| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Seattle, spring 1939 |
| Instrumentation: | For 2 variable-speed phono turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano and cymbal; To be performed as a recording or broadcast by 4 performers. |
| Duration: | 6' |
| Premiere and performer(s): | March 24, 1939 at the "Hilarious Dance Concert" at the Cornish School in Seattle,
performed by John and Xenia Cage, Doris Dennison and Margaret Jansen. First presentation (as a recording, uncertain): December 9, 1939 at the Cornish Theatre in Seattle, performed by an unidentified percussion ensemble, conducted by the composer |
| Dedicated to: | --- |
| Choreography: | Bonnie Bird: Imaginary Landscape |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6716 © 1960 by Henmar Press |
| Manuscript: | Score (holograph in ink, signed; manuscript emendations in an unidentified hand in pencil - 7 p.); Parts (holograph and copyist's manuscript in ink as well as sketches (of a work possibly for 2 pianos) in pencil - 5+2 p.); Notes (holograph - 1 lf.), all in New York Public Library. |
| This is one of the earliest electro-acoustic works ever composed. (Some sources give it
the credit of being the first ever, but there were earlier examples like Respighi's 'Pini di Roma' (1924),
using pre-recorded sounds of birds). Cage uses a muted piano, large Chinese cymbal and 2 variable-speed turntables. On the first of the turntables a Victor frequency record (84522B) and a constant note record (nr.24) are played, on the second is another Victor frequency record (84522A). It was premiered in a program together with his Marriage at the Eiffel Tower. Sources: Leta E.Miller: Cage's collaborations in 'David Nicholls (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to John Cage'; New York Public Library online catalog; Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; David Revill: The Roaring Silence; Information provided by Ian Stewart |