Composer Notes

Photo of piano keyboard and pianist's hands by Gabriel Gurrola on Unsplash

History, analysis and commentary about western classical music

Introduction to Twentieth Century Music Part 6

Another Approach: Rejection of the complex music of the 1950s

John Cage (1912 – 1992)

Key interests

Dada / Zen Buddhism / Chance / Indeterminacy
Challenging what constitutes music and if it is different from noise
Innovative and controversial approaches to creating music
Most famous/infamous work: 4'33" (4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence)

Sonatas and Interludes (1946 – 1948)

“Hardware” used to make piano into percussion orchestra

Marcel Duchamp Large glass

Marcel Duchamp - Large glass

Minimalism

Some exponents

Steve Reich (born 1936) American
Terry Riley (born 1935) American
Philip Glass (born 1937) American
John Adams (born 1947) American
Michael Nyman (born 1944) English

Terry Riley - In C (1964)

Repetitive cells that gradually move in and out of phase
Influence of African drumming
53 short phrases that can be repeated any number of times
Scored for any number of performers
Duration varies from 15 minutes to one hour depending on interpretation

Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup

Andy Warhol - Campbell's Soup

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