John Cage

October Files

by John Cage

John Cage (1912--1992) defined a radical practice of composition thatchanged the course of modern music and shaped a new conceptual horizon for postwarart. Famous for his use of chance and "silence" in musical works, apioneer in electronic music and the nonstandard use of instruments, Cage was one ofthe most influential composers of the last century. This volume traces a trajectoryof writings on the artist, from the earliest critical reactions to the scholarshipof today. If the first writing on Cage in the American context, often written byclose associates with Cage's involvement, seemed lacking in critical distance, younger scholars--a generation removed--have recently begun to approach the legacyfrom a new perspective, with more developed theoretical frameworks and greaterskepticism. This book captures that evolution. The texts include discussions ofCage's work in the context of the New Music scene in Germany in the 1950s; YvonneRainer's essay looking back on Cage and New York experimentalism of the 1960s; acomplex and original mapping of Cage's place in a wider avant-garde genealogy thatincludes Le Corbusier and Moholy-Nagy; a musicologist's account of Cage's process ofdefining and formalizing his concept of indeterminacy; and an analysis of Cage'sproject that considers his strategies of self-representation as key to his uniqueimpact on modern and postmodern art.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music

174 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published August 12, 2011

About the author

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the 20th century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).

His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".

Reviews

[Will Cumbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 essays on the work of John Cage, from 1959 to 2009, most but not all from the journal October. I've always felt ambivalent about Cage—I appreciate his influence, a lot of music I like might not have been made without him, but his work and self-presentation frustrate me. I'm tired of hearing jokes about 4'33", I don't think his engagement with Eastern thought was serious or compelling, etc. On the other hand, he invented prepared piano and defined the parameters of most experimental music that came afterward.

The collection starts with two essays, pro and contra, that illustrate Cage's relation to the classical avant-garde at the time—Stockhausen in particular. These are the book's strongest essays, showing how Cage's work redefined the role of "composer" and giving a sense of the philosophical framework from which he broke. The third essay, by Yvonne Rainer, shows Cage's real utility: Rainer derives a Cage of her own, in dialogue with Barthes and Godard, who provides a model or at least spur for her own work. It is probably not coincidental that this essay says the least about Cage's actual compositions.

But it is good to get all the details on the work. One essay relates Cage to modern architecture, another details his use/misuse of Eastern thought, another shows his relation to "event scores" and Fluxus, another describes his teaching at the New School. Cage is a cliche as a public figure; specifics are the only remedy. With them he comes across as a good teacher and a thoughtful, even calculating, artist.

I finished the book more interested both in Cage and in the avant-garde movements he influenced, especially Fluxus. Fluxus can seem, as Maciunas is quoted describing it, "gag-like." At worst it's like a punchline without a setup. These essays give a bit of that setup, show what the art was meant to do. It feels ambitious enough that you can forgive it for not succeeding.

[Herb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather than being written by John Cage (despite how it is listed here), this is a collection of criticism of Cage's work drawn from the journal October.