The big noise on the Ruhr this year will be …. John Cage. Silence, please.
mainHeiner Goebbels, director of the Ruhr Triennale, has let slip that he plans to open his festival in August with Europera 1 & 2 by John Cage.
Unstaged in Europe since the 1987 Frankfurt premiere the pieces involve a blindfolded soprano and a mezzo in rabbits’ ears (Playboy, anyone?). There are three further operas in the sequence.
Cage, born September 5, 1912, would have turned 100 this summer.
photo: Cage, by Betty Freeman ((c) Lebrecht Music & Arts)
John Cage has provoked possibly more discussion over the years than most other 20th century composers. I can recall arguing vehemently over three days about the ontological status of 4’33 with a philosopher friend of mine. A while ago I put up a brief retrospective evaluation of his work in this post:
http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/07/case-of-john-cage.html
Fantastic news. I saw Europeras 1 & 2 at the Summerfare Festival in Purchase, NY in the late eighties, and it was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.
Many will know about Cage’s explanation of the title of the work, which was commissioned by Frankfurt Opera, but as with many Cage quotes, it’s worth repeating:
“For two hundred years the Europeans have been sending us their operas. Now I’m sending them back.”