ABSTRACT
Many of the previously discussed theatre pieces were either first or subsequently performed by the composer as a solo (e.g. Water Walk and Sounds of Venice) or as a simultaneous solo in duet with David Tudor (e.g. Music Walk and Cartridge Music). On the most trivial level, much of the popular success of the various musicircuses has been because Cage was either a simultaneous performer or known to be in attendance. Historically, with the exception of Dialogue with Merce Cunningham, none of the previously discussed theatre pieces have depended upon his presence as a performer but as a composer. Aside from the interest by some intellectuals, Cage's entire body of work has been, and continues to be, performed by an eclectic variety of people on both the professional and amateur level. Much of his adult career had been in composing works that were practical, feasible to perform. (As noted in Chapter I, Cage learned the practicality of performance with composition in the 1942 radio play The City Wears a Slouch Hat with Kenneth Patchen.)
This chapter will begin to address the previous imbalance of viewing Cage primarily as a composer, by looking at his career as a performer. John Cage began performing previous to composing, as a child during piano recitals. As an adult he began giving lectures in the early 1930s, conducted his percussion ensemble during the latter 1930s and early 1940s, accompanied Merce Cunningham as a pianist in their early joint recitals in the mid-1940s; and made physical-action performances from the 1950s through the latter 1980s. Cage retired as a musical and physical performer in 1989, but continued to give lectures and poetry readings. In addition, he continued a very demanding music, verbal, and visual composition schedule until his death.
