Sonata for two voices



Category: Musical composition
Dated: Santa Monica, California. Late October - November 3, 1933
Instrumentation: Two or more instruments with specific ranges: I, c' - c"' and II, c - c"
Duration: 6'
Premiere and performer(s): ?
Dedicated to: Richard Buhlig
Choreography: ---
Published: Edition Peters 6754 © by Henmar Press 1960
Manuscript: Score (Signed holograph in ink, with corrections in pencil - 3 p.) and notes to copyist used in preparation for published edition (holograph in black and blue pencil - 3 lv.), both in New York Public Library


The Sonata for Two Voices is in 3 movements: I. Sonata - II. Fugato - III. Rondo. The Sonata is a chromatic composition dealing with the same problems as that of Composition for 3 voices.
In this piece, each voice is playes within a specific two-octave range. All twenty-five notes should be played, without repetitions. Once all have been played, another presentation begins, and so on, throughout the piece.

Sources: Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; Paul van Emmerik's A John Cage Compendium; New York Public Library online catalog; David Revill: The Roaring Silence; Richard Kostelanetz: John Cage: Writer - Previously uncollected pieces