Song Books (Cage)
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Song Books (Solos for Voice 3-92) is a collection of short works by John Cage, composed and compiled by the composer in 1970. It contains pieces of four kinds: songs, songs with electronics, directions for a theatrical performance, and directions for a theatrical performance with electronics. Any may be performed by one or more singers.
Contents |
[edit] General information
Song Books was published by in 1970 as three volumes: volume one contained Solos for Voice 3-58, volume two contained Solos for Voice 59-92, and the third volume, titled "Instructions", contains various tables and other materials necessary for performance of some of the pieces. The work explores a very wide variety of notation systems. Some Solos are given in standard notation, others employ a special brand of notation with circles of different sizes and lines instead of notes, still others are systems of dots and lines, etc. Some are not notated at all: the text is given using different fonts and font sizes for different words, or sometimes changing in mid-sentence. Certain Solos consist only of instructions to the performer, ie. what he or she should do and how, although these instructions may be rather free (for instance, "Perform a disciplined action" may be an instruction, and according to Cage it does not mean "Do whatever you want", but rather a request to discipline oneself and/or free oneself of one's likes and dislikes[1]).
Most of the texts are from Henry David Thoreau's journals (and Volume 3 contains a photograph of Thoreau as material for one of the Solos); other authors whose texts Cage used in the work include Norman O. Brown, Marcel Duchamp, Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan. For Solo for Voice 91 Cage wrote his own text.
[edit] Editions
- Edition Peters 6806A (Solos 3-58) and 6806B (Solos 59-92) © 1970 by Henmar Press
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Richard Kostelanetz. Conversing with John Cage, p. 108. Routledge, 2003; ISBN 0-415-93792-2
