| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Seattle, March 1940 |
| Instrumentation: | Prepared piano |
| Duration: | 7' |
| Premiere and performer(s): | April 28, 1940 as a dance accompaniment at the Cornish School in Seattle, Washington. |
| Dedicated to: | |
| Choreography: | Syvilla Fort |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6784 © 1960 by Henmar Press. Also published in "John Cage - Prepared Piano Music, Volume 1 ¤ 1940-47", Edition Peters 67886a © 2000 |
| Manuscript: | Score (holograph in ink, signed - 7 p.); Proofs for the published edition with corrections by Cage in blue and purple pencil, and black ink (13 p.); Notes (holograph - 1 lf.), all in New York Public Library. |
| Bacchanale is Cage's first work for prepared piano. He intended to write a piece for percussion ensemble,
but the performance hall being too small, he started experimenting with objects inside the piano. The preparations are
quite simple: weather-stripping, pieces of rubber, screws and bolts, placed between the strings. "Syvilla [Fort] had to, in order to graduate, be responsible for an entire concert. And she could use dancers in the school, or if she wanted, dancers from outside the school. She had to be responsible for the costume designing, the sets, and so on. But she could call on anybody she wanted- -so long as she could pay for it. (...) So everybody did everything for nothing. There was only one dictate with respect to music, that I had to discuss what she chose in the way of music with John and with her. And John would write two pieces, at least, for her, so he would compose pieces for her." (from: "BONNIE BIRD GUNDLACH: DANCER AND DANCE EDUCATOR. Interviews Conducted by William Riess and Heidi Gundlach- Smith July to November 1994". The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.) Sources: New York Public Library online catalog. Published Score (in Edition Peters 67886a). William Riess and Heidi Gundlach-Smith: Bonnie Bird Gundlach: Dancer and Dance Educator. Paul van Emmerik's A John Cage Compendium |