Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Richard Friedman <>]

I should add that Larson cites Calvin Tomkins book, The Bride and the Bachelors (1962).

Cage states that when he mentioned this to Lou Harrison, who was studying early English music, Lou found "a statement by the seventeenth-century English composer Thomas Mace expressing the same idea in almost exactly the same words. I decided then and there that this was the proper purpose of music."

<R> 

On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 3:33 PM, Richard Friedman <> wrote:

This quote also appears in Kay Larson's new book, Where the Heart Beats.

Page 128  She has Cage wondering 

Why write music. For an artist that's like asking: Why Live? He must have tossed the same question to Gita (Gita Sarabhai). She said that the funciton of music was "to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences".

Gita Sarabhai came to NYC spend 6 months in 1946. She wanted to learn about music. Cage taught her modern composition and in return she introduced him to Indian music. 

This was a very important moment in Cage's life. 

<R>

On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 2:48 PM, SEM Ensemble <> wrote:

Where did Cage write, and how exactly is it worded, this story: when a friend of his from India told him that the purpose of music (in India) was "to quiet the mind, thus opening it to divine influences," to which (I think) Lou Harrison pointed out to Cage that he found the same purpose of music in a medieval manuscript. Okay, any help sourcing this one would be appreciated (I'm sure this story exists in a few different places).

thanks,

Andrew

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Andrew Smith
S.E.M. Ensemble
718/488-7659

--
Richard Friedman
Oakland, California
http://rchrd.com/

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Richard Friedman
Oakland, California
http://rchrd.com/