John Cage

Критические биографии #2

by Rob Haskins

American writer, composer, artist, and philosopher John Cage (1912–92) is best known for his experimental composition 4’33,” a musical score in which the performer does not play an instrument during the duration of the piece. The purpose, Cage said, was for the audience to listen to the sounds of the environment around them while the piece was performed. Groundbreaking pieces such as 4’33” , as well as Sonatas and Interludes not only established Cage as a leading figure in the postwar avant-garde movement, but also cemented the enduring controversy surrounding his work.
In this new biography, Rob Haskins explores Cage’s radical approach to art and aesthetics and his belief that everyday life and art are one and the same. Scrutinizing Cage’s emphasis on chance over intention, which rejected traditional artistic methods and caused an uproar among his peers, Haskins elucidates the ideas that lay behind these pillars of Cage’s work. Haskins also demystifies the influence of Eastern cultures, particularly Zen Buddhism, on Cage, including his use of the Chinese text I Ching as his standard composition tool in all his work after 1951. Adding to our understanding of the art, music, and ideas of the twentieth century, this book provides an engaging look at a man who continues to challenge and inspire artists worldwide.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Art

180 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2012

Reviews

[julieta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great introduction to the life and work of John Cage. I had read a couple of other biographies, but this book covers a lot of what he did and how meaningful his work and his art are, not just for contemporary music. I have always been interested in his form of anarchism, and how his work was something he wanted to make to be useful, for whoever should listen, and also to whoever performed it. His influences like Thoreau, and Duchamp, and D.T. Suzuki are all mentioned, and all his important works are touched here. Wonderful.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous, albeit brief, overview of the artistic career of a performance artist that never ceases to amaze: John Cage. It confronts the reader with themes and questions that arise in the works of Cage, such as the autonomy of the composer, the liberation of sounds, the role of the audience and the dynamics of musical modernism. Haskins has a very lucid style and doesn't pretend that this mini-biography is a definitive account of Cage's works. What this volume offers is a thought-provoking call for further enquiry. With the many connections and contexts this book sketches, without using unnecessarily technical prose, it stimulates the reader to look further into the subject. Especially the interconnections between Cage and several other composers, such as Feldman, Schönberg and Feldman are well-presented. Interesting piece of writing for both the 'layman' and the specialist. Modest and precise: an exercise in nuanced academic simplicity. Loved it.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying sketch in the form of six biographical essays on the work, with very little reference to Cunningham, so if you've come through Brown's book, it may bother you to have a text that doesn't properly conceptualize Cage-the-Impressario (Cage was Cunningham's tour manager for many years. Brown is quite adequate on this score.)

The recognition of Cage's work with Cunningham is the unstated assumption of Haskins' most critical chapter here, "Doyen," about the work of the 1960s and 1970s. Cage the Impressario had managed Cunningham's dance troupe through lean years of few performances, but by the late '50s, the work was beginning to be received by the European avant garde with some trepidation and grudging respect. By the late Fifties, Robert Rauschenberg had joined the company as set and costume designer, giving Cage himself space with which to imagine the performances' quite structurally extrinsic music. The ideas in the performances themselves of the Cunningham company began to be clearer; Cage published his book Silence: Lectures and Writing in November 1961; the company went on world tour in early 1963; ultimately the company could not withstand that tour that, like the performance of Rite of Spring many years earlier, was met with catcalls and walkouts. Rauschenberg gone, only the stoutest of Cunningham's dancers remaining, Cage met Wendell Berry in Kentucky in 1967, and the music begins to shift, under Cage's opening to anarchism, particularly Berry's introducing Cage to Thoreau's Journals. This is just when Cage's main mentor, Marcel Duchamp, dies. With Musicircus (1968), Cage gives up his role as the Cunningham musical director. The musicians for the performance of the Cunningham company were invited to play anything at any volume -- an inspiration that may well have come from Ornette Coleman, though I doubt Cage would cop to this. The dancers and audience bolted because of the volume levels. In any case the work was leading to the invention of mesostics, a form of "reading through" literary texts for the associated sense perceptions performance could center and de-center. We might consider mesostics as Cage's tweaking of that aphoristic tradition Silence had renewed.

[BespectacledBookGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just long enough and just in-depth enough. My trusty starting source; provides thorough biography, timeline, etc, in a well-researched and readable way. Not overly exciting researched writing per se, but if you are looking for a solid but not too heady intro to John Cage and his complex career, this would be a comfortable starting point.

[Martin Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally a little stolid - but with occasional flashes of insight beyond the more prosaic cataloging of pieces, time and place. Such a contrast between this and the wonderful world painted by Kay Larson - though this one does, it is true, perhaps not over-blow the Zen.

[N013e · Rating 5 out of 5]

Идеальная биография. Предметное введение в творчество, биографические факты в правильном количестве, без редукции и упрощения. Отличная отправная точка для дальнейшего изучения.

[Seth Arnopole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent overview of John Cage's artistic life, including his work with text and visual art as well as his music

[Олег Шинкаренко · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a catastrophically boring book. The reason for this is that Cage very early abandoned creative logic and constantly invented various (often - mystical) means to avoid it. Most of the dialogues with him, which are the main part of the book, are devoted to his strategies for achieving chaos in music. He could be praised for this if the strategies were not so monotonous. Unfortunately, for some reason, Cage hardly tells interesting stories from his life, and this is very strange, because there should be a lot of them, as he does not have a clearly defined sexual orientation and was acquainted with a huge number of prominent people of his time. It is these stories that could be interesting in this book, rather than endless repetitions of how he used various random generators to create another chaotic piece of work.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a good amount of time performing and studying Cage's music in college, but this is the first book solely about him that I've read. It's a relatively brief overview of his life and art, and it does its job well in that regard, but it is a Polaroid of the rich canvas that was Cage's work. I'm starting in on "Silence" by the man himself, which is a collection of writings and lectures, so this biography was a good jumping-off point. I'll find something more biographically detailed somewhere down the line.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I commence this review with a full disclosure. I am a fan of John Cage. He shattered the barriers between composition and philosophy. His compositions provide a soundtrack for thinking and thoughtfulness.

Rob Haskins' book is an outstanding and short overview. It is not simple, but it is well structured and organized. It is a guide through his life, compositions, performance and writing. For those wanting to start engaging with John Cage's work, or mature scholars who wish to dip back into the discourse, Haskins has given us a great service. We can hear the sounds in silence.

[Kurt Gottschalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review at New Music Box

[Chant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very easy read. I would recommend this book for a brief survey of Cages career and works.

[Mills College Library]

780.92 H351 2012

[Lucus · Rating 5 out of 5]

tells you the things