Experiences I



Category: Musical composition
Dated: New York, January 1945
Instrumentation: Duo for 2 pianos, 4 hands
Duration: 3'
Premiere and performer(s): January 9, 1945 at the Hunter College Playhouse in New York. Performance by Maro Ajemian and John Cage, pianos and Merce Cunningham dancing.
Dedicated to:
Choreography: Merce Cunningham: Experiences (1945/48)
Published: Edition Peters 6708 © 1961 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: Score (holograph in ink - 4 p.); score (holograph, signed, in ink - 4 p.); score (excerpt. Holograph in pencil - 8 p.); all in New York Public Library


The manuscript, used for publication, was written at Black Mountain College, North Carolina, in 1948. (One manuscript mentions: "original now replaced by tranparencies").
Experiences I does not represent virtuoso music. Form and material are very simple and demonstrate the influence of the music of Erik Satie. Only the white keys are used and the piece is written in the Aeolian church mode.