Music for 'The Marrying Maiden'



Category: Musical composition
Dated: May 1960
Instrumentation: Magnetic tape
Duration: 9 minutes (original version)
Premiere and performer(s):
Dedicated to:
Choreography: ---
Published: Edition Peters 6737 © 1960 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: Score (holograph - 4 p.) at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Realization listing actions and multiple durations (holograph in ink, pencil and orange crayon - 1 p.) in New York Public Library.


Written for the play "The Marrying Maiden, a play of changes" by Jackson MacLow. A composition indeterminate of its performance. Material consists of sheets with points and circles and tranparent material with a rectangle or a grid. Through the material one determines splicing of tapes with speech fragments and other sounds.
The original tape was made with the technical assistance of Richard Maxfield (June 1960)

Sources: Paul van Emmerik: Thema ; Richard Kostelanetz: John Cage writer - Previously uncollected pieces; James Pritchett: The Music of John Cage;