[silence] Cage's calligraphic scores

[kkrka kr]

(I hope this appears correctly in the list, I couldn't figure out how to
reply in a particular thread)

By "calligraphic" I mean that the scores are carefully prepared handwritten
copies that all conform to a particular typeface. In the way Satie's scores
were, for instance. I really don't know how to explain this better; its just
that they are not simply autographs, but very neat, specially prepared
autographs (I remember an illustration from a book showing a draft of the
prepared piano concerto, which didn't have any kind of typeface and looked
very different from the score).

Its clear that Cage did not use the same kind of handwriting in daily life
(a letter from 1950:
http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/music/2-2.jpgand one from
1984:
http://www.alvincurran.com/Cage%20letter.jpg ), so the typeface used in the
scores must've been specially invented for them. Hence, "calligraphy". Of
course, I may be wrong about it all, but I've seen his scores described as
"calligraphic" many times.

Oh, and the relationship with Edition Peters started in 1960, so for at
least 10 years he supplied them with handwritten scores, rather than asking
to typeset them - which he could've done easily by that time, I think.

On Dec 16, 2007 4:25 PM, Caleb Deupree <ctdeupree@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> I'm not sure what you mean by "calligraphic."  Many of Cage's scores
> are hand-written, with the degree of readability being variable.
> Sometimes the hand-written notation was intended to express some
> performance peculiarity, and sometimes I think it was just hand-
> written.  I don't see much difference in the hand-written quality of
> the scores between Cheap Imitation and, say, The Perilous Night, from
> 1944.
>
> Kathan Brown's book on Cage's visual art contains some interesting
> background.  She points out that Cage was engaged in painting prior to
> his meeting with Schoenberg in 1934, and that he lectured on art and
> music during the depression.  All of the early scores that I have are
> hand written, even ones that were later typeset.  He had no publisher
> until his relationship with Edition Peters, which couldn't have
> happened too early.  So, since he had a documented interest in
> painting and no affordable access to typesetting, it was probably a
> necessary step to create his scores by hand.  But, as Brown also
> points out, he also recognized that the scores were a means to an end,
> so when he started creating etchings, prints and other visual
> materials as specific works (in 1977), he was an established composer,
> and Peters probably typeset any of his new scores that he wanted.
>
> ---
> Caleb Deupree
> ctdeupree@sbcglobal.net
> http://classicaldrone.blogspot.com
>
>
>
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