By ALLAN KOZINNPublished: August 13, 1992John Cage, the prolific and influential composer whose Minimalist works have long been a driving force in the world of music, dance and art, died yesterday at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. He was 79 years old and lived in Manhattan.
He died of a stroke, a hospital spokesman said.
The influence of Mr. Cage, who was also a writer and philosopher, spread far beyond the musical world.
...... He composed for every imaginable kind of instrument, from standard orchestral strings to "prepared" pianos, altered by putting nails, paper, wood, rubber bands or other objects between their strings to make them sound percussive and otherworldly. He wrote electronic and tape works, and works that involved only spoken texts. His often impish scoring, in fact, might include radios, toys, the sounds of water being sipped or vegetables being chopped.
...... The Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, an exhaustive, hourlong study of the instrument's capabilities, is the Indian concept of "permanent emotions," including the heroic, erotic, wondrous, mirthful and sorrowful.
...... In his later years, Mr. Cage was the recipient of many honors. His 60th, 70th and 75th birthdays were celebrated with extensive concert series and tributes around the world, and this year's celebrations anticipating his 80th birthday are well under way. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978. He received the New York Mayor's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture in 1981 and, in 1982, the French Government awarded Mr. Cage its highest honor for distinguished contribution to cultural life, Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Mr. Cage was a soft-spoken, mercurial man who remained keenly interested in new music. He made himself easily accessible to young composers and critics, and was often seen at concerts in downtown Manhattan.
[more ...]A version of this biography; obituary appeared in print on August 13, 1992, on page A1 of the New York edition.Correction: August 15, 1992, Saturday Because of an editing error, an obituary on Thursday about the composer John Cage characterized his music incorrectly. Though some of his works could be described as Minimalist and though Mr. Cage influenced the Minimalist movement in music and art, his works defied formal classification and were often intentionally chaotic.
The obituary also rendered the titles of two of Mr. Cage's works incorrectly. The book in which his Norton Lectures were collected was "I-VI"; the work performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1964 was "Atlas Eclipticalis With Winter Music." Photos: John Cage at Harvard in 1989. (Anh T. Nguyen-Huynh) (pg. A1); John Cage performing at a summer music festival in Pennsylvania in 1965. The sounds Mr. Cage produced came from amplifiers attached to small objects he pushed around on the table. (pg. D21) Chart: "A One-Man Musical Revolution John Cage used everything from silence to radios and rubber bands to develop his new musical vocabularies. Here is a sample of works that illustrate the diversity of his large output. "Imaginary Landscape" No. 1 1939 Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano 1946-48 Suite for Toy Piano 1948 String Quartet 1949-50 "Music of Changes" 1951 "4'33' " 1952 "Radio Music" 1956 Concert for Piano and Orchestra 1957-58 "Fontana Mix" 1958 "Atlas Eclipticalis" 1961 "HPSCHD" (with Lejaren Hiller); 1967-69 "Etudes Australes" 1974-75 "Renga" 1976 "Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake" 1979 "Europeras 1-4" 1987-89 (pg. D21)
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