| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Begun in Paris, August 1949; Finished in New York, February 1950 |
| Instrumentation: | String quartet |
| Duration: | 20' (4'+5'+10'+1') |
| Premiere and performer(s): | August 12, 1950 at Black Mountain College, Black Mountain, NC, performed by the Summer Session String Quartet: Vollmer Hethrington & Robert Brink, violins. Eleftherios Eleftherakis, viola. Arthur Fiedler, cello |
| Other performances: | * March 13, 1951. Auditorium, Julius Hartt School of Music, Hartford, CT. Hartt Quartet: Bela Urban & William Hilligan, violins. Rose
Kleman, viola. Dorothy Fidlar, cello * March 31, 1951. McMillin Theater at Columbia University in New York. New Music String Quartet: Broadus Earle, Matthew Raimondi, violins. Walter Trampler, viola. Claus Adam, cello |
| Dedicated to: | for Lou Harrison |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6757 © 1960 by Henmar Press |
| Manuscript: | Score (holograph, signed, in ink - 44 p.); 4 Parts (holograph, signed, in ink - 60 p.), both in New York Public Library. |
| The Quartet consists of four movements: Quietly flowing along - Slowly rocking - Nearly stationary - Quodlibet.
The rhythmic structure is an unvarying 2½-1½-2-3-6-5-½-1½, for a total of 22 units of 22 measures each.
It is a work of great simplicity, reminiscent of Erik Satie and in a way it is a further step towards the abandonment of
self-expression. Like the Sonatas and Interludes it deals with the Indian notion of the nine permanent emotions (more information on this subject can be read under Sonatas and Interludes), as well as about the Indian notion of the seasons, creation, preservation, destruction and quiescence. In the first movement the subject is Summer in France, in the second it is Fall in America. The third movement is about Winter and the fourth about Spring as a quodlibet. The work uses gamuts of sound, as in most of his compositions from this period. The collection of sonorities in this work is relatively small and they are not transposed, fragmented or arpeggiated. For more background information on the gamut technique one could read Cage's Defense of Satie (In John Cage - An Anthology, edited by Richard Kostelanetz - pp.77-84) and The Music of John Cage by James Pritchett (pp.39-40). The strings are played without vibrato and those to be used for the tone production are specified. Sources: Published score; James Pritchett: The Music of John Cage; David Revill: The Roaring Silence - John Cage: A Life; Thanks to Ruth Mitchell. |