| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | November or december 1958, Milan, Italy |
| Instrumentation: | Unaccompanied voice, any range |
| Duration: | indeterminate |
| Premiere and performer(s): | January 5, 1959 by Cathy Berberian |
| Dedicated to: | for Cathy Berberian |
| Choreography: | |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6701 © 1960 by Henmar Press |
| Manuscript: | Score (holograph in ink, without colors - 20 p.); Score (reproduced from holograph - 20 p.), both in New York Public Library |
| The score consists of 20 pages of music, each page being sufficient for 30 seconds in performance. Pages
may be performed over longer or shorter time-ranges to create a program of a determined time-length.
The Aria may be performed as a solo, or with Fontana Mix and/or with ahy parts of the Concert for Piano and Orchestra. The text employs vowels and consonants and words from Armenian, Russian, Italian, French and English. The notation consists basically of wavy lines in different colors and 16 black squares denoting "non musical" vocal noises. The colors denote different singing styles, to be determined by the singer. Cage used Fontana Mix as a composing means to create this Aria. |