[silence] Cage's calligraphic scores (Caleb Deupree)

[Ed Crooks]

On the subject of calligraphy and Lou Harrison: In the early 50s, Harrison became particularly interested in the writing and designs of William Morris, founder of the Kelmscott Press and author of the version of Rapunzel which Harrison set as an opera. This is discussed in a paper by Leta Miller, Method and Madness in Lou Harrison's "Rapunzel", The Journal of Musicology, 19(1), 2002, pp.85-124.
   
  Ed Crooks
   
   
  1. Re: Cage's calligraphic scores (Caleb Deupree)

On Dec 16, 2007, at 4:54 AM, kkrka kr wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'm looking for information on Cage's calligraphic scores. More  
> specifically, I'd like to know when and why did he start doing  
> these, and when and why did he stop. So far, I found absolutely no  
> information on this in any of the books I checked. These include the
  
> following -
>
> - James Pritchett's "The Music of John Cage"
> - Richard Kostelanetz's "Conversing with Cage"
> - David Nicholls' "The Cambridge Companion to Cage"
> and Cage's own "Silence".
>
> From the scores I have, I can surmize that he probably started doing
  
> calligraphic ones in 1940s, perhaps as early as 1942 (the "The  
> Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs" score I have is calligraphic,  
> although the ones for early prepared piano works are not). The 1969  
> Cheap Imitation score seems to be calligraphic (I don't have it, but
  
> there's a scan on the Net - see
 http://www.ubu.com/concept/images/cage_cheap_02.jpg 
>  ), as are the 1970 Song Books, but the bits I saw from the scores  
> of Etudes Australes (1974), Freeman Etudes (1977), Cheap Imitation  
> violin transcription (1977) and time bracket pieces are not  
> calligraphic.
>
> I'll be very grateful for any details on this topic, as well as any  
> sources (page numbers in books, dissertations, articles..) that have
  
> them. The only possible clue I could find (accidentally, while  
> searching books.google.com) is in a little biographical article on  
> Mark Tobey in "The Saints of Modern Art: The Ascetic Ideal in  
> Contemporary Painting" by Charles A. Riley. It mentions a Chinese  
> student, Teng Kuei, who studied at the Cornish School when Cage was  
> there, and introduced Tobey to Chinese calligraphy - could he do the
  
> same for Cage?

---
Caleb Deupree
ctdeupree@sbcglobal.net
http://classicaldrone.blogspot.com




       
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