A. The influence of avant-garde music on twentieth-century painting
B. Critical reactions to twentieth-century experimental art forms
C. The concepts behind a piece by an avant-garde composer
D. The traditional elements in a famous piece of avant-garde music
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NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a music history class.
MALE PROFESSOR:So, let's continue our discussion of twentieth-century music.By the early twentieth century, some composers in Europe and the United States, composers of what's considered classical music, were already moving away from traditional forms and were experimenting with different ways of composing- in many cases, moving away from traditional Western scales and tonalities.But as the century progressed, some composers, composers of what was called avant-garde music, went further.
Their experiments with musical composition were not always well accepted.Quite the contrary. You see, many people felt avant-garde music was too radical and wasn't even legitimate art.A case in point is the composer John Cage.
Cage was probably the most famous composer of twentieth-century avant-garde music.He didn't begin as a musical radical, but as time went on, his musical experiments led him there.What caused the change? Two experiences in particular entirely changed how he thought about music.
The first was his 1951 meeting with the avant-garde painter Robert Rauschenberg...
Now, avant-garde is a term that applies to many different artistic genres.Rauschenberg had created a series of famous paintings that consisted simply of white paint of different textures, on canvas. That's all they were-white.But the concept of these paintings actually wasn't so simple.Rauschenberg was asking, in effect, how much could you leave out of an artwork and still have something?Because in fact, even on a purely white canvas there's still plenty to see-shadows, dust, reflections....For Cage, Rauschenberg's White Paintings opened up a whole new way of understanding what art could be.
The second key experience in Cage's development came when he stepped into an anechoic chamber.
An anechoic chamber is a room with special walls that absorb sound. Anechoic means without echoes.So an anechoic chamber is a room where, in theory, you can experience total silence.But Cage entered this room and he heard two sounds- one high and one low.The high sound, he was told, was his nervous system operating. And the low sound was his blood circulating.
Cage was profoundly affected-he realized that music doesn't need to be created intentionally-we find it all around us.This idea came to be called found sound.It's the sounds that are already there- traffic outside your window or whatever- for Cage they were just as musical as sounds made by musical instruments.
These experiences led Cage to create a composition that would convey the idea of found sound.That is, it would provide an opportunity for the audience to identify random sounds of the environment as music.So he composed a piece called 4'33'', commonly known as the silent composition.
And this composition was completely silent. Literally.When it was performed the first time, a pianist sat on stage at the piano, and the only thing he did was raise and lower the lid of the keyboard to indicate the beginning or ending of a movement.4'33'' had three movements- but not a note was played in any of them.
Well, the audience was outraged. Music critics called the piece ridiculous. But Cage saw no reason for the outrage.The fact that the audience was scandalized showed that they missed the whole point of his composition, which was that there's no such thing as silence- no such thing as a complete absence of sound.There was, in fact, during that first performance, the sound of wind and rain and people muttering.Cage had a different understanding of silence- he defined silence as the absence of intended sounds.So to perceive 4'33'' as music, the audience needed to tune into the sounds around them.This was quite revolutionary, so, we should probably be sympathetic to their reactions at the time... I mean it's confounding people even today.
Cage's silent composition is still performed all over the world. But I'm afraid to say, it's often misinterpreted.It's been choreographed, in dance performances, for instance, in which case the sound was the beat of the dancers' feet against the stage floor.And it's been performed by people who made noises on purpose to call attention to the piece's silence.Can you see why we can consider these performances to be misinterpretations?
旁白：请听一段音乐历史课讲座的节选片段。
教授：我们这节课继续讨论二十世纪的音乐。在二十世纪早期，一些主要创作古典音乐的欧洲和美国的作曲家，已经开始远离传统的形式并且尝试不同方式的作曲。很多时候，他们新创作的形式和传统西方音乐的规模和音调相去甚远。但是随着时间过去，很多作曲家，很多前卫派的作曲家取得了更加深入的进展。
他们对于音乐作曲的尝试并不是总是可以被人们接受的。恰恰相反，你看，很多人认为前卫派音乐太过激进，甚至都不能算是合法的艺术形式。这里有一个案例是一个叫做John Cage的作曲家。
Cage可能是二十世纪前卫派音乐最为著名的作曲家。他并没有一开始就激进地作曲，但是随着时间过去，他在音乐创作中的经历将他引向了激进。什么导致了他的改变呢？有两段经历彻底改变了他对于音乐的所思所想。
第一段经历是他在1951年认识了前卫派画家Robert Rauschenberg。
前卫派是一个可以应用于各种艺术流派的术语。Rauschenburg创作了一系列的著名画作，这些画作都是由不同质地的白色颜料画在画布上。他们是全白的。但是这些画作的寓意却不是那么简单。Rauschenburg想知道，实际上，在我们欣赏完一个艺术作品之后，我们还可以获得什么？因为实际上，即使是在一张纯白的帆布上，我们也可以看到很多东西，比如说阴影，灰尘或者反光。对于Cage来说，Rauschenburg的白色画作给他开辟了一种全新的理解艺术的方式。
Cage的发展过程中的第二段关键经历是发生在他走进一间无回声的屋子时。
无回声的屋子是一间有特制墙壁的房间，这种墙可以吸收声音。无回声的意思是没有回声。所以一间无回声的屋子就是在理论上我们可以体验一下什么叫完全的安静的地方。但是当Cage进入这个屋子时，他还是听到了两种声音，一种高昂一种低沉。高昂的声音是他神经系统运作的声音，低沉的声音则是他血液循环的声音。
Cage被深深影响了，他意识到音乐不需要被刻意创作，音乐无处不在。这个想法被称为非人造音乐。它指的就是天然的音乐，比如说窗外的车来车往，或者别的什么。对于Cage来说，这些音乐和乐器演奏出来的音乐一样悦耳。
这些经历引领Cage去创作了一首可以传达非人造音乐这个概念的歌曲。那就是，这首歌为听众提供了一个机会去把自然界的声音视为音乐。所以他创作了一首4分33秒的歌曲，被人们称为无声曲。
这首歌就是完全安静的，字面意义上的安静。当它第一次被演出的时候，一位钢琴家坐在钢琴前面，他唯一做的事情就是去掀开或者关闭钢琴的盖子，以说明一个乐章的开始和结束。4分33秒的乐曲有3个乐章，但是这三个乐章里没有出现一个音符。
观众被激怒了。音乐批评家认为这首歌是荒谬的。但是Cage认为观众的愤怒毫无理由。观众震惊的事实说明了他们没有领悟到他作曲的真谛，真谛就是并没有绝对的安静，声音无处不在。真谛就藏在演出的过程中，藏在风声、雨声和人们的喃喃低语中。Cage对于寂静有一种独特的理解。他认为寂静是没有人为的声音。所以要是想理解这段4分33秒的音乐，观众就需要让自己融入周围的声音里。这个想法是很革新的。所以我们也许应该对于观众过激的反应报以同情。我的意思是，这个概念现在还在让人们混淆！
Cage的无声曲还在全世界演出，但是我恐怕要说，这段乐曲实际上经常会被误解。例如说，这段乐曲在舞蹈表演中被精心设计，在这种情况下，这个乐曲里的乐音是来自于舞者的足部和地板接触产生的声音。这就变成了人们故意创造噪音，以使得大家注意到这首曲子的寂静。这样你们能明白，为什么我们说这些表演实际上是一种错误的阐释吗？