MUSICAGE () von John Cage

The pioneering composer and music theorist makes his final on the totality of his work and thought in these three wide-ranging dialogues. ';I was obliged to find a radical way to work to get at the real, at the root of the matter,' John Cage says in this trio of dialogues, completed just days before his death. This quest led him beyond the bounds of convention in all his musical, written, and visual pieces. The resulting expansion of the definition of art earned him a reputation as one of Americas most influential contemporary artists. Joan Retallacks conversations with Cage explore his artistic production in its entirety. Cages comments range from his theories of chance and indeterminate composition to his long-time collaboration with Merce Cunningham to the aesthetics of his multimedia works. In her comprehensive introduction, Retallack describes Cage's lifelong project as ';dislodging cultural authoritarianism and gridlock by inviting surprising conjunctions within carefully delimited frameworks and processes.' Consummate performer to the end, Cage delivers here just such a conjunction a tour de force that provides new insights into the man and a clearer view of the status of art in the twentieth century.

<P>List of Illustrations<BR>Acknowledgements<BR>Introduction: Conversations in Retrospect– Joan Retallack<BR>WORDS<BR>Art is Either a Complaint or Do Something Else– John Cage<BR>Cage's Loft, New York City: September 6-7, 1990– John Cage and Joan Retallack<BR>VISUAL ART<BR>Cage's Loft, New York City: October 21-23, 1991– John Cage and Joan Retallack<BR>MUSIC<BR>Cage's Loft, New York City: July 15-17 1992– John Cage and Joan Retallack<BR>July 18, 1992– John Cage, Joan Retallack, and Michael Bach<BR>July 30, 1992– John Cage and Joan Retallack<BR>Appendixes<BR>A. Selected Cage Computer Programs<BR>B. Mesostic Introduction to The First Meeting of the Satie Society<BR>C, Writing through Ulysses (Muoyce II). Typescript Page from Part 17 based on the "Nightgown" section of Ulysses<BR>D. Excerpts from Manuscript and Score of Two (1992)<BR>E. Notated Time Bracket Sheets for Thirteen (1992) Pages 14, 15,16<BR>F. Writing through Ulysses (Muoyce II), Part 5<BR>G. IC Supply Sheet Marked by Cage with Red, Blue and Black Pencils<BR>H. Excerpts from Score for Europera 5<BR>I. Europera 5 at MOMA<BR>J. Letter Outlining Plans for Noh-opera<BR>K. Notated Time Bracket Sheets for 59 (1992), Pages 2 and 4<BR>L. Project for Hanau Squatters<BR>M. First Page of One (1991)<BR>N. First Page of Ten (1991), Violin I<BR>Index</P>

<P>"I was obliged to find a radical way to work to get at the real, at the root of the matter," John Cage says in this trio of dialogues, completed just days before his death. His quest for the root of the matter led him beyond the bounds of the conventional in all his musical, written, and visual pieces. The resulting expansion of the definition of art with its concomitant emphasis on innovation and inventionearned him a reputation as one of America's most influential contemporary artists.</P><P>Joan Retallack's conversations with Cage represent the first consideration of his artistic production in its entirety, across genres. Informed by the perspective of age, Cage's comments range freely from his theories of chance and indeterminate composition to his long-time collaboration with Merce Cunningham to the aesthetics of his multimedia works. A composer for whom the whole world with its brimming silences and anarchic harmonies was a source of music, Cage once claimed, "There is no noise, only sounds." As these interviews attest, that penchant for testing traditions reached far beyond his music. His lifelong project, Retallack writes in her comprehensive introduction, was "dislodging cultural authoritarianism and gridlock by inviting surprising conjunctions within carefully delimited frameworks and processes." Consummate performer to the end, Cage delivers here just such a conjunction a tour de force that provides new insights into the man and a clearer view of the status of art in the 20th century.</P>

<P>JOHN CAGE was born in Los Angeles in 1912. He studied music with Adolph Weiss, Arnold Schoenberg, and others, later collaborating with artists such as Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. He died in 1992. JOAN RETALLACK is the author of eight books of poetry including Afterrimages (also published by Wesleyan) as well as numerous essays on John Cage, four of which appear in her critical volume, The Poethical Wager. MUSICAGE was chosen for the America Award in Belles-Lettres in the year of its publication. Retallack is the John D.&amp; Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities at Bard College.</P>