Writings Through John Cage's Music, Poetry, And

Writings through John Cage’s Music, Poetry, and Art Writings through John Cage’s Music, Poetry, and Art Edited by David W. Bernstein and Christopher Hatch THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON DAVID W. BERNSTEIN is associate professor of music and head of the Music Department at Mills College. CHRISTOPHER HATCH has retired from the Department of Music at Columbia University. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2001 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2001 Printed in the United States of America 10090807060504030201 54321 ISBN (cloth): 0-226-04407-6 ISBN (paper): 0-226-04408-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Writings through John Cage’s music, poetry, and art / edited by David W. Bernstein and Christopher Hatch. p. cm. Proceedings from the conference entitled “Here Comes Everybody: The Music, Poetry, and Art of John Cage” which took place at Mills College in Oakland, Calif. from Novem- ber 15 to 19, 1995. Includes index. ISBN 0-226-04407-6 — ISBN 0-226-04408-4 (pbk.) 1. Cage, John—Criticism and interpretation—Congresses. I. Bernstein, David W., 1951–. II. Hatch, Christopher. ML410.C24 W74 2001 780Ј.92—dc21 00-011440 ᭺ϱ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na- tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. To Gordon Mumma CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction David W. Bernstein 1 One “In Order to Thicken the Plot”: Toward a Critical Reception of Cage’s Music David W. Bernstein 7 Two John Cage’s Queer Silence; or, How to Avoid Making Matters Worse Jonathan D. Katz 41 Three The Intent of the Musical Moment: Cage and the Transpersonal Austin Clarkson 62 Four Cage as Performer Gordon Mumma 113 Five As Time Passes Deborah Campana 120 Six David Tudor and the Solo for Piano John Holzaepfel 137 Seven Here Comes Everything Paul van Emmerik 157 Eight Cage’s Influence: A Panel Discussion Gordon Mumma, Allan Kaprow, James Tenney, Christian Wolff, Alvin Curran, and Maryanne Amacher 167 Nine Cage and the Computer: A Panel Discussion James Pritchett, James Tenney, Andrew Culver, and Frances White 190 Ten Cage’s Writings up to the Late 1980s Jackson Mac Low 210 Eleven Cage and the Structure of Chance Constance Lewallen 234 Twelve Diary: Cage’s Mountain Lake Workshop, April 8–15, 1990 Ray Kass 244 Thirteen The Making of Cage’s One 11 Henning Lohner 260 List of Contributors 299 Index 305 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book resulted from a collaborative pro- cess that began almost a year after John Cage’s death on August 12, 1992. It was during one of many inspiring conversations with Gordon Mumma—a wonderful creative artist, ubiquitous scholar, intellectual, and the person to whom this book is dedi- cated—that the idea of a conference and fes- tival focusing on Cage’s work first emerged. Its location at Mills College, an institution with a rich tradition in experimental music and close ties to Cage, was a splendid choice. The combination of Cage and Mills proved a powerful catalyst, drawing scholars and creative artists to the event from all over the world. “Here Comes Everybody: The Music, Po- etry, and Art of John Cage” took place on November 15–19, 1995. It was supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mills College Music Depart- ment, and the Mills College Art Museum. I would like to thank Laura Kuhn and Joan Retallack for introducing me to the dedi- cated community of scholars studying Cage’s work. I am also grateful to Charles Hamm ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS x and Marjorie Perloff for their enthusiastic support of our project. It was especially a pleasure to meet and work with Andrew Culver. I would like to thank my colleagues from the Mills College Music Department and Center for Contemporary Music—David Abel, John Bischoff, Chris Brown, Belle Bulwinkle, Alvin Curran, Elisabeth Eshleman, Michelle Fillion, Fred Frith, Dave Madole, Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne, Julie Steinberg, Les Stuck, and William Winant—for their artistic and intellectual inspiration. This debt I also owe to my students at Mills. From the start, Kathleen Hansell, music editor for the University of Chicago Press, expressed interest in our plan to produce a book from the conference proceedings. Her continued support gave us the opportunity to realize our goal. Moira Roth and George Lewis reminded us that a critical perspective is crucial for Cage research; their ideas influenced this book’s final form. It was a pleasure to work with the contributors to this volume; they selflessly committed hours of their time. It is a rare opportunity to work with a group of such talented artists and scholars. I have had the privilege of collaborating with Christopher Hatch on several projects. As coeditor of this book, he brought his uncanny abil- ity to shape and clarify an author’s argument without the intrusion of his own editorial ego. This, as well as his keen intellect, curiosity, and open- ness, reminds me of John Cage. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the patience and support of my wife, Jamie, and son, Jeremy, who made work on this book possible. David W. Bernstein INTRODUCTION David W. Bernstein I notice both in writing and in speaking [that] many people are gloomy about the present The epigraph at left expresses the inspiration circumstances and it isn’t my behind a conference entitled “Here Comes nature to be gloomy. I have Everybody: The Music, Poetry, and Art of been so long in reading and John Cage,” which took place at Mills Col- thinking of Finnegans Wake, lege in Oakland, California from Novem- “Here comes everybody,” and ber 15 to 19, 1995. It also conveys in large I think our experiences more part the motivation that led to this book. The and more are populated not conference constituted a major landmark in only with more people, but Cage scholarship; it was the first interna- with more things that strike tional assemblage of scholars and creative our perceptions. We live artists to examine Cage’s work after his death in a time I think, not of main- on August 12, 1992. As such, it marked a stream, but of many streams new era in Cage research, as scholars began or even, if you insist upon to consider and evaluate his life, influence, a river of time, that we have and creative output more critically. come to [a] delta, maybe Cage, who admired the writings of James even beyond [the] delta to Joyce, particularly Finnegans Wake, was fond an ocean which is going back of the phrase “Here comes everybody” to the skies. because it epitomized his own pluralistic —John Cage, Radio interview vision of politics, society, and art. For with Charles Amirkhanian, Cage, “Here comes everybody” represented KPFA, Berkeley, January 14, a political and social philosophy celebrat- 1992 ing the uniqueness of individuals and the multiplicity of cultural differences around the world. In music, this vision informed Cage’s assumption that any combination of sounds, whether they are “musical” sounds 1 INTRODUCTION 2 or noises, can be aesthetically pleasing; the materials available for a musical work are thus virtually unlimited, and Cage rejoiced in the exis- tence of these infinite possibilities. Cage extended this idea into an encompassing pluralism that crossed artistic boundaries. His creative energies were not limited to music, for he was at the same time an accomplished writer and an artist. The author of more than seven major volumes of essays and poetry, he was also extremely productive in the visual arts, especially printmaking and wa- tercolors. This richness of artistic output and an almost unprecedented level of productivity continued until his death. Throughout his career, Cage was known as a tireless provocateur and propagandist for a small community of avant-garde musicians, artists, and writers, but today his work is recognized around the world. We have, in fact, arrived at a pivotal moment in the history of Cage studies. As scholars begin to address his extraordinary legacy, they will need to understand the breadth and importance of his achievements. This pro- cess has already begun. The first Cage biography came out in 1992, and others will appear soon.1 There exist a growing number of excellent dis- sertations focusing on Cage’s work.2 A major Cage conference that took place at Stanford University in 1992 resulted in an important volume of essays.3 In 1993, the first book to examine Cage’s entire musical output appeared, several new books explore aspects of Cage’s work and aesthetics, while others contain substantial sections on Cage.4 In addi- tion, a collection of interviews published shortly before he died provides fresh insight into the compositional methods and aesthetics of his late 1. David Revill, The Roaring Silence: John Cage, a Life (New York: Arcade, 1992). Biographies by Charles Shere, Mark Swed, and Franz van Rossum are currently underway. 2. Deborah Ann Campana, “Form and Structure in the Music of John Cage” (Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1985); James William Pritchett, “The Development of Chance Tech- niques in the Music of John Cage, 1950–1956” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1988); Laura Kuhn, “John Cage’s Europeras1&2:The Musical Means of Revolution” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1992); Martin Erdmann, “Untersuchungen zum Gesamtwerk von John Cage” (Ph.D. diss., Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, 1993); David W. Patter- son, “Appraising the Catchwords, c.

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