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Love, Icebox: Letters from John Cage to Merce Cunningham
Cage's passionate, distraught and affectionate letters to Cunningham provide a vivid portrait of the start of their life together
These early letters from John Cage to Merce Cunningham will be revelatory, for while the two are widely known as a dynamic, collaborative duo, the story of how and when they came together has never been fully revealed. In the 39 letters of this collection, spanning 1942-46, Cage shows himself to be a man falling deeply in love. When they first met at the Cornish School in Seattle in the 1930s, Cage was 26 to Cunningham's 19. Their relationship was purely that of teacher and student, and Cage was also very much married.
It was in Chicago that their romantic relationship would begin. Cage was teaching at Moholy-Nagys School of Design when Cunningham passed through town as a dancer with the Martha Graham Company, appearing on stage on March 14, 1942. Cages letters, which begin in earnest a week later, are increasingly passionate, distraught, romantic and confused, and occasionally contain snippets of poetry and song. They are also more than love letters, as we see intimations that resonate with our experience of the later John Cage.
Love, Icebox takes its shape from these letters--transcribed, chronologically ordered, and in some instances reproduced in facsimile. Laura Kuhn, Cages assistant from 1986 to 1992 and now longtime director of the John Cage Trust, adds a foreword, afterword and running commentary. Photographic illustrations of their final 18th Street loft in New York City, as well as personal and household objects left behind, remind us of the substance and rituals of their long-shared life.
These early letters from John Cage to Merce Cunningham will be revelatory, for while the two are widely known as a dynamic, collaborative duo, the story of how and when they came together has never been fully revealed. In the 39 letters of this collection, spanning 1942-46, Cage shows himself to be a man falling deeply in love. When they first met at the Cornish School in Seattle in the 1930s, Cage was 26 to Cunningham's 19. Their relationship was purely that of teacher and student, and Cage was also very much married.
It was in Chicago that their romantic relationship would begin. Cage was teaching at Moholy-Nagys School of Design when Cunningham passed through town as a dancer with the Martha Graham Company, appearing on stage on March 14, 1942. Cages letters, which begin in earnest a week later, are increasingly passionate, distraught, romantic and confused, and occasionally contain snippets of poetry and song. They are also more than love letters, as we see intimations that resonate with our experience of the later John Cage.
Love, Icebox takes its shape from these letters--transcribed, chronologically ordered, and in some instances reproduced in facsimile. Laura Kuhn, Cages assistant from 1986 to 1992 and now longtime director of the John Cage Trust, adds a foreword, afterword and running commentary. Photographic illustrations of their final 18th Street loft in New York City, as well as personal and household objects left behind, remind us of the substance and rituals of their long-shared life.
- GenresMusic
144 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2019
2 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
John Cage
250 books221 followersJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the 20th century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the 20th century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 24, 2021
I find anything written by Cage, or anything to learn about his life always wonderful. This book are a few letters he wrote for Merce Cunningham, his partner for most of his life. I felt a little out of place reading it, but could not help it, I love Cage so much. His passionate letters to Cunningam, and also comments on his work, or the work they did together, and their wonderful partnership is something I can't help but feeling a big part of who Cage was. Beautiful.
September 9, 2020
Five stars for the spirit of John Cage, of course, and for the aesthetic beauty of this book. I dock a star for careless (and/or in some cases, maybe even willfully incorrect) transcription of the letters.
In the few instances where the facsimile of the original letter is shown next to the transcription, you can see that the occasional sentences in French are riddled with transcription errors, and worse, (in English parts) whole lines are cut out in a way that totally changes the meaning of the sentence, with only a bracket notation which does not imply such a degree of editing. It feels misleading and doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the transcriptions where I can't see the original. You had ONE JOB, John Cage Trust.
In the few instances where the facsimile of the original letter is shown next to the transcription, you can see that the occasional sentences in French are riddled with transcription errors, and worse, (in English parts) whole lines are cut out in a way that totally changes the meaning of the sentence, with only a bracket notation which does not imply such a degree of editing. It feels misleading and doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the transcriptions where I can't see the original. You had ONE JOB, John Cage Trust.
August 12, 2022
Beautiful beautiful!
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February 1, 2020780 C131 2019
January 13, 2021
This was perfect.
December 17, 2022
I loved this and I will read it many times more. The letters are wonderful but it was such a treat to see all the photos and I really enjoyed the foreword and afterword too.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews