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Programmaboek the Theatre of John Cage

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Programmaboek the Theatre of John Cage THE THEATRE OF JOHN CAGE john cage at 100, a celebration INHOUD CONTENTS Programma Cage-weekend 2 Programme Cage Weekend 2 Inleiding Muzikale Münchhausen Introduction Musical Münchhausen Jochem Valkenburg 5 Jochem Valkenburg 7 Song Books 9 Song Books 9 Music for percussionists 12 Music for percussionists 12 Listen to the silence 17 Listen to the silence 17 Cage films 20 Cage Films 20 Field Dances workshop 22 Field Dances Workshop 22 Europera 3 & 4 23 Europera 3 & 4 23 The Need for a Poetic Life 26 The Need for a Poetic Life 26 Roaratorio: an Irish circus on Roaratorio: an Irish circus on Finnegans Wake 28 Finnegans Wake 28 Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras 30 Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras 30 Where Are We Going? And What Where Are We Going? And What Are We Doing? Are We Doing? Paul van Emmerik 35 Paul van Emmerik 58 De belofte van het muziektheater van The Promise of John Cage’s Music John Cage: Song Books en Europeras Theater: Song Books en Europeras 3 & 4 3 & 4 Rob Haskins 41 Rob Haskins 64 Doing the Impossible Doing the Impossible Peter Behrendsen 50 Peter Behrendsen 72 ‘Zijn filosofie is voor de eeuwigheid’ ‘His philosophy is for all eternity’ Pierre Audi over John Cage Pierre Audi about John Cage Joep Stapel 54 Joep Stapel 76 Biografieën 78 Biographies 82 Holland Festival 2012 86 Holland Festival 2012 86 Colofon 88 Colophon 88 PROGRAMMA / PROGRAMME za 9 juni 2012 Sat 9 June 2012 zo 10 juni 2012 Sun 10 June 2012 16.00 - 23.30 u 4 pm - 11.30 pm 11.00 u 11 am John Cage films Listen to the silence Atrium, toegang gratis entrance free Zonzo Compagnie pagina page 20 Bamzaal pagina page 17 19.30 u 7.30 pm Inleiding introduction 10.00 u - 23.30 u 10 am- 11.30 pm Song Books John Cage films Foyerdeck 1 Atrium, toegang gratis entrance free pagina page 9 pagina page 20 19.45 u 7.45 pm 13.00 u 1 pm Inlets (1977) Field Dances workshop Slagwerk Den Haag Terras terrace Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ Foyers, toegang gratis entrance free pagina page 22 pagina page 12 13.45 u 1.45 pm 20.15 u 8.15 pm Inleiding introduction Song Books (1970) Europera 3 & 4 Alarm Will Sound Foyerdeck 1 Grote Zaal pagina page 23 pagina page 8 14.15 u 2.15 pm 22.00 u 10 pm Imaginary Landscape no. 4 (1951) Third Construction (1941) Slagwerk Den Haag, studenten students Imaginary Landscape no. 3 (1942) Koninklijk Conservatorium Slagwerk Den Haag Foyers, toegang gratis entrance free Foyers pagina page 12 toegang gratis entrance free pagina page 12 14.30 u 2.30 pm Europera 3 & 4 (1990) Internationales Opernstudio Köln Grote Zaal pagina page 23 2 PROGRAMMA / PROGRAMME zo 10 juni 2012 Sun 10 June 2012 zo 10 juni 2012 Sun 10 June 2012 14.30 u 2.30 pm 20.15 u 8.15 pm Listen to the silence Roaratorio: an Irish circus on Finnegans Wake Zonzo Compagnie (1979) Bamzaal Mel Mercier et al. pagina page 17 Grote Zaal pagina page 28 16.40 u 4.40 pm Child of Tree (1975) 21.30 u 9.30 pm Branches (1976) Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras (1981) Slagwerk Den Haag Asko|Schönberg, György Ligeti Academy, Foyers, toegang gratis entrance free leden NJO, studenten students Conservato- pagina page 12 rium van Amsterdam en and Koninklijk Conservatorium 17.00 u 5 pm Foyers, toegang gratis entrance free The Need for a Poetic Life pagina page 30 Micha Hamel Foyerdeck 1, toegang gratis entrance free pagina page 26 19.30 u 7.30 pm Inleiding introduction Roaratorio: an Irish circus on Finnegans Wake Foyerdeck 1 pagina page 28 19.45 u 7.45 pm But what about the noise of crumpling paper which he used to do in order to paint the series of ‘Papiers froisses’ or tearing up paper to make ‘Papiers dechires?’ Arp was stimulated by water (sea, lake, and flowing waters like rivers), forests (1985) Slagwerk Den Haag Foyers, toegang gratis entrance free pagina page 12 3 John Cage (1992) fotograaf: Steven Speliotis MUZIKALE MÜNCHHAUSEN zen tussen disciplines en vaste kijk- en luisterpatronen maken Cage de ultieme Holland Festival-artiest. Hij was dan ook “I don’t hear the music I write: I write in or- vaak te gast op het festival. Tussen 1970 der to hear the music I have not yet heard.” en zijn dood in 1992 kwam hij er zes keer, Zo vatte John Cage zijn artistieke uit- soms voor uitgebreide, circusachtige gangspunt ooit treffend samen. Voor veel evenementen als de Sounday in 1978 en de collega’s was en is componeren juist het zo Nacht van Cage in 1988. Ook werd geregeld precies mogelijk opschrijven en uitwerken werk van hem uitgevoerd als hij er niet van een bepaalde klankvoorstelling. Cage bij was, of er, later, niet meer bij kón zijn. wilde ook zichzelf laten verrassen door Zo sloot het festival in 2001 af met een het resultaat. Vanaf de vroege jaren vijftig roemruchte uitvoering van Song Books in van de vorige eeuw zocht hij daarom naar Het Concertgebouw, en klonk in 2004 in methodes om zich als scheppend subject Docklands Dance/Four Orchestras als onder- uit zijn werk terug te trekken. Weg met de deel van een dansprogramma. zelfexpressie, maar ook: weg met de muziek Reden voor het Holland Festival om die via ingenieuze constructies en geraffi- Cage in het jaar waarin hij honderd zou neerde processen vooral de intelligentie van zijn geworden te eren met een postuum haar maker laat horen. verjaardagsfeestje. In twee dagen klinkt een Door onder meer het gebruik van toevals- dwarsdoorsnede van zijn oeuvre, met de processen, open vormen die voor velerlei nadruk op het theatrale werk: Song Books, interpretatie vatbaar zijn en de introductie Europera 3 en 4 en het Ierse ‘musicircus’ van oncontroleerbare factoren als het omge- Roaratorio. Tussen de bedrijven door klinkt vingsgeluid of een toevallige radio-uitzen- muziek voor radio’s, cactussen en zeeschel- ding, zorgde Cage ervoor dat zijn muziek pen, en we sluiten af met een grandioos klonk zoals hij hooguit deels had kunnen werk voor vijf over de foyerdecks van het voorzien. Het is de grote Münchhausen- Muziekgebouw verspreide orkesten, Thirty truc van de twintigste-eeuwse muziek: pieces for five orchestras. Daarnaast zijn er zoals de beroemde baron zichzelf aan zijn films, een lezing, een kindervoorstelling en haren uit het moeras trok, was het toch echt kan er zelfs op Cageaanse wijze gedanst Cage zélf die met onuitputtelijke creati- worden, natuurlijk ook volgens de opvat- viteit manieren zocht om zijn muziek aan tingen van Cage’s levenspartner Merce de controle van Cage te laten ontsnappen. Cunningham. Het paradoxale resultaat is een oeuvre van In dit boek vindt u de achtergronden bij het werken die onmiskenbaar van één maker programma, zowel in concrete programma- afkomstig zijn, of ze nu uit ‘stilte’ bestaan, toelichtingen als in de vorm van uitgebreidere de halve operageschiedenis als gevonden essays waarin vooraanstaande Cage-experts voorwerp voorbij laten komen, of ons in zich afvragen wat zijn nalatenschap nu precies full surround onderdompelen in een Iers/ is, en wat we er in de eenentwintigste eeuw Joyceaans geluidsuniversum. mee aanmoeten. Bijzonder is ook het inter- Zijn nieuwsgierigheid naar het onbekende, view met Pierre Audi, artistiek directeur van zijn ontembare experimenteerdrift en het Holland Festival, die in zijn Londense zijn voortdurend doorbreken van gren- tijd uitgebreid met Cage samenwerkte. 5 Al deze informatie mág u tot zich nemen. MUSICAL MÜNCHHAUSEN Maar een ‘basiscursus Cage’ is absoluut niet vereist om vol verbazing en verwon- dering te kunnen genieten van zijn unieke ‘I don’t hear the music I write: I write in wereld van klanken, betekenissen en al order to hear the music I have not yet dan niet toevallige verbintenissen daartus- heard.’ This was how John Cage once aptly sen. Zoals Cage zelf ooit zei: “I remember summed up his basic artistic principle. For loving sound before I ever took a music many of his colleagues, composing was and lesson.” Een stel open oren en een avon- is all about writing down and working out tuurlijke geest zijn dus alles wat nodig is a certain impression of a sound as precisely om dit weekend te ontdekken hoe actueel, as possible. Cage, however, wanted to be grensverleggend en inspirerend Cage’s surprised by the result himself. Beginning werk nog altijd is. in the early 1950s, he therefore searched for methods to remove himself as a creative Jochem Valkenburg subject from his work. Away with self- programmeur muziek en muziektheater expression, but also, away with music that through ingenious constructions and sophisticated processes primarily expresses the intelligence of its maker. Through the use of chance processes, open forms that allow all sorts of interpretation and the introduction of uncontrollable fac- tors, such as the sounds from the surround- ings or a chance radio broadcast, Cage en- sured that his music sounded, at most, only in part like he himself could foresee. This is the great Münchhausen trick of 20th-cen- tury music: just as that famous baron pulled himself out of the morass by his own hair, it was Cage himself who with inexhaust- ible creativity sought ways of letting his music escape his control. The paradoxical result is an oeuvre of work that unmistak- ably comes from a single maker, whether it consists of ‘silence’, presents us with half the entire history of opera as a found object, or submerges us, full surround, in an Irish/ Joycean universe of sound. His curiosity about the unknown, his irrepressible passion for experiment, and his continual crossing of the boundaries between disciplines and fixed viewing and listening patterns make Cage the ultimate 6 Holland Festival artist.
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