| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | 1966 |
| Instrumentation: | For a multitude of sound sources. 7 statements re a performance six years before 1972 |
| Duration: | indeterminate |
| Premiere and performer(s): | October 15 (and 16), 1966 during the 9 Evenings: theatre and engineering (October 13-16, 18-19, 21-23) at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York. Performed by David Tudor, David Behrman, Anthony Gnazzo, Lowell Cross. The 9 Evenings were presented under the auspices of the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts in cooperation with Experiments in Art and Technology. |
| Dedicated to: | |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | --- |
| Manuscript: | Score, bearing the above mentioned subtitle, notated in 1972 (holograph in pencil and various inks and 1 p. typescript - 3 p. Folder 295); Sketches, with subtitle, notated in 1972 (holograph in blue and black ink. Draft for the final version - 1 p. Folder 296); Score for a realisation (holograph in pencil and various inks. Some pages typed - 7 p. 3p. contain names and telephone numbers to be read during performance, 2 p. contain diagrams for placement during performance. Folder 297), all in New York Public Library |
| This is a plan for finding an arrangement of a specific electro-acoustic system, in which
performers are allowed to act in a free and unscripted manner. Where Variations VI was a tool for
creating a sound system, here we find a tool for creating a musical score. Or, as James Pritchett puts it:
"The sound system was designed with the limitation that only sounds that arose during the performance
were to be used -- in other words, the performers would not make any actions to generate sounds
deliberately, but rather would use technological means to discover sounds in the air "as through with a
net."... ". The work was set up as a collaboration between artists and engineers. In it one could hear amplified sounds of the heart, lungs, brain and other body parts, geiger counters, radios, televisions, telephones etc. More details on first performance: Performance engineer: Cecil Coker Grateful acknowledgement is made for the cooperation of: Merce CunninghamDance Foundation, Luchow's Restaurant, A.S.P.C.A., The New York Times, The City of N.Y., Terry Riley, Robert Wood, Richard Hennessy, Rubin Goprowtiz. In the souvenir program for the first performance Cage writes a statement about the piece: "My project is simple to describe. It is a piece of music, Variation VII,indeterminate in form and detail, making use of the sound system which has been devised collectively for this festival, further making use of modulation means organized by David Tudor, using as sound sources only those sounds which are in the air at the moment of performance, picked up via the communication bands, telephone lines, microphones together with, instead of musical isntruments, a variety of household appliances and frequency generators. The technical problems involved in any single project tend to reduce the impact of the original idea, but in being solved they produce a situation different than anyone could have pre-imagined." Sources: Paul van Emmerik: Thema's en Variaties; New York Public Library online catalog; William Fetterman: John Cage's theatre pieces: Notations and performances; James Pritchett: The Music of John Cage; 9 evenings: theatre and engineering. [Souvenir program], New York, 1966. Thanks to Kenneth Silverman for sending me the text of the '9 evenings' program. |