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 10; Cage 1993d, 52, 53; Francis, J.R. 1976, 54-55; Pritchett 1988a,
171-173; Samsonova
2000; Santos, C. 1971; Vaes
2009, 752.
Seventeen. See Thirteen.
Seventy-four
Medium:
orchestra consisting of three flutes, three oboes, three clarinets in B flat,
three bassoons, four horns in F, three trumpets in C, two tenor trombones, bass
trombone, tuba, two xylophones, two pianos, harp, fourteen violins I, ten
violins II, eight violas, eight violoncellos, and six contrabasses
Extent: instructions for performance (16 sentences); each part 14 systems
Duration: between 11 minutes and 30 seconds and 12 minutes
Commission: by the
American Composers Orchestra
Dedication: for
Francis Thorne, Dennis Russell Davies and the American Composers Orchestra
Date: March 1992
First performance: November 8, 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 897-899
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67482)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 205; Swed
1993a.
She Is Asleep
Text: vocalise
Medium: four percussionists using three tom toms each (graduated in pitch),
voice and prepared piano
Note: originally intended as a concert suite in nine movements incorporating
A Room (1943); this suite remains
unfinished; four movements (the first, second, third, and eighth) were
completed and three of them were published, the first and second movements
(Quartet and Duet) under the given title, the third movement as A Room
Extent: I. Quartet (twelve tom-toms, 156 measures); II. Duet (voice and
prepared piano, 196 measures); VIII. Solo (prepared piano, 84 measures)
Duration: Quartet and Duet approximately 12 minutes; Solo approximately 4
minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1943
First performance: April 5, 1944 (Duet); May 15, 1958 (Quartet
and Duet); Solo presumably never performed
Sources: Berlin, Gelbe Musik; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder
102-103
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6746) [Quartet]; New York: Henmar
Press, 1960 (Peters; 6747) [Duet]; third movement unpublished
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1962e, 21, 39; Cage/Cope 1980, 21;
Goldberg, J. 1986, 15-16; Kostelanetz 1970d, 128-129; Petkus 1986, 91-100;
Smith, S.S. 1978.
Shimmera
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: none
Date: late 1942
First performance: February 14, 1943
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Vaughan 1997, 29, 286.
Silent Environment
Medium: an indeterminate closed space***
Extent: unknown; duration indeterminate
Date: late 1979
First installation: January 20-March 2, 1980
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Cage 1980h.
Six
Medium: six percussionists using any four instruments (player 1); any six
instruments (player 2); any five instruments (player 3); any four instruments
(player 4); any three instruments (player 5); and any five instruments (player
6)
Extent: instructions for performance (5 sentences); player 1 (8 systems),
player 2 (10 systems), player 3 (10 systems), player 4 (8 systems), player 5 (6
systems), player 6 (8 systems)
Duration: between 2 minutes and 50 seconds and 3 minutes
Dedication: for the Percussion Group The Hague
Date: September 1991
First performance: June 19, 1992
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folders 870-871
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67421)
Literature: none.
Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard
Medium: violin and piano
Extent: I (77 measures); II (38 measures); III (88 measures); IV (66
measures); V (33 measures); VI (22 measures)
Duration: approximately 15 minutes
Dedication: for Josef Albers and Anni Albers
Date: April 1950
First performance: presumably November 1959
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 163-164
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6748)
Literature: Bois 1968, 102-103; Cage 1962e, 23; Raynor 1985.
Six Short Inventions
Medium: alto flute, clarinet in B flat, trumpet in B flat, violin, two violas,
and violoncello
Extent: I (21 measures); II (13 measures); III (16 measures); IV (10
measures); V (14 measures); VI (36 measures)
Duration: approximately 7 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: April 5, 1934; Spring 1958
First performance: May 15, 1958
Note: instrumentation of final part of Solo
with Obbligato Accompaniment of Two Voices in Canon, and Six Short Inventions
on the Subjects of the Solo (1933-1934), with assistance of David Tudor
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 5, 10, 217, 247-249
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1963 (Peters; 6749) [score]; New York: Henmar
Press, 1963 (Peters; 6749a) [parts]
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1962e, 27; Dickinson 1965, 33; Duckworth
1972, 61-62, 63-64; Kostelanetz 1970d, 127.
Sixteen
Medium: flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in C,
tenor trombone, bass trombone, piano, 2 percussion players, 2 violins, viola,
violoncello and contrabass
Extent: flute (41 systems), trumpet in C (47 systems), oboe (46 systems), violin
1 (46 systems), violin 2 (46 systems), viola (42 systems), instrument 7 (44
systems), instrument 8 (41 systems), instrument 9 (50 systems), instrument 10
(45 systems), instrument 11 (44 systems), instrument 12 (42 systems),
instrument 13 [1] (44 systems), instrument 14 [2] (43 systems), instrument 15
[3] (46 systems), instrument 16 [4] (42 systems)
Duration:
Dedication: none
Date: April-May 1992 in New York, unfinished
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24, folder 891-893.
Sixteen Dances
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Sixteen Dances
for Soloist and Company of 3
Note: the piano reduction for some of the dances includes titles not used in
the final version: I. Solo; II. Trio: 3 Girls Who Had Dissolved; III. Solo:
The Mad Dog; IV. Delicate Leaves; V. Monks Sarabande; VI. Fleeting
Images (alternative title: Distraction); VII. Heros Dance (alternative
title: Thickening); VIII. Jig for Joy; IX. Odious Warrior; X. Blues;
XI. Medicine Man; XII. Basket Dance; XIII. Solo; XIV. Quartet; XV. Duet;
XVI. [Untitled]
Medium: flute, trumpet in B flat, four percussionists (player 1 using three
tom toms, low claves, Turkish cymbal, large Chinese cymbal, crash cymbal, tam
tam, Japanese cup gong, Japanese temple gong, bass drum; player 2 tom tom,
claves, Chinese wood block, two anvils, finger cymbal, Chinese cymbal, water
cymbal, pod rattle, North West Indian rattle, Indo-Chinese rattle, maracas,
gong, muted gong, water gong, Japanese temple gong, medium thundersheet,
dragons mouth; player 3 pod rattle, sanza [African thumb piano], North West
Indian rattle, Indo-Chinese rattle, Turkish cymbal, crash cymbal, finger
cymbal, water gong, small thundersheet, dragons mouth, claves, tubular bells,
timpani; player 4 tom tom, pod rattle, finger cymbal, very large Chinese
cymbal, small thundersheet, large thundersheet, three Balinese button gongs,
claves, snare drum, xylophone), piano, violin and violoncello
Extent: I (49 measures); II (100 measures); III (81 measures); IV (121
measures); V (27 measures); VI (100 measures); VII (144 measures); VIII (91
measures); IX (144 measures); X (100 measures); XI (81 measures); XII (43
measures); XIII (49 measures); XIV (196 measures); XV (60 measures); XVI (126
measures)
Duration: approximately 53 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: October 1950-January 5, 1951; completed October 25, 1950 (1), November
14 (4), November 18 (5), December 3 (6), December 6 (7), December 10 (8), ***:
10 [or 15, 18] December (9), December 20 (10), rewritten December 26; December
21 (11), December 22 (12), December 28 (13), January 2, 1951 (14), January 5
(15 and 16)
First performance: January 17, 1951 (piano reduction); January
21, 1951 (ensemble)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 167-168, 949-952
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6792)
Literature: Berger, A.V. 1951b; Boulez/Cage
1990, 123-124, 151-152; Brooks, W. 1993a; Cage 1961h, 25; Cage 1962e, 28;
Cage/Charles 1976, 33, 35, 98; Cage/Darter 1982, 19, 26; Cage/Gagne and Caras
1982, 72; Cage/Parfitt 1982; Campana
1985, 75-83; Cunningham 1982a, 175-76; Frst-Heidtmann
1979, 119, 217-218; Hilger 1990, 53-60; Pritchett 1988a, 87-99.
Sixty-eight
Medium:
orchestra consisting of three alto flutes, three English horns, five clarinets
in B flat, five trumpets in C, four percussionists, two pianos, fourteen
violins I, twelve violins II, ten violas, and ten violoncellos
Extent:
instructions for performance (1 sentence); each part 15 systems
Duration: between
28 minutes and 15 seconds and 30 minutes
Dedication: for
Ernstalbrecht Stiebler and the Hessischer Rundfunk
Date: February
1992
First performance: November
6, 1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 895-896, 900
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67468).
Literature: Pritchett 1993, 203.
Sixty-two Mesostics re
Merce Cunningham
Medium: voice solo using microphone; [with instructions for performance/ directions]
Extent: instructions for performance (16 sentences); 435 systems
Duration: indeterminate between 7 minutes and 30 seconds and 3 hours
Dedication: none
Date: March-June 1971
First performance: September 21, 1971
Sources: Middletown, Connecticut, Wesleyan University, Olin Library, collection 1000-72, box 9 folder 7-11; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 423, 980
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1971 (Peters; 6807); [repr. without instructions for performance] Cage 1973l
Literature: Anonymous 1971FIRST; Cage 1972[c, letter to OTTE]; Cage 1972MESOSTICS; Cage 1973h, ix-x; Cage/Bosseur 1973, 31; Henahan 1972.
Socrate: Drame symphonique en 3 parties [Erik Satie, arranged by Cage]
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Idyllic Song, 1944 (first movement only)
Medium: arranged for two pianos by John Cage; original arrangement (1944) presumably was for piano solo
Extent: 1. Portrait de Socrate (Le Banquet) (176 measures); 2. Bords de lIlissus (Phdre) (206 measures); 3. Mort de Socrate (Phdon) (294 measures)
Duration: circa 35 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1944 (first movement, piano solo); 1947 (first movement, two pianos); 1968 or 1969 [***MS69] in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, with the assistance of Arthur Maddox (second and third movement)
First performance: November 20, 1944 (first movement only); November 21, 1969 (complete)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 140-145, 942
Publication: Paris: Max Eschig, 1984 (M.E. 8554; with preface by John Cage; also in French trans. by Ornella Volta)
Literature: Cage 1977e; Dinwiddie 1970; Erdmann 1993f, 98-104; Vaughan 1997, 34, 175.
Soliloquy
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: piano
Model: John Cage, Four Walls, 1944,
modified excerpts of Scene III, Dance, and Scene VIII
Extent: 110 measures
Duration: 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1944-1945
First performance: January 9, 1945
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 126
Publication: in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 26-29 (Peters; 68030).
Solo for Voice 1
Text: John Cage, after anonymous; Edward Estlin Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys (1923), Tulips,
Chansons innocentes, III (no. 3), In Just-; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wandrers Nachtlied (ber alle Gipfeln);
Louis Dufour; Gerald Manley Hopkins; Huang-Po, Doctrine of Universal Mind; James Joyce, Finnegans Wake. New York: Viking Press, 1939, 104, 216; the Lankavatara Sutra; Friedrich Schnack
Medium: voice (any range***); may be performed with any of the parts of Concert for Piano and Orchestra
Extent: instructions for performance (26 sentences), 16 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Arline Carmen [not Arlene]
Date: 1958, prior to May 25
First performance: May 25, 1958
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 5 folder 6; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 250-251
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6750); revised as Solo for
Voice 12. In John Cage, Song Books.
New York: Henmar Press, 1970, 42-45 (Peters; 6806a)
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1962e, 21-22; Petkus 1986, 127-134.
Solo for Voice 2
Text: indeterminate vocalise
Medium: any number of voices; may be performed with any of the parts of Concert for Piano and Orchestra, Fontana Mix, or Cartridge Music
Note: Cage used this composition to obtain the vocalise for Solo for Voice
45 from Song Books
Extent: instructions for performance (22 sentences), 6 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: July 1960
First performance: August 12, 1960
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 269-270
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6751)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 22; Petkus 1986, 143-148.
Solos for Voice 3-92. See Song
Books.
Solos for Voice 93-96. See Four
Solos for Voice.
Solo with Obbligato Accompaniment of Two
Voices in Canon, and Six Short Inventions on the Subjects of the Solo
Medium: any three or more instruments encompassing the range g to g''
Extent: Solo (126 measures); Invention 1 (21 measures); Invention 2 (13
measures); Invention 3 (16 measures); Invention 4 (10 measures); Invention 5
(14 measures); Invention 6 (36 measures)
Duration: approximately 15 minutes
Dedication: none
Note: instrumentation of second part as Six
Short Inventions (1958)
Date: 1933-1934; completed March 7, 1934 (Solo) and April 5, 1934
(Inventions); revised for publication in 1963
First performance: presumably April 16, 1985
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 5, 10-11
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1963 (Peters; 6752)
Literature: Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1962e, 28; Campana 1985, 11-19, 168-173;
Campana 1989b; Duckworth 1972, 61-62, 63-64; Griffiths 1981a, 1-2.
Some of The Harmony of Maine
Medium: organ with two manuals (the soprano having at least ten stops; the
alto at least twelve) and a pedal having at least nine stops and three
[according to earlier edition, six***; the first performance was done with
three, later performances often with six] assistants
Model: Supply Belcher, The Harmony of
Maine [the selected pieces have kept their orginal titles]
Extent: 1. Alpha C.M. (14 measures); 2. Majesty C.M. (17 measures); 3. Harmony
C.M. (18 measures); 4. Creation L.M. (16 measures); 5. Hallowell S.M. (16
measures); 6. Advent C.M. (33 measures); 7. Turner L.M. (20 measures); 8.
Sunday C.M. (14 measures); 9. St. Johns C.M. (18 measures); 10. Invitation
L.M. (38 measures); 11. Transmigration (68 measures); 12. Chester L.M. 12
measures; 13. The Lilly P.M. (17 measures)
Duration: indeterminate (varies according to the tempi chosen)
Dedication: for Gerd Zacher
Date: October 27-November 1978
First performance: November 8, 1980
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 578-580, 1018, 1021
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1980 (Peters; 66840).
Sonata for Clarinet
Note: earlier title Sonata for One
Voice
Medium: clarinet in B flat
Extent: I. Vivace (25 measures); II. Lento (24 measures); III. Vivace (31
measures)
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1933; first movement completed on September 3, 1933; third movement
completed September 5, 1933; final corrections made in 1963
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 5-6
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1963 (Peters; 6753)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 24; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 17; Cage/Kirby and Schechner
1965, 58-59; Duckworth 1972, 58-60, 63-64; Griffiths 1981a, 2-4; Kopp 1981,
145; Stier 1982.
Sonata for Two Voices
Medium: any two or more instruments encompassing the ranges c' to c''' and c
to c'' respectively
Extent: I. Sonata (Allegro) (23 measures); II. Fugato (Lento) (19 measures);
III. Rondo (Tempo Primo) (22 measures)
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: for Richard Buhlig
Date: late October-November 3, 1933
First performance possibly November 1, 1984
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 7-8
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1979 (Peters; 6754)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 28; Griffiths 1981a, 1-2.
Sonatas and
Interludes
Note: originally entitled Four Sonatas; Sonatas
XIV-XV entitled Gemini, after the work by Richard Lippold (1947,
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, New York)
Medium: prepared
piano
Extent: Sonata I
(26 measures); Sonata II (37 measures); Sonata III (32 measures); Sonata IV (50
measures); First interlude (100 measures); Sonata V (40 measures); Sonata VI
(18 measures); Sonata VII (19 measures); Sonata VIII (25 measures); Second
Interlude (64 measures); Third Interlude (24 measures); Sonata IX (36
measures); Sonata X (24 measures); Sonata XI (65 measures); Sonata XII (38
measures); Fourth Interlude (38 measures); Sonata XIII (50 measures); Sonata
XIV (50 measures); Sonata XV (50 measures); Sonata XVI (50 measures)
Duration:
approximately 70 minutes
Dedication: for Maro
Ajemian
Date: February
1946-March 1948
First performance: April
14, 1946, January 24, 1948 (partial); April 6, 1948 (complete)
Sources: Red Hook, New York, John Cage Trust at Bard College (2 items); New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 940
Publication: in New Music Edition (1949);
repr. New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6755) [several editions lacking
footnote on final page of music]
Literature: Aste 2005; Brooks, W. 2007; Cage 1949c; Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1961h, 19-20, 25, 29-30, 34,
265; Cage 1962e, 17-18; Cage 1979c, 185; Cage/Anonymous 1995; Cage/Charles
1976, 33, 98, 178; Cage/Duckworth 1989, 20; Cage/Hamel 1988, 270;
Cage/Holmes 1981, 3; Charles
1970e; Dickinson 1965, 54; Duckworth 1972, 80-83, 84; Frst-Heidtmann 1979, 175-204; Goebels
1973; Grabcz 1987-1988a;
Griffiths 1981a, 18-20; Gubernikoff 1994; Haskins 2003; Jenkins
2002; Kostelanetz 1970d, 74-76, 129; Kostelanetz 1989d; McKay, J.R. 1977, 174,
193; Mead 1981; MM 1978 or after; Nimczik 2005; Perry, J. 2005; Pritchett 1993, 29-35; Rhodes, C. S. 1995; Simonacci
1985; Vaes 2009, 962-964, 972-976, 996+; Valkenburg 2010b, 42-51.
Song Books
Note: subtitle Solos for Voice 3-92
Text: vocalise (Solos for Voice 11, 45, 48) and John Cage, after
unidentified September 1970 newspapers (Solos for Voice 14, 29, 60, 75, 83,
92); a glossary of English and foreign geographical terms (Solo for Voice 67);
names of constellations (Solo for Voice 90); Norman O. Brown (Solo for Voice
59); John Cage (Solos for Voice 45, 68, 74, 91); Merce Cunningham (Solos for
Voice 72, 73); Richard Buckminster Fuller (Solo for Voice 59); James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (Solos for Voice 47, 84);
Herbert Marshall McLuhan (Solo for Voice 59); Erik Satie (Solos for Voice 21,
25, 33, 48, 52, 53); Friedrich von Schiller, Die Hoffnung (Solo for Voice 39); Henry David Thoreau, Essay on the Duty of Civil Disobedience
(Solo for Voice 34); Henry David Thoreau, Journal
(Solos for Voice 48, 49, 52, 53, 85)
Medium: any number of voices (***ranges) or performers***theatrical activity
or combination thereof, partly using ***with and without electronics
[***categories specified]; may be performed with or without other indeterminate
music, for example Rozart Mix and Concert for Piano and Orchestra;
"Solo for Voice 45" and "Solo for Voice 48" may be
performed with Atlas Eclipticalis, Cartridge Music, Winter Music
Extent: general instructions for performance (16 sentences); Solo for Voice 3
(9 sentences, 8 systems, and map); Solo for Voice 4 (3 sentences, 7 systems,
and map); Solo for Voice 5 (10 sentences, 41 systems, and drawing); Solo for
Voice 6 (12 sentences, 4 systems); Solo for Voice 7 (4 sentences, 3 systems);
Solo for Voice 8 (4 sentences); Solo for Voice 9 (1 sentence, 4 systems); Solo
for Voice 10 (1 sentence, 6 systems); Solo for Voice 11 (8 sentences, 12 systems);
Solo for Voice 12 (24 sentences, 16 systems); Solo for Voice 13 (3 sentences,
20 systems); Solo for Voice 14 (7 sentences, 16 systems); Solo for Voice 15 (2
sentences); Solo for Voice 16 (16 systems); Solo for Voice 17 (7 sentences, 13
systems); Solo for Voice 18 (Cheap Imitation No. 1: III) (2 sentences, 289
[sic, not 294] measures); Solo for Voice 19 (1 sentence, 8 systems); Solo for
Voice 20 (2 sentences, 1 system); Solo for Voice 21 (6 sentences, 1 system);
Solo for Voice 22 (7 sentences, 3 systems); Solo for Voice 23 (1 sentence);
Solo for Voice 24 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 25 (Cheap Imitation No. 2) (2
sentences, 33 measures); Solo for Voice 26 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 27
(Cheap Imitation No. 5) (1 sentence, 9 systems); Solo for Voice 28 (1
sentence); Solo for Voice 29 (8 systems); Solo for Voice 30 (Cheap Imitation
No. 1: II) (1 sentence, 206 measures); Solo for Voice 31 (1 sentence, 4
systems); Solo for Voice 32 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 33 (2 sentences, 1
system); Solo for Voice 34 (Cheap Imitation No. 6) (1 sentence, 49 measures);
Solo for Voice 35 (14 sentences, 198 measures); Solo for Voice 36 (2 sentences,
1 system); Solo for Voice 37 (2 sentences); Solo for Voice 38 (1 sentence, 1
system); Solo for Voice 39 (Cheap Imitation No. 3) (3 sentences, 64 measures);
Solo for Voice 40 (10 sentences, 8 systems); Solo for Voice 41 (1 sentence);
Solo for Voice 42 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 43 (4 sentences, 8 systems);
Solo for Voice 44 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 45 (15 sentences, 108 systems);
Solo for Voice 46 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 47 (Cheap Imitation No. 4) (2
sentences, 95 measures); Solo for Voice 48 (2 sentences, 48 systems); Solo for
Voice 49 (The Year Begins to Be Ripe) (7 sentences, 14 measures); Solo for
Voice 50 (3 sentences, ***measures = Solo 35); Solo for Voice 51 (1 sentence);
Solo for Voice 52 (Aria No. 2) (10 sentences, 8 systems); Solo for Voice 53
(Aria no. 2B) (7 systems); Solo for Voice 54 (2 sentences); Solo for Voice 55
(2 sentences); Solo for Voice 56 (2 sentences, 1 system); Solo for Voice 57 (3
sentences); Solo for Voice 58 (6 sentences, 18 systems); Solo for Voice 59 (1
sentence, 18 systems); Solo for Voice 60 (16 systems); Solo for Voice 61 (1
sentence, 6 systems); Solo for Voice 62 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 63 (1
sentence); Solo for Voice 64 (2 sentences, 2 colums); Solo for Voice 65 (9
sentences, 1 drawing and 12 systems); Solo for Voice 66 (10 systems); Solo for
Voice 67 (7 sentences, 6 systems); Solo for Voice 68 (4 sentences, 1 system);
Solo for Voice 69 (7 sentences, 11 systems); Solo for Voice 70 (9 systems);
Solo for Voice 71 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 72 (2 sentences, 6 systems);
Solo for Voice 73 (1 sentence, 6 systems); Solo for Voice 74 (2 sentences, 4
systems); Solo for Voice 75 (8 systems); Solo for Voice 76 (2 systems); Solo
for Voice 77 (8 systems); Solo for Voice 78 (2 sentences); Solo for Voice 79 (6
sentences, 8 systems); Solo for Voice 80 (17 sentences, 33 measures, and 55
staff fragments); Solo for Voice 81 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 82 (2
sentences); Solo for Voice 83 (4 systems); Solo for Voice 84 (7 sentences, 12
systems); Solo for Voice 85 = Rubbing No. 1 (7 sentences, 21 systems); Solo
for Voice 86 (1 sentence); Solo for Voice 87 (1 sentence, 5 systems); Solo for
Voice 88 (2 sentences); Solo for Voice 89 (4 sentences); Solo for Voice 90 (2
sentences, 12 systems); Solo for Voice 91 (4 sentences, 90 measures); Solo for
Voice 92 (16 systems); plus ***precise extent of instructions volume without
all materials belonging to one specific solo
Model: Antonn Bečvř, unidentified star maps; John Cage (Solos for
Voice 45, after Solo for Voice 2, 68, 74, after acrostic for James Klosty);
Merce Cunningham (Solo for Voice 73, after Changes:
Notes on Choreography); Marcel Duchamp, Autoportrait
de profil, 1958; James Joyce (Solo for Voice 47: TEKST), Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, Die Zauberflte, no. 14, Aria
Der Hlle Rache, ed. used as The Queen
of Nights Vengeance Aria, ed. Estelle Liebling. New York: G. Schirmer
(Arias from the Operas; no. 39240), 1941 (Solo for Voice 47); Erik Satie, Douze petits chorals, circa 1906, nos.
1, 6 (1), 6 (2), 7, 8 (Solo for Voice 34 and Solo for Voice 85), Ludions. Paris: Rouart, Lerolle &
Cie., 1926 (Editions Salabert; no. R.L. 11578), La grnouille amricaine
(Solo for Voice 25); Erik Satie, Messe
des pauvres. Paris: Salabert, 1920 (no. R. L. 11686), Kyrie, vocal
part[S?***] only (Solo for Voice 27); Solo for Voice 48 [text]), Franz
Schubert, Hoffnung Deutsch 637, circa
1819). S.l.: Edition Peters (no. 8725) (Solo for Voice 39); Henry David Thoreau
(Journal, 18?? (Solo for Voice 27); Solo for Voice 45 [text], Solo for Voice
85), and various unidentified sources (Solo for Voice 67: geographical terms;
Solos for voice 14, 29, 60, 75, 83, 92: from unidentified September 1970
newspapers; Solo for Voice 90: names of constellations)
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London
Dedication: for Cathy Berberian and Simone Rist
Date: August-October 1970 [***Solos for Voice 3, 4, 5, 17, 20, 27, 34, 47:
New York, August 1970; Solos for Voice 18 and 30: August-September 1970, New
York and Stony Point; Solos for Voice 45 and 48: Stony Point and New York,
August-October 1970; Solos for Voice 32, 37, 44, 54, 55, 88: Stony Point, New
York, August 1970; Solos for Voice 11, 13, 14, 16, 21, 22, 29, 33, 43, 56, 59,
60, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 79, 80, 83, 84, 91, 92: New York September
1970; Solos for Voice 35 and 50: New York and Stony Point, September 1970; Solo
for Voice 58, 64, 67, 72, 85 and 90: October 1970, New York]
First performance: October 26, 1970
Sources: Berlin, collection Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn; New York,
Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 307-320
New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 307. Song Books
(models used, 34 leaves, 36 cm or smaller [7 photographs, 11 x 14 cm, 26 x 21
cm, 25 x 18 cm, 22 x 21 cm, 21 x 21 cm, 21 x 28 cm, 30 x 23 cm; 4 leaves 28 cm,
white paper, photocopy [Franz Schuberts Hoffnung], 1 leaf 21 x 21 cm, white
paper, photocopy; 1 leaf 6 x 8 cm, white paper, photocopy; ***], map of
Concord; Anonymous [***], portrait of Thoreau; Solo *** after Satie, Socrate:
drame symphonique, Paris: Editions Max Eschig, s.a., III. Mort de Socrate,
vocal part; text: John Cage, after Plato, trans. Victor Cousin).
New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 315 [***CATNYP UNNUMBERED]. Song Books (worksheets [for Solos 45 and 48], 3 leaves, 2 leaves 27
x 21 cm, blue-graphed white paper, 1 leaf 20 x 22 cm, unmarked white paper
[photocopy], blue ink).
Publication: cop. manuscript facs. by Cage and Marjorie Trenk, Carlo Carnevali. New
York: Henmar Press, 1970, 3 vols. (Peters; 6806, 6806a-b)
Literature: Aquien 1986; Bernstein, D.W. 2001b; Brooks, W. 1982a; Cage 1972[A, brief H. Otte]; Cage 1973h, x, xiii;
Cage 1979c, 11; Cage 1981UNTITLED-CP/2; Cage 1982r; Cage 1982b, 53; Cage 1983X,
103n; Cage/Charles 1976, 51-52, 129, 143-44, 145, 179, 185; Cage/Schning 1982,
81; Charles 1971CAGE; Charles 1978c, 145-150; Crampton 1985; Danninger 1979;
Emmerik, I. van and Ford 1988-1989; Erdmann 1993f, 156-167; Fetterman 1996,
90-93, 117-121, 149-166; Fornel 2008; Goldberg, J. 1986, 46-58; Gottwald 1973; Gottwald 1974; Gottwald 1975;
Heilgendorff 1998; Heilgendorff
2002a; Kostelanetz 1995b; Mac Low 1980, [43]; Nocera 1983; Petkus 1986,
153-247; Pritchett 1993, 166-173; Pritchett 1996; Reynolds 1980b.
Sonnekus2 [songs]
Text: John Cage, Sonnekus2 [text]
Medium: voice (range g-c''***)
Extent: instructions for performance (9 sentences); nine songs of 9 systems
each
Duration: indeterminate (varies according to the tempi chosen)
Date: February 1985
First performance: March 31, 1985
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 642, 654-656, 1047
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1985 (Peters; 67069).
Sound Anonymously Received
Medium: performer using an unsolicited sound source
Note: may be performed simultaneously with Letter(s) to Erik Satie [text]
Extent: one sentence
Duration: indeterminate
Date: fall 1969; completed in 1978
First performance: fall 1969
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 576-577
Publication: none
Literature: Dinwiddie 1970, 26; Fetterman 1996, 203.
Sounday
Text: John Cage
Medium: violin, piano, voice, nine performers using amplified plant [materiaal
and met amplified, water-filled conch shells, a performer using a blown conch
shell, and magnetic tape ***INLETS
Note: incorporates Branches, Child of Tree, Etudes Australes, Freeman
Etudes I-VIII, Inlets, Pools, Sixty-two Mesostics re Merce Cunningham
Extent: unknown
Duration: 10 hours
Date: December 1977-1978
First performance: June 15, 1978
Commission: Katholieke Radio Omroep (Dutch Catholic Radio)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 1005, 1011-1012
Publication: none
Literature: Barkema and Blaauw 1978; Benoist 1978; Cage 1978g.
Sounds of Venice
Medium: solo television performer using [21] sound-producing objects and props
placed around a piano: ***chair, coil, pitcher of water, water receptacle, pack
of cigarettes, matches, ashtray, bird cage with canaries, cloth cover for bird
cage, cat sound [toy], slide whistle, marble slab, dishpan, Venetian broom, toy
horn and rattle, piece of wood, telephone bell, amplifier, microphone) and four
single-track magnetic tapes, 3 minutes each (realization by John Cage, 1959)
Model: John Cage, Fontana Mix, 1958
Extent: 1 diagram and 6 systems
Duration: 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: January 1959
First performance: January 1959
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 255-256
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1968 (Peters; 6756)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 42; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 60-62; Fetterman 1996,
32-46; Vaes 2009, 765-766.
Souvenir
Medium: organ
Extent: 56 measures
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Commission: American Guild of Organists
Dedication: for Dr. Fred Tulan
Date: September 1983
First performance: June 29, 1984 (official)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 604
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1983 (Peters; 66988)
Literature: Cage/Emmerik 1991, 76-77; Cage and Eno/Tannenbaum 1985, 67.
Speech 1955
Text: indeterminate (two publications, newspapers or news magazines)
Medium: five radios and newsreader
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences); newsreader (8 systems);
radio 1 (58 systems); radio 2 (19 systems); radio 3 (13 systems); radio 4 (2
systems); radio 5 (55 systems)
Duration: between 41 minutes and 33.382 seconds and 42 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: November 1955
First performance: December 8, 1973
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 208-210
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6793)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 39.
Spiritual
Choreography: Syvilla Fort
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: 9 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1939 or 1940
First performance: May 7, 1940 [or earlier]
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Levitz 2005.
Spontaneous Earth
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Note: title derives from Edward Estlin Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys (1923), Tulips: La guerre: II
Extent: 82 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: [prior to April 5] 1944
First performance: April 5, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 118-119
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66753); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 21-25 (Peters; 67886b).
Sports
Medium: piano [with mesostics on Erik Saties name; translations from the
French originals]
Model: Erik Satie, Sports &
divertissements [1914?***]. English trans. Virgil Thomson. Paris [etc.]:
Salabert, 1975 (Piano Music; 3)
Extent: Perpetual Tango (***systems); Swinging (2 systems)
Duration: Perpetual Tango (approximately 2 minutes); Swinging (2 minutes)
Commission: Yvar Mikhashoff, for his Tango Collection
Date: February 17, 1984 in New York (Perpetual Tango) and in 1989
(Swinging); mesostics completed in December 1985 in New York; unfinished
First performance: June 1985 [possibly]; or April 13, 1986
(Perpetual Tango); unknown (Swinging)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 660-662, 733, 1056
New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 733 (on manuscript of Europeras 1 & 2)
Publication: Swinging. New York: Henmar Press, 1989 (Peters; 67301); Cage
1989SPORTS [texts].
Stratified Essay. See Essay.
String Quartet
Medium: two violins, viola, and violoncello in scordatura
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Dedication: unknown
Date: 1936
First performance: unknown
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Boehmer 1967b.
String Quartet in Four Parts
Medium: two violins, viola, and violoncello in scordatura
Extent: 484 measures distributed over four parts: Quietly Flowing Along (88
measures); Slowly Rocking (110 measures); Nearly Stationary (242 measures);
Quodlibet (44 measures)
Duration: approximately 20 minutes
Dedication: for Lou Harrison
Date: August 1949-February 1950
First performance: August 12, 1950
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 162, 943
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6757)
Literature: Barkin 1986; Cadenbach 2005; Cage 1959h; Cage 1961h, 25, 29, 30; Cage
1962e, 23; Cage/Charles 1976, 33, 98; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 72; Cage/Kurtz
1983; Campana 1985, 62-72;
Campana 1987-1988; Dickinson 1972; Erdmann 1990c; Frounberg 1984-1985;
Griffiths 1981a, 21-22; Hughes, E.D. 1990; Maier, T.M. 2001b; Pritchett 1993, 47-55.
Studies for Player Piano, nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 [Conlon Nancarrow, arranged by Cage]
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Crises; Merce Cunningham, Cross Currents, 1964) for *** including magnetic tapes
Extent: unknown
Duration: unknown
Date: (of arrangement) 1960; new score: October 1964 [Vaughan 1985CHRONOLOGICAL, 210; also 1968 or 1969 version?***]
First performance: August 19, 1960; ***July 31, 1964. London; 1969 New York, Billy Rose Theater [Insel Musik, 428-429]
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Mumma 1976; Mumma 1977.
Suite for Toy Piano
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, A Diversion
Medium: toy piano or piano
Note: arrangement for orchestra by Lou Harrison, 1964
Extent: I (53 measures); II (53 measures); III (30 measures); IV (30
measures); V (14 measures)
Duration: approximately 8 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: August 1948
First performance: August 20, 1948
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 155-157, 160
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6758); repr. in Works for Piano, Prepared Piano and Toy Piano,
Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng Tan. New York: Henmar Press, 2004, pp. 52-59 (Peters;
68030); New York: Henmar Press, 1964 (Peters; 6758a) [authorized arrangement
for orchestra by Lou Harrison]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 10-11; Cage/Darter 1982, 22; Francis, J.R. 1976, 28-33.
Swinging. See Sports.
Telephones and Birds
Note: title changes according to second category of sounds used
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Travelogue
Medium: three performers using telephone announcements and tape recordings of
bird songs or recordings of some other category
Extent: 54 sentences and 1 table
Duration: indeterminate
Date: 1977
First performance: January 18, 1977
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 5 folder 6; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 554-558
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66689)
Literature: Cage/Raymond and Roberts 1980, 5; Jordan 1979, 16.
Ten
Medium: flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, tenor trombone, percussionist using
any ten different instruments, piano, two violins, viola, and violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (14 sentences, 1 system); flute (43
systems), oboe (44 systems), clarinet (46 systems), tenor trombone (44
systems), percussion (42 systems), piano (42 systems), violin 1 (44 systems),
violin 2 (44 systems), viola (42 systems), violoncello (56 systems)
Duration: between 29 minutes and 45 seconds and 30 minutes
Date: October 1991
First performance: February 24, 1992
Dedication: for the Ives Ensemble
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 873-874
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67432)
Literature: Cage/Retallack 1996, 122-124, 127, 182, 250, 346; Gronemeyer 1993.
Theatre Piece
Medium: one to eight performers (musicians, dancers, singers, actors)
presenting indeterminate actions; materials to be used in whole or part, in any
combination
Model: John Cage, Fontana Mix, 1958
Extent: eight parts, each having 18 unpaginated pages
Duration: 30 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: January 1960
First performance: March 7, 1960
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 5 folder 7; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 271-273
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6759a-h)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 42, 43; Cage/Charles 1976, 165-166; Cage/Darter 1982, 21;
Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 61-64; Fetterman 1996, 104-117; Ghl 1979;
Goldstein, M. 1988, 40; Goldstein,
M./Rivest 1997; Griffiths 1981a,
36, 38; Klein, Rolf 1989.
Thin Cry
Choreography: Yuriko
Medium: piano
Extent: unknown
Duration: 4
minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1945 or
earlier
First performance: 1945
Sources: present
location unknown
Publication: none.
Third Construction
Medium: four percussionists using wooden North West Indian rattle, five
graduated tin cans, three graduated drums (tom toms), claves, large suspended
Chinese cymbal, maracas, teponaxtle (player 1); three graduated drums (tom
toms), five graduated tin cans, claves, two cowbells, wooden Indo-Chinese
rattle with many separate chambers, lion's roar (player 2); three graduated
drums (tomtoms), tambourine, five graduated tin cans, quijadas, claves, cricket
callers (split bamboo), blown conch shell (player 3); tin can with tacks
(rattle), five graduated tin cans, claves, maracas, three graduated drums (tom
toms), wooden ratchet, bass drum roar (player 4)
Extent: 577 measures
Duration: approximately 15 minutes
Date: March-April 1941
First performance: May 14, 1941
Dedication: for Xenia Cage for our anniversary
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 64-65, 932
Publication: cop. ed. by Charles Madden. New York: Henmar Press, 1970 (Peters;
6794)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 39; Cage/Gagne and Caras 1982, 70; Instrumentalist 1981; Price, P. 1981; Pritchett 1993, 19-20; Schick 1995.
Thirteen
Medium: flute,
oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon, trumpet in C, tenor trombone, tuba, two
xylophones, two violins, viola, and violoncello
Extent:
instructions for performance (5 sentences); flute (46 systems), oboe (46
systems), clarinet (39 systems), bassoon (41 systems), trumpet in C (43
systems), tenor trombone (42 systems), tuba (45 systems), xylophones 1 and 2
(89 systems), violin 1 (44 systems), violin 2 (49 systems), viola (51 systems),
violoncello (47 systems)
Duration: between
29 minutes and 45 seconds and 30 minutes
Commission: City of
Gtersloh
Dedication: for
Manfred Reichert and the Ensemble 13
Date: May 1992
First performance: February
17, 1993
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folders 874, 890
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67499)
Literature: Cage/Retallack
1996, 182-184, 209, 216-217, 233, 234, 260, 328-330; Swed 1993c.
Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras
Medium: orchestra and radio or radios ad libitum, the orchestra divided into
five groups (full orchestra: piccolo, flute, alto flute, two oboes, English
horn, two clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, five
trumpets in B flat, five horns in F, two tenor trombones, two bass trombones,
two contrabass trombones, two percussionists [any instruments with a maximum of
fourteen for each player], timpani, piano, fourteen violins I, twelve violins
II, ten violas, eight violoncellos, six contrabasses); radio or radios tuned to
the same station ad libitum
Extent: *** sentences (instructions for performance); *** systems (orchestra
1), *** systems (orchestra 2), *** systems (orchestra 3), *** systems
(orchestra 4), *** systems (orchestra 5); duration between *** minutes and 30
minutes and 15 seconds
Date: Early-April 1981
First performance: November 22, 1981
Commission: Rencontres internationales de musique contemporaine
Dedication: for Jean-Luc Choplin, Claude Lefebvre and the Centre Europen pour La
Recherche Musicale
Sources: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University, Music Library,
drawer 1985-1986; New York, Public
Library, JPB 94-24 folder 592-597, 1023-1029, 1031
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1981 (Peters; 66879)
Literature: Anonymous 1981g; Brandt 1983; Cage 1981h; Cage/Charles 1976/1981,
109n; Cage/Darter 1982, 19; Cage/Masson 1981; Cage/Emmerik 1991, 79-81;
Cage/Kraglund 1982; Cage/Timar, Frasconi, and Ingelevics 1981, 12-14; Pritchett
1993, 185-186, 200; Wilheim 1987.
Thirty Pieces for String Quartet
Medium: two violins, viola and violoncello
Extent: instructions for performance (*** sentences); violin 1 (57 systems),
violin 2 (54 systems), viola (58 systems), violoncello (55 systems)
Duration: between 29 minutes and 30 seconds and 30 minutes and 15 seconds
Date: September 1983
First performance: July 27, 1984
Dedication: for the Kronos Quartet
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 605, 1036-1038
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1983 (Peters; 66987); excerpt in MusikTexte no. 5 (July 1984), 28-29
Literature: Cage 1984cTHIRTY; Cage 1993WRITER, 136; Heilgendorff 2002b; Metzger, H.-K. 1990; Oehlschlgel 1985.
Three
Medium: three recorder players using fifteen instruments: sopranino, soprano,
alto, tenor (player 1); sopranino, soprano, alto, basset, tenor, bass (player
2); soprano, alto, basset, tenor, double bass (player 3)
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences); 1 (2 systems); A (each
part 3 systems); B (each part 3 systems); C (each part 3 systems); D (each part
3 systems); E (each part 3 systems); F (each part 3 systems); G (each part 3
systems); H (each part 3 systems); I (each part 3 systems); 2 (2 systems)
Duration: indeterminate between ca.***
Date: July 1989
First performance: July 27, 1990
Dedication: for Trio Dolce
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folders 786-789
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1989 (Peters; 67303)
Literature: Geddert 1994; Gronemeyer 1993; McLellan 1989.
Three2
Medium: three
percussionists each using any three instruments
Extent:
instructions for performance (2 sentences); each part 9 systems
Duration: between
8 minutes and 15 seconds and 9 minutes
Dedication: for
Michael Pugliese and the Talking Drums
Date: May 1991
First performance: October
25, 1991
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 853-854
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67412)
Literature: none.
Three Dances
Medium: two prepared pianos
Extent: I (240 measures); II (351 measures); III (627 measures)
Duration: approximately 20 minutes
Dedication: for Robert Fizdale and Arthur Gold (original version); for Maro
Ajemian and William Masselos (revised version)
Date: December 1944; revised and completed October 1945
First performance: January 21, 1945 (original version);
December 10, 1946 (revised version)
Sources: New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Mary Flagler Cary Collection, Cary
311; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 905, 939
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6760) [revised version]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 19; Cage 1973d, [vi]; Cage 1979c, 8; Cage 1991c, 65; Cage 1993d, 10, 40-41,
75, 118; Frst-Heidtmann 1979,
173; Turner, J.R. 1998-1999, 547, 562.
Three Easy Pieces
Medium: piano
Extent: Round (31 measures); Duo (43 measures); Infinite Canon (12 measures)
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Date: May 1933
First performance: unknown
Dedication: for E.P.S. (1), M.M. (2), and C.M. (3)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 9
Publication: in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 1-2 (Peters; 68030)
Literature: Erdmann 1996c.
Three Pieces for Flute and Piccolo. See Three
Pieces for Flute Duet.
Three Pieces for Flute Duet
Note: original title Three Pieces for
Flute and Piccolo
Medium: two flutes
Extent: I. Allegro giocoso (21 measures); II. Andante cantabile (flute 1 [96
measures]; flute 2 [93 measures]); III. Grave adagio (51 measures)
Duration: approximately 6 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1935; second movement completed March 1935; instructions for copyist November-December
1961
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 18-20, 929
Publication: facs. ed. by Charles Madden. New York: Henmar Press, 1969 (Peters;
6761)
Literature: Blum 1981; Cage 1962e, 24; Cage/Holmes 1981, 2; Griffiths 1981a, 6,
12; Instrumentalist 1976.
Three Songs
Text: Gertrude Stein, Twenty Years After, If It Was to Be, and At East
and Ingredients from Useful Knowledge. New York: Payson &
Clarke, 1928
Medium: voice (basso cantante) and piano or piano alone
Extent: Twenty Years After. Plaintive (11 measures); If It Was to Be [not: Is
It As It Was] (40 measures); At East and Ingredients. Tempo rubato (21
measures)
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to October 1932-1933
First performance: November 1932 (third song only); September
29, 1991 (possibly first complete performance)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 2-4; San Francisco,
California, San Francisco Public Library, Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, Harry
Hay Papers
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, forthcoming (Peters; 67417)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 29; Cage/Dnnnn***; Dickinson 1986; Petkus 1986, 11-28.
Tossed As It Is Untroubled
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Tossed As It
Is Untroubled, subtitled An
Externalization of a Laugh within the Mind
Medium: prepared piano
Note: the title derives from James Joyce, Finnegans Wake. New York: Viking Press, 1939; earlier title Meditation
Extent: 91 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: for Merce Cunningham; on manuscript for Xenia [Cage] (on our 8th
anniversary) (JPB 94-24 folder 937)
Date: [presumably late] 1943
First performance: April 5, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 104-105, 937
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6722); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 1: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 38-41 (Peters; 67886a)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 16; Cage 1993d, 9; Frst-Heidtmann 1979, 159, 263; Griffiths
1981a, 15, 17.
Totem Ancestor
Choreography: Merce
Cunningham
Medium: prepared
piano
Extent: 104
measures
Duration: 2
minutes
Dedication: for
Merce Cunningham
Date: 1942, prior
to October 20
First performance: October
20, 1942
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 88-90
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6762);
repr. in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 3-7 (Peters; 68030); with choreography by Merce Cunningham in Laban
Notation by Lena Belloc, ed. Ann Hutchinson. New York: Henmar Press, 1960
(Peters; 6762a)
Literature: Cage
1962e, 18; Cage 1993d, 8, 67, 68; Hilger 1990, 36-38.
Trio
Medium: three percussionists using three graduated pieces of wood (not Chinese
woodblocks), three small tom-toms played with wire brush, bamboo sticks (player
1); tom tom, bass drum, two graduated pieces of wood (not Chinese woodblocks)
(player 2); three graduated pieces of wood (not Chinese woodblocks), tom tom,
bamboo sticks (player 3)
Extent: Allegro (24 measures); March (24 measures); Waltz (33 measures)
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: circa 1936
First performance: late 1936 or winter 1936-1937 (private);
December 9, 1938 (public)
Note: the Waltz, with slight modifications, was incorporated into Amores, III
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 24-27
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 6763)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 39; Griffiths 1981a, 4-5, 11-12.
Triple Music
Note: with Lou Harrison and Meiron Brown
Date: ca. 1948, unfinished.
Triple-Paced (First Version)
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: piano
Extent: I. 23 measures; II. 24 measures; III. 35 measures
Duration: approximately 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: [presumably late] 1943
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 106-107
Publication: in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 17-20 (Peters; 68030).
Triple-Paced (Second Version)
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 86 measures
Duration: approximately 2 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: prior to April 5, 1944
First performance: April 5, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 107-108
Publication: in Works for Piano,
Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng
Tan. New York: Henmar Press,
2004, pp. 21-25 (Peters; 68030).
TV Kln
Medium: piano and indeterminate sound sources
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences), 4 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: October 6 or 7, 1958
First performance: October 6 or 7, 1958
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 252-253
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6764)
Literature: Cage 1959f, 120; Cage 1962e, 11; Cage 1967o, 136; Francis, J.R. 1976,
87; Griffiths 1981a, 35.
Twenty-eight
Medium:
twenty-eight wind instruments (three flutes, alto flute, three oboes, English
horn, four clarinets in B flat, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns in F,
four trumpets in C, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, and tuba) ; may be performed
with Twenty-nine, Twenty-six, or both
Extent:
instructions for performance (5 sentences); flute 1 (1 system), flute 2 (12
systems), flute 3 (15 systems), alto flute (10 systems), oboe 1 (5 systems),
oboe 2 (10 systems), oboe 3 (8 systems), English horn (16 systems), clarinet 1
(11 systems), clarinet 2 (13 systems), clarinet 3 (5 systems), clarinet 4 (6
systems), bassoon 1 (12 systems), bassoon 2 (15 systems), bassoon 3 (9
systems), contrabassoon (13 systems), horn 1 (7 systems), horn 2 (9 systems), horn
3 (11 systems), horn 4 (9 systems), trumpet 1 in C (8 systems), trumpet 2 in C
(12 systems), trumpet 3 in C (8 systems), trumpet 4 in C (5 systems), tenor
trombone 1 (13 systems), tenor trombone 2 (5 systems), bass trombone (4
systems), tuba (8 systems)
Duration: between
27 minutes and 15 seconds and 28 minutes
Commission:
Frankfurt Feste and Saarlndischer Rundfunk with support of the Gesellschaft
der Freunde der Alten Oper
Dedication: for the
Sinfonieorchester des Saarlndischen Rundfunks and the Frankfurt Feste 92/Alte
Oper
Date: December
1991
First performance:
September 5, 1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 875-877
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67466a)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 204.
Twenty-nine
Medium: two
timpanists, two percussionists, piano, ten violas, eight violoncelli, and six
contrabasses; may be performed with Twenty-eight,
Twenty-six, or both
Extent:
instructions for performance (5 sentences); timpani 1 (9 systems), timpani 2 (4
systems), percussion 1 (6 systems), percussion 2 (7 systems), piano (16
systems), viola 1 (4 systems), viola 2 (2 systems), viola 3 (4 systems), viola
4 (4 systems), viola 5 (1 system), viola 6 (2 systems), viola 7 (6 systems),
viola 8 (3 systems), viola 9 (16 systems), viola 10 (8 systems), violoncello 1
(1 system), violoncello 2 (10 systems), violoncello 3 (15 systems), violoncello
4 (9 systems), violoncello 5 (13 systems), violoncello 6 (9 systems),
violoncello 7 (5 systems), violoncello 8 (5 systems), contrabass 1 (5 systems),
contrabass 2 (2 systems), contrabass 3 (4 systems), contrabass 4 (7 systems),
contrabass 5 (8 systems), contrabass 6 (3 systems)
Duration: between
28 minutes and 15 seconds and 29 minutes
Commission:
Frankfurt Feste and the Saarlndischer Rundfunk with support of the
Gesellschaft der Freunde der Alten Oper
Dedication: for the
Sinfonieorchester des Saarlndischen Rundfunks and the Frankfurt Feste 92/Alte
Oper
Date: December
1991
First performance:
September 5, 1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 875-877
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67466c)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 204.
Twenty-six
Medium:
twenty-six violins; may be performed with Twenty-eight,
Twenty-nine, or both
Extent:
instructions for performance (5 sentences); violin I-1 (11 systems), violin I-2
(19 systems), violin I-3 (15 systems), violin I-4 (7 systems), violin I-5 (5
systems), violin I-6 (16 systems), violin I-7 (12 systems), violin I-8 (10
systems), violin I-9 (6 systems), violin I-10 (11 systems), violin I-11 (22
systems), violin I-12 (6 systems), violin I-13 (15 systems), violin I-14 (12
systems), violin II-1 (13 systems), violin II-2 (21 systems), violin II-3 (10
systems), violin II-4 (15 systems), violin II-5 (16 systems), violin II-6 (15
systems), violin II-7 (8 systems), violin II-8 (6 systems), violin II-9 (6
systems), violin II-10 (3 systems), violin II-11 (5 systems), violin II-12 (13
systems)
Duration: between
25 minutes and 15 seconds and 26 minutes
Commission:
Frankfurt Feste and the Saarlndischer Rundfunk with support of the
Gesellschaft der Freunde der Alten Oper
Dedication: for the
Sinfonieorchester des Saarlndischen Rundfunks and the Frankfurt Feste 92 /
Alte Oper
Date: December
1991
First performance:
September 5, 1992
Sources: New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 875-877
Publication: New
York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67466b)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 204.
Twenty-three
Medium: thirteen
violins, five violas, and five violoncellos
Extent:
instructions for performance (5 sentences); violin 1 (14 systems), violin 2 (8
systems), violin 3 (2 systems), violin 4 (2 systems), violin 5 (14 systems),
violin 6 (12 systems), violin 7 (2 systems), violin 8 (13 systems), violin 9
(10 systems), violin 10 (8 systems), violin 11 (13 systems), violin 12 (8
systems), violin 13 (9 systems), viola 1 (15 systems), viola 2 (7 systems),
viola 3 (11 systems), viola 4 (3 systems), viola 5 (17 systems), violoncello 1
(8 systems), violoncello 2 (10 systems), violoncello 3 (1 system), violoncello
4 (4 systems), violoncello 5 (11 systems)
Duration: between
22 minutes and 15 seconds and 23 minutes
Dedication: for the Yellow Barn Festival, Putney, Vermont
Date: prior to June 19, 1988
First performance: July 22, 1988
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 778, 1079
Publication: engr. New York: Henmar Press, 1988 (Peters; 67228)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 197, 246; Cage/Emmerik 1991, 82; Thorman 2002, 160.
Two
Medium: flute and piano
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences); each part 10 systems
Duration: between 9 minutes and 15 seconds and 10 minutes
Date: April 1987
First performance: August 6, 1988
Dedication: for Roberto Fabbriciani and Carlo Neri
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 768, 1065
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1987 (Peters; 67176)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 196-197, 246; Gronemeyer 1993.
Two2
Medium: two pianos
Extent: instructions for performance (7 sentences); 180 measures
Duration: indeterminate
Date: [after July 28] 1989
First performance: May 4, 1990
Dedication: for Double Edge
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 783-785, 925, 1073
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1989 (Peters; 67302)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 199, 246; Cage/Sweeney-Turner 1991, 3; Erdmann 1992i; Haskins
2003; Haskins 2009.
Two3
Medium: sh and a performer using five amplified water-filled conch shells
Note: any three pieces of Two3 may
be performed simultaneously with 108
Note: the sh part is identical with One9
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences); sh player (100 systems,
each piece having 10 systems), conch shell player (10 systems, each piece
having 1 system)
Duration: indeterminate between 9 minutes and 30 seconds and 121 minutes: I
(between 10 minutes and 25 seconds and 11 minutes and 40 seconds); II (between
12 minutes and 13 minutes); III (between 13 minutes and 25 seconds and 14
minutes and 40 seconds); IV (between 11 minutes and 45 seconds and 12 minutes
and 45 seconds); V (between 9 minutes and 30 seconds and 10 minutes and 15 seconds);
VI (between 10 minutes and 25 seconds and 11 minutes and 40 seconds); VII
(between 11 minutes and 25 seconds and 12 minutes and 25 seconds); VIII
(between 9 minutes and 50 seconds and 10 minutes and 20 seconds); IX (between
12 minutes and 30 seconds and 13 minutes and 45 seconds); X (between 10 minutes
and 10 minutes and 30 seconds)
Date: July 1991
First performance: presumably Spring 1992
Dedication: for Mayumi Miyata
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 844, 846-848
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67411)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 201; Cage/Retallack 1996, 271n23.
Two4
Medium: violin and piano or violin and sh
Extent: instructions for performance (2 sentences, 1 system); violin (30
systems); piano or sh (30 systems)
Duration: between 29 minutes and 30 seconds and 30 minutes
Commission: McKim Fund in the Library of Congress
Dedication:
Date: July 1991, New York
First performance: November 15, 1991
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 849-850, 1074
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67418).
Two5
Medium: tenor trombone and piano
Extent: instructions for performance (4 sentences, 1 system); tenor trombone
(40 systems); piano (29 systems)
Duration: between 38 minutes and 45 seconds and 40 minutes
Date: October 1991, New York
First performance: January 30, 1992
Dedication: for Hildegard [not Hildegaard] Kleeb and Roland Dahinden
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 851-852
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1991 (Peters; 67419)
Literature: Cage 1993d, 200-201.
Two6
Medium: violin and piano
Model: Erik Satie, Vexations
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences, 1 system); violin (46
systems), piano (72 systems)
Duration: between 19 minutes and 15 seconds and 20 minutes
Date: April 1992
First performance: December 5, 1992
Dedication: for Ami Flammer and Martine Joste
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 889
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1992 (Peters; 67498)
Literature: Cage/Retallack 1996, 177-181, 206, 208, 213-214, 320-326.
Two Pastorales
Choreography: (of Pastorale No. 1 only)
Merle Marsicano, Idyl
Medium: prepared piano (with cymbal beater, bass drum stick, wooden stick, New
Years Eve whistle, Aztec clay whistle and 25 cent coin)
Note: Pastorale No. 1 originally entitled Pastorale, No. 2 originally entitled 2nd Pastorale
Extent: First Pastorale (122 measures); Second Pastorale (122 measures)
Duration: approximately 14 minutes
Date: November 9, 1951 (First Pastorale) and January 31, 1952 (Second
Pastorale)
Dedication: for Merle Marsicano
First performance: December 9, 1951 (first only); February 10,
1952 (complete)
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 6; New
York, Public Library, *MNZ-Amer., JPB 94-24 folder 170
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6765)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 18; Pritchett 1988a, 174-178; Vaes 2009, 752-753.
Two Pieces for Piano (circa 1935)
Medium: piano
Extent: I. Slowly (left hand 34 measures, right hand 26 measures); II. Quite
fast (left hand 95 measures, right hand 98 measures)
Duration: approximately 4 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: circa 1935; revised 1974
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 21-22
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1974 (Peters; 6813) [revised version]; repr.
in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48.
New York: Henmar Press, [1998], pp. 5-8 (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Clavier 1981;
Erdmann 1993f, 30-35; Francis, J.R.
1976, 23-25; Griffiths 1981a, 4.
Two Pieces for Piano (1946)
Medium: piano
Extent: I. 3-5-2 (100 measures); II. 2¼-3¾-1¾-2¼
(102 measures)
Note: originally intended as a composition for orchestra; first piece is a
first version of Prelude I of The Seasons;
measures 1-23 [***fully?] of the second piece nearly identical with Prelude for Six Instruments in A Minor,
measures 1-23
Duration: approximately 8 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: July 1946 (1) and May-August 1946 (2)
First performance: unknown
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 133-134
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1970 (Peters; 6814); repr. in John Cage, Piano Works 1935-48. New York: Henmar
Press, [1998], pp. 50-56 (Peters; 67380)
Literature: Francis, J.R. 1976, 43; Hilger 1990, 47-53.
The Unavailable Memory of
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: prepared piano
Extent: 89 measures
Duration: approximately 4 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: 1944
First performance: April 5, 1944
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 120-122
Publication: ed. Richard Bunger. New York: Henmar Press, 1977 (Peters; 66764);
repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music
Volume 2: 1940-47. New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 10-13 (Peters;
67886b).
Unstratified Essay. See Essay.
A Valentine out of Season
Medium: prepared piano
Note: choreographed by Helaine Blok ca. 1944***
Extent: I (60 measures); II (34 measures); III (34 measures)
Duration: approximately 4 minutes
Date: July 1944
First performance: presumably December 19, 1948
Dedication: for Xenia Cage
Sources: Detroit, Michigan, collection Gilbert Silverman and Lila Silverman;
New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 112
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6766); repr. in John Cage, Prepared Piano Music Volume 2: 1940-47.
New York: Henmar Press, [2000], pp. 14-20 (Peters; 67886b)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 19; Cage 1993d, 10; Nodine
2007.
Variations I
Medium: any number of performers using indeterminate instruments or sound
sources
Note: earlier title Variations
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences) and 6 diagrams; extra
materials instructions for performance (3 sentences) and 6 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for David Tudor
Date: January 20, 1958
First performance: March 15, 1958
Note: at least three realizations by Cage for piano solo exist
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 6; New
York, private collection; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 254
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6767); New York: Henmar Press,
1960 (Peters; 6767a) [extra materials]; facsimiles of the two-page and
three-page realizations in Res
[Cambridge, Massachusetts] no. 6 (Fall), 121 and 122-123
Literature: Brtschi and
Schibler 1969; Boehm 2006; Bttinger 1990; Buckinx 1972, passim; Cage
1961h, 28, 31; Cage 1962e, 28; Cage 1967o, 134; Cage 1982b, 49; Cage 1983j, 139; Cage 1993d, 59, 62; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 64; Duckworth
1972, 110-111, 117; Gligo 1987-1988, 148-161; La Motte-Haber 2006; Metzger,
H.-K. 1978; Metzger, H.-K. 1985; Metzger, H.-K. 1994; Miller, D.P. 2003;
Mller, H.-C. 1994; Wthrich-Mathez 1987; Zacher 1997; Zimmerschied 1974.
Variations II
Medium: any number of performers using indeterminate sound sources
Extent: instructions for performance (9 sentences), 11 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: February-March 1961
First performance: March 24, 1961
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 7; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 276-278
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6768)
Literature: Bttinger 1990; Buckinx 1972, passim; Cage 1962e, 29; Cage 1982b, 49;
Cage 1983j, 139; Cage 1993d, 62; Cage/Charles 1976, 124-125, 178; Cage/Fletcher and Moore 1983;
Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 64; Cross, L.M. 1974, 769; DeLio 1980-1981;
DeLio 1981a; Hilberg 1996; Lochhead 1994; Miller, D.P. 2003; Pritchett
2000; Pritchett 2001b; Pritchett
2004; Teitelbaum 1970.
Variations III
Medium: any number of people performing any actions
Extent: instructions for performance (14 sentences); 42 diagrams; 1 blank
sheet
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: December 1962-January 1963
First performance: January 21, 1963
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 7; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 287-289
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1963 (Peters; 6797)
Literature: Bttinger 1990; Buckinx 1972, passim; Cage 1967o, 26; Cage/Bodin and
Johnson 1965; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 64-65; Cage/Mimaroğlu
1965; Shultis 1995.
Variations IV
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Field Dances
Medium: any number of performers using indeterminate sound sources, with or
without other activities
Note: second of a group of works of which Atlas Eclipticalis is the first and 0'00" is the third
Extent: instructions for performance (31 sentences); 9 diagrams
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for Peter Pesic
Date: July 10, 1963
First performance: July 17, 1963
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 290
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1963 (Peters; 6798)
Literature: Block 1980, 125; Bttinger 1990; Buckinx 1972, passim; Byrd 1993; Cage
1964b; Cage 1965c; Cage 1967o, 143; Cage 1980e; Cage 1993d, 62; Cage/Charles 1968, 9; Cage/Charles 1976,
130-131, 211; Cage/Kurtz 1983; Cage/Mimaroğlu 1965; Cage/Smalley and Sylvester 1972, [12]; Dasilva
and Hunchuk 1989; Griffiths 1981a, 39-40; Kumpf 1976, 90.
Variations V
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Medium: any number of performers using photo-electric cells and twenty-four
amplified sound sources (twelve tape recorders and twelve radios) triggered by
twelve capacitance antennas ***diss
Extent: 38 sentences
Duration: indeterminate
Commission: New York Philharmonic French-American Festival
Dedication: for Mary Sisler
Date: September-October 6, 1965
First performance: July 23, 1965
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 261, 292-294***
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1965 (Peters; 6799)
Literature: Buckinx 1972, passim; Cage 1965c; Cage 1967o, 22, 142, 144; Cage/Charles 1976, 171; Cage/Charles 1976, 171; Cage/Kostelanetz
1968WE/1970, 21-22; Cunningham, M. 1982b, 180-181; Duckworth 1972, 111-13, 118;
Griffiths 1981a, 40, 43; Jordan 1979, 19; Miller, L.E. 2001; Mumma 1967a; Mumma
1967c; Zacher 1974.
Variations VI
Medium: any combination of sound systems consisting of sound sources,
components (amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, modulators, filters) and loudspeakers
Extent: 18 sentences and 221 symbols
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: for William Copley and Noma Copley
Date: March 1966
First performance: April 27, 1966
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 968
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1966 (Peters; 6802)
Literature: Buckinx 1972, passim; Cage 1967o, 85; Cage 1979c, 185; Cage/Smalley and Sylvester
1972, [12]; DeLio 1981b.
Variations VII
Medium: any number of performers picking up sounds present in the air at the
moment of performance, using thirty photo-electric cells and lights mounted at
ankle level around the performance area, activating the different sound sources
as the performers move around, and a large number of amplified sound sources:
six contact microphones attached to the performance platform, amplified sounds
of activities of the heart, brains, lungs, and stomach of four assistants, two
Geiger counters, twelve contact microphones on various electric household
appliances (fan, juicer, eggbeater, blender, toaster, washing machine), devices
for receiving electromagnetic communication transmission: twenty radios, two
televisions, magnetic pickups on ten telephone receivers (lines connected to
various places in New York City: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals lost dog kennel, New York Department of Sanitation, turtle tank in
Terry Rileys apartment, Luchows German restaurant [Union Square], Merce
Cunninghams dance studio, the Aviary, the 14th Street Consolidated Edison electric power station, the New York
Times press room, a bus depot),
oscillators (sine waves, square waves), pulse generator, all routed to
seventeen loudspeakers
Extent: 10 sentences
Duration: indeterminate (approximately 85 minutes)
Date: October 1966; notated September-December 1972
First performance: October 15, 1966
Sources: Montral, Qubec, The
Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder
295-297
Publication: none
Literature: Buckinx 1972, 170; NNB***Cage 1966[VARIATIONS VII < xcAW: TTB missing:
in 9 evenings]; Cage/Charles 1976, 222; Cage, Foreman and
Kostelanetz/Anonymous 1979ART, unpag.; Cage/Nyffeler 1970; Klver 1969; Klver
1980[FR: mentions forthcoming documentation, 102], 89, 96-97; Klver 1980;
Miller, L.E. 2001; Pritchett 1993, 153.
Variations VIII
Medium: any number of performers possibly producing sounds using instruments
or machines which happen to be present on the location or venue of
performance***
Extent: six sentences (first version); *** sentences (revised version)
Duration: indeterminate
Date: 1976; revised January or February 1978
First performance: May 1967 [sic]; April 7, 1978 (revised
version)
Dedication: second version for Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 542
Publication: revised version, color. As part of Metzger 1979a. In Cage Box: Originalbeitrge, ed. Hans
Rudolf Zeller. Bonn: Kulturamt der Stadt Bonn, 1979, 22 (revised version);
incomplete, black and white. New York: Henmar Press, 1978 (Peters; 66766)
Literature: Buckinx 1972, 170; Metzger, H.-K. 1979a.
Vis--Vis
Note: composed in collaboration with Tōru Takemitsu and [THE] (Edwin Harkins and Philip Larson)
Text: Marcel Duchamp, Sculpture
musicale; Makoto Ooka, The Sea Is
Still
Medium: two performers using recordings, film, photos, piano; Cages
contribution consisted of a mesostic based on videotapes sent to him by Harkins
and Larson; Takemitsu responded with Ookas poem, a tape and two-color graphic
(to be interpreted as a score); [THE] made an audiocassette out of this
material, which again went to Cage, who wrote another mesostic; this went to
Takemitsu, and so on; final result was prepared by [THE]
Extent: unknown (IV parts)
Duration: unknown
Date: 1986
First performance: April 29, 1986
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none
Literature: Saville 1986.
Voiceless Essay
Medium: tape; ***based on analysis and synthesis of the recorded sounds; stretching [***stratified]; tapes to be manipulated by four*** musicians
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Points in Space
Text: four of the Writings through the Essay: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, consonants only
Duration: 26 minutes
Note: version 1 [stratified]; version 2 [unstratified]
Realization: John Cage, in collaboration with Charles Dodge, Victor Friedberg, Frances White, Kenneth Worthy, Paul Zinmann, at the Center for Computer Music at Brooklyn College of the University of New York
Date: early 1987
Date: 1987? and completed early 1987
First performance: March 10, 1987 to Cunninghams Points in Space
***May 21, 1987, Kassel, Karlskirche: attended Stratified Essay (Meyer, B. 1987KLANGREISE).
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 767*** (sketch [Stratified Essay], 1 leaf, 28 cm, white paper, print-out, ballpoint).
Publication: New York: Henmar Press (C.F. Peters 67180), 19***; aut. facs. sketch (CF. MSS***) in Goedl, Frohne and Lemanczyk 1987, vol. 3, [32]-[33]
Literature: Frego 1996; Schning 1987JOHN/46-47; NNB Schning 1987***.
Waiting
Choreography: Louise Lippold
Medium: piano
Extent: 36 measures
Duration: 3 minutes and 36 seconds
Dedication: for Louise Lippold
Date: January 7, 1952
First performance: February 4, 1952
Sources: New York, Public Library, *MNZ-Amer., JPB 94-24 folder 186-187
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6769); repr. in Works for Piano, Prepared Piano and Toy Piano,
Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed. Margaret Leng Tan. New York: Henmar Press, 2004, p. 75 (Peters; 68030);
an unauthorized Soviet edition exists
Literature: Cage 1962e, 11; Cage 1993d, 53; Erdmann 1993f, 56-57; Francis, J.R. 1976, 56;
Naglia 1989-1990; Pritchett 1988a, 185-192.
Wan Fine Night
Medium: voice?
Date: circa 1984, unfinished [presumably became Nowth upon Nacht]
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 917.
Water Music
Note: title may change to be that of the place or date of the performance
Medium: piano and various sound-producing objects and props: water warbler,
siren whistle, plastic duck whistle, bowl of water, two receptacles for
receiving and pouring water, radio, deck of playing cards, wooden stick, four
objects for preparing a piano, score (to be mounted as a poster on a
presentation easel during performance)
Extent: *** systems
Duration: 6 minutes and 40 seconds
Dedication: none
Date: Spring 1952
First performance: May 2, 1952
Sources: Bochum, Galerie Inge Baecker; Los Angeles, California, Getty Center,
940073 box 6 folder 8; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; New York,
Public Library, *MNZ-Amer.
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6770)
Literature: Cage 1962e, 43; Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 60-61; Danuser 1986a;
Duckworth 1972, 101-3, 113, 115, 116; Fetterman 1996, 25-32; Foster, G. 1980b; Nodine
2007; Pritchett 1988a, 192-197; Vaes 2009, 754.
Water Walk
Note: original title Water Music No. 2
Medium: solo television performer using piano (also using timpani stick),
percussion (suspended Chinese gong with yarn-covered beater, Turkish cymbal
with handle), and [34] sound-producing objects and props [properties]: five
portable radios of inferior quality, three tables, bath tub 3/4 filled with
water, toy fish automotive in water, 1 25 cent coin (optional), explosive paper
bottle which ejects confetti, electric hot plate, pressure cooker with hot
water, supply of ice cubes and means for containing them (ice bucket or
insulated paper bag), ordinary drinking glass, pitcher, nondescript whistle,
toy rubber duck which sounds when squeezed, one dozen fresh or artificial red
roses, vase with water if fresh roses are used, garden sprinkling tin can with
handle and water, bottle of campari, electric mixer (with ice cubes in it),
iron pipe, soda syphon, quail call activated by squeezing a rubber bulb, goose
whistle) and magnetic tape made especially for this composition (by John Cage,
1959)
Model: John Cage, Fontana Mix, 1958
Extent: 1 diagram and 6 systems
Duration: 3 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: January 1959
First performance: ***January 1959, Milan, Radio Audizione
Italiana television, John Cage
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 257-260
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6771); New York: Henmar Press,
1961 (Peters; 6771a) [single-track reel tape, 19 cm/second]
Literature: Cage 1962e, 43; Cage/Kirby
and Schechner 1965, 60-62; Fetterman 1996, 32-46; Vaes 2009, 766-767.
WBAI
Medium: performer using one to four machines*** for an operator of machines
(tape machines [in a performance of Fontana
Mix with Solo for Piano from Concert for Piano and Orchestra [1958], Aria, etc.], LP playbacks with
amplifiers and tone controls and amplifier tone control of the speakers voice
[in a performance of the lectures, Indeterminacy:
New Aspect of Form in Instrumental and Electronic Music, or Communication]); may also be used to
control the amplitude in the lecture, Where
Are We Going? And What Are We Doing?
Model: John Cage, Fontana Mix, 1958
Extent: instructions for performance (6 sentences), 1 diagram and 60 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Dedication: none
Date: January-May 1960
First performance: February 1960
Sources: Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6 folder 8; New
York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 274
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6772)
Literature: Cage 1961h, 194; Cage 1962e, 40-41.
_ Week of _
Choreography: Merce Cunningham, Signals
Note: title to be that of the particular week and month of performance, for
example Third Week of June
Medium: three or four musicians performing their own musics prepared in
advance
Duration: ***
Dedication: none
Date: 1970?
First performance: June 5, 1970
Sources: present location unknown
Literature: Cage/Charles 1976, 123-124.
What So Proudly We Hail. See Four
Dances.
Williams Mix
Medium: eight monaural magnetic tapes to be played back on eight machines and
loudspeakers
Extent: 20 sentences, 384 systems
Duration: 4 minutes
Dedication: none
Date: May-October 1952
First performance: March 22, 1953
Realization: Earle Brown, John Cage, and David Tudor, with technical assistance of
Louis Barron and Bebe Barron (May 1952-January 16, 1953)
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 188, 190-191, 953
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6774a) [realization for 8
single-track reel tapes, 19 cm/second]; New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters;
6774b) [realization for 4 double-track reel tapes, 19 cm/second]; score remains
unpublished
Literature: Austin, L. 2004; Cage
1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1961h, 26, 29-32; Cage 1962e, 41; Cage 1967o, 142, 143; Cage/Charles 1976, 36, 120-121;
Cage/Kostelanetz 1968WE/1970, 19; Cage/Mimaroğlu 1965; Kostelanetz
1970d, 19, 109-111, 129-130; Pritchett
1988a, 197-216; Pritchett 1996; Rigoni 1990-1991.
Winter Music
Medium: one to twenty pianos
Note: may be performed with Atlas
Eclipticalis and Solo for Voice 45 and Solo for Voice 48 from Song Books
Extent: instructions for performance (12 sentences) and 100 systems
Duration: indeterminate
Date: winter 1956-prior to January 12, 1957
First performance: January 12, 1957
Dedication: for Bob Rauschenberg (1925-2008) and Jasper Johns (1930)
Sources: Beverly Hills, California,
collection Betty Freeman; Los Angeles, California, Getty Center, 940073 box 6
folder 9-box 7 folder 1; New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 958-959
Publication: New Departures [Oxford] no.
2-3 (1960), 57-77; repr. New York: Henmar Press, 1960 (Peters; 6775)
Literature: Beeler 1973; Cage 1962e, 14; Cage 1964b; Cage 1967o, 135; Cage 1986e;
Cage 1987n; Downes 1970; Erdmann 1993e; Francis, J.R. 1976, 61-77, 97-98,
102-103 passim.
Wishing Well
Medium: four speaking voices
Text: Francisco Tanzer, Wishing Well
Extent: unknown
Duration: approximately 30 seconds
Dedication: for the Continuum Ensemble (Joel Sachs)
Date: before March 1, 1986
First performance: March 1, 1986
Sources: present location unknown
Publication: none.
The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
Text: James Joyce, Finnegans Wake.
New York: Viking Press, 1939, p. 556
Medium: voice (any range) and closed piano; may be combined with Nowth upon Nacht
Extent: 33 measures
Duration: approximately 2 minutes
Dedication: for Janet Fairbank (1903-1947)
Date: November 1942
First performance: March 5, 1943
Sources: Chicago, Illinois, Newberry Library, Janet Fairbank collection;
Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, Moldenhauer Archives (Box 79), Format A.
Mus. ms. S. Record number 1168 [Mylar N]
Publication: New York: Henmar Press, 1961 (Peters; 6297)
Literature: Bloch 1990; Cage 1959e; Cage 1959h; Cage 1962e, 22; Cage 1979c, 133;
Cage/Schning 1982, 81; Duckworth 1972, 78-80, 84; Griffiths 1981a, 16-17;
Kostelanetz 1970d, 128; Novak
2004; Petkus 1986, 60-77;
Reinhardt 2000; Revill 1992, 82, 254; Thiemann 1961-1962.
Works of Calder
Film: Herbert Matter, 1950. Works of
Calder. New York: Burgess Meredith
Medium: prepared piano and magnetic tape (recording of percussive sounds from
Alexander Calders studio)
Extent: prepared piano sequences: I (30 measures); III (67 measures)
Note: on February 8, 1950 Cage performed a suite from Works of Calder in four movements [sic]: (1) I Went to the Beach;
(2) I Wandered about and Investigated; (3) Like a Factory, but Somehow the
Things Came out Differently; (4) A Private Sky
Duration: approximately 20 minutes (piano sequence I approximately 5 minutes;
piano sequence III approximately 10 minutes; magnetic tape soundtrack
approximately 5 minutes)
Dedication: none
Date: November or December 1949-January 1950
First performance: February 8, 1950 (partial); film first shown
September 1-3, 1951
Sources: New York, Public Library, JPB 94-24 folder 158-161
Note: Cage 1951a, 15 includes a partial table of preparations different from
the published one
Publication: [prepared piano sequences] in Works for Piano, Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4 (1933-1952), ed.
Margaret Leng Tan. New York:
Henmar Press, 2004, pp. 60-74 (Peters; 68030)
Literature: Cage 1951a; Cage/Charles 1976, 193-194; Boulez/Cage 1990, 149-150; Lipman, J. 1976; Rausch 1999b.
The Year Begins to Ripe. See Song Books.