Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Vitor Rua <>]

dear matt,

On 25 Oct 2011, at 20:46, Matt Rogalsky wrote:

On 2011-10-25, at 3:27 PM, Vitor Rua wrote:

Also in the score:

"The first performance was the writing of this manuscript"

i think all the composers can say that of any piece thay right... or no?...

No, because the act of creation of most compositions' scores is usually not part of the composition's performance.

so its the same with this cage composition... or are you saying that this is not a "composition"??? I have said and write that to you to say what you are saying now to you to see the paradox!!! it was a "trick" of my part! sorry...

and one conceptual piece that its not music... but paradoxical its a COMPOSITION FOR SURE !!

I don't think it's conceptual at all (in the sense of being a "thought experiment" rather than a performable piece --

oh pleaseeeeeee... not even einstein will think that this composition must be performed... unless they perform on a warm whole or something...theres no DURATION !!!!!

think of some of the more abstract Fluxus era compositions by La Monte Young and others, for instance, which really are not really performable in a concert hall sense).

I have performed almost all the pieces of the 1960 of lamont: "Sustain a sound for a long time" CAN BE PERFORMED !!! "Free a buterfly on the concert hall and follow his movements...the piece ends when you end to see the butterfly"... its possible and i have done it already !!! (but in my case something went wrong because the butterfly (unfortunatelly was dead and she fall in the floor... and i just put my foot on it to finished thepiece... it was a bad performance of me... but a performance!!

Rather, I think of it as a practical piece which Cage invented to allow him to accomplish more with less, and it can be performed in any manner of ways, many of which will have a definable beginning, middle and end just like a lot of other compositions.

it has a beggining, middle and end???? in what world??? a warmhole world???... 0 seconds is zero seconds people !!!! zero !!!!! nothing of duration !!! this is discuting the sex of the angels...

Anyhow, it's definitely not a "one sentence" composition. There are five sentences in the score which give quite specific direction how to do (or not do) a performance.

it can be 2 TRILIONS OF SENTENCES ... BUT THAT DON´T CHANGE THAT ITS NOT A PERFORMABLE PIECE...

best regards and sorry the english

vitor rua

Signing off for now,

Matt R