Experiences II



Category: Musical composition
Dated: New York City, 1948
Instrumentation: for voice unaccompanied
Duration: 4'
Premiere and performer(s): Three different dates occur: One of the manuscripts mentions Summer 1948 at Black Mountain, North Carolina; Frans van Rossum mentions in his book "John Cage in Den Haag" that it was premiered on February 26, 1949 at the Marine's Memorial Theatre in San Francisco. The liner notes from the Wergo CD mention 1949 at Hunter performed by mezzo soprano Vivian Bower.
Dedicated to: for Merce Cunningham
Choreography: Experiences by Merce Cunningham
Published: Edition Peters 6708b © 1961 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: Score with additional musical material (holograph in pencil and pen and typescript - 8 p.); Score (holograph with holographic annotations in blue pencil - 4 p.), both in New York Public Library.


The text for this composition is from III, one of Sonnets - Unrealities of Tulips and Chimneys by Edward Estlin Cummings.
The music was written for the dance by Merce Cunningham and follows the rhythmic structure of it. The melodic line is almost identical to that of Experiences I.