| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Sóller, Mallorca, Spain. August 8-September 13, 1931 |
| Instrumentation: | Any instruments with specified ranges |
| Duration: | |
| Premiere and performer(s): | --- |
| Dedicated to: | --- |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | --- |
| Manuscript: | Sketches (43 lv.) Private collection, Paris, France |
| John Cage started composing in 1931, on the island of Mallorca, or maybe in Paris. Several
sources mention different places. He composed these pieces using mathematical formulas. These calculations
were extremely complicated, resulting in very short compositions. Though it is not clear to me whether the
manuscript in Paris concerns these mathematical pieces, they are definitely from this period. 'The Roaring Silence' mentions that Cage left the manuscript behind, on his way from Mallorca to Paris. Probably it is part of the Don Sample collection, now moved to a library in the South of France. Sources: Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; David Revill: The Roaring Silence; Personal communication with Laura Kuhn; Paul van Emmerik's A John Cage Compendium |