| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Middletown, 1961 - Stony Point, January 1962 |
| Instrumentation: | 1-86 specified instruments with live electronics ad lib. Instruments: Flute 1-3 (+ alto flute and piccolo ad lib.); Oboe 1-3 (+ cor anglais and saxophone ad lib.); Clarinet 1-3 (+ bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet ad lib.); Bassoon 1-3 (+contra bassoon ad lib.); Horn 1-5 (2 high, 3 low); Trumpet 1-3; Tenor trombone 1-2; Bass trombone 1; Tuba 1-3; Timpani 1-3 (4 timpani each); Percussion 1-9; Harp 1-3; First violin 1-12; Second violin 13-24; Viola 1-9; Cello 1-9; Double bass 1-3; Conductor |
| Duration: | indeterminate |
| Premiere and performer(s): | August 3, 1961 during the International Week of Today's Music at the Theâtre La Comedie Canadienne in Montreal. Performance (together with Winter Music) by David Tudor, piano and the Festival Orchestra, conducted by John Cage. Assistant to the conductor: Toshi Ichiyaniagi. First complete performance (with Winter Music and Solo for Voice 45: July 3, 1976 during the 4èmes Rencontres Internationales d'Art Contemporain in La Rochelle, France. Performance by the Residentie Orkest, conducted by Richard Dufallo. Richard Bernas and Gérard Frémy, pianos; Joan La Barbara, voice |
| Dedicated to: | Edgar Anderson and Dorothy, Hans Austen and Sulamith, George Avakian and Anahid [Ajemian], Louella Bacon, Cathy Berberian, Luciano Berio, Shareen Blair, Nicola Cernovich, Remy Charlip, Robert Dunn and Judith, Öyvind Fahlström and Barbro, Viola Farber, Morton Feldman and Cynthia, Ross Gortner and Priscilla, Raymond Grimaila, Lawrence Halprin and Anna, Walter Hinrichsen and Evelyn, William Jeffreys, Jasper Johns, Arthur Josephson and Mary Caroline, Lois Long, Paula Madawick, Keith McGary and Donna, Bruce Markgraf and Rosemary, Pierre Mercure, Leonard Meyer and Lee, Kurt Michaelis, Louis Mink and Pat, Guy G. Nearing, Sigmund Neumann, Nam June Paik, Steve Paxton, Joe Peoples and Ruth, Henri Pousseur and Thea, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rudich and Linda, Pegeen Rumney, Houis Silverstein, Chaloner Spencer and Helen, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Doris, James Sykes and Clay, David R. Telson and Paul, William Robert Thompson, Connie Wilson, Richard K. Winslow and Betty, Christian Wolff, Robert Wood and Marilyn, Ralph Pendleton, Carl Viggiani and Jane, David Gordon and Valda Setterfield, Mell Daniel and Minna, Mary Bauermeister, István Anhalt and Beata, Ralph Ferrara, C. H. Waddington, Robert H. Knapp and Johnsia, Mauricio Kagel and Ursula, Willard Lockwood and Louise, Richard Maxfield, Gita Sarabhai, Jose Gomez-Ibanez and Lidia, Emile De Antonio, Esther Dam, Benedicte Pesle, Richard Lippold and Louise, David McAllester and Susan, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Ihab Hassan, my father [John Milton Cage, Sr.] and mother [Lucretia Cage], Peggy Guggenheim, Nathan Shapira and Irene, Walter Van Tilburg Clark and Barbara, J. R. T. Bueno and Emily, David Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Earle Brown and Carolyn, Norman O. Brown and Beth, Samuel Green and Bunnie. |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6782 © 1961, 1962 by Henmar Press |
| Manuscript: | Directions for duplication of manuscript for publication (typescript - 86 lv.);
Performance notes for 1st violins, contrabasses, timpani, percussion and harps 2 and 3 (typescript - 5 lv.);
85 parts (in 2 folders. Holograph, signed, in ink - 344 p.);
Worksheets (holograph in pencil - 119 p.);
Sketches (holograph in black, blue and purple pencil, written on loose sheets and a stenographic pad - 20+111 p.);
Worksheets (holograph in pencil - 191 p.);
sketches for grouping of instruments, star chart tracings and superimpositions of music staves on them
(holograph in ink with emendations in black and blue pencil. Signed in pencil - 21 lv.).
All in New York Public Library. Realisation (1 lf.), collection of Jedlicka family. |
| Atlas Eclipticalis was commissioned by the Montreal Festival Society. Like
Winter Music, events contain from one to ten notes, divided randomly into two groups.
Pitches are notated clearly, though in a somewhat unusual way. The size of the notes, determine their amplitudes. Durations
are notated above the events. Tempo is not given: the conductor determines the duration of each system. Cage used the Atlas Eclipticalis 1950.0, superimposing musical staves over the star-charts in this atlas. Brightness of the stars is being translated into the size of the notes in the composition. In a performance, the score may be played in whole or in part by any number of players up to the full 86 provided. Atlas Eclipticalis may be performed simultaneously with Winter Music and/or Song Books. Cage also indicated the possibility of attaching contact microphones to some or all of the instruments, thus amplifying their sounds. In this case an assistant to the conductor is required, creating his score using Cartridge Music. Atlas Eclipticalis is the first part of a trilogy of which Variations IV is part 2 and 0'00" is part 3. |