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his so-called 'silent piece',
4
'
33
"
, which was first performed on
29
th
August
, at the Maverick Concert Hall in Woodstock, in upper
New York State, by the pianist David Tudor. Consisting of three short
movements of silence this work is one of the canonical moments of
the post-war avant-garde. It is open to a number of interpretations.
It might be thought of as a provocation, in the avant-garde tradi-
tion of attempting to
épater les bourgeois
. It has also, for example
been understood as an expression of Cage's interest in Buddhism.
According to Cage at least part of the inspiration derived from his
experience in the entirely soundproof anechoic chamber at Harvard,
where the noise of his own body, the beating of his heart, the rushing
of his blood overwhelmed him, demonstrating him that true silence
was impossible. What Cage was attempting in the work was not just
a provocation, nor simply an expression of transcendent emptiness,
but also an attempt to show that any noise could constitute a musical
experience. The non-playing of the instrument allowed and made
a space for other incidental noises to be listened to, and thus the
distinction between noise and music dispensed with.
2
4
1952
"
was also inspired by the all-white paintings of Cage's friend
Robert Rauschenberg. Cage realized that far from being empty,
they act as environmental surfaces, or fields of focus on which dust
or shadows may settle.
3
These paintings gave Cage 'permission' to
compose a silent piece of music.
4
As Simon Shaw-Miller has pointed
out this roots the work in the visual field, as well as making it theatri-
cal.
5
But the importance of
'
33
"
was how it involved the audience
in an unprecedented manner as producers of the music them-
selves. In this regard its importance is impossible to overstate. It is
possibly the most influential avant-garde work of the post-war era,
the shockwaves from which continue to be felt today. What Cage
achieved, with an astonishing economy of means, was to more or
less invent interactivity, or at least to make it available as an artistic
strategy. It is now recognized that all works of art require participa-
tion from the audience in order to be completed. Furthermore long
4
'
33
