John Cage's 4′33″

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Uploaded by on Nov 8, 2009

John Cage's 4'33"

The work, 4′33″ (pronounced Four minutes, thirty-three seconds or, as the composer himself referred to it, Four, thirty-three) is a three-movement composition by American avant-garde composer John Cage (19121992). It was composed in 1952 for any instrument (or combination of instruments), and the score instructs the performer not to play the instrument during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements (the first being thirty seconds, the second being two minutes and twenty-three seconds, and the third being one minute and forty seconds). Although commonly perceived as "four minutes thirty-three seconds of silence", the piece actually consists of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed. Over the years, 4′33″ became Cage's most famous and most controversial composition.

Conceived around 19471948, while the composer was working on Sonatas and Interludes, 4′33″ became for Cage the epitome of his idea that any sounds constitute, or may constitute, music. It was also a reflection of the influence of Zen Buddhism, which Cage studied since the late forties. In a 1982 interview, and on numerous other occasions, Cage stated that 4′33″ was, in his opinion, his most important work.

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Music

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Standard YouTube License

  • likes, 58 dislikes

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Uploader Comments (AdamLore)

  • the original is better...

  • @TheRico1992

    No shit, Rico!

    :-)

  • why is there frusciante music playing?

  • @MajorasFlask

    Oh cool! The music was unblocked.

    Originally I had this song because it was muted for copyright reasons.

    This video is no longer ironic, now it is just confusing.

  • @AdamLore john frusciante song that is?

  • @sprincha77

    The song is called 'Murderers'.

Top Comments

  • lol I thought the disabled audio notice was a joke. They actually did it?! morons

  • hmmm. what's the point of disabling the audio if there is simply no sound in the piece?

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All Comments (234)

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  • LAME!

    

  • How can I rip this? Could you help me, please?

  • THE AUDIO WAS DISABLED?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

    THIS IS GENIUS!

  • Like this if you cried everytym T.T

  • Are you f*cking serious... audio was disabled? THERE IS NO F*CKING AUDIO. FUCK THIS COUNTRY.

  • it's possible to remove the audio track by editing the video in youtube.

  • The most controversial thing that i found on youtube, quite ironic!!! I fell sorry for you, Adam :)

  • is this a remix?

  • @MajorasFlask IDEM

  • Copyright infringement for using audio that's supposed to be silent anyway. XD

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