Theatre of Eternal Music

The Theatre of Eternal Music, sometimes later known as The Dream Syndicate, [ [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15949-john-cale-inside-the-dream-syndicate-volume-i-day-of-niagara-1965-with-tony-conrad-angus-maclise-la-monte-young-and-marian-zazeela] Inside the Dream Syndicate, Volume I: Day of Niagara (1965)] was a mid-sixties musical group formed by LaMonte Young [ [http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=54fp06] La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela at the Dream House: The Theatre of Eternal Music (2003) ] that focused on experimental drone music. It featured the performances of La Monte Young, John Cale, Angus MacLise, Terry Jennings, Marian Zazeela, Tony Conrad, Billy Name, Jon Hassell, Alex Dea and others. The group is stylistically tied to the Neo-Dada aesthetics of Fluxus and the post-John Cage noise music continuum.

The Theatre of Eternal Music gave performances on the East Coast of the United States as well as in Western Europe that consisted of long periods of sensory-innundation with combinations of harmonic relationships, which moved slowly from one to the next by means of "laws" laid out by LaMonte Young regarding "allowable" sequencies and simultinaeities.

In 1964 the ensemble contained Young and Marian Zazeela, voices; Tony Conrad and John Cale, strings; and sometimes Terry Riley, voice.

The Theater of Eternal Music's discordant sustained notes and loud amplification influenced John Cale's subsequent contribution to the Velvet Underground in his use of both discordance and feedback. [Steven Watson, "Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties" (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 157] John Cale and Tony Conrad have released noise music recordings they made during the mid-sixties, such as Cale's "Inside the Dream Syndicate" series ("The Dream Syndicate" being the alternative name given by Cale and Conrad to their collective work with LaMonte Young). [Steven Watson, "Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties" (2003) Pantheon, New York, p. 103]

Most of the pieces performed by The Theatre of Eternal Music have long titles, such as "The Tortoise Recalling the Drone of the Holy Numbers as they were Revealed in the Dreams of the Whirlwind and the Obsidian Gong, Illuminated by the Sawmill, the Green Sawtooth Ocelot and the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer". Likewise, the works are often of extreme length, many pieces having no beginning and no end, existing before and after a particular performance.

Discography

* "La Monte Young Marian Zazeela, The Theatre of Eternal Music: Dream House 78' 17"" (Shandar, 1974)
* "Inside the Dream Syndicate, Volume I: Day of Niagara" (Table of the Elements TOE-CD-74. Recorded April 25th, 1965 in New York City / Released in 2000) Personnel: La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Angus MacLise, John Cale, Tony Conrad :: Bootleg recording of dubious title, credits, and quality "Not authorized by La Monte Young" [http://www.melafoundation.org/statemen.htm]
* "Inside the Dream Syndicate Vol.II: Stainless Steel Gamelan" (Table of the Elements, 2002) Personnel: John Cale, Angus MacLise, Tony Conrad
* "Inside the Dream Syndicate Vol.III: Stainless Steel Gamelan" (Table of the Elements, 2002) Personnel: Terry Jennings, Angus MacLise, John Cale, Sterling Morrison

References

*DeLone et al. (eds.), "Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music" (1975) Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall
*Paul Hegarty, "Noise/Music: A History" (2007) Continuum International Publishing Group
*Hermann von Helmholtz,"On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music" (1885) 2nd English edition. New York: Dover Publications
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15949-john-cale-inside-the-dream-syndicate-volume-i-day-of-niagara-1965-with-tony-conrad-angus-maclise-la-monte-young-and-marian-zazeela] S. Murray, (2000) "Inside the Dream Syndicate, Volume I: Day of Niagara" (1965) web published at Pitchfork
*Jim Samson, "Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900–1920" (1977) New York: W.W. Norton & Company
*James Tenney, "A History of "Consonance" and "Dissonance" (1988) White Plains, NY: Excelsior; New York: Gordon and Breach
*Steven Watson, "Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties" (2003) Pantheon, New York
* [http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=54fp06] "La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela at the Dream House: The Theatre of Eternal Music" (2003) at Newmusicbox.org

Footnotes

External links

* [http://melafoundation.org/photos3.htm] Photograph of The Theatre of Eternal Music: La Monte Young, Voice and Sine Waves; Marian Zazeela, Voice; Jon Hassell, Horn; Alex Dia, Voice; Wayne Forrest, Tuba; Sharon Stone, Voice. 

ee also

*List of noise musicians
*Noise music