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John Cage
Post-War · 1912–1992
John Cage asked a question most composers never think to ask: what counts as music in the first place? Born in Los Angeles in 1912, the son of an inventor, he studied briefly with Arnold Schoenberg, who reportedly said Cage was not a composer but an inventor of genius. Cage took it as a compliment.
His inventions kept coming. He created the prepared piano by wedging bolts, screws, and rubber between the strings, turning one instrument into a private percussion orchestra. He composed using chance, tossing coins and consulting the ancient Chinese I Ching to make musical decisions. He worked for decades with the choreographer Merce Cunningham, his partner in life and art. And in 1952 came 4'33", in which a performer plays nothing and the audience listens to the sounds of the room.
Start with the Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano, his most beautiful sustained work. Then sit with 4'33", once, sincerely.
134 works in the catalog, across 5 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- First Construction, for 6 percussionists
- Imaginary Landscape no. 1, for 2 variable speed turntables, frequency records, muted piano and cymbal
- String Quartet in 4 Parts
- 0' 00", for solo instrument
- 4'33"
- 27'10.554", for percussion
- Amores, for prepared piano and 3 percussion
- Branches, for amplified plants and any number of players
- But What About the Noise..., for percussion ensemble of 3-10 players
- Child of Tree, for percussionist and amplified plants
- Composed Improvisation, for bass guitar
- Composed Improvisation For Snare Drum
- Dance Music, for 5 percussionists
- Fads and Fancies In the Academy, for piano and 4 percussionists
- Five, for 5 any voices or instruments
- Five-4, for 2 saxes and percussion, "In Memory of Stephan Wolpe"
- Fontana Mix - Feed, for percussion
- Four, for string quartet
- Four-4, for 4 percussionists
- Haikai, for flute and zoomoozophone
- Haikai, for gamelan ensemble
- Inlets, for conch shell, "Improvisation II"
- Lecture on the Weather, for 12 speaker-vocalists or instrumentalists and tape
- Living Room Music, for 4 percussionists
- Nocturne, for violin and piano
- One-4, for percussion
- One-6, for violin solo
- One-8, for cello with BACH bow
- One-10, for violin solo
- One-13, for cello solo
- One4, for percussion
- Quartet, for 4 percussionists
- Quartets I-VIII, for 24, 41 or 93 instruments
- Royanji, for double bass
- Second Construction, for 4 percussionists
- Seven, for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello
- Six, for 6 percussionists
- Solo, for sliding trombone
- Sonata for 2 Voices
- Third Construction, for 4 percussionists
- Three, for 3 performers and a variety of recorders
- Three-2, for 3 percussionists
- Trio, for 3 percussionists
- Two-3, for sho and conch shell
- Two-4, for violin and piano
- Variations 2, for any number of players, any sounds produced by any means with or without other activities
- Variations 4, for any number of players, any sounds produced by any means with or without other activities
Keyboard
- HPSCHD, for up to 7 harpsichords and up to 51 tapes
- Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
- 2 Pieces for Piano
- 2 Pieces for Piano
- 3 Dances for 2 Prepared Amplified Pianos
- A Book of Music, for 2 prepared pianos
- And the Earth Shall Bear Again
- A Room
- ASLSP, for piano
- A Valentine out of Season
- Bacchanale
- Daughters of the Lonesome Isle
- Dream, for piano
- Experiences no. 1, for two pianos
- In a Landscape, for piano
- In the Name of the Holocaust
- Metamorphosis
- Music for Amplified Toy Pianos
- Music for Marcel Duchamp
- Music for Piano 1, for piano
- Music for Piano 1- 85, for piano
- Music for Piano 2
- Music for Piano 2, for piano
- Music for Piano 3, for piano
- Music for Piano 4 - 19, for piano or any number of pianos
- Music for Piano 20, for piano
- Music for Piano 21 - 36, for piano or any number of pianos
- Music for Piano 37 - 52, for piano or any number of pianos
- Music for Piano 53 - 68, for piano or any number of pianos
- Music for Piano 69 - 84, for piano or any number of pianos
- Music for Two, for two pianos
- Mysterious Adventure
- One, for piano
- One 2, for 1-4 pianos
- One5, for piano
- Ophelia
- Perpetual Tango
- Prelude for Meditation
- Primitive, for string piano
- Root of an Unfocus
- Some of 'The Harmony of Maine', for organ and 6 assistants
- Sonatas and Interludes, for piano
- Souvenir. for organ
- Suite for Toy Piano
- The Perilous Night
- The Unavailable Memory of
- Tossed As It Is Untroubled
- Totem Ancestor
- Two2, for two pianos
- Winter Music, for two pianos
Orchestral
- Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra
- 108, for orchestra
- Atlas Eclipticalis
- One 8; 108 and 109, for cello and orchestra
- Seventy-Four
- Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras
- Twenty-Eight, for orchestra
- Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Six and Twenty-Nine, for multiple orchestras
- Twenty-Nine, for 4 percussionists, piano and strings
- Twenty-Six, for 26 violins
- Twenty-Three, for 13 violins, 5 violas and 5 cellos
- Two 3, 108 and 110, for sho, conch shell and orchestra
Stage
- 4 Walls, for voice and piano
- The Seasons
Vocal
- 3 Songs, for voice and piano
- 5 Songs, for voice and piano
- 8 Whiskus, for solo voice
- 36 Mesostics re and not re Marcel Duchamp, for solo voice
- 62 Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham, for solo voice
- A Flower, for voice and closed piano
- Aria, for solo voice
- Experiences no. 2, for solo voice
- Five / Song Books
- Forever and Sunsmell, for voice and 2 percussion
- Four Dances, for piano, percussion and voice
- Litany for the Whale, for 2 equal voices
- Mirakus-2, for solo voice
- Music for 2, for solo voice
- Nowth upon Nacht, for voice and piano
- She is Asleep, for voice, piano, and percussion
- Solo for Voice 2
- Solo for Voice 58, 18 ragas
- Song Books Volumes 1 and 2, for solo voice
- Sonnekus-2, for solo voice
- Story
- Story, for chorus
- The Wonderful Widow of 18 Springs, for voice and closed piano
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