John Cage (Cage John)

(1912-1992)
. His, causes a lot of disputes work, strongly influenced not only contemporary music but also on the whole direction of art in the mid-20. Associated with the use of 'random' elements (aleatorika) and 'raw' life phenomena
. Cage was inspired by the teachings of Zen Buddhism, according to which nature has no internal structure or hierarchy of phenomena. At it had the impact of the modern theory of the interconnectedness of all phenomena developing sociologist McLuhan and the architect B. Fuller. As a result, Cage came to the music, which included elements of 'noise' and 'silence', to use natural, 'found' sound, as well as electronics and aleatoriku. The fruits of these experiments can not always be classified as works of art, but it is just and consistent with the idea of Cage, in which a similar experience 'introduces us to the very essence of the life that we live'.
Cage was born on September 5, 1912 in Los Angeles. He studied at Pomona College, then in Europe, and after returning to Los Angeles worked with A. Weiss, A. Schoenberg and G. Cowell. Unsatisfied constraints, . imposed by the traditional Western tonal system, . he began to create compositions with the inclusion of sounds, . sources which were not musical instruments, . and miscellaneous, . surrounding the person in everyday life, . rattles, . crackers, . and sounds, . generated by such unusual procedures, . as, . example, . immersion in water vibrating gongs,
. In 1938 Cage invented a so-called. prepared piano, in which a string ancestral different objects, resulting in a miniature grand piano into a percussion ensemble. In the early 1950's has introduced in its composition aleatoriku, using various manipulations with dice, cards, and Book of Changes (I Ching), the ancient Chinese book of divination for. Other composers in the past occasionally used 'random' elements in his compositions, but Cage was the first to apply aleatoriku systematically, making it the main principle of composition. He is also one of the first to use a specific sound and special opportunities change traditional sound produced when working with a tape.

The three most famous compositions Cage first performed in 1952. Among them, the notorious piece 4'33 ", which is a 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. However, the silence in this work is not tantamount to a complete absence of sound, as Cage, among other things, sought to draw the attention of listeners to the natural sounds of the environment in which the marks 4'33 ". Imaginary landscape? 4 (Imaginary Landscape? 4) is written for 12 radios, and everything here - the choice of channels, the power of sound, the duration of the play - is determined by chance. Artwork Untitled, . executed in the College of Black Mountain with the participation of artist R. Rauschenberg, . dancer and choreographer, M. Cunningham and others, . became the prototype of the genre 'happening', . where entertainment and musical elements are combined with committed both spontaneous, . often absurd actions of perpetrators,
. This invention, . as well as his work in the composition class at the New School for Social Research in New York, Cage has had a marked influence on a generation of artists, . adopt its opinion: everything that happens can be seen as the theater ( 'theater' - all, . cases simultaneously), . and this theater is life,
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Beginning with 1940's Cage composed and performed music for dance. His dance songs do not relate to the choreography: music and dance are deployed at the same time, retaining its own form. Most of these tracks (which is sometimes used in the recitation 'heppeningovoy' manner) were created in collaboration with the dance troupe M. Cunningham, in which Cage was musical director

. Writing Cage, . including Silence (Silence, . 1961), . Year after Monday (A Year from Monday, . 1968) and for birds (For the Birds, . 1981), . go far beyond the musical perspective, . cover the entire spectrum of ideas, . on 'a pointless game' the artist and the unity of life, . Nature and Art,
. Cage died in New York on August 12, 1992.