Artist: John Cage (American, 1912-1992)
Title: "Program (KNOBS) for the Listener"
Date: 1969 / 1970
Medium: Line-Print on paper
Size: Measures 22 x 15 inches (unfolded).
Condition: Issued folded (twice) otherwise a strong impression in very good overall condition.
Notes: A numbered printout, this number 10929, published as instructions for controlling the volume, high and low of the left and right chains of a preamp for listening to John's "HPSCHD" recording (with LeJaren Hiller).
HPSCHD (pronounced "harpsichord") premiered at the Assembly Hall of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on May 16, 1969 as the culmination of a Cage artistic residency. One of the earliest musical works for computer, and ultimately a five-hour multimedia extravaganza, HPSCHD remains a landmark happening of the 1960s.The original recording, "HPSCHD For Harpsichords and Computer Generated Sound Tapes" by Cage and LeJaren Hiller was made available on vinyl by Nonesuch Records in 1970. Each copy of the LP included an individually generated computer printout called "Program (Knobs) for the Listener" and consisted of series of I-Ching randomly generated numbers representing knob positions at 5 second intervals for Left Volume, Right Volume, Left Treble, Right Treble, Left Bass and Right Bass. The purpose of these numbers was to allow the listener to create their own individual performance of HPSCHD by manipulating the controls of their hi-fi pre-amplifier. Given that the numbers were in five second intervals this was, needless to say, next to impossible to perform for the average listener.
BIOGRAPHY:
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 - August 12, 1992) was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher, and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic 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 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.Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, which is performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title. The content of the composition is not "four minutes and 33 seconds of silence," as is often assumed, but rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance.The work's challenge to assumed definitions about musicianship and musical experience made it a popular and controversial topic both in musicology and the broader aesthetics of art and performance. Cage was also a pioneer of the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by objects placed between or on its strings or hammers), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces. The best known of these is Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48).