John Cage: A Mycological Foray: Variations On Mushrooms

by John Cage

Foraging for mushrooms with John writing, art, photography and ephemera from an idiosyncratic chapter in the composer's life Imagined as an extended mushroom-foraging expedition, John A Mycological Foray gathers together Cage’s mushroom-themed compositions, photographs, illustrations and ephemera. Indeterminacy Stories and other writings by Cage are interwoven throughout the first volume within a central essay examining Cage’s enduring relationship with mycology. Also included is a transcript of Cage’s 1983 performance, MUSHROOMS et Variationes . The second volume is the inaugural reproduction of Cage’s 1972 portfolio, Mushroom Book , authored in collaboration with illustrator Lois Long and botanist Alexander H. Smith. Readers are thus drawn through the landscape of Cage’s mycologically centred oeuvre and interests, discovering assorted works, images, compositions, philosophies and ephemera, as one might encounter assorted fungi and flora while foraging.

John A Mycological Foray constitutes a new, idiosyncratic chapter in Cage’s oeuvre, a departure from the composer’s more established narrative.

American composer and music theorist John Cage (1912–92) was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music and a leading figure of the postwar avant-garde. His influence extended to the realms of dance, poetry, performance and visual art.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Science, Plants, Art

224 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

John 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".

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much about Cage's life and work I find inspiring, and this book just served as an important reminder of all that for me. The book is beautiful designed, and includes a facsimile of a rare collaboration he did with Lois Long. Definitely worth the expense!

[Juanjo]

11 pm: almost died after eating spathyema foetida
3 am: ...going back for more mushroom

[Suzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn’t realized it was possible for me to love John Cage even more

[Harris]

<3

[Emma Beckerle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is close to my heart as John Cage spent a lot of time in my hometown. I loved learning about him. This is not for everyone, only if you are specifically in to John Cage, mycology and appreciate things that are presented in this way. It’s a bit abstract for someone that doesn’t have a specific interest in the above topics.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Cage is such an interesting figure. His passion for mushrooms, zen, silence, experimental learning styles, playfulness, but also a depth of seriousness, presence, and the spiritual or mystic (including the i-ching). The illustrations and notes included are beautiful folios, it is a special and interesting book.

[Samidha Karpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these 2 volumes in a wonderful box. I relate to the region in New York. My mother knew about all these things, and as I looked and read the books, I got nostalgic for my wanderings in the woods. When I bring it out, I remember. I've lived in Australia for over 50 years. We have our fungal surprises here, too. I've seen glowing mushrooms and bracket fungi.

[Terry Kuny · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful production.

[?0?0?0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words don't exist to describe what a treasure this is.

[Joshua Bohnsack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I’ve been a fan of experimental electronic music, I am now also a fan of mushrooms.