Tossed As It Is Untroubled (Meditation)



Category: Musical composition
Dated: Late 1943
Instrumentation: Prepared piano
Duration: 2'30"
Premiere and performer(s): April 5, 1944 at the Studio Theatre in New York City
Other performances: * April 12-13, 1950. Connecticut College for Women, New London, CT. John Cage, piano. Performed with Cunningham choreography
* November 26, 1950. Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association, New York. John Cage, piano. Performed with Cunningham choreography
Dedicated to: Valerie Bettis
Choreography: Merce Cunningham: Tossed As It Is Untroubled (1944)
Published: Edition Peters 6722 © 1960 by Henmar Press. Also published in "John Cage - Prepared Piano Music, Volume 1 ¤ 1940-47", Edition Peters 67886a © 2000
Manuscript: Score including table of preparations (holograph, signed, in ink - 2 p.); unused title page (holograph, signed, in ink - 1 lf.) both at New York Public Library


The original title of the piece is Meditation. The dance was called Tossed as it is untroubled. It is a lively dance piece in a periodic rhythm written in a rhythmic structure 7 times 7. The piece is almost completely monophonic, consisting of a single melody.