John Cage Online
compiled by Josh Ronsen
last update: 17 December 2007
This is a collection of links to infomation on composer John Cage. Please
send any corrections and updates to me at jronsen
(ate) grandecom (dote) net If you have any questions about Cage, the perfect
place to ask them is SILENCE, the John Cage Discussion List, which can be joined
at http://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/silence
Contents
Lists of Works
- Edition Peters -- a list of works available
from his publisher, Edition Peters; scores can be ordered from here.
- NY Public Library Collection -- Annotated list of scores and manuscripts in the NY Public Library collection; provides detailed info on each item
- Larry Solomon's List -- Detailed list of pieces arranged chronologically and alphabetically
- Andre Chaudron's List -- Detailed worklist by André Chaudron
- James Pritchett's List -- A list compiled by James Pritchett
- NEW! Paul van Emmerik's List -- detailed list of compositions with notes
Discographies/Filmographies
- Andre Chaudron's Discography
-- very detailed discography by André Chaudron
- picture discography -- CD discography with cover images and track listings
- A John Cage Filmography -- a list of films that feature Cage or his music
- NEW! Paul van Emmerik's Discography -- detailed discography by label with notes
- NEW! Paul van Emmerik's List of Art Works -- detailed list of art works, with notes
Interviews
- 1963 interview by Jonathan Cott in .mp3 audio format
- Cage on Ives -- 1966 interview
with Michael Zwerin, taken from "John Cage, an Anthology"
- John Cage and Morton Feldman in Conversation -- 1967 conversation in .mp3 audio format
- Cage on Fuller --
interview with Cage concerning Buckminster Fuller, 19??
- Quicktime movie
interview -- excerpt of 1969 interview, Quicktime movie
- 1969 interview -- with Richard Friedman
- French interview -- Interview in French by Jean-Yves Bosseur, 1970
- 1970 interview with Max Nyffeler -- 1970
- interview on "Empty words" -- brief excerpt of
radio interview, 1974, also includes audio sample
- interviewed by Paul Cummings -- 1974
- interview with Art Lange -- 1977, originally published
in "Brilliant Corners"
- Laughtears: A conversation on Roaratorio (excerpt) -- Real Audio file taken from Mode Records release of Roaratorio
- 1982 interview -- Cage interviewed by Peter Gena, 1982
- 1983 interview -- from Audio Arts book
- 1983 interview -- by Charles Amirkhanian, .mp3 audio format, with musical examples
- 1985 interview -- by Stephen Montague
- interview with John Held -- interview with John Held, 1987
- shhh... you know who -- 1988 interview with Brian Morton published in the Wire
- 1988 interview -- by John Diliberto
- Cage on Slonimsky -- 1988? Quicktime video interview with Cage on Slonimsky
- NEW! 1989
Q and A Session -- at Norton Lectures, in .mp3 format. Part 2 is here.
- interview with Serizawa, Kanesaka, and Takagishi -- 1989
- interview with Ed Herrmann -- 1989, there are also 5 audio exceprts on the site
- 1990 interview with Pataphysics Magazine -- 1990
- Cage on his paintings -- brief excerpts of interview with Cage
on his paintings, 1990?
- Interview with Steve Sweeney-Turner -- second part of interview is here and the third here
- Miami interview -- brief
interview in Miami, 1991
- 1991 interview -- by Alan Anderson in .pdf format
- Interview
with Laurie Anderson -- Cage interviewed by Laurie Anderson, 1992
Writings by Cage
- autobiographical
statement -- An autobiographical statement on the New Albion website
- Indeterminacy
-- An adaptation of 90 "1 minute" stories to the web.
- Cage
on Feldman -- 4 excerpts of writings from "Silence" concerning Morton
Feldman
- stories
-- More short stories from Silence and A Year from Monday; refresh browser
to get different story.
- quotes
-- a collection of 12 quotes by Cage, some from his book Silence
- stories
about David Tudor -- stories about David Tudor from "Indeterminacy"
- quotes
-- quotations from Silence, within an eulogy by James Nye
- Vexations
-- Cage writes about Satie's Vexations
- NEW! Diary:
How to Improve the World -- section of work published in Aspen No. 4 (1966)
- NEW! Anarchist
Poem -- written in 1966?
- NEW! Mesostics
from "M" -- 4 mesostics
- NEW! Memogram
Correspondences -- 15 typed and hand written letters from 1976-1986
- Roaratorio
-- Cage writes about this work Roaratorio, taken from the liner notes to the
Mode Records recording
- Composition
in Retrospect -- excerpt from 1992 writing
- Writing
Through Howl -- excerpt from "Writing through Howl" (the Alan Ginsberg
poem)
- Mark Tobey
-- excerpt from "25 Mesostics Re and Not Re Mark Tobey"
- Raphael
Mostel -- Cage's mesostic on the name "Raphael Mostel"
- mesostic
on Nicolas Slonimsky -- mesostic written in 1989
- Anarchic
Harmony
- Score to Cartridge
Music
- written
instructions for Five Hanau Silences (1991)
Articles/essays about Cage
- bio --
brief bio
- bio
-- brief bio
- Early
works for keyboards -- liner notes written by Stephen Drury
- The
City Wears a Slouch Hat -- liner notes by James Pritchett
- Sonatas
and Interludes -- liner notes by James Pritchett
- Sonatas
and Interludes -- analysis of first three Sonatas
-
A Piano Piece's Nuts and Bolts -- By Mark Swed, with considerable interview
material from James Tenney
- The Sound
collector - The Prepared Piano of John Cage -- by Tim Ovens
- prepared
piano demonstration -- Real Audio video of Margaret Leng Tan demonstrating
how to prepare the piano for "Bacchanle." For modem users, view the lofi
version. A Real Audio sound interview with MLT on the prepared piano can be
found here.
- The
Piano Works -- liner notes written by Stephen Drury
- Work
for Violin and Piano -- liner notes written by Stephen Drury
- 4'33"
-- by Larry Solomon
- 4'33"
-- Another essay on 4"33" by Peter Gutmann
- Margaret
Leng Tan talks about 4'33" -- Real Audio interview with MLT
- 4'33"
-- Margaret Leng Tan performs 4'33" on its 50th anniversary
- Toy
Piano -- Margaret Leng Tan interviewed about Toy Piano
- Ten
Thousand Things -- chapter from James Pritchett's disertation "The use
of chance techniques in the music of John Cage, 1950-1956"
- Atlas
Eclipticalis -- brief analysis by James McHard
- Iannis
Xenakis and John Cage: Two Sides of a Tossed Coin -- by Tako Oda, compares
use of chance in "Fontana Mix" and "Pithoprakta"
- The Shapes
of Indeterminacy: John Cage's Variations I and Variations II -- by David
P. Miller
- Variations
II -- David Tudor's realization of Variations II, written by James Pritchett
- John
Cage at the University of Illinois, 1952-69 by Johanne Rivest, including
info on HPSCHD
- The
Cage Style -- essay by Greg Sandow decribing performance of "Song Books"
and other pieces
- Song
Books -- A Marvelous Madness: John Cage's Song Books by Rob Haskins
- NEW! Song
Books Score -- 1995 essay by Richard Kostelanetz
- NEW! Song
Books -- Zac Bond explains each solo in detail.
- Etceteras
-- liner notes written by Stephen Drury
- Freeman
Etudes -- liner notes by James Pritchett
- Hymnkus
-- by Peter Gena
- Marcel
Duchamp, James Joyce, Erik Satie: An Alphabet -- Info on Cage's radio
play "Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce, Erik Satie: An Alphabet"
- Essay
-- Text that accompanied an installation of Cage's "Essay" in Berlin in 1993,
written by James Pritchett
- A Dip in
the Lake -- brief article by Peter Gena
- Europeras
-- essay by Stefan Beyst
- Europeras
3 and 4 -- liner notes by James Pritchett
- I_VI
-- "A Man Inspired by Chance" by John Rockwell
- Two^2
-- The Harmony of Emptiness: John Cage's Two^2 by Rob Haskins
- Two^4
-- liner notes written by Stephen Drury
- One^4,
Four, Twenty-Nine -- A Mix RE: some Number Pieces: Notes for Recording
of One^4, Four, and Twenty-Nine by Rob Haskins
- Four^4
-- Anarchism and the Everyday: Cage's Number Pieces by Rob Haskins (with emphasis
on Four^4)
- John
Cage and the Squat -- about Five Hanau Silences (1991)
- Atlas
Eclipticales, Winter Music, 103 -- liner notes written by James Pritchett
- Atlas
Eclipticales, Winter Music, 103 -- review of Atlas Eclipticales, Winter
Music, 103
- One^9
and 108 -- Notes for One^9 and 108 by Rob Haskins
- Rolywholyover
-- brief article about the Rolywholyover museum event.
- Introduction
to "The music of John Cage". -- the introduction to James Pritchett's
excellent book on Cage's music
- Analysis
of Scores -- Peter Gena analyzes Cage's scores from the 1950s
- John
Cage: Choral music (a timeline) -- liner notes by James Pritchett
- Notes
on Cage, Harmony and Analysis -- by Rob Haskins
- Cage,
Mallame and Duchamp -- academic article linking Cage with Mallame and
Duchamp, also an interactive "underground" map of related ideas and thinkers
- Duchamp
and Cage -- Glasswanderers by Julia Dur
- John
Cage: Composed In America - Kenneth Goldsmith reviews the book "John Cage:
Composed in America"
- Cage
and Joyce -- brief analysis of Cage's use of James Joyce texts in his
work
- Heidegger's
Hölderlin and John Cage -- by Michael Eldred
- "Something
like a hidden glimmering:" John Cage and recorded sound -- by James Pritchett
- American
Master -- brief bio on PBS's American Masters page, includes video clip
- Cage and
Cunningham -- essay on Cage's working relationship with Merce Cunningham
by Connie Sunday
- Renaldo
& Clara Meet John Cage: Aleatory Cinema and the Aesthetics of Incompetence
-- by David Sterritt
- John
Cage's Dublin, Lyn Hejinian's Leningrad: Poetic Cities as Cyberspaces
-- by Marjorie Perloff
- The Music
of Verbal Space: John Cage's "What You Say" -- by Marjorie Perloff
- Cage:
Chance: Change -- by Marjorie Perloff
- Postmodernism
and the Music of John Cage -- by Nancy Perloff
- The
Anarchist Art of John Cage -- by Richard Kostelanetz
- Crises
of Authenticity -- by Joe Panzner; examines Variations II, Song Books,
and 103
- Blame it
on Cage -- by Steev Hise
- Cage and
Rauschenberg -- by Peter Gena
- Freedom
in experimental music: the New York Revolution -- by Peter Gena
- John Cage:
morphological systems for scoring -- by M. Blair Ligon
- Morton Feldman
speaks of Cage -- Interview with Morton Feldman about Cage
- John
Cage['s] Visual Art: To Sober and Quiet the Mind -- review of Kathan Brown's
book "John Cage['s] Visual Art: To Sober and Quiet the Mind"
- John
Cage and the "Project of Modernity" -- by David W. Bernstein
- What John Cage Did -- by Kenneth Maue
- Writings
by Wierzbicki -- 6 essays and reviews of Cage by James Wierzbicki
- Wiring
John Cage: Silence as a Global Sound System -- by Charles A. Baldwin
- interview
with Merce Cunningham -- concerning "Oceans," their last collaboration
together
- John
Cage's Queer Silence -- by Jonathan Katz
- Feldman
on Cage and 1950s society -- Feldman speaks at length about Cage's relationships
with other artists in the 1950s
- NY
Times Obituary -- from August 13, 1992
- Cage Speaks
Faster When the Street Gets Noisy -- article by Greg Sandow
- Silent
Revolution -- by Margaret Leng Tan
- EC=JC2:
John Cage as Exemplary Creator by David Nicholls
- Art &
Life: John Cage, Avant-gardism & Technology by Martin J.C. Dixon
- 12
stories -- 12 people tell stories about their meetings with Cage
- 11
Stories -- 11 more remembrances
Paintings/Visual Art by Cage
- Not Wanting to Say Anthing about Marcel -- 3 versions of "Not Wanting to Say Anthing about Marcel" (1969)
- Mesostinatostics -- two "Mesostinatostic" writings on colored discs, 1978?
- 20 paintings -- 20 images of paintings
made at Crown Point Press, plus a photo of Cage working in 1980
- watercolors -- 6 images of
Cage's watercolor/stone paintings
- Matress Factory Installation -- picture gallery
of installation of artwork by Cage and others
- 2 watercolors -- 2 1989 watercolor at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery
- Mozart Mix -- photo of Mozart Mix suitcase, with tape players and tapes
Sound Files
- Story
from Living Room Music -- voices by Arnold Marinissen
- Sonata XIII -- excerpt
of "Sonata XIII" (on poorly designed page with frames: click on the little
picture of the screw and then click on Sonata XIII icon)
- Sonatas
and Interludes -- performed by James Tenney
- NEW! String Quartet in Four Parts -- Zehetmair Quartet performs 2 parts, in
Real Media format
- 27'10.554"
for a Percussionist -- FLAC format, 1960s performance by Donald Knaack
- 26'1.1499"
for a String Player -- FLAC format, 1960s performance by Bertram Turetzky
- NEW! 26'1.1499"
for a String Player -- .mp3 of Charlotte Moorman realization
- Radio
Music (1956) -- Real Audio file from Fluxus Anthology
- Electronic
Music for Piano -- .mp3, performed by John Tilbury and Sebastian Lex
- Mushroom
Haiku -- .mp3 of Cage reading. Another reading from Silence is here.
- Aria
with Fontana Mix -- .FLAC format of Cathy Berberian performance with Magnetic
tape
- NEW! Fontana
Mix - Feed -- .mp3 of 1967 Max Neuhaus realization
- Solos
for Voice 2 -- .FLAC format of The Brandeis University Chamber Chorus
performance
- Variations
I -- .FLAC format of Gerd Zacher (organ) performance
- NEW! Variations
I -- .mp3 of 2004 live version by Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Mihaela
Ursuleasa (here
is the score).
- Variations
III -- .FLAC format of New Music Ensemble of the San Francisco Conservatory
performance.
- Diary:
How to Improve the World I (excerpt) -- Real Audio file taken from Wergo
CD
- 62
Mesostics Re - Merce Cunningham (1971) -- .mp3 of Jack Briece performance
- Mureau
-- .mp3s of Cage reading this work in Germany, 1972
- Mureau
-- .mp3 excerpt of Cage reading this work
- Song,
Derived from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau (1976) -- .mp3 of Cage
reading
- Writing
for the Second Time Through Finnegans Wake (1978) -- .mp3 of Cage reading
- NEW! A
Dip in the Lake -- .mp3s of a 2000 version
- Mesostic
I-VI Part I (1989) -- .mp3, read by CageMesostic
I-VI Part II (1989) -- .mp3, read by Cage
- Themes
and Variations -- read by Al Filreis, Shawn Walker, and George Blaustein
- Composition
in Retrospect -- read by Cage
- John
Cage Meets Sun Ra -- .mp3 file taken from LP of same name. The other half
of this can be found here.
- What
You Say (On Jasper Johns) (excerpt) -- Real Audio file taken from Mode
Records release The Text Pieces I
- ASLSP
-- current note in 639 year long performance of ASLSP
Online Video
- NEW! A
Room -- 2007 version for harp by Floraleda Sacchi
- In
the Name of the Holocaust -- performed by Margaret Leng Tan
- NEW! Dreams
that Money Can Buy -- video and audio from Hans Richter film, with Marcel
Duchamp's rotating art and prepared piano music from Cage.
- NEW! In
A Landscape -- Luciane Cardassi performs
- In
A Landscape -- 2007 version for harp by Floraleda Sacchi
- NEW! Sonata
I & II? -- 2002 performance by James Tenney, two more Sonatas XIV
& XV? by Tenney can be found here.
- NEW! Sonata
V -- from the Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48), terrific view from inside
the piano
- Cage
playing 4'33" on piano in street -- 1976 clip from Nam June Paik's "Tribute
to John Cage" [the video clip didn't play too well on my work PC]
- 4'33"
-- Margaret Leng Tan performs 4'33" on a toy piano
- NEW! Water Walk -- 1960 performance on I've Got a Secret TV show.
- Speech
-- 1982? rehearsal supervised by Cage
- Variations
III -- 2007 rehearsals by Motion Ensemble
- Variations
V -- 1965? clip (2 minutes) of Cage, Tudor, Gordon Mumma performing Variations
V with Merce Cunningham dancers
- NEW! John
Cage and David Tudor -- 1966 electronic performance + Cage speaking from
"Sound?" (Variations V? VII?)
- 1969
interview -- excerpt of 1969 interview, Quicktime movie
- mushroom
picking -- video of Cage collecting mushrooms and speaking, from 1980?
- 1987
interview
- NEW! 27
Sounds made in a kitchen -- 27 kitchen sounds and voice-over by Cage,
1990?
Photos (dates with ? are approximated by Josh Ronsen)
- spikey
hair -- 1948?
- more
spikey hair -- Cage on cover of Critical Inquiry
- car
-- Cage driving his Model A, 1952?
- New
School Class -- Cage and students in the infamous New School class, 1958/9?
- Cage
and Cathy Berberian -- 1962?
- Cage
and Cathy Berberian -- 1962?
- NEW! Cage
and James Drew -- 1964
- NEW! Cage
and David Tudor -- 1964
- in
performance -- photo of Cage in performance with Tudor, Gordon Mumma,
and Merce Cunningham dancers (also 2 minute video clip), 1965
- William
Gedney Photos -- 38 black and white photos of Cage taken by William Gerdney
in the late 1960s, photos include the electronic chessboard from "Reunion"
and Cage hunting for mushrooms
- 4
photos of Cage -- 1967-8
- NEW! performing Vexations -- 1969
- dark
Cage -- 1970? portrait
- Cage
and Mumma with headphones -- 1970, Cage and Gordon Mumma in radio studio
- 4
photos -- 4 photos of Cage from 1970? to 1990?
- 4
photos -- 4 other photos of Cage from 1970? to 1990?
- laugh
-- Cage with beard and laugh
- lecturing
to young people -- 1973 at Oberlin
- collage photos
-- 8 photos of Cage on poster for 1980 lecture
- painting
-- Cage working on art at Crown Point Press, 1980
- reading
-- Cage performs at The University of Maryland, 1981
- 2
photos of Cage and Cunningham -- 1983
- Cage
and Cunningham in Italy -- 1985?
- Cage
meeting Sun Ra -- image from rare album cover, 1986
- smile
-- Cage giving a smile while posing, 1987
- painting
-- Cage painting, 1988
- C
and LaBarbara -- Cage and Joan LaBarbara, 1988?
- Cage
and Margaret Leng Tan -- 1988?
- NEW! Cage
making soup -- 1989
- holding
box of mysterious objects -- 1990?
- Cage
explaining -- closeup of face, 1990?
- Cage
with players -- Cage with SF Contempoary Players, Gordon Mumma, William
Winnat, 1992
Misc info
- SILENCE:
The John Cage Discussion List -- an email discussion list run by Joseph
Zitt. Searchable archives of the list can be found at the New
Albion Records website. NEW! The
archives for the list from 1994-199 are here.
- upcoming
Cage concerts around the world
- John Cage Compendium
-- a detailed list of what Cgae did, when and where.
- NEW! Chronology
1912-1972 and Chronology1972-1992
-- Detailed day-to-day activies compiled by Paul
van Emmerik
- NEW! Detailed bibliography A-B -- compiled by Paul van Emmerik, continued in C, D-J, K-P and Q-Z.
- bibliographic index of pieces -- an index of where each composition is mentioned in Cage literature
- index for book "Conversing with Cage" -- compiled by Larry Solomon
- computer
programs -- list of computer programs designed by Andrew Culver and used
by Cage in his work.
- Cage/Fluxus
bibliography -- bibiolography of Cage interviews pertaining to Fluxus
- Cage
bibliography -- from Corner magazine
- CDs of Cage's music can be ordered from Forced
Exposure (US), Mode
(US), Ogre Press @ CD Baby (US)
- Edition
Peters -- Cage's primary publisher, Cage's scores can be ordered from
here
- Fonts
-- Computer fonts based on Cage's handwriting.
Frequently Asked Questions
- SILENCE: The John Cage Discussion List -- this email discussion list is the perfect place to ask questions concerning John Cage. Searchable archives of the list can be found at the New Albion Records website.
- What can I do? One thing that is needed that I do not have time to do is to compile lists of web sites about Cage in German and French. Also, I would like to post interviews with Cage from out of print sources. I need help in getting permission to post these.
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