John Cage

About John Cage

"I still believe that the purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind thus making it susceptible to divine influences."

"Silence. Sounds are only bubbles on its surface. They burst to disappear."

Of the composers of the twentieth century John Cage (1912–1992) is doubtless one of the most inventive and the most determined in the pursuit of his musical goals. Though not responsible for its invention – for that we have Henry Cowell to thank – it was Cage's sophisticated use of the prepared piano that first brought him fame. In addition, he was responsible for a number of innovations in the aesthetics of music that were as radical as they were influential: the emancipation of noise and the use of silence as an equal partner to the musical material, the introduction of chance processes in composition, the liberation of sounds from any association with history or intention, and not least doing away with the borders of the musical work by introducing other arts. In doing so Cage's declared goal was to reconcile art and life.