A Valentine out of Season



Category: Musical composition
Dated: New York City, July 1944
Instrumentation: Prepared piano
Duration: 4'
Premiere and performer(s): 1948 in the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, performed by John Cage
Dedicated to: Music for Xenia (Cage)
Choreography: Games by Merce Cunningham (1949)
Published: Edition Peters 6766 © 1960 by Henmar Press
Manuscript: Score (9 lv.), Collection Gilbert Silverman and Lila Silverman; Score (holograph (photocopy) - 8 p.) in New York Public Library.


A Valentine Out of Season is a suite of three pieces. The character of the pieces is quite different, the middle dance-like. The music is very simple, as is the preparation of the piano. Cage wrote the piece in a period, prior to his separation from Xenia, giving an indication of the meaning of the title.