John Cage - 4'33"

John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

John Cage's famous silent piece. Although composed in 1952, Cage already thought about it in 1948 where he mentions it as 'Silent Prayer' in his article A Composer's Confessions. In the work no intentional sounds are made during it's entire duration. In the first version the work contains 3 movements lasting 33", 2'40" and 1'20". These timings were chance determined. Later on Cage cancelled this division and reworked the piece, creating a wholly different composition from the original.
Much has been written about 4'33" and about Cage's ideas behind it's silence. Two of those ideas: 1. Silence does not exist. One simply should listen and open one's ears. 2. Silence is a means to seperate tones and chords, in order to avoid melodic interpretations to chronology of sounds.





Reference: http://www.johncage.info/index2.html
By Joyce