Realization of the principles of sonor modality in “The Perilous Night” by J. Cage
Authors: Shadko M.O. 
Published: May 2019

Background. At the beginning of the 20th century American music gradually emerges from the shadow of Europe and takes its rightful place. This unique cultural phenomenon arises from the creative work of a brilliant generation of artists. Some authors preferred to develop traditional methods of compositions, others expressed nontraditional, sometimes even shocking, views on the very process of creativity and tasks of art in general. Different thinking, non-standard sound perception, a special approach to creation based on rejection of the ordinary and lack of borders – all this distinguished Americans not only from European traditionalists, but also from modernists. Objectives. The purpose of the paper is to determine peculiarities of implementation of innovative ideas in J. Cage’s cycle "The Perilous Night" for prepared piano. Methods. The study uses a comprehensive approach with the application of intonational, semantic, structural and functional methods for analyzing musical text. Results. The most famous and infl uential fi gure in American music of the last century was John Cage (1912–1992), whose name became synonymous with everything most epic and radical in music. It is diffi cult to characterize this person only as a composer, since the range of his interests was extremely wide: he was also a writer, philosopher, inventor, performer, lecturer, organizer of performances, etc. The most famous invention of J. Cage turned out to be a "prepared piano". This instrument refl ects the composer’s inclination towards percussions, that is, the active engagement of noises as the main musical material and thirst for experiments. A more mature example of putting J. Cage’s innovative ideas in life is his suite "The Perilous Night", composed in 1944. It was this piece which became the fi rst large-scale opus for prepared piano, written not for accompaniment, but as an independent artistic concept. This opus is a unique example where the author, who actively rejected the idea of expressing feelings through music, speaks with us in the language of emotions. "The Perilous night", as well as other works for prepared piano, is designed in the technique which M. Pereverzeva calls "sononant modality". This name indicates the combination of two approaches – a coloristic and a structural one. The composer achieves organic in this alliance by creating for each opus a certain series made up not of traditional musical sounds, but of noises, overtones and other colorful sonorities. So, J. Cage seems to play a game with the performer, creating a certain puzzle that must be decrypted in the process of preparing for the performance. The key to it is the so-called "preparation chart ", which always precedes the musical text and contains the following mandatory columns: 1. a sound written in notes; 2. material necessary for preparation, 3. strings, between which it must be put (from left to right); 4. distance of material placement, calculated from the damper (in inches). The expanded chart of " The Perilous night" is visually divided into two sections, since each of these elements is duplicated; so, on the left side we fi nd mainly soft and wooden objects (foam rubber, felt, bamboo wedge), and on the right side there are metal things (screws and bolts with or without a nut). A full "tone row" appears only in the chart and can be used when talking about the cycle as a whole. In each of the six pieces, the composer operates a certain set of sounds, which of course belong to it, but they are employed extremely selectively, depending on specifi c artistic tasks. Thus, all numbers receive their unique combination of voices that form a "microtone row" of miniatures. The number of sonants in it varies from fi ve to eighteen and does not depend on the size of the piece. In the cycle, there is a multilevel relationship between its parts, which, on the one hand, coloristically and texture-rhythmically are in contrast with each other, ensuring contraposition of states and diversity of colours, and, on the other hand, make internal connections that provide the indivisibility and logic of the cyclic composition. No less individually J. Cage interprets the principle of applying certain numerical proportions in the process of developing a musical composition. Basing on the combination of Eastern trends, primarily Indian talas and ragas, and Western music, he formed the basis of the so-called "rhythmic pattern" of the composer. In all six parts of "The Perilous Night" you can trace the effect of numerical proportions at different levels of the pattern. One of them is the "square root principle", which, in particular, determines the logic of the composition of the third piece. J. Cage uses two bar lines to seperate twelve sections of twelve bars, that is, 12 to the 2nd power. The fi rst four sections are rich in sound events, they feature different texture techniques and many tone colours in all sorts of combinations. The basic principle of development is the variation of primary elements, but no section repeats in exactly the same way. Another picture is observed in the last eight bars. Repetition here is used not at the level of elements, but at the level of sections. The fi fth section is exactly equal to the eighth, and the sixth – to the seventh, ninth and eleventh ones. Visually, this is accentuated by the traditional mark of reprise, which of course is compulsory otherwise the form is distorted. It seems that here J. Cage looks for the end of the piece, and eventually focues on the last four bars of the sixth (seventh, ninth and eleventh) sections, which become the tenth and twelfth sections respectively, and gradually fade in space. Conclusions. J. Cage’s suite "The Perilous Night" occupies an important place in his creative work. This is his fi rst large-scale work for prepared piano, which does not depend on a dance, as it has a unique dramaturgy based on refl ection of the emotional state of a person. At the same time, the cycle harmoniously combines principles of sononant modality and numerical series technique, which are typical for the composer.