A chronological list of the musical works of John Cage
This is a list of all the completed musical works of John Cage (1912-1992). The list is presented in chronological order by date of completion. In cases where a work was composed over a period of two or more years, this is noted in the "notes" column.
This list is of known, completed works only; incomplete works are not listed. There are a number of works which are known by reputation, but for which there are no surviving scores or other documentation; these are also not listed. My definition of a "work" could probably be argued with. Works that exist in multiple transcriptions are listed under the original (oldest) version, with notes indicating the dates of the transcriptions. There are works that were written, one part at a time, over an extended period of time (e.g., Ryoanji). I list these as a single work with an extended composition date. Finally, Cage created many once-only performances and events; only the most prominent of these are listed. Unpublished works are listed (in blue) if they were completed and well-documented.
This list is based heavily on the work of Dr. Paul van Emmerik. The work list from his dissertation (Thema's en variaties: Systematische tendensen in de compositietechnieken van John Cage, University of Amsterdam, 1996) is highly recommended for those wanting more detail, plus information about all the "non-works" I left out of my list. All the virtues of this list come from Dr. van Emmerik; all the faults are my own.
Finally, I think of this as something of a work-in-progress. Some of the pieces I have listed as unpublished may very well be published by now, since C. F. Peters has been bringing a number of these titles out in the years since Cage's death. I would appreciate any feedback about errors of this sort, so that I can correct the list. I also plan to add annotations and commentaries about some of the works as I think of them.
James Pritchett, 16 April 2001
| Date | Title | Forces | Notes |
| 1932 | Greek Ode | voice and piano | |
| 1933 | Three Songs | Texts by Gertrude Stein | |
| Three Easy Pieces | piano | ||
| Sonata for Clarinet | |||
| Sonata for Two Voices | 2 or more instruments | ||
| 1934 | Composition for Three Voices | 3 or more instruments | |
| Solo with Obbligato Accompaniment of Two Voices in Canon, and Six Short Inventions on the Subjects of the Solo | 3 or more instruments | Arranged for 7 instruments, 1958 | |
| 1935 | Two Pieces for Piano | Revised, 1974 | |
| Quartet | 4 percussionists | ||
| Three Pieces for Flute Duet | |||
| Quest | piano | ||
| 1936 | Trio | 3 percussionists | |
| 1938 | Metamorphosis | piano | |
| Five Songs for Contralto | alto, piano | Texts by e e cummings | |
| Music for Wind Instruments | flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon | ||
| 1939 | Imaginary Landscape No. 1 | 4 percussionists with electronics | |
| First Construction (in Metal) | 6 percussionists | ||
| 1940 | A Chant with Claps | voice | |
| Second Construction | 4 percussionists | ||
| Bacchanale | prepared piano | ||
| Imaginary Landscape No. 2 | 3 percussionists | Withdrawn | |
| Fads and Fancies in the Academy | piano, 4 percussionists | ||
| Living Room Music | 4 percussionists | Text by Gertrude Stein | |
| 1941 | Double Music | 4 percussionists | Collaboration with Lou Harrison |
| Third Construction | 4 percussionists | ||
| 1942 | Jazz Study | piano | |
| Imaginary Landscape No. 3 | 6 percussionists | ||
| Imaginary Landscape No. 2 | 5 percussionists | ||
| The City Wears a Slouch Hat | 6 percussionists | Radio play by Kenneth Patchen | |
| Credo in Us | 4 percussionists | ||
| Forever and Sunsmell | voice, 2 percussionists | Text by e e cummings | |
| Totem Ancestor | prepared piano | ||
| And the Earth Shall Bear Again | prepared piano | ||
| The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs | voice, closed piano | Text by James Joyce | |
| Primitive | prepared piano | ||
| In the Name of the Holocaust | prepared piano | ||
| 1943 | Four Dances | voice, prepared piano, percussion | |
| Amores | prepared piano, 3 percussionists | ||
| Ad Lib | piano | ||
| Our Spring Will Come | prepared piano | ||
| She is Asleep | voice, prepared piano, 4 percussionists | ||
| A Room | piano/prepared piano | ||
| Tossed as it is Untroubled | prepared piano | ||
| Triple-paced No. 1 | piano | ||
| 1944 | The Perilous Night | prepared piano | |
| Prelude for Meditation | prepared piano | ||
| Root of an Unfocus | prepared piano | ||
| Spontaneous Earth | prepared piano | ||
| Triple-paced No. 2 | prepared piano | ||
| The Unavailable Memory of | prepared piano | ||
| A Valentine out of Season | prepared piano | ||
| A Book of Music | 2 prepared pianos | ||
| Four Walls (M. Cunningham) | voice, piano | ||
| 1945 | Crete | piano | |
| Dad | piano | ||
| Party Pieces | Collaboration with Hentry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Virgil Thomson | ||
| Soliloquy | piano | ||
| Experiences No. 1 | 2 pianos | ||
| Mysterious Adventure | prepared piano | ||
| Three Dances | 2 prepared piano | ||
| Daughters of the Lonesome Isle | prepared piano | ||
| 1946 | Ophelia | piano | |
| Prelude for Six Instruments in A Minor | flute, bassoon, trumpet, piano, violin, cello | ||
| Two Pieces for Piano | |||
| 1947 | Music for Marcel Duchamp | prepared piano | |
| The Seasons | orchestra | ||
| Nocturne for Violin and Piano | |||
| 1948 | Experiences No. 2 | voice | |
| Sonatas and Interludes | prepared piano | (1946-1948) | |
| Dream | piano | ||
| In a Landscape | harp/piano | ||
| Suite for Toy Piano | |||
| 1950 | Works of Calder | prepared piano, tape | Film by Herbert Matter |
| String Quartet in Four Parts | (1949-1950) | ||
| Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard | |||
| A Flower | voice, piano | ||
| 1951 | Sixteen Dances | flute, trumpet, 4 percussionists, piano, violin, cello | (1950-1951) |
| Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra | (1950-1951) | ||
| Imaginary Landscape No. 4 | 12 radios | ||
| Music of Changes | piano | ||
| 1952 | Waiting | piano | |
| Imaginary Landscape No. 5 | tape | ||
| Seven Haiku | piano | (1951-1952) | |
| Two Pastorales | prepared piano | ||
| Water Music | piano | ||
| Music for Carillon No. 1 | |||
| Black Mountain Piece | multi-media event | ||
| For M.C. and D.T. | piano | ||
| 4' 33'' | tacet for any instruments | Revised, 1960 | |
| Williams Mix | tape | ||
| Music for Piano 1 | |||
| 1953 | Music for Piano 2 | ||
| Music for Piano 3 | |||
| Music for Piano 4-19 | |||
| 59 1/2" for a String Player | any four-stringed instrument | ||
| Music for Piano 20 | |||
| 1954 | Music for Carillon No. 2 | ||
| Music for Carillon No. 3 | |||
| 34' 46.776'' for a Pianist | |||
| 31' 57.9864'' for a Pianist | |||
| 1955 | 26' 1.1499'' for a String Player | any four-stringed instrument | (1953/1955) |
| Music for Piano 21-36/37-52 | |||
| Speech 1955 | 5 radios, newsreader | ||
| 1956 | 27' 10.554'' for a Percussionist | ||
| Music for Piano 53-68 | |||
| Music for Piano 69-84 | |||
| Radio Music | 1-8 radios | ||
| 1957 | Winter Music | 1-20 piano | |
| For Paul Taylor and Anita Dencks | piano | ||
| 1958 | Haiku | any instruments | |
| Variations I | any instruments | ||
| Concert for Piano and Orchestra | (1957-1958) | ||
| Solo for Voice 1 | |||
| Music Walk | piano (1 or more players) | ||
| TV Köln | piano | ||
| Fontana Mix | tape | ||
| Aria | voice | ||
| 1959 | Sounds of Venice | solo television performer | |
| Water Walk | solo television performer | ||
| 1960 | Theatre Piece | 1-8 performers | |
| Music for Amplified Toy Pianos | |||
| WBAI | operator of machines | ||
| Music for "The Marrying Maiden" | tape | play by Jackson MacLow | |
| Cartridge Music | electronics | ||
| Solo for Voice 2 | 1 or more voice | ||
| 1961 | Variations II | any instruments | |
| Music for Carillon No. 4 | |||
| 1962 | Atlas Eclipticalis | orchestra | |
| Music for Piano 85 | piano | ||
| 0' 00'' (4' 33'' No. 2) | solo performer with amplification | ||
| 1963 | Variations III | any instruments | |
| Variations IV | any instruments | ||
| 1964 | Electronic Music for Piano | piano with electronics | |
| 1965 | Rozart Mix | tape loops | |
| Variations V | audiovisual performance | ||
| 1966 | Variations VI | 1 or more sound systems | |
| Variations VII | mixed-media performance | Not notated until 1972 | |
| 1967 | Music for Carillon No. 5 | ||
| Newport Mix | tape loops | ||
| Musicircus | mixed-media performance | ||
| 1968 | Reunion | electronics | |
| 1969 | HPSCHD | 7 harpsichords, tapes | (1967-1969) collaboration with Lejaren Hiller |
| 33 1/3 | record players | ||
| Cheap Imitation | piano | Orchestrated, 1972; arranged for violin, 1977 | |
| 1970 | Song Books (Solos for Voice 3-92) | ||
| 1971 | Sixty-two Mesostics RE Merce Cunningham | voice | |
| Les chants de Maldoror pulvérisés par l'assistance même | francophone public | Text by Lautréamont | |
| 1972 | Bird Cage | 12 tapes | |
| 1973 | Etcetera | orchestra, tape | |
| 1974 | Score (40 Drawings by Thoreau) and 23 Parts | any instruments | |
| 1975 | Etudes Australes | piano | |
| Child of Tree | amplified plant materials | ||
| Lecture on the Weather | 12 voices, tapes | ||
| 1976 | Branches | amplified plant materials | |
| Renga | any instruments | ||
| Apartment House 1776 | any ensemble | excerpts arranged for violin, piano, 1986 | |
| Quartets I-VIII | orchestra | arranged for concert band and 12 amplified voices | |
| 1977 | Telephones and Birds | 3 performers with tapes | |
| Inlets | 3 performers with conch shells, conch trumpet, sound of fire | ||
| Forty-nine Waltzes for the Five Boroughs | performer(s) or listener(s) or record maker(s) | ||
| Alla ricerca del silenzio perduto | prepared train | ||
| 1978 | Chorals | violin | |
| Etudes Boreales | cello/piano | ||
| Variations VIII | no music or recordings | ||
| A Dip in the Lake | performer(s) or listener(s) or record maker(s) | ||
| Sound Anonymously Received | any instrument | ||
| Some of "The Harmony of Maine" | organ | ||
| 1979 | Hymns and Variations | 12 voices | |
| ____, ____ ____ circus on ____ | any ensemble | work realized as Roaratorio, an Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake, tape | |
| Paragraphs of Fresh Air | radio event | ||
| 1980 | Improvisation III | cassette players | |
| Furniture Music etcetera | 2 pianos | ||
| Litany for the Whale | 2 voices | ||
| 1981 | Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras | ||
| 1982 | Improvisation IV | 3 cassette players | |
| Dance/4 Orchestras | |||
| Postcard from Heaven | 1-20 harp(s) | ||
| 1983 | Ear for EAR | 2+ voices | |
| Souvenir | organ | ||
| Thirty Pieces for String Quartet | |||
| 1984 | Perpetual Tango | piano | |
| Haikai | flute, zoomoozophone | ||
| Nowth upon Nacht | voice, piano | ||
| A Collection of Rocks | voices, orchestra | ||
| Eight Whiskus | voice | violin version, 1985 | |
| Exercise | orchestra | ||
| Selkus2 | voice | ||
| Mirakus2 | voice | ||
| 1985 | Aslsp | piano | |
| Sonnekus2 | voice | ||
| But what about the noise of crumpling paper which he used to do in order to paint the series of "Papiers froissés" or tearing up paper to make "Papiers déchirés?" Arp was stimulated by water (sea, lake and flowing waters like rivers), forests | percussion ensemble | ||
| Etcetera 2/4 orchestras | |||
| Ryoanji | oboe/voice/flute/double bass/trombone with percussion/orchestra | (1983-1985) | |
| 1986 | Improvisation A+B | voice, clarinet, trombone, percussion, cello | |
| Hymnkus | chamber ensemble | ||
| Rocks | various electronic devices | ||
| Haikai | gamelan | ||
| Essay | tape | ||
| 1987 | Music for | variable chamber ensemble | (1984-1987) |
| Two | flute, piano | ||
| Organ2/Aslsp | organ | ||
| Europeras 1 & 2 | |||
| One | piano | ||
| 1988 | Five | any 5 instruments or voices | |
| Four Solos for Voice | |||
| Seven | flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello | ||
| Twenty-three | string orchestra | ||
| Five Stone Wind | 3 performers | ||
| 1O1 | orchestra | ||
| 1989 | Swinging | piano | |
| Four | string quartet | ||
| Three | 3 recorders | ||
| Two2 | 2 piano | ||
| Sculptures Musicales | any sounds | ||
| One2 | piano | ||
| One3 | solo performer | ||
| 1990 | cComposed improvisations | electric bass, snare drum, one-sided drums | |
| One4 | percussion | ||
| Fourteen | piano, chamber ensemble | ||
| One5 | piano | ||
| One6 | violin | ||
| Europeras 3 & 4 | |||
| Seven2 | bass flute, bass clarinet, bass trombone, 3 percussion, cello, double bass | ||
| Scottish Circus | traditional Scottish musicians | ||
| Four2 | SATB | ||
| One7 | any instrument | ||
| Freeman Etudes | violin | (1977-1980/1989-1990) | |
| 1991 | Europera 5 | ||
| One8 | cello | ||
| 108 | orchestra | ||
| Eight | flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba | ||
| Five2 | english horn, 2 clarinet, bcl, timpani | ||
| Lullaby | music box | ||
| Four3 | piano, rainsticks, violin, silence | ||
| Three2 | 3 percussion | ||
| One9 | sho | ||
| Two3 | sho, conch shells | ||
| Two4 | violin, piano/sho | ||
| 103 | orchestra | ||
| Six | 6 percussion | ||
| Five3 | trombone, string quartet | ||
| Five4 | soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, 3 percussion | ||
| Five5 | flute, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, percussion | ||
| Four4 | 4 percussion | ||
| Four5 | saxophone ensemble | ||
| Ten | flute, oboe, clarinet, trombone, percussion, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello | ||
| Two5 | tenor trombone, piano | ||
| Five Hanau Silence | environmental sounds of Hanau | ||
| Twenty-eight | wind ensemble | ||
| Twenty-six | 26 violins | ||
| Twenty-nine | 2 timpani, 2 percussion, piano, 10 violas, 8 cellos, 6 double basses | ||
| Twenty-eight Twenty-six, and Twenty-nine | orchestra | ||
| 1992 | Eighty | orchestra | |
| Sixty-eight | orchestra | ||
| One10 | violin | ||
| Fifty-eight | wind orchestra | ||
| Four6 | 4 performers | ||
| Seventy-four | orchestra | ||
| Two6 | violin, piano | ||
| Thirteen | chamber ensemble |