Études Australes
''Etudes Australes'' is a set of etudes for piano solo by John Cage, composed in 1974–75 for Grete Sultan. It comprises 32 Indeterminacy (music), indeterminate pieces written using star charts as source material. The etudes, conceived as duets for two independent hands, are extremely difficult to play. They were followed by two more collections of similarly difficult works: ''Freeman Etudes'' for violin (1977–90) and ''Etudes Boreales'' (1978) for cello, or piano, or both together. History of composition Cage wrote ''Etudes Australes'' for pianist and friend Grete Sultan, whom he had known since 1946. When Cage found out that Grete Sultan was working on his ''Music of Changes'', a piece which involved hitting the piano with beaters and hands, he offered to write some new music for her, because to him "it didn't seem [right] that an aging lady should hit the piano" (Sultan turned 68 in 1974). Cage started working in January 1974 and finished the etudes in 1975. The pieces are b ...
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