Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[john saylor <>]

hello

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 4:20 PM,  
<>
 wrote:
> I've never read his Defense of Satie, but could any of you that
> have read the essay outline any of the more convincing points Cage made that
> stood pejoratively against Beethoven's music and positively for Satie's
> (other than Satie's music superficially organized with time unit as opposed
> to Beethoven's frequency)?

well- convincing? i dunno. you have to make up your own mind.

the basic point he's making is that satie [and webern] use time
durations for structure and beethoven uses harmony. there's more to it
than that, but you'll have to read it yourself [a worthwhile pursuit,
imnsho]. and there are holes in that analysis too [beethoven uses
harmony changes to mark time divisions], but i digress ...

he's also talking about his own music, and the things that interest
him in music; but you need to take a step back in order to see that.

it sounds in your note like you're looking for some kinda orthodoxy or
'received wisdom' about musical opinions of cage 'ethusiasts' [a good
way to put it, btw]. i don't know if it exists. remember, cage was a
self-proclaimed anarchist [at least at one point]- any kind of
authoritarian canon of proper opinions or proper works is kinda
cage-counter-cultural [one might say].

also, beethoven can be used as a metaphor for the musical
establishment of that time.

today, he's have to rail against lady gaga ... hahaha

-- 
\js [http://or8.net/~johns/] : "... entering a century of pure
hysteria." -d.bellamy