The Selected Letters of John Cage. John Cage
Arthur Cohn wrote and wants more scores for the Fleischer Collection in Philadelphia,61 because a supplement of their catalogue is coming out and they want to include more works for percussion. Unfortunately, the only scores which I have prepared for sending to them are among those that I sent to you. Therefor I am writing to him to let him know that you have them; he will write to you if he wants them and I will leave the matter in your hands. When sending, if you do, scores to him, they are to be sent collect at his expense and insured. The particular ones that he now already has are the following:
| HARRISON | 5th Simfony Canticle |
| RUSSELL | Studies in Cuban Rhythms |
| CAGE | Second Construction |
Thank you for taking care of this for me; by the way, do you think any of the scores may be published in New Music? I have never had a reply from Lucie Rosen; I wrote to her a long time ago. Do you know anything further about her—where she is? I have also not heard from the Columbia Broadcasting which you mentioned I might hear from. How are you getting along? I saw Lou. He has a fine new studio in SF and is writing continuously. Have you seen Varese? I hope something fine happens for him in New York.
To Bland L. Stradley62
December 14, 1940 | 228 17th Avenue, San Francisco
Dear Dr. Stradley:
I am writing to propose the establishing of a center of experimental music at Ohio State University.
As a composer and member of the faculties of the Cornish School of Music in Seattle and of the summer session, Mills College, 1940, I have for some time been active in the field of experimental music. I have presented nine concerts of percussion music, using over 150 percussion instruments which I have collected. The last concert, given at Mills College, was reviewed in the weekly news magazine Time, July 29, 1940.
Before I began the presentation of complete percussion concerts, there had been sporadic performances of Edgar Varese’s Ionization and of William Russell’s Fugue for eight percussion instruments and the latter’s Three Dance Movements. However, at the time (December 1938) that I gave my first percussion concert, I advised many composers throughout the country of the presence at the Cornish School in Seattle of players, instruments and interest in this new musical field. The response was very encouraging, and the number of scores for percussion has grown from about three in 1934 to about fifty in 1940. I have at present thirty scores from which to choose for performances. This number is increasing continually. The majority of the scores have been copied for inclusion in the Edwin Fleischer Collection of Orchestral Music in Philadelphia. I now propose to establish a center of experimental music, the purpose of which would be to continue the work with percussion instruments and to do further research, composition and performance in those fields of sound and rhythm not yet explored. The ultimate goal of such a project would be the use of electrical, mechanical, film and like means for the production of any desired frequency in any desired duration, aplitude and overtone structure. I would regularly advise composers throughout the country of the new materials available and invite them to contribute scores for performance.
American music will be enlivened and enriched by such exploration and use of new musical materials. These can best be brought about through the cooperation of scientists with a real appreciation of music, and composers with an understanding and appreciation of sience. That is the combination I am endeavoring to bring about.
In the event that this work might be established at Ohio State University, I shall be glad to provide you with many references, my qualifications, and details concerning my plans for work.
To Peter Yates
December 14, 1940 | 228 17th Avenue, San Francisco
Dear Peter:
[following paragraph crossed out] I appreciate your interest in my work and the trouble you have taken to write the enclosed article. For many reasons, however, I am certain the publishing of this article would not serve either your or my best interests. People are accustomed to saying that anything printed about anything is “good publicity”; such a point of view doesn’t interest me. I am anxious that the article you publish be accurate as to facts and present some true and sensible critical evaluation of the work in percussion and its objectives. I have not really delayed answering your note; I have instead written several letters to you, each of which attempted to point out the errors in your article. I have decided, instead, that it would be better for you to write a new article entirely; and that I could best help you by giving a brief statement about facts and objectives.
Luigi Russolo between 1913 and 1925 gave concerts, constructed 23 “noise-tuners,” published The Art of Noise. (See Slonimsky’s Music Since 1900 for the first chapter in his book.63) Varese introduced Russolo at the latter’s concert in Paris in the ’20’s. Varese criticized his work as being too concerned with the imitation of natural and city sounds. Russolo was a painter, not a composer. His three compositions were called “Spirals of Noise.” **Dining on the Hotel Terrace; Awakening of a City; Assembling of Automobiles and Aeroplanes.
Gradually more and more importance is given to the percussion section in so-called modern symphonic works, e.g., works by Stravinsky and others, finally resulting in such works as Milhaud’s Oresteia64 with one entire section for choric speech and percussion, and his opera, Cristophe Colomb, which contains many sections for speech and percussion. Not until 1931 did the logical outcome of this activity take place: Varese’s Ionization, for percussion alone, which differs in intent from Russolo’s work, being in no way an imitation of natural or city sounds, but being instead an expressive organization of sound as opposed to tone. With this work Varese announced the new disagreement: between sound and tone. Musical disagreement had previously been between consonance and dissonance.
Neither Varese’s work nor Russolo’s work had been concerned with a revival of primitive instruments. Russolo was a definite result of an interest in the machine. He desired to carry his work forward with the aid of electrical means. This required financial support which he was unable to obtain. An interest in the possibilities the machine offers was shown by other composers such as George Antheil who wrote for many player-pianos [margin note added: “direct stamping on the perforated rolls”], and by Ernst Toch,65 who wrote for speech to be recorded nine times as fast as spoken. [Nikolai] Lopatnikoff, a pupil of Toch, also made experiments with music for records. [margin note added: “Also Hindemith.”] My Imaginary Landscape written for percussion and records of constant and variable frequency lies in this class of music dependent on the machine for performance.
Some composers, interested in folk and primitive and oriental music, also used percussion instruments. These were Bartok, Chavez and perhaps others. [Henry] Eichheim. Maybe Cowell. This getting back to the earth business is quite different from either Varese’s work or Russolo’s work.
[margin note added: “And is not so much ‘getting back to the earth’ as it is ‘getting into the books’—musicology.”]
As Russolo had already suggested, there were many possibilities offered by the use of electricity. Inventors had been inventing electrical musical instruments: Theremin, Trautwein. Hindemith wrote music for the Trautonium,66 which could as well have been played on regular symphonic instruments. Thereminists, although theoretically interested in new music for the Theremin, showed a preference for displaying their virtuosity and presented programs made up from classic music ending with the modern French school. [margin note added: “They are quite pleased with the mysterious, sensational way of playing the instrument (Look, Mama, no hands!), and thus have little time [illegible] what they’re playing.”] However, composers and critics soon saw that the new electrical instruments had one thing in common with the percussion and mechanical work and that was a common interest in exploring the field of sound and rhythm, bringing into availability new musical materials. An example of this realization is Stokowski’s article in the journal of the Acoustical Society.67 The goal began to be clear: an instrument which would make the entire field of sound available for musical purposes: any desirable