X: Writings, ’79-’82

One of a series of experimental texts in which Cage tries ＂to find a way of writing which comes from ideas, is not about them, but which produces them,＂ he attempts in X to create looser structures in both life and art, to free ＂my writing from my intentions.＂ ＂The New Grove Dictionary flatly states about Cage: ’He has had a greater impact on world music than any other American composer in the 20th century.’ An observation that even Cage’s most violent detractors would probably not dispute.＂ -- Peter G. Davis, New York Magazine

Born in Los Angeles in 1912, JOHN CAGE received an award, at the age of 37, from the American Academy and Institute of the Arts and Letters for having extended the boundaries of music. At 70, he was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and decorated by the French Minister of Culture. In 1982, celebrations of Cage’s seventieth birthday took place around the world, including a 13-hour ＂Wall-to-Wall John Cage and Friends＂ marathon at Symphony Space in New York City, where he lives. He lectures frequently in America and abroad, continues to hunt wild mushrooms, and has a collection of more than 200 houseplants. He is Musical Advisor of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.