John Cage 1912–1992 | Tate (2024)

FAQs

Who is John Cage and why is he important? ›

John Milton Cage Jr.

(September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde.

John Cage has been lauded as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4”²33”³, which is performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title.

Cage's early compositions were written in the 12-tone method of his teacher Schoenberg, but by 1939 he had begun to experiment with increasingly unorthodox instruments such as the “prepared piano” (a piano modified by objects placed between its strings in order to produce percussive and otherworldly sound effects).

4′33″ is a modernist composition by American experimental composer John Cage. It was composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments; the score instructs performers not to play their instruments throughout the three movements.

One of the most influential 20th century composers, John Cage pioneered a body of music that he described as “the contemporary transition from keyboard-influenced music to the all-sound music of the future.” From 1930 to 1950 Cage composed over 16 percussion scores and invented compositional procedures and theories ...

Eventually, he would become one of the most important defenders of Earthrealm. Despite his materialism, airheadedness, and occasional immaturity, Cage is a brave and loyal warrior, although his antics frequently annoy his allies. For this reason, fans consider him to be the series' foremost comic relief character.

John Cage, the prolific and influential composer whose Minimalist works have long been a driving force in the world of music, dance and art, died yesterday at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. He was 79 years old and lived in Manhattan. He died of a stroke, a hospital spokesman said.

Cage's innovations with sound, instrumentation, performance, and composition all helped redefine music in the 20^th century. More specifically, his use of chance and the creative ways in which he utilized performers in his works helped inform and shape avant-garde movements like Neo-Dada, Fluxus, and Conceptual art.

John Cage was an avant-garde American composer who had a major influence on twentieth-century musical composition. He is associated with a genre called chance music, which leaves certain aspects of a piece to chance or the performer's decisions.

His most famous composition -- "433 " (1952) -- required no instruments whatsoever. The performer was simply instructed to sit silently onstage for the duration of the piece -- 4 minutes 33 seconds -- while the audience listened to whatever sounds were taking place around it.

What did John Cage do to the piano? ›

Cage decided to try placing various objects on the strings of the instrument in order to produce percussive sounds, inspired by Henry Cowell's experiments with extended piano techniques. In 1982 Cage mentioned that the whole piece was completed in just three days.

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.

EDGARD VARÈSE, whom many refer to as the father of electronic music, was born in 1883 in Paris, France. He spent the first ten years of his life in Paris and Burgundy. Family pressures led him to prepare for a career as an engineer by studying mathematics and science.