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Work Title
Eight Whiskus (solo violin)
Date
Composed in 1985. Premiered in New York, April 23, 1986.
Ensemble Type
Solo
Work Length
10 minutes
Instrumentation
For solo violin.
Comments
The title of this work combines "Whistlin' is did" by Chris Mann (source text for the vocal version) and “Haikus.” In the original version for voice, Cage assigned syllables of the text to the notes of the F-minor scale. After consulting with Malcolm Goldstein, Cage reworked the composition "such that the vowel and consonant qualities of the poem are transformed into various bowing positions, gradations of bowing pressure, and forms of articulation" (from Niklas Wilson’s liner notes for the CD Wergo WER 6636-2).
Dedicatee(s)
Malcolm Goldstein
Publication
Peters Edition EP 67051a
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