Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Christian Kesten <>]

Dear Joseph,

good point! Cage’s chanting of Empty Words for example always sounded very modal to me, but I have never done any analysis so far. Would be curious, if anyone has.

To translate the mesostics is an intriguing idea: first I thought, it’s impossible, since their form is based on and dependent from the source material. But if one takes the translations of the source material, or first translate that, and then proceed with the same methods Cage used, then it might be possible. Maybe worth a try!

Best,

Christian Kesten

http://christiankesten.de

Am 21.01.2022 um 09:59 schrieb Joseph Zitt <>:

Has anyone ever recorded any of the mesostics or other non-sensical texts in other languages? Would that even be possible? Listening to the recording of "Time (Three Autokus)" on Laura Kuhn's podcast yesterday, I wondered what they would sound like if they were in a language that I didn't know.

https://wavefarm.org/radio/wgxc/schedule/e6r61m

Also: has anyone done any analysis on the way that Cage chanted the texts? It seems to me that he used a pretty consistent set of musical phrases and a narrow range of pitches for them throughout his career. In the only time I met him, just after a performance of a section of Empty Words ate MOMA, I asked him if the pitch material was composed or improvised. He said "improvised" but didn't say more

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Joseph Zitt :: http://www.josephzitt.com

"Write what you dream. Shoot what you can. Edit what you have." -- Unknown