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Sonate n° 1 (1946 - 48)

John Cage

John Cage

Ti­tle of the album: Sonates et Interludes pour Piano Préparé
Ti­tle: Sonate n° 1 (Track 01)
Publisher: Harmonia Mundi, Arles
Da­te: 1946 - 1948
Me­di­um: re­cord 30 cm + insert
Performer: Maro Ajemian

 

Sonata no. 1 is the first piece of the album Sonates Et Interludes Pour Piano Préparé, which John Cage composed between 1946 and 1948. Sonates Et Interludes is a cycle of twenty pieces for a prepared piano. The cycle consists of sixteen sonatas and four freely structured interludes. Cage refers to his pieces as sonatas in that they are written in the form of classical piano sonatas, for example, by Domenico Scarlatti. The theme of the pieces is to express the eight permanent emotions of the Indian Rasa tradition. John Cage dedicated the cycle to the Armenian pianist Maro Ajemian (1921 - 1978). She performed the work several times since the complete cycle was first performed at Carnegie Hall on the 12th of January 1949.

Cage became acquainted with Indian music and philosophy in early 1946 through the Indian musician Gita Sarabhai. Around the same time, Cage began to study the writings of the Indian art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Among the ideas that influenced Cage was her description of the Rasa aesthetic and its eight 'permanent emotions'. According to legend, the Rasa theory comes from the saint Bharata Muni, who wrote it down in the book Nastyashastra. It describes eight or nine basic moods (rasas), which are evoked by combinations of precisely defined emotional triggers (bhavas), depending on the type of artwork. The rasa concept is still used today in theatre, dance, music, literature and the visual arts, and also shapes Indian cinema. Cage divided these emotions into two groups: four white (love/eroticism, heroism, humour, wonder and magic) and four black (anger, disgust, compassion and pathos, fear). The ninth emotion is calm. Cage never specified which of the pieces referred to which emotions or whether there was any direct correspondence at all. However, he mentioned in the accompanying text that the "pieces with bell-like sounds suggest Europe and others with a drum-like resonance suggest the East."

It takes about two to three hours to prepare a piano for a performance of Sonates Et Interludes. The piano must be prepared with screws and various types of bolts, but also with fifteen pieces of rubber, four pieces of plastic, several nuts and an eraser. Since, despite the detailed instructions, each preparation will be different, Cage himself suggested playing the work as it seems right.