Third Construction

John Cage

General Info

Year: 1941
Duration: 00:10:00
Difficulty:Advanced
Publisher: C. F. Peters
Cost: Parts Only - $54.00   |   Score Only - $41.00

Instrumentation

Player 1: North West Indian rattle (wooden), 5 graduated tin cans, 3 graduated tom toms, claves, large Chinese cymbal (suspended), maracas, teponaztli

Player 2: 5 graduated tin cans, 3 graduated tom toms, claves, 2 cowbells, Indo-Chinese rattle (wooden, with many separate chambers), lion's roar

Player 3: 5 graduated tin cans, 3 graduated tom toms, tambourine, quijadas, claves, cricket callers (split bamboo), conch shell

Player 4: tin can with tacks (rattle), 5 graduated tin cans, 3 graduated tom toms, claves, maracas, wooden ratchet, bass drum roar

Program Notes

John Cage's Third Construction debuted on May 14, 1941 at the California Club Auditorium in San Francisco, performed by Xenia Cage, Doris Dennison, Lou Harrison and Margaret Jansen, conducted by John Cage. Third Construction was dedicated 'to Xenia for our anniversary'. The rhythmic structure is 24 times 24 measures. In each parts the phrase structure follows differrent proportion series, each of them being a rotation of the other: player 4: [8,2,4,5,3,2], player 1: [2,8,2,4,5,3], player 3: [3,2,8,2,4,5] and player 2: [5,3,2,8,2,4].

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

27' 10.554" for a Percussionist - Multiple Percussion
Amores - Percussion Trio; Piano
Branches - Percussion Duo
But what about the noise of crumpling paper.....? - Percussion Sextet
Child of Tree - Multiple Percussion
Composed Improvisation for Snare Drum - Snare Drum
Composed Improvisation: for one-sided drum with or without jangles - Multiple Percussion
Composed Improvisation: for Snare Drum Alone - Snare Drum
Credo in US - Percussion Quartet
Dance Music: for Elfrid Ide - Percussion Sextet; Dancer
Double Music - Percussion Quartet - Cage/Harrison
First Construction (in metal) - Percussion Quintet; Piano
Forever and Sunsmell - Percussion Duo; Voice
Four4 - Percussion Quartet
Imaginary Landscape No.2 - Percussion Quintet
Imaginary Landscape No.3 - Percussion Sextet
Imaginary Landscape No.4 or March No. 2 - 12 Radios - 24 Players
Inlets - Percussion Trio; Conch Shells
Living Room Music - Percussion Quartet
One4 - Multiple Percussion
Quartet - Percussion Quartet
R= Ryoanji - Multiple Percussion
Second Construction - Percussion Trio; Piano
She is Asleep: Quartet - Percussion Quartet; Voice; Piano
Six - Percussion Sextet
The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs Multiple Percussion (Piano); Voice
Third Construction - Percussion Quartet
Three2 - Percussion Trio
Trio - Percussion Trio

Additional Resources

Dissertation: The Early Percussion Music Of John Cage 1935 - 1943