It lasts under five minutes, is divided into three parts, and might have been inspired by some unusually minimalist work by a certain famous artist. The only instruction given the participants is a word in a dead language demanding silence. What is it, by what artist was the creator influenced, and why was someone accused of plagiarizing this work?

bigponder

This would be 4'33", the soundless composition by John Cage, inspired by some blank canvases Robert Rauschenberg was passing off as art (I got this part from Wikipedia). Now I'm going to hunt for the plagiarizer, who, sorry to be cynical, could be any of us. Now for the plagiarizer, according to Wiki: John Cage's publishers later sued Mike Batt for having created a track on his album, Classical Graffiti, with one minute of silence. The track was named "A One Minute Silence" and credited to John Cage. An out of court settlement was reached, with Batt paying a six-figure sum to the John Cage Trust. Jan 26 07, 6:18 PM

lanfranco

Brilliant, bp, a silver baton to you. And here's a "performance": http://youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E Jan 26 07, 6:51 PM

lanfranco

I think I'll add that Wiki site, bp, just to be a bit more explanatory. But do click on my first reference site, ladies and gentlemen. You might be either interested or amused. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4'33 Jan 26 07, 6:57 PM

bigponder

Thanks for the link. I can't believe I watched the whole thing. Jan 26 07, 7:07 PM

queproblema

How come the one I know come up when I'm off-line? We should start another question: how much does a ticket cost to go and hear nothing? Actually, I had no idea what a ticket cost and had a hard time finding a poor answer. You can't make a whole concert out of it, it's just one piece, so you'd have to "pro-rate" (?) the cost of the ticket, eh? A ticket to a BBC concert in Dec. 2004 including 4'33" cost between 5.50 and 16.00 pds. (How do you make a pound sign? We don't even have cent signs anymore.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/01_january/12/john_cage.shtml Good-night, Aldies.... Jan 26 07, 11:38 PM

Baloo55th

It has been broadcast by the BBC three or four times. The first time caused some problems, as they hadn't reckoned with the cut-out system, which operates if no signal is going out for a certain length of time. This being, of course, less than 4'33".... They have to contact the engineers in advance now if they're going to broadcast it. My recorder group (ages about 12) were very pleased to hear about this piece, and rushed off to the Head of Music to demonstrate their knowledge. She tried to look impressed.... Jan 27 07, 4:59 AM