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Work Title Double Music |
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Alt. Title Double Music (in collaboration with Lou Harrison) |
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Date Composed in 1941. Premiered in San Francisco, May 14, 1941. |
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Ensemble Type Percussion Quartet |
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Work Length 6 minutes |
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Instrumentation For percussion quartet. |
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Comments This work was composed in collaboration with Lou Harrison, each composer working independently from the other: Cage composed parts 1 and 3 (soprano and tenor), Harrison parts 2 and 4 (alto and bass). Dynamics are scarcely indicated, but the instrumentation is specific (although substitutions are allowed). Both composers basically agreed to compose 200 measures each. Cage's parts have a rhythmic structure of 14 x 14 measures (plus a coda of 4 measures), using the number series 4, 3, 2, 5. The instruments employed are bells, brake drums, sistra, gongs, tam-tams, and thunder sheet. Lacking dynamic progression, Double Music is just a continuous, festive whole. |
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Publication Peters Edition EP 6296 (score), EP 6296a (set of parts) |
