Overview
Introduction
Named after the circle of stars surrounding the sun, John Cage's magnificent Atlas Eclipticalis was completed in 1961, while the composer was working at Wesleyan University. In the Wesleyan Observatory, Cage discovered some Czechoslovakian star maps. Guided by chance procedures, Cage placed transparent sheets over the charts and converted the stars into notes, eventually producing 86 individual instrumental parts. The parts consist of four pages of five systems, each system lasting 60 seconds. Curiously, each part is dedicated to a friend, colleague, or family member, including several composers and Cage's own parents (the second trombone part). Aside from the used of untuned percussion and microtones, pitch is indicated with traditional staff notation. Duration and loudness are shown graphically, by extended lines and the size of the note heads, respectively. The general dynamic level is quiet; occasionally, though, notes explode with great force. The conductor, too, has a part -- there is no "score" as such -- which guides the timing and distribution of parts within a performance. Still, the decisions of the individual performers are primary. Any number of the parts may be played, and thus the size of the ensemble may vary from a solo performer to a full orchestra. "Cosmic" characteristics mysteriously become apparent in performance. Though no specific tone-painting was intended, those rare performances with a full orchestra suggest vast universal events, while performances by a single player depict exquisite "singularities" in space. Cage commented, "I thought in writing Atlas Eclipticalis of the first line of a haiku poem, and of the stars as nirvana."
The work was premiered in Montreal, with a simultaneous performance of Winter Music, in 1961. At the 1964 American premiere by the New York Philharmonic, the "conductor" was actually a clock sculpture designed and built by Paul Williams. This performance was also distinguished by the use of amplification: contact microphones were placed on each instrument, then fed into a console and mixed according to chance procedures. Subsequent orchestral performances have tended towards bafflement and even sabotage on the part of performers, not to mention a lack comprehension by concert audiences.
