John Cage: Atlas Eclipticalis (1962)

Excerpt from a performance by the SEM Ensemble, led by Petr Kotik.

Art by John Cage.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• john
• cage
• avantgarde
• new
• york
• school
• 20th-century
• aleatory
• aleatoricism
• eclipticalis

[alialbertico]

If I'm not mistaking this piece was composed laying a map of the stars over a pentagram and the result was this.

[minirausch]

not sure, but i doubt it -- the technique with his other star chart pieces (etudes australes, etudes boreales, freeman etudes) was to lay staff paper transparencies over the star charts, using i ching operations to determine density and therefore which stars to plot onto the music. this also had to be weighed against the individual possibilities of the instrument (how many notes at once, which ones, etc). there's no score to atlas, as with most of his orchestral works, only individual parts....

[alialbertico]

Well i had an idea just wasnt sure which one ,it has been quite a few years since i studied his work which by the way i didnt go in deep. Thanks a lot for the clarification !!

[v1i2s3k4y5]

@alialbertico: You're right. Cage projected sidereal charts (star charts) over empty music sheets, and inked in notes wherever there was a celestial body. Then he used I Ching operations to decide which staves carried which clefs and how they were going to assign to different instruments in the orchestra. The performance was a failure, and Cage's orchestra rebelled along with the public. Quite a man, Cage!

[RADIOKLOW]

One of my most favorites in Cage works I love in general ! The proof music, chance, unexpected means of composition and freedom in a form can bring out a masterpiece, and this is not the only one in Cages works of course !

[sunmosphere]

let me extend my condolences to you personally, but tell Atlas Eclipticalis it was the most thrilling experience of my life"

[Thrash0Jazz0Assassin]

What's the picture?

[koreankayagum]

Unfortunate...

[DerangedRanger1]

@alialbertico If that is true, than this would be the "chance" element in the piece. At the time, Cage was using random things like imperfections in paper to indicate where to place dots on the paper, over which he would superimpose a grid. But you have to remember also that there is some "indeterminacy" in the performance - that is, Cage left the performer some choices in how to interpret each symbol on the page of the score. Thus it is not likely that two performances would ever be the same.

[scriabinwasmydad]

good upload by the way! thanks ...

[WillyDarko]

I love it