History Daily - John Cage’s Experimental Music

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

April 1, 1978. Avant-garde musician John Cage gives an impromptu performance of his most famous work. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more.History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

It's April 1st, 1978, in an apartment in the West Village in New York City. 65-year-old avant-garde composer John Cage sits down in his favorite chair, a cup of tea in one hand, and a large manila envelope in the other. Spring, sunshine, pours in through the tall windows of his home, and for a moment or two, John just sits and watches the steam from his drink curl into the air. Then he sets the tea aside, opens the envelope, and slides out the magazine inside. It's the debut issue of a specialist arts publication, and the entire first edition is dedicated to an interview with John. There's a black and white photograph of him on the front cover, along with a quote, art, when it's useful, should spill out of just being beautiful and move over to other aspects of life so that when we're not with the art, it has nevertheless influenced our actions or our responses.

John is pleased with that. He flips through the rest of the pages of the magazine, but as he reads his own, own words, his mind begins to wander, and he thinks back over the achievements and setbacks of his long career. John has been a composer for more than four decades, but he's no ordinary musician. Inspired by the cultures of China and South Asia, he's torn up the traditional rulebook of Western music and probe the boundaries of what composing even means. He's embraced chance and randomness in his work, and he's been a pioneer of making music with a so-called prepared piano, a piano that has objects placed in between its strings to alter the sound it makes.

But as John sits in his apartment this morning, there's only one piece he feels like hearing. He sets the magazine aside. Stepping over to his piano, he sits down and rests his fingers on the familiar keys. Then John checks his watch as the second hand ticks to 12. And when it does, he closes the keyboard cover and begins the composition that once made him famous all over the world. Next on History Daily, April 2, 1800. The composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his first symphony in Vienna, and this one has notes in it. From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Wahamish Shazib, sound design by Gabriel Gould, supervising sound designer Matthew Filler, music by Thrum. This episode is written in research by William Simpson, managing producer Emily Byrth, executive producers, are William Simpson for Airship? Pascal Hughes for Noiser.