My Opera
Watch the orchestral version of 4′33″ by John Cage
Sunday, July 9, 2006 8:15:52 AM
About 4′33″
The premiere of the three-movement 4′33″ was given by David Tudor
on 1952-08-29, at Woodstock, New York as part of a recital of contemporary piano music.
The audience saw him sit at the piano and lift the lid of the piano. Some time later, without having played any notes, he closed the lid. A while after that, again having played nothing, he lifted the lid. And after a period of time, he closed the lid again and rose from the piano.
The piece had passed without a note being played, in fact without Tudor or anyone else on stage having made any deliberate sound, although he timed the lengths on a stopwatch while turning the pages of the score.
Richard Kostelanetz suggests that the very fact that Tudor, a man known for championing experimental music, was the performer, and that Cage, a man known for introducing unexpected non-musical noise into his work, was the composer, would have led the audience to expect unexpected sounds.
Anybody listening intently would have heard them: while the performer produces no deliberately musical sound, there will nonetheless be sounds in the concert hall (just as there were sounds in the anechoic chamber at Harvard). It is these sounds, unpredictable and unintentional, that are to be regarded as constituting the music in this piece. The piece remains controversial to this day, and is seen as challenging the very definition of music.
The length of 4′33″ is in fact not designated by its score. The instructions for the work indicate that it consists of three movements, for each of which the only instruction is "tacet", indicating silence on the part of the performer or performers. The title of the piece in each performance is determined by the length of silence chosen.
Cage chose the length of the famous first premiere performance by chance methods using I Ching models, and later said that it just as easily could have been any other length. There is no evidence supporting the sometimes-made claim that Cage chose the length deliberately, four minutes and thirty-three seconds being 273 seconds, and absolute zero being temperature of −273 °C. | © Wikipedia
To watch the video please click here: 4′33″ given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
scott cummingI_ArtMan # Sunday, July 9, 2006 11:50:19 PM
hungryghost # Monday, July 10, 2006 8:02:42 AM
I've heard about this piece by John Cage. Note that I say heard about, not heard...
i confess that I shook my head and still dont' knwo what to think about it!
E. Driver # Monday, July 10, 2006 6:49:49 PM
I think that I understand your point. Though I wouldn't over-interpret this work by John Cage. Composing experimental music it was just a very consistent step to write this non-music at that time. So maybe it's mainly a piece that shows his ideas and should be seen in the context of his other works. But I have to admit that I really enjoy this demand for paying attention to sounds and silence around us. What a nice thing, not to distinguish anymore between music, sounds and silence.
Thanks for watching and writing
Elmar
scott cummingI_ArtMan # Monday, July 10, 2006 7:30:09 PM
hungryghost # Wednesday, July 12, 2006 5:25:54 AM
E. Driver # Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:27:57 PM
Have a look at my new post regarding John Cage!
See you there
Elmar
yooperprof # Wednesday, July 19, 2006 3:53:54 AM
E. Driver # Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:31:34 PM
No, I don't mind at all.
See you
Elmar
Andrzej Uandreu # Thursday, July 20, 2006 9:34:06 AM
It was an uncanny concert! I was taken completely by surprise. As a matter of fact not only I. I understand that he was a composer David Tudor. Really quite new experimental music..
E. Driver # Thursday, July 20, 2006 6:31:01 PM
Well, I hope by posting some more stuff about John Cage we get an idea of his work and thinking.
Have a nice evening
Elmar