Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[David Miller <>]

Hello, everyone –

 

I’m grateful to John Hails for recalling my article from 2009. Here’s what I wrote about the score then (long quotation to follow):

 

“As of early 2009 there is no published score for Variations VII, a fact that complicates the relationship between the concepts of “score” and “archive.” In addition to the recently released documentary,  there is plentiful archival/documentary material held at E.A.T., the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and La Fondation Daniel Langlois. 32 These archives include at least two documents that arguably serve as good drafts of what could have been a published score. Both versions consist entirely of brief written statements, as do the scores of Variations V and VIII. One of these documents can be considered as ready for publication. It was prepared by Cage in 1972, is subtitled “7 statements re a performance six years before,” and is a formally presented typescript, complete with a copyright statement.33 A less formally presented statement, titled “Variations VII: 12 remarks re musical performance,” is undated but seems to have been written earlier.34 Cage’s subtitle is reminiscent of the Variations V score: “thirty-seven remarks re an audio-visual performance.” In contrast, the subtitle from 1972 is terse. Despite the camera-ready presentation of the later text, Cage did not pursue its publication in either score or essay form. I have not located any direct evidence to explain Cage’s apparent reluctance to publish this score. It appears, however, that the many problems the project faced left Cage with negative memories. As late as 1990, in an interview with William Fetterman, Cage said, “It makes me angry to just think about it.”35 Lowell Cross also recalls that preparations for the initial performance on October 15 left Cage “a bit frantic” and said, “Two years later, in Oakland, California, he told me that he was dissatisfied with the performances of Variations VII.”36 Whatever the reason may be for the score’s unpublished state, the two drafts, complemented by the range of archival material available and by the more serious contemporary published accounts, provide sufficient material for contemporary realizations. The all-but-published presentation of the 1972 draft makes it a likely candidate for consideration as the Variations VII score. The earlier draft, with its linkage in style to the Variations V score and its careful wording, is a strong supplementary document.”

 

When the Mobius Artists Group prepared performances of Variations VII in 2007 and 2008, we found the formally prepared, one-page typescript from 1972 to be a solid foundation. Of course, the documentary material was invaluable, as was the “12 remarks” statement. Personally, I regard the 1972 typescript as a publishable score – it’s similar to the “remarks” score for Variations V, and certainly simpler to work with than the published Variations VIII (which the Mobius group also performed, in 2011)! It’s available at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in manuscript – I haven’t looked recently to see if there’s a digital version.

 

Best wishes to all,

 

David

 

P.S. the article, also including a discussion of Variations V, is “Indeterminacy and Performance Practice in Cage’s Variations” – American Music, Spring 2009.

 

 

From: <> On Behalf Of John Hails
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2020 7:09 AM
To: Lê Quan Ninh <>
Cc: silence <>
Subject: Re: [silence] Variations VII score ?

 

And something further...

In 1978, Cage writes to Heinz-Karl Metzger to say "Variations VII by the way has not been written down." so we should take the archival material as abandoned drafts(?), which leaves the status of the work curiously floating...

J

 

On Mon, 20 Apr 2020, 11:54 John Hails, <> wrote:

Hi

David Miller addresses this in his article about the performance practice of the Variations series (American Music vol 27 no 1). There are two working drafts for a score, both in the EAT archives (the first one is also present in the NY public library for performing arts). I can copy across the relevant bit of text from Miller's article if that would be helpful! 

The Variations have occupied me a bit over the years so it is always nice to hear someone else looking at them!

John

 

On Mon, 20 Apr 2020, 11:14 Lê Quan Ninh, <> wrote:

Hello everyone,

Thinking about art at distance to respond to the current situation, I was thinking about Variations VII where different sound sources come from different points. It seems that the score is not available at Editions Peters (https://www.editionpeters.com/writer/john-cage/w00713#facets=&sort=1|1).

Is this score never published ? Is there a way to get it ?

Ninh


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