Notations by John Cage

Title: Notations

Author/Editor: John Cage, with Alison Knowles

Publisher: Something Else Press

Year: 1969

Binding: Softcover / Paperback

Edition: First Edition

Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)

Description:
A well-preserved copy of this 1969 avant-garde music anthology. The binding is firm and the pages are clean throughout. The cover shows minor shelf wear consistent with a VG+ grading, back cover has crease at bottom corner, contains original errata slip inserted. [17.00ts]

Key Details:

• Compiled using I-Ching chance operations to determine layout, typography, and text lengths.
• Features 255 manuscript and graphic scores from 269 twentieth-century composers and artists.
• Includes text and score contributions from Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Terry Riley, Igor Stravinsky, and others.
• Contains a reproduction of the handwritten lyric sheet for the Beatles’ song “The Word”.`

About the Book and Its History

Published in 1969 by the Something Else Press, Notations is a seminal anthology documenting late-1960s avant-garde and experimental musical notation. The book was compiled to benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts and contains a vast collection of graphic and text scores.

The entire layout of the book was generated using I-Ching chance operations. These operations dictated which composers were chosen, how many words they were allowed to contribute, and how many different typefaces and font sizes were mixed across the pages. Instead of a traditional catalog, Cage envisioned the book as a “contemporary aquarium,” letting 255 manuscript scores from iconic figures like Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, and Terry Riley coexist organically alongside historical composers like Igor Stravinsky. It notably features the handwritten lyric sheet for the Beatles’ track “The Word.”

John Cage

John Cage (1912–1992) was a transformative American composer, philosopher, and artist whose ideas radically redefined the boundaries of 20th-century music and art. A pioneer of indeterminacy, electroacoustic music, and non-standard musical instruments, he is most famously known for his 1952 composition 4′33″—a piece consisting entirely of environmental silence rather than played notes.
Throughout his career, Cage utilized the Chinese divination text, the I-Ching, to eliminate personal ego from his creative work, letting chance dictate his compositions and layouts. His longtime creative and personal partnership with choreographer Merce Cunningham reshaped modern dance, while his teachings at the New School for Social Research inspired the international Fluxus movement.

$ 300.00