Lipov A.N. John Milton Cage. 4'33'' as the Play of Silent Presence. Stillness or Anarchy of Silence? Part 1.

Abstract: The subject of research is the work of a renowned American composer, music theorist, artist and a pioneer of aleatory (chance music) in electroacoustic music John Milton Cage (05.09.1912 - 12.08.1992), author of the famous "prepared piano" and the piece  4'33'', the comosition of 'music silence'. Conceived by the composer in 1947-1948, the piece became for Cage the epitome of his idea that any sounds may represent and constitute music. The composer developed the idea of expanding the space of the academic performance of concerts by the use of natural sounds as elements of the music that changed not only the notion of music but also the concept of the musical material. Music critics evaluated John Cage as one of the most influential American composers of the twentieth century and one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. In his research Lipov has used the philosophical - aesthetic method for studying the diverse creative work of the composer that formed the basis for the evaluation of the piece 4'33'' as a model of the music of silence and examples of the and music of noise and aleatoric music because it forms random sounds of the environment . The author examines the experimental work of the composer as one of the most radical attempts in the history of music to transform the musical text, to extend the boundaries of the art of music and the use of new sound materials for composing music. The main contribution of the author's research is that the research fills in theoretical gaps in Russian academic literature on the art of music and aesthetics of music in relation to the creative work and personality of the composer. Moreover, this article is the first most comprehensive theoretical and aesthetic research devoted to the main musical composition of John Cage 4'33", the piece that fills an important niche in the history of music between the usual musical production and the sounds of nature. Cage's music consists of imitations of natural sounds and human voices which helps Cage to complete a brilliant musical process and overcome the cultural distance that has developed in classical music. 

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