From: lampson@tellabs.com (Dave Lampson)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: John Cage Dies At 79
Date: 14 Aug 92 20:51:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: tellab5.1992Aug14.205125.23657
Organization: Tellabs, Inc., IL


Reprinted from the Chicago Sun-Times Obituaries (August 13, 1992) 
without permission (I tried, I really did - I kept getting lost 
in their bureaucracy - so sue me - at least they didn't actually
say no!):


                John Cage, 79, Innovative, Experimental Composer
                               by Wynne Delacoma
                             Classical Music Critic


John Cage, one of the 20th century's most free-spirited experimental composers,
died Wednesday of a stroke in New York City.  He was 79.

The classical world has been celebrating him and his music lustily this year
in anticipation of his 80th birthday on Sept. 5.  The impish Mr. Cage would
probably laugh at the irony of all those "John Cage at 80" celebrations for
a birthday he was fated never to reach.

Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Cage studied music with such innovators as Henry 
Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg.  Early on, he made his own way, questioning 
all musical assumptions, large and small.

He wrote music for piano that required the pianist to dig inside the instrument
and pluck the strings by hand.  At a 1942 concert at the Arts Club of Chicago, 
he turned beer bottles and brake drums into percussion instruments.

One of his most famous works, ``4'33" (Four Minutes, 33 Seconds),'' consisted 
of a musician coming onstage and making no sound for the piece's alloted time.
The good thing was that it could be performed (not!) on any instrument.  The 
bad thing, grumbled some audience members, was that he charged admission for 
the privilege of experiencing it.

One of Mr. Cage's most influential innovations was the use of chance in
his music.  He was fascinated by Eastern philosophy and frequently used the
I Ching, an ancient Chinese book of 64 symbols, to decide how sections of 
his music should be put together.  In his decades-long collaboration with 
choreographer Merce Cunningham, the dancers usually heard Mr. Cage's music 
for the first time at the opening performance.

Chance procedures never lost their fascination for him.  He was in Chicago
in March wearing his typical uniform of denim jacket and jeans, during a 
week-long "Cage NOW" festival at Northwestern University.  On the program 
was "Europera 5", composed in 1991.  It was a carefully constructed theater
piece with layers of opera singing, recorded and live, coming and going in
almost surreal fashion.  The singers were allowed to present whatever arias
they wanted when the time came for their solos.

Mr. Cage's experiments, his constant asking of the unanswerable question,
"What is music?" infuruated many in the classical music world.  Some
dismissed him as a shameless charlatan.  His ideas fascinated generations
of composers, however.  His technique of requiring classically trained to
improvise, a cornerstone of jazz music, is now an accepted procedure for
opera and orchestral composers.

Northwestern has had a long and fruitful relationship with Mr. Cage and has
established a John Cage Archive, which includes a sizable collection of his
personal papers.

But Mr. Cage's influence went beyond his own music.  He was a poet, essayist
and mushroom expert as well as a composer.  Unpretentious and good-humored, 
but resolute in his breaking of musical laws, Mr. Cage changed the way 
listeners, composers and performers thoiught about music.

There was no immediate word on Mr. Cage's survivors or funeral arrangements.

-- 

Dave
lampson@tellabs.com