Black Mountain Piece



Category: Musical composition
Dated: Summer 1952
Instrumentation: 3 speakers, piano, dancer, gramophone, radios, film and slideprojectors and paintings.
Duration: 44'25 (during first performance)
Premiere and performer(s): Summer 1952 at Black Mountain College in North Carolina
Dedicated to: ---
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Published: ---
Manuscript: Part for projector (holograph part in pencil - 1 p.) in New York Public Library. Only this part survived.


This is Cage's first prototype for his multimedia 'happenings'. The form scheme for the activities was devised using chance operations. During the first performance Cage read a lecture, Merce Cunningham danced, David Tudor played the piano, Robert Rauschenberg played records and his white painting hung from the rafters. Mary Caroline Richards, Charles Olsen and two others projected slides and movies.