John Cage and LeJaren Hiller
Hpschd, 1969
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14802187 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen Husarik (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1 |
| Publication date | 1983-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Music (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0734-4392 • E-ISSN: 1945-2349 |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3051496 |
| OpenAlex | W2314373099 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign celebrated its one hundredth anniversary in 1967, and numerous programs and concerts were scheduled to heighten the festivities. From among these, two New Music events were anticipated from then Visiting Associate in the Center for Advanced Studies, John Cage. Cage had been invited by the university to compose music relating chance procedures and computer technology. In this connection Lejaren Hiller, head of the computer music facilities, requested two proposals from the composer, and Cage responded with an idea for a commissioned work, HPSCHD (computer abbreviation for harpsichord), and a piece titled Atlas Borealis with the Ten Thunderclaps. The harpsichord work called for a program of microtonal sounds in which many divisions of the octave would be superimposed, that is something possible with the computer, but quite impossible otherwise. In his writings Cage frequently employs the term useful, . . and so I thought of this as a 'useful' project in relation to the computer, because it made possible something that was otherwise very difficult. Then I was amazed at how slowly the work proceeded, it took the whole first year and into the summer before we had any output.' During that period HPSCHD acquired many features that both enlarged its sensory possibilities and elaborated upon the idea of sonic superimposition. It gradually evolved into a large intermedia environment held in the Assembly Hall at Urbana; an enormous theater-piece with fifty-two channel tape-orchestra, seven performing harpsichordists, and equally impressive visual resources and unique audience circumstances. All aspects of the event were meticulously and systematically randomized so that it was left to the spectators to fill in the space between sound and image with their random noises and movements
Art · Art history · Cage · Combinatorics · Geography · Jaguar · John Cage · Performance art · Computer Science · Mathematics · Music Technology and Sound Studies
| Citations per year | 0.28 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2008 - 2021 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |