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John Cage

American avant-garde composer (1912-1992) · United States · Musicians · Died at 79

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He wrote a four-and-a-half-minute piece where the performers play nothing - and it became one of the most argued-over works in music history. Cage dismantled the idea that composition meant filling silence, using coin tosses and ancient Chinese texts to let chance build the score.

MusiciansSinger / MusicianClassicalLiteraturePoetryPhilosophyPaintingArt

A life in dates

1992Died12 August 19921989Kyoto Prize in Arts and PhilosophyAward1958“Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school? Are the people inside the school musical and the ones outside unmusical?”In their words"Communication", the third of the Composition as a Process lectures, John Cage gave in Darmstadt in 1958 and published in Silence.

1949“We need not destroy the past. It is gone.”In their words"Lecture on Nothing" (1949)

“I remember loving sound before I ever took a music lesson. And so we make our lives by what we love.”In their words"Lecture on Nothing" (1949)

“David Tudor and I went to Hilversum in Holland to make a recording for the Dutch radio. We arrived at the studio early and there was some delay.”In their wordsQuote from 'Lecture on Nothing', (c. 1949), in 'Silence: lectures and writings by John Cage; Publisher Middletown, Conn. Wesleyan

Arts and Letters Award in MusicAwardGuggenheim FellowshipAward1937“The composer (organizer of sound) will be faced not only with the entire field of sound but also with the entire field of time.”In their words** Quote of John Cage, in: 'The Future of Music: Credo' (1937); SILENCE; lectures and writings by Cage, John', Publisher Middletown, Conn.

1935“I can't speak or write German, but I'am overjoyed because I have bought one of your pictures. Now it is in me. I write music. You are my teacher.”In their wordsQuote from his letter to Jawlensky, early Februari 1935; as cited in 'The shape of the Future 3: Art' in Where the Heart Beats: John Cage,

1912Born5 September 1912

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Opdracht GPD componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934-2728Opdracht GPD componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934-2728Componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934-3585Componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934-3585John Cage (1988)John Cage (1988)Opdracht GPD componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934-2727Opdracht GPD componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934-2727Bio cage johnBio cage johnBurchardi-Kloster Halberstadt bemalter Stromkasten östlich des Torhauses-TeildraufsichtBurchardi-Kloster Halberstadt bemalter Stromkasten östlich des Torhauses-TeildraufsichtBurchardi-Kloster Halberstadt-bemalter Stromkasten östlich des Torhauses-Ansicht von OstenBurchardi-Kloster Halberstadt-bemalter Stromkasten östlich des Torhauses-Ansicht von OstenBurchardi-Kloster Halberstadt-bemalter Stromkasten östlich des Torhauses-Ansicht von SOBurchardi-Kloster Halberstadt-bemalter Stromkasten östlich des Torhauses-Ansicht von SO

In their own words 10

,
John Cage
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school? Are the people inside the school musical and the ones outside unmusical?

    1958, "Communication", the third of the Composition as a Process lectures, John Cage gave in Darmstadt in 1958 and published in Silence., Own words

  2. Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following my death. One need not fear about the future of music.

    1957, Quote of "Experimental Music", John Cage (1957), Own words

  3. I have nothing to say/ and I am saying it/ and that is poetry/ as I need it.

    1949, "Lecture on Nothing" (1949), Own words

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Albums 24

CPComplete Piano Music, Volume 2: Music for Piano 1-85 / Electronic Music for Piano1998
WPWorks for Prepared Piano1998
SISonatas and Interludes1997
CZCage: Two⁴ / Hosokawa: In die Tiefe der Zeit1997
LPLou Harrison: A Portrait1997
TDTwo² / Experiences / 3 Dances1997
CPComplete Piano Music, Volume 1: The Prepared Piano 1940-19521997
TCThe Piano Concertos1997
TWThe Lost Works1996
RYRyoanji1996
CBCage / Pisaro / Frey / Beuger1996
TSTwo⁴ / Two⁶ / Five² / Five⁵ / Seven / Seven²1996
TPThe Piano Works 2: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano1996
MEMusic for Eight1996
DIDream / Sonatas and Interludes1996
WIWorks for Piano & Prepared Piano, Vol. IV1996
JSJohn Cage: One⁸ / Sofia Gubaidulina: Zehn Präludien für Violoncello solo1996
ILImaginary Landscapes1996
EUEuroperas 3 & 41995
SVSixty-Eight / Quartets I-VIII1995
SHSix Melodies / Thirteen Harmonies1995
NSNew York School 31995
ILIn a Landscape1995
TCThe Contemporary American 'C'1995

Awards

Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy1989
Guggenheim Fellowship1949
Arts and Letters Award in Music1949
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Honorary Member of the International Society for Contemporary Music

Family

John Cage

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About this person

John Milton Cage Jr. studied under Arnold Schoenberg in the mid-1930s, but his real turn came through Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, which led him to aleatoric music - composition by chance. Starting in 1951, he used the I Ching as his standard tool, calling music "a purposeless play" and "an affirmation of life." In 1952 he premiered 4′33″, a piece in which musicians stay silent and the audience hears only ambient sound; it remains a flashpoint in arguments about what music is. He also pioneered the prepared piano, placing objects on the strings to warp the instrument's voice, writing Sonatas and Interludes and works for Merce Cunningham, his longtime partner and collaborator in modern dance. He died in 1992, having redrawn the borders of sound.

Country
United States
Category
Musicians
Type
Singer / Musician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1912 to 1992 · aged 79

In common with John

Mike HodgesAlso in Sound?? (1966)Henning LohnerAlso in One 11 and 103 (1992)Rahsaan Roland KirkAlso in Sound?? (1966)

Musicians from the United States 3

Glen Campbell61.2Jim Byrnes61.2Simone White61.2

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