| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Milano, January 1959 |
| Instrumentation: | For solo television performer |
| Duration: | 3' |
| Premiere and performer(s): | January 1959 in Milan, presented in an Italian television quiz-show called "Lascia O Raddoppia" (Double or Nothing), performed by John Cage |
| Dedicated to: | --- (?) |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6771 © 1961 by Henmar Press. |
| Manuscript: | Score (holograph, signed, in ink and typescript - 3+4 p.); Chart of durations, notes on actions and list of items (holograph in ink, with emendations in pencil - 9 lv.); List of Items (holograph in ink - 1 envelope); Instructions for publication (typescript with holgraphic annotations in red ink - 1 lf.), all in New York Public Library |
| In one of the manuscripts Cage subtitled Water Walk as Water Music No.2". Like Sounds of Venice it was composed for the Italian tv quiz "Lascia O Raddoppia", using the Fontana Mix as a composing means. In it, Cage used 34 materials, as well as a single-track tape, 7½", 3 minutes. The materials required are all related to water. Some examples: Bath tub, toy fish, grand piano, pressure cooker where steam is being released, ice cubes and an electric mixer to crush them, rubber duck, goose whistle, 5 radios, etc. The score consists of a list of properties, a floorplan showing the the placements of instruments and objects, thrre pages with a timeline (one minute each) with descriptions and pictographic notations of occurence of events and a list of notes "regarding some of the actions to be made in the order of occurence" (from score). Timings are not accurate: "Start watch and then time actions as closely as possible to their appearance in the score" (from score). Water Walk led Cage to compose his Theatre Piece. Sources: New York Public Library online catalog; Score as published in Stefan Schädler & Walter Zimmermann (Ed.): John Cage - Anarchic Harmony; William Fetterman: John Cage's theatre pieces: Notations and performances; C.F.Peters website (John Cage worklist) |