Credo in Us

Credo in Us

Credo in Us is a musical composition by the American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist John Cage. It was written in July 1942 and revised in October of that year. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, this piece avoided the populist tendencies of fellow American composers at the time, while the piece's title is thought to be a call to collective unity.

Styled as "a dramatic playlet for Two Characters", Cage described Credo in Us as a "a suite with a satirical character". It was composed to accompany a piece of contemporary dance choreographed by his partner and collaborator Merce Cunningham and choreographer Jean Erdman, who performed the piece at its premiere in Bennington College, Vermont in August 1942. After the first performance the subtitle of the piece was changed to A Suburban Idyll.

Contents

Instrumentation

One of a number of Cage's percussive works, Credo in Us is unusual in using sound samples from recordings of other works, fragments of radio broadcast, popular music, tin cans and tom toms.

The instrumentation for the original performance included four performers: a pianist; two percussionists playing muted gongs, tin cans, electric buzzer and tom-toms; and a fourth performer operating a radio and a phonograph. For the phonograph, Cage suggests using something "classic" such as Dvořák, Beethoven, Sibelius or Shostakovich; and for the radio, to use any station but avoid news programs in the case of a "national emergency". Jean Erdman recalls that for the first performance a 'tack-piano' was used—one of Cage's prepared pianos, though the pianist is also called upon to play the soundbox of the instrument as a percussionist.

Recordings

  • John Cage: Music for Percussion Quartet Mainz Percussion Ensemble (WWE1CD 20015)
  • Credo in us...: More Works for Percussion Quatuor Helios (ASIN: B00005OCG3)
  • Credo in Us' Musica Negativa, conducted by Reiner Riehn
  • Will You Give Me to Tell You (ASIN: B0000E69JQ)

See also

External links

v · d · eJohn Cage
Major compositions
Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48) · Music of Changes (1951) · Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951) · 4′33″ (1952) · Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958) · Variations (1958–67) · Atlas Eclipticalis (1961–62) · Cheap Imitation (1969) · HPSCHD (1969) · Song Books (1970) · Etudes Australes (1974–75) · Freeman Etudes (1977–90) · Roaratorio (1979) · Ryoanji (1983) · Europeras (1987–91) · Number Pieces (1987–92)
Collaborators
and influences
Books
Silence (1961) · A Year from Monday (1968) · M (1973) · Pour les oiseaux (1976) · Empty Words (1979) · X (1983) · Anarchy (1988)
Related articles
Indeterminacy in music · List of compositions · Works for prepared piano

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