____,____ ____ circus on ____



Category: Musical composition
Dated: Edinburgh, September 1979
Instrumentation: means for translating a book into a performance without actors, a performance which is both literary and musical or one or the other
Duration: indeterminate
Premiere and performer(s): October 22, 1979 as Roaratorio
Dedicated to: for Klaus Schöning
Choreography: Merce Cunningham: Roaratorio
Published: Edition Peters 66816 © 1979 by Henmar Press. Also in: John Cage: Roaratorio - ein irischer Circus über Finnegans Wake - An Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake (edited by Klaus Schöning). Reprinted in Aufbrechen Amerika (edited by Bojan Budisavljevic. Bochum, Stadt Bochum, 1992
Manuscript: Score (typescript, signed - 4 p. Folder 581); Realization (holograph in ink and pencil and typescript pages - 47 lvs+3 typescript pages+1 envelop. Folder 582); Realization (holograph in ink and pencil and typescript and printed leaves - 57 lvs. Folder 583); Performance instructions (holograph, signed, in ink - 7 p. Folder 1019); Realization (holograph in ink and pencil and typescript and printed leaves - 150 lvs. Folder 1020), all in New York Public Library
Realization: worksheets and draft (unknown size), Bensberg, collection Klaus Schöning


The first blank is the title a realization will get (eg.'Roaratorio). The second and third an article and an adjective (eg. 'an Irish'). The last blank is the title of the original book from which it is drawn (eg. 'Finnegans Wake').
The published score consists of 4 typed, single sided leaves: 1 title page and 3 pages with instructions on how to translate a book into a performance. In 1979 Cage made a realization entitled Roaratorio

Sources: Published score; John Cage: Roaratorio (edited by Klaus Schöning); New York Public Library online catalog; Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; David Revill: The Roaring Silence