The Wonderful Widow Of Eighteen Springs
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The Wonderful Widow Of Eighteen Springs
''The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs'' is a song for voice and closed piano by John Cage. It was composed in late 1942 and quickly became a minor classic in Cage's oeuvre. The text was a reworked version of a passage from James Joyce's ''Finnegans Wake''. General information The song was commissioned by singer Janet Fairbank, who later became known for pioneering contemporary music. Cage chose to set a passage from page 556 of ''Finnegans Wake'', a book he bought soon after its publication in 1939. The composition is based, according to Cage himself, on the impressions received from the passage.John Cage. Liner notes to ''The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage'' (1959), private issue recording by George Avakian (K08Y 1499–1504) ''The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs'' marks the start of Cage's interest in Joyce and is the first piece among many in which he uses the writer's work. The vocal line only uses three Pitch (music), pitches, while the piano r ...
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John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives. Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition ''4′33″'', which is performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title. The content of the composition is not "four minutes and 33 seconds of silence," as is often assumed, but rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance. The work's challenge t ...
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Voices And Instruments
''Voices and Instruments'' is a 1976 album by Saxophone, saxophonist Jan Steele and composer John Cage. The album was the fifth release on Brian Eno's Obscure Records. This release had the catalogue number ''Obscure no.5''. In common with most of the releases on Obscure it was recorded at Basing Street Studios in London, produced by Brian Eno and engineered by Rhett Davies. Track listing and personnel Side one All compositions by Jan Steele #All Day (7:13) - Guitar – Stuart Jones, Vibraphone – Kevin Edwards, Guitar – Fred Frith, Percussion – Phil Buckle, Lyrics – James Joyce, Bass – Steve Beresford, Voice – Janet Sherbourne #Distant Saxophones (10:42) - Bass – Steve Beresford, Percussion – Arthur Rutherford, Piano – Martin Mayes, Flute – Jan Steele, Utako Ikeda, Viola – Dominic Muldowney #Rhapsody Spaniel (5:21) - Piano – Jan Steele, Janet Sherbourne Side two All compositions by John Cage #Experiences No.1 (3:52) - Piano – Richard Bernas (composed for ...
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1942 Compositions
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus and Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar become Roman Consuls. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 days ...
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UbuWeb
UbuWeb is a web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. Philosophy UbuWeb was founded in response to the marginal distribution of crucial avant-garde material. It remains non-commercial and operates on a gift economy. UbuWeb ensures educational open access to out-of-print works that find a second life through digital art reprint while also representing the work of contemporaries. It addresses problems in the distribution of and access to intellectual materials. Distribution policy UbuWeb does not distribute commercially viable works but rather resurrects avant-garde sound art, video and textual works through their translation into a digital art web environment - re-contextualising them with current academic commentary and contemporary practice. It houses and distributes freely the entire archive of ...
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List Of Compositions By John Cage
This is a list of compositions by John Cage (1912–1992), arranged in chronological order by year of composition. List of works Apprenticeship period (1932–36) * ''Greek Ode'', for voice and piano (1932) * ''First Chapter of Ecclesiastes'' (''The Preacher''), for voice and piano (1932, possibly incomplete) * ''Three Easy Pieces'' (1. Round in A minor, 2. Duo in G major, 3. Infinite canon in F minor), for piano (1933) * ''Three Songs for voice and piano'', (1932–33) * '' Sonata for Clarinet'' (1933) * ''Sonata for Two Voices'', for two instruments with specified ranges (1933) * ''Composition for 3 Voices'' for three unspecified instruments (1934) * ''Solo with obbligato accompaniment of two voices in canon, and six short inventions on the subjects of the solo'', for three or more instruments (1934, six inventions revised rchestrated1958) * ''Three pieces'', for two flutes (1935) * ''Quartet'', for any four percussion instruments (1935) * ''Two pieces'', for piano (1935?, re ...
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Joey Ramone
Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the Ramones made him a countercultural icon. Early life Jeffrey Ross Hyman was born on May 19, 1951, in Queens, New York City, to a Jewish family. His parents were Charlotte (''née'' Mandell) and Noel Hyman. He was born with a parasitic twin growing out of his back, which was incompletely formed and surgically removed. The family resided in Forest Hills, Queens, where Hyman and his future Ramones bandmates attended Forest Hills High School. He grew up with his brother Mickey Leigh. Though generally a happy person, Hyman was something of an outcast, diagnosed at 18 with obsessive–compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. His mother, Charlotte Lesher, divorced her first husband, Noel Hyman. She married a second time but was widowed when he ...
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Obscure Records
Obscure Records was a U.K. record label which existed from 1975 to 1978. It was created and curated by Brian Eno. Ten albums were issued in the series. Most have detailed liner notes on their back covers, analyzing the compositions and providing a biography of the composer, in a format typical of classical music albums, and much of the material can be regarded as 20th-century classical music. The label provided a venue for experimental music. Discography Obscure Records Releases and editions The first seven albums were issued on the Obscure label in 1975 and 1976, manufactured and distributed in the UK by Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ... whose name appeared at the bottom of the label. These have a catalogue number expressed as "Obscure no. 1" ...
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Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop and electronica. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has helped introduce unconventional concepts and approaches to contemporary music. He has been described as one of popular music's most influential and innovative figures. Born in Suffolk, Eno studied painting and experimental music at the art school of Ipswich Civic College in the mid 1960s, and then at Winchester School of Art. He joined glam rock group Roxy Music as its synthesiser player in 1971, recording two albums with the group before departing in 1973. Eno then released a number of solo pop albums beginning with ''Here Come the Warm Jets'' (1974) and, also in the mid-1970s, began exploring a minimalist direction on influential recordings such as '' Discreet Music'' (1975) and ...
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Jan Steele
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Number, a barcode standard compatible with EAN * Japanese Accepted Name, a Japanese nonproprietary drug name * Job Accommodation Network, US, for people with disabilities * ''Joint Army-Navy'', US standards for electronic color codes, etc. * '' Journal of Advanced Nursing'' Personal name * Jan (name), male variant of ''John'', female shortened form of ''Janet'' and ''Janice'' * Jan (Persian name), Persian word meaning 'life', 'soul', 'dear'; also used as a name * Ran (surname), romanized from Mandarin as Jan in Wade–Giles * Ján, Slovak name Other uses * January, as an abbreviation for the first month of the year in the Gregorian calendar * Jan (cards), a term in some card games when a player loses without taking any tricks or scoring ...
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Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming paraplegic following an accidental fall from a window in 1973, which led him to abandon band work, explore other instruments, and begin a forty-year solo career. A key player during the formative years of British jazz fusion, psychedelia and progressive rock, Wyatt's own work became increasingly interpretative, collaborative and politicised from the mid-1970s onwards. His solo music has covered a particularly individual musical terrain ranging from covers of pop singles to shifting, amorphous song collections drawing on elements of jazz, folk and nursery rhyme. Wyatt retired from his music career in 2014, stating "there is a pride in topping I don't want he musicto go off." He is married to English painter and songwriter Alfreda Benge. Earl ...
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James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer's ''Odyssey'' are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, particularly stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection ''Dubliners'' (1914), and the novels ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (1916) and ''Finnegans Wake'' (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, letters, and occasional journalism. Joyce was born in Dublin into a middle-class family. He attended the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, then, briefly, the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School. Despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's unpredictable finances, he excelled at the Jesuit ...
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Nowth Upon Nacht
''Nowth upon Nacht'' is a song for voice and piano by John Cage. It was composed in 1984 in memoriam for Cathy Berberian, the celebrated soprano singer, wife of composer Luciano Berio. The text is from page 555–6 of James Joyce's ''Finnegans Wake'',Not in every edition though. The words in the original 1939 text of ''Finnegans Wake'' ar"now upon nacht" Moreover, there are variants of the text which do not follow the 628-page layout, and in these, the quotation cannot be found on page 556. describing the darkest part of the night, and the activities of the characters, each written in a style reflecting their personalities. It follows the lyrical account of Infantina Isobel, who "night by silentsailing night ..evencalm lay sleeping", which Cage used earlier in ''The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs.'' Joyce switches to guttural Germanic language, to describe Joe Sackerson, the drunken Scandinavian watchman of the pub: The vocal line is declamatory and uses a small number of ...
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