Cold Open

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 be 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 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 is no ordinary musician. Inspired by the cultures of China and South Asia, he’s torn up the traditional rulebook of Western music and probed 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 sounds 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.

Outro

Next on History Daily. April 2nd, 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 Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Supervising Sound Designer Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.