Cage, John, 1912–92, American composer, b. Los Angeles. A leading figure in the musical avant-garde from the late 1930s, he attended Pomona College and later studied with Arnold Schoenberg Schoenberg, Arnold , 1874–1951, Austrian composer, b. Vienna. Before he became a U.S. citizen in 1941 he spelled his name Schönberg. He revolutionized modern music by abandoning tonality and developing a twelve-tone, "serial" technique of composition (see
..... Click the link for more information. , Adolph Weiss, and Henry Cowell Cowell, Henry Dixon , 1897–1965, American composer and pianist, b. Menlo Park, Calif., largely self-educated, studied musicology in Berlin (1931–32).
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1943 he moved to New York City, where his concerts featuring percussion instruments attracted attention. For these performances he invented the "prepared piano," in which objects made of metal, wood, and rubber were attached to a piano's strings, thus altering pitch and tone and producing sounds resembling those of a minuscule percussion group. Cage's Bacchanale (1938) and Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48) were composed for prepared piano. Cage sought to break down the barrier between "art" and "nonart," maintaining that all sounds are of interest. Many of his works seek to liberate "nonmusical sounds." For example, 4'33" (1952), probably his most famous piece, consists of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence, providing a frame to be filled by random environmental sounds.

Cage also conceived the idea of a "composition indeterminate of its performance," in which the composer gives the performer instructions that do not directly condition the resultant sounds. For example, his famous Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951) is scored for 12 radios tuned at random. In addition, he adopted procedures whereby the composer does not directly condition the sounds of the resultant composition, using such methods as the roll of dice or a consultation of the I Ching (see aleatory music aleatory music [Lat. alea=dice game], music in which elements traditionally determined by the composer are determined either by a process of random selection chosen by the composer or by the exercise of choice by the performer(s).
..... Click the link for more information. ). Cage, who for many years was associated with choreographer Merce Cunningham Cunningham, Merce (Mercier Philip Cunningham), 1919–, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Centralia, Wash. Cunningham studied with Martha Graham and was a soloist in her company from 1940 to 1955.
..... Click the link for more information. , also wrote music for the dance, to be played independently of the choreography. A kind of musical provocateur, Cage is noted for his inventiveness, his humor, and his strong influence on minimalist composers such as Philip Glass Glass, Philip, 1937–, American composer, b. Baltimore. Considered one of the most innovative of contemporary composers, he was a significant figure in the development of minimalism in music. Glass attended the Juilliard School of Music (M.A.
..... Click the link for more information. and on the development of performance art performance art, multimedia art form originating in the 1970s in which performance is the dominant mode of expression. Perfomance art may incorporate such elements as instrumental or electronic music, song, dance, television, film, sculpture, spoken dialogue, and
..... Click the link for more information. . His influence also extended to such media as poetry, video art, painting, and printmaking. Cage wrote several books, among them Silence (1961) and A Year from Monday (1967).

Bibliography

See biography by D. Revill (1992).

Cage, John

in full John Milton Cage, Jr.

(born Sept. 5, 1912, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.—died Aug. 12, 1992, New York, N.Y.) U.S. avant-garde composer and writer. The son of an inventor, Cage studied music with Arnold Schoenberg and Henry Cowell. From the early 1940s he was closely associated with the choreographer Merce Cunningham. Though he began as a 12-tone composer (see serialism), by 1943 his sonic experiments had marked him as notably original. He soon turned to Zen Buddhism and concluded that all activities that make up music are part of a single natural process and that all sounds are potentially musical; thenceforth he advocated indeterminism and endeavoured to ensure randomness in his works, using increasingly inventive notation and often relying on the Confucian classic Yijing. By the 1960s he had expanded into the realm of multimedia. His disparate works include Bacchanale for prepared piano (1938), Imaginary Landscape No. 4 for 12 radios (1951), Fontana Mix for tape (1958), HPSCHD for seven harpsichords, 51 tapes, and nonmusical media (1969), and Roaratorio (1979). His widely read books include Silence (1961), A Year from Monday (1967), Notations (1969), and M (1973). His international influence was far greater than that of any previous American composer.

Cage, John (Milton) (1912–92) composer; born in Los Angeles. Cage studied with a number of teachers including Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, who helped provoke his avant-garde proclivities. He began writing all-percussion pieces in the 1930s and proclaimed the use of noise as the next musical horizon; in 1938 he introduced the "prepared piano," an instrument whose sound is radically modified by various objects placed on the strings. While writing much for prepared piano in the 1940s, notably the Sonatas and Interludes, he also produced some pioneering electronic music. Among the most widely influential elements of his thought was the idea of indeterminacy, music that is not strictly controlled, as seen in his 1951 Landscape No. 4 for twelve radios—the sound of which depends on what happens to be on the air. Later works, especially the notorious 4'33" (1954), involve complete silence. He continued to develop such concepts and he also produced several quirky, engaging books beginning with the 1961 Silence. In his later years he was widely acclaimed as one of the more original of American artists.

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No references found			Musical math talk is always reminiscent of modern composition, the weird graph paper weavings of John Cage or Philip Glass. Dream a little dream: Glasser keeps it moving by Schnipper, Matthew / The Fader 95 Hardcover ND1839 This collection brings together 50 watercolors by composer and artist John Cage (1912-1992), created in 1988 at the Mountain Lake Workshop in Blacksburg, Virginia, and preserved by workshop founder and director Ray Kass (art, Virginia Tech). John Cage; Zen ox-herding pictures by Reference & Research Book News He sparked dance's transformation when he left Graham''s troupe to form his own company with his partner and lover, the avant-garde composer John Cage. Merce Cunningham; OBITUARY by Daily Post (Liverpool, England)			John Ball John Baptist de la Salle, Saint John Bardeen John Barrymore John Barton John Bates Clark John Beaver Marks John Bell John Bellers John Birch Society John Biscoe John Bosco, Saint John Boyd Thacher State Park John Boynton Priestley John Broadus Watson John Brown John Brown Farm State Historic Site John Brown's Body John Bryan State Park John Bull John Bunyan John Burdon Sanderson Haldane John Burns John Burroughs Memorial State Historic Site John Byron John Cage John Calvin John Carew Eccles John Carter Brown Library John Christian Watson John Chrysostom John Chrysostom, Saint John Clarke Slater John Clerk John Climacus John Climax, Saint John Colet John Constable John Cornford John Cowdery Kendrew John Crerar Library John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation John D. MacArthur Beach State Park John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway John Dalton John Damascene John Damascene, Saint John Daniel Wild John Davis John Day			John Burridge Military Antiques John Burroughs John Burroughs High School John Burroughs Memorial State Historic Site John Burroughs School John Butler John Butler Trio John Byrne Forum John Byron John C Campbell Folk School John C Hart Memorial Library John C. Calhoun John C. Coolidge John C. Coolidge John C. Coolidge, Jr. John C. Coolidge, Jr. John C. Fremont John C. Frémont John C. Lincoln Health Network John C. Otto Company, Inc. John C. Slater John C. Stennis John C. Stennis Space Center John Cabot John Cabot John Cabot University John Cage John Cahill Consulting Services Ltd John Caldwell Calhoun John Caldwell Calhoun John Calhoun Baker John Calvin John Calvin John Calvin Christian School John Calvin Coolidge John Calvin Coolidge John Calvin Coolidge John Calvin Coolidge Jr. John Calvin Coolidge Jr. John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. John Calvin Presbyterian Church John Calvinus John Calvinus John Campbell John Campbell John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll John Capgrave John Caples International Awards John Cardinal Newman John Cardinal Newman John Carew Eccles John Carew Eccles John Carmack John Carpenter John Carroll (bishop) John Carroll Awards Weekend

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