Sonata for Clarinet is an early work by John Cage, composed in 1933. It is also known under its early title, Sonata for One Voice.
The piece was created in 1933 (the first and last movements composed on 3 and 5 September, respectively) while Cage was studying music with Richard Buhlig (Nicholls 2002, 63). Buhlig convinced Cage to send the sonata, as well as some other pieces, to Henry Cowell for publication in New Music; thus it became Cage's ear...
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Sonata for Clarinet is an early work by John Cage, composed in 1933. It is also known under its early title, Sonata for One Voice.
The piece was created in 1933 (the first and last movements composed on 3 and 5 September, respectively) while Cage was studying music with Richard Buhlig (Nicholls 2002, 63). Buhlig convinced Cage to send the sonata, as well as some other pieces, to Henry Cowell for publication in New Music; thus it became Cage's earliest published piece. Cowell later suggested that the Sonata be performed at a New Music Society of California workshop in San Francisco. When Cage arrived, it turned out the clarinetist couldn't play the piece, and Cage had to play it himself, on piano (Nicholls 1990, 176). Cage also tried to get a Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra clarinetist to play the sonata, but the clarinetist refused on aesthetic grounds (Kostelanetz 2003, 103). Later in life, Cage made some revisions and the sonata was finally published by Edition Peters, Cage's...
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