4'33" is a musical work by avant-garde composer John Cage, often described (somewhat erroneously) as "four and a half minutes of silence." A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912–August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. ...

Background and influences

In the late 1940s, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard University. An anechoic chamber is a room designed in such a way that the walls, ceiling and floor will absorb all sounds made in the room, rather than bouncing them back as echoes. They are also generally soundproofed. Cage entered the chamber expecting to hear silence, but as he wrote later, he "heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation." Whatever the truth of these explanations, Cage had gone to a place where he expected there to be no sound, and yet there was some. "Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following my death. One need not fear about the future of music." The realisation as he saw it of the impossibility of silence led to the composition of his most notorious piece, 4'33". 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... An anechoic chamber is a room that is isolated from external sound or electromagnetic radiation sources, sometimes using sound proofing, and prevents the reflection of wave phenomena (reverberation). ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ...

Another cited influence for this piece came from the field of the visual arts. Cage's friend and sometime colleague Robert Rauschenberg had produced a series of 'white' paintings, apparently 'blank' canvases that in fact change according to varying light conditions in the rooms in which they were hung, the shadows of people in the room and so on. This inspired Cage to use a similar idea, using the 'silence' of the piece as an 'aural blank canvas' to reflect the dynamic flux of ambient sounds surrounding each performance. Robert Rauschenberg is a painter, sculptor, and graphic artist known for helping to redefine American art in the 1950s and 60s, providing an alternative to the then-dominant aesthetic of Abstract Expressionism. ...

Performances

The premiere of the three-movement 4'33" was given by David Tudor on August 29, 1952, at Woodstock, New York as part of a recital of contemporary piano music. The audience saw him sit at the piano, and lift the lid of the piano. Some time later, without having played any notes, he closed the lid. A while after that, again having played nothing, he lifted the lid. And after a period of time, he closed the lid again and rose from the piano. The piece had passed without a note being played, in fact without Tudor or anyone else on stage having made any deliberate sound, although he timed the lengths on a stopwatch while turning the pages of the score. Richard Kostelanetz suggests that the very fact that Tudor, a man known for championing experimental music, was the performer, and that Cage, a man known for introducing unexpected non-musical noise into his work, was the composer, would have led the audience to expect unexpected sounds. Anybody listening intently would have heard them: while nobody produces sound deliberately, there will nonetheless be sounds in the concert hall (just as there were sounds in the anechoic chamber at Harvard). It is these sounds, unpredictable and unintentional, that are to be regarded as constituting the music in this piece. The piece remains controversial to this day, and is seen as challenging the very definition of music. David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 - August 13, 1996) was a pianist and composer of experimental music. ... August 29 is the 241st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (242nd in leap years), with 124 days remaining. ... 1952 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Woodstock, New York The name Woodstock is associated with two locales in New York. ... Defining music is as difficult as defining art or anything. ...

The length of 4'33" is in fact not designated by its score. The instructions for the work indicate that it consists of three movements, for each of which the only instruction is "tacet", indicating silence on the part of the performer or performers. The title of the piece in each performance is determined by the length of silence chosen. Cage chose the length of the famous first premiere performance by chance methods using tarot cards, and later joked that it just as easily could have been any other length, though it has been claimed that the choice was in fact deliberate, since four minutes and thirty-three seconds is 273 seconds. Absolute zero is at the temperature of -273 °C. The Tarot is a deck of 78 cards, which consists of 22 trump cards, 40 cards in four colours, numbered from 1-10, and four court cards in four colours, with a knight card in addition to the usual jack, queen and king card. ... In physics, absolute zero is a fundamental lower bound on the temperature of a macroscopic system. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ...

Recordings

4'33" has been recorded on several occasions, one version being "performed" by Frank Zappa (part of A Chance Operation: The John Cage Tribute, on the Koch label, 1993). An 'orchestral' version of 4'33" given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in January 2004. A perhaps somewhat tongue in cheek version was recorded by the staff of the UK Guardian newspaper on 16 January 2004 [1]. A (probably apocryphal) story tells that a 7" vinyl version of 4'33" was at one time popular on the juke boxes of a number of bars, as it gave customers a relief from an otherwise relentless soundtrack of rock and roll. Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American rock/jazz fusion musician, composer, and satirist. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national publicly funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sarcasm is the making of remarks intended to mock the person referred to (who is normally the person addressed), a situation or thing. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In Judeo-Christian theologies, apocrypha refers to religious Sacred text that have questionable authenticity or are otherwise disputed. ... A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

Other cultural references

The anarchist punk band Crass alluded to 4'33" with their song "They've Got A Bomb", which includes a silent gap in the music. The band has acknowledged the influence of Cage, and said that the idea of the space in the song, when performed live, was to suddenly stop the energy, dancing and noise and allow the audience to momentarily "confront themselves" and consider the reality of nuclear war (a film projected onto a screen behind the band continued to show images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). A studio recording of the song appears on their 1978 The Feeding of the 5000 LP (incidentally, early pressings of the same album also feature another silent 2 minute track, entitled "The Sound of Free Speech", the gap left by a track that workers at the record plant refused to press). Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... For information about the anarchist writer see Chris Crass Crass was an influential English anarchist punk rock band. ... Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ... Main keep of Hiroshima Castle The city of Hiroshima (広島市; -shi) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chugoku region of western Honshu, the largest of Japans islands. ... Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge) Nagasaki  listen? (長崎市; -shi, literally long peninsula) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture located at the south-western coast of Kyushu, Japan. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The Feeding of the 5000 is the first album by Crass, released in 1978 (see 1978 in music). ...

Ciccone Youth, the collaboration between members of Sonic Youth and Mike Watt, included a track titled "(silence)" on The Whitey Album that consists of 63 seconds of just that. Sonic Youth is also known for experimental music and have covered other pieces by John Cage on their SYR release Goodbye 20th Century. Ciccone Youth is an experimental band which was formed in 1986. ... Current members of Sonic Youth, L to R: Steve Shelley, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Jim ORourke Sonic Youth are an experimental rock group formed in New York City in 1981. ... Mike Watt Michael David Watt (b. ... The Whitey Album is a 1989 album by Sonic Youth, released under the band name Ciccone Youth. ... SYR is also the IATA airport code for Syracuse Hancock International Airport. ...

Type O Negative's 1991 debut album Slow Deep And Hard features a minute-long song called "The Misinterpretation of Silence and Its Disastrous Consequences." Paying 99 cents to purchase this song from the iTunes Music Store is a running joke among some fans. This article is about a band. ... The first album by Type O Negative, released on Roadrunner Records in 1991. ... The United States iTunes Music Store. ...

British techno duo Orbital released a version of their track "Are We Here?" entitled "Are We Here? (Criminal Justice Bill?)" which, in protest against the impending anti-rave Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (known informally as the Criminal Justice Bill before its enactment), consisted of four minutes of silence. Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the mid-1980s and primarily refers to a particular style developed in and around Detroit and subsequently adopted by European producers. ... Orbital was an English techno duo formed in 1989, consisting of brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll. ... A rave party, more often called a rave and sometimes called a free party, is typically an all-night dance event where DJs and other performers play electronic dance music and rave music. ... In the government of the United Kingdom, Criminal Justice Acts is a generic name for those acts of parliament that shape law and order in the country. ...

On their 1994 album Prick, rock band the Melvins recorded the track "Pure Digital Silence", which consists of about 90 seconds of silence. On the B side of their "Shit Sandwich" 7" is a cover of 4'33". Prick is an album by The Melvins, which was released in 1994 through Amphetamine Reptile Records. ... The Melvins, 2002 (Kevin Rutmanis (left), Dale Crover (center), King Buzzo (right)) The Melvins are a rock music band, usually a trio, with singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo) and drummer Dale Crover being constant; several bass guitarists have been through the group. ...

The Bloodhound Gang, well known for their experimental (or perhaps simply joke) tracks, consisting of telephone conversations, monologues, and people coughing, recorded a track on their 1999 album, Hooray for Boobies named "The Ten Best Things About New Jersey", which consisted on ten seconds of silence. While insulting to the people of New Jersey, it shows a pattern of silence in songs indicating a dislike or disdain for something. The Bloodhound Gang are an American post-grunge rock-and-roll band, originally from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

In July 2002 composer Mike Batt (best known for being behind the 1970s novelty/children's act The Wombles) had charges of plagiarism filed against him by the estate of John Cage after crediting his track "A Minute's Silence" as being written by "Batt/Cage". Batt settled out of court for an undisclosed six figure sum in September 2002. [2]. July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mike Batt Mike Batt (born February 6, 1949 in Southampton, UK) is a UK-based songwriter/musician/producer. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... This article refers to the childrens TV programme, not the radical anarchist WOMBLES group. ... Plagiarism refers to the use of anothers ideas, information, language, or writing, when done without proper acknowledgment of the original source. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• A quiet night out with Cage (from the UK Observer)
• The Music of Chance (from the UK Guardian newspaper)
• The Sounds of Silence (further commentary by Peter Gutmann)
• On Silence by Ralph Lichtensteiger
• Silence/Stories by Lowell Cross, AP Crumlish, Karlheinz Essl, Raymond Federman, August Highland, George Koehler, Richard Kostelanetz, Ian S. Macdonald, Beat Streuli, Dan Waber, Sigi Waters, John Whiting ...