| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Haiku I: October 5, 1950; Haiku II: March 5, 1951; Haiku III: March 6, 1951; Haiku IV: March 8, 1951; Haiku V: March 16, 1951. |
| Instrumentation: | Piano |
| Duration: | 5' |
| Premiere and performer(s): | |
| Dedicated to: | |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | Edition Peters © by Henmar Press |
| Manuscript: | Draft score, some pieces maybe in sketches (holograph, signed, in pencil - 6 p. + 1 folder), in New York Public Library. |
| Haiku consists of five parts. The first four have titles: I. for my dear friend, Who; II. What Stillness;
III. The Green Frog's Voice; IV. The River Phurabelle. The movements refer to a short Japanese poem with syllable scheme 7-5-7, called the hokku. Cage does not restrict himself exactly to this scheme (something he did in another work called Seven Haiku): The 3 middle haiku's consist of nine measures, while the first and last haiku contain two times nine measures (which may be related to the hokku form with the scheme 5-9-5). Most phrasings are with five, seven and nine strikings. This composition is a key work on the border of giving up choice and composing using chance instead. |