Renga



Category: Musical composition
Dated: New York City and other cities of the world (Caracas, Cuernavaca, Toronto, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Kyoto, Tokyo, Saporro), September 1975 - April 1976
Instrumentation: 78 parts to be played alone or with Apartment House 1776 or some other musicircus appropriate to another occasion than the Bicentennial of the USA, an occasion for example, such as the birth or death of another musically productive nation or person, or the birthday of a society concerned with some aspect of creation productive of sound e.g. birds, marine animals etc.
Duration: 30-40 minutes
Premiere and performer(s): October 27, 1976 at the 50th Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Boston (performed with Apartment House 1776). Another source mentions September 30, 1976. (Same occasion)
Dedicated to: for Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in observance of the Bicentennial of the USA.
Choreography: ---
Published: Edition Peters 6818 © 1976 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: Score (photocopy of typescript and manuscript - 2+12 p.); Sketches (holograph in ink - 215 p. on 144 lvs.); Sketches (holograph in ink - 62 p. on 32 lvs.); Sketches (holograph in ink - 7 lvs.+ 1 envelope); Performance instructions (typescript, signed, with holographic emendations in black and blue ink - 3 lvs.); General remarks (photocopy of typed and signed pages - 2 lvs.); 78 parts (holograph in ink); Sketches (holograph in ink - 5 lvs.), all in New York Public Library; Score (holograph, size unknown) in Los Angeles, private collection.


361 drawings by Thoreau, distributed in systems using the 5-7-5-7-7 structure of Japanese Renga poetry. The composition can be performed with or without Apartment House 1776

Sources: Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; David Revill: The Roaring Silence; James Pritchett: The Music of John Cage; Richard Kostelanetz: John Cage writer - Previously uncollected pieces; New York Public Library online catalog