This was a very important year in John Cage’s life. He continued to develop chance operations as a means to eliminate choice and personal taste from the process of musical composition. Also, he began to study Zen Buddhism at Columbia University with D. T. Suzuki. With Earle Brown, he produced the seminal sound-collage, Williams Mix, splicing over two thousand fragments of magnetic tape together by hand to produce a final piece just over four minutes in length. Along with Merce Cunningham, David Tudor, poet Charles Olson, and others, he orchestrated an unscripted theatrical/performance event that is considered to be the first “Happening.” Finally, in 1952 Cage composed what is probably his most famous work, the silent 4’33” for piano, whose debut performance (by David Tudor) took place on August 29 in Woodstock, New York. Increased attention from the press caused Cage’s fame, and notoriety, to grow.

Sources:

Silverman, Kenneth. Begin again : a biography of John Cage. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010, pp.106-120.

Basualdo, Carlos, Erica F. Battle, and Calvin Tomkins. Dancing around the Bride : Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2012, pp.311-312.