Chronology

You may find below a list of the passages of John Cage in Italy. This info was gathered from Paul Van Emmerik's site A John Cage Compendium.

1940s

• April 22-30, 1949. Palermo and Taormina, 23rd Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Attended and reviewed, praising Marya Freund and an ensemble directed by Pietro Scarpini, piano, in a performance of Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot lunaire (April 23, Palermo, Villa Igiea); wrote review, Contemporary Music Festivals Are Held in Italy (Campana 1985, 60).
• May 4-7, 1949. Milan, First Congress for Dodecaphonic Music: attended and wrote review, Contemporary Music Festivals Are Held in Italy (Campana 1985, 60).

1950s

• December 5, 1954. Milan, Centro Culturale Pirelli. Performed with David Tudor: 31'57.9864" for a Pianist with 34'46.776" for a Pianist (Tudor) (Dunn 1962, 27).
• Late 1958. Italy (Gatti, G. 1959).
• November 1958. Milan. Composed Fontana Mix.
• November 1958-March 1959. Milan. Invited by Luciano Berio to work at the Studio di Fonologia della RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana, Radiotelevisione Italiana); Cage lived alternatingly in Milan and with Peggy Guggenheim in Venice; made the acquaintance of Juan Hidalgo and Walter Marchetti (Cage 1959g; Kostelanetz 1970d, illustration 37; La Motte-Haber 1994; Snyder, E.J. 1970a, 39-40).
• November 1958-February 1959. Milan, Radiotelevisione Italiana, Studio di Fonologia Musicale. With technical assistance of Marino Zuccheri, made realization of Fontana Mix for four-track tape (November-January), as well as tapes for Sounds of Venice and Water Walk (Dunn 1962, 40; Snyder, E.J. 1970a, 39-40).
• November or December 1958. Milan. Composed Aria.
• December 20, 1958. Milan. Performed with Luciano Berio from Music for Piano 4-19, Music for Piano 21-36/37-52, Music for Piano 53-68, Music for Piano 69-84, presented as Music for 2 Pianos, Variations I and Winter Music (Dunn 1962, 12, 14, 28).
• January 1959. Milan. Composed Sounds of Venice and Water Walk.
• January 5, 1959. Rome, Ridotto dell'Eliseo, Accademia Filarmonica Romana. Performed with Luciano Berio: from Music for Piano 4-19, Music for Piano 21-36/37-52, Music for Piano 53-68, Music for Piano 69-84, presented as Music for 2 Pianos; Variations I; Winter Music; Cathy Berberian (1925-1983), then Berio's wife, gave first performance of Aria with Fontana Mix (also first performance) (Dunn 1962, 12, 14, 20, 28; Mont. 1959).
• January 8, 1959. Florence, Circolo Leonardo da Vinci. Performed with Luciano Berio, from Music for Piano 4-19, Music for Piano 21-36/37-52, Music for Piano 53-68, Music for Piano 69-84, presented as Music for 2 Pianos, Variations I and Winter Music (Dunn 1962, 12, 14, 28).
• January 21, 1959. Milan, Rotonda del Pellegrini: in a shared program, performed from Music for Piano 69-84 and two pieces from Morton Feldman's Three Pieces for Piano (1954) (recorded on Alga Marghen 11NMN.031) (Bonomo 1999).
• January 1959. Milan, Radiotelevisione Italiana. Appeared five times (January 29 and February 5,12,19,26 1959) in Mike Bongiorno's quiz show Lascia o Raddoppia?, winning the 5,000,000 lira prize. For the quiz he wrote and performed Sounds of Venice and Water Walk (first performances). Became honorary member, Gruppo Micologico G. Bresadola, Trent, Italy (Muenz 2005; Pratesi 1993).
• January 1959. Milan, Radiotelevisione Italiana. Performed part I and IV from Amores (Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 61).
• February 1959. Milan, Radiotelevisione Italiana: gave first performance of Sounds of Venice (Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 61-62; Dunn 1962, 42).
• February 1959. Milan, Radiotelevisione Italiana: gave first performance of Water Walk (Cage/Kirby and Schechner 1965, 61-62; Dunn 1962, 43; Kostelanetz 1970d, illustration 40).
• February 1959. Milan, Radiotelevisione Italiana: appearance on Italian TV quiz of Mike Bongiorno, Lascia o Raddoppia, won 5,000,000 lire = $ 6,000 (Cage/Bongiorno 1975PROFETA; Snyder, E.J. 1970a, 39-40).
• February 7, 1959, Padua, Circolo del Pozzetto (1 via E. Filiberto). Performed with Teresa Rampazzi, Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Sylvano Bussotti: from Music for Piano, Winter Music, Variations I (two versions), Concert for Piano and Orchestra (tape presentation of September 19, 1958 performance), and Music Walk.

1960s

• April 22, 1969. Rome, Teatro Sistina. Performed with Merce Cunningham and Dance Company.

1970s

• July 1970. Spoleto, Festival of Two Worlds. Performed with Merce Cunningham and Dance Company; wrote 36 Mesostics re and not re Marcel Duchamp (Vaughan 1997, 176).
• August or September 1970. Venice, 33rd Biennale. Concert for Piano and Orchestra performed; Cage not in attendance (Böhmer 1970).
• March 3-31, 1971. Milan, Galleria Schwarz. Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel on exhibit (Rose, B. 1971c).
• October 1972. Milan, Teatro Lirico, Milano aperta. Performed with Merce Cunningham and Dance Company (Vaughan 1997, 186).
• November or December 1973. Rome. Marcello Panni and others gave first performance of Exercise (Cage/Bosseur 1973, 31).
• November 12, 1973. Rome, Teatro delle Arti, Festival d'autunno. Performed with Merce Cunningham, Silence/Teatro concerto.
• November 29-December 3, 1977. Milan, concert organized by Radio Canale 96 and Consorzio di Comunicazione Sonora. Performed part III of Empty Words and Branches (assisted by John Fullemann) (December 2, Teatro Lirico); gave press conference in conjunction with the presentation of the book Per gli uccelli (Cage/Charles 1976/1977) and of the record Cramps CRSLP 6117 and was interviewed previously by Enzo Beacco, Gianluigi Degli Esposti, Giovanni Giovannetti, Ettore Mo, Paolo Petazzi, and Massimo Villa (November 29) (Amati and Giorgio 1977; Beacco 1977; Cage/Barnard 1980, 19-20; Cage/Beacco 1977; Cage/Degli Esposti 1977; Cage/Mo 1977; Cage/Petazzi 1977; Cage/Villa 1977; Calasso 1977; Ciao 2001 1977; Courir 1977; D'Amico, F. 1977; D'Amico 1978; D.S. 1977; Giovannetti 1977; Guerriero 1977; Intrepido 1977; Leidi 1977; Manifesto 1977; Pellicciotti 1981; Petazzi 1977; Polillo 1977; Villa 1978).
• Prior to December 11, 1977. Bologna. Prepared Alla rircerca del silenzio perduto; gave press conference with Mino Bertoldo and Juan Hidalgo (Out-Off [via Montesano]); interviewed by Berenice and L'Unità (Berenice 1977; Cage/Anonymous 1977).
• December 1977. New York. Conceived Alla rircerca del silenzio perduto.
• May 5?, 1978. Milan. Performed with Merce Cunningham, presumably Cheap Imitation to Second Hand, and exhibition (Mo 1978b).
• May 6-7, 1978. Milan. Wrote Letters to Erik Satie.
• Presumably May 1978. Milan, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano. First performance of Audiovisual Events, John Cage/Josef Anton Riedl.
• June 26-30, 1978. Bologna, Feste Musicali d'Estate a Bologna, organized by Tito Gotti of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Attended: Alla ricerca del silenzio perduto, presented as Il Treno di John Cage (June 26-28), three excursions on a prepared train: Bologna Centrale - Porretta Terme-Bologna (June 26, evening); Bologna-Ravenna-Bologna (June 27); Ravenna-Rimini-Ravenna (June 28), co-ordinated by Juan Hildalgo and Walter Marchetti; Paul Zukofsky performed Cheap Imitation (violin) and Freeman Etudes (I-VIII); Grete Sultan performed from Etudes Australes (Book II) (June 30, Chiostro di San Vittore); interviewed previously by Adriano Cavicchi and S.K. (A. J. 1978; Barber, Ll. 1978b; Cage 1979a; Cage 1979q; Cavicchi 1978a; Cavicchi 1978b; Cavicchi 1978c; Cavicchi 1978d; Charles 1978a; Cogno 1978a; Cogno 1978b; Corriere della Sera 1978; Enriquez 1978; Farabet 1978; Ferrari, A. 1978a; Ferrari, A. 1978b; G. Z. 1978; Gentilucci 1978; Giornale 1978; Gotti 1979; I. 1978; I. M. 1978; M. Gu. 1978; Marozzi 1978a; Marozzi 1978b; Mo 1978a; Mo 1978b; Monastra 1979; Monastra 1980-1981; Resto del Carlino 1978; S.K. 1978; Saracino 1978; Simoni 1978; Tura 1978a; Tura 1978b; Unità 1978; Ventura 1978a; Ventura 1978b).
• Around June 28, 1978 [or May 5?]. Milan. Gave concert? (Villa 1978).
• After June 28, 1978. Rome, Villa Medici, Garden. Attended performances by Grete Sultan (from Etudes Australes) and Paul Zukofsky (Freeman Etudes) (Lichtenfeld 1978).
• July 4, 1978. Genoa, Teatro Margherita, presented by the Ente Autonomo del Teatro Comunale dell'Opera di Genova. Grete Sultan performed from Etudes Australes; Paul Zukofsky performed from Freeman Etudes; Demetrio Stratos performed Sixty-two Mesostics re Merce Cunningham; Cage in attendance and interviewed by Viana Conti (Conti 1978).
• Prior to July 6, 1978. Rome. Interviewed by Pietro Acquafredda (Cage/Acquafredda 1978).

1980s

• October 11-November 2, 1980. Europe. Touring to Turin, Strasbourg and Milan with Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
• October 28-31, November 1-2, 1980. Milan, Teatro Nazionale, Seconda rassegna internazionale di teatro-danza contemporanea. Performed with Martin Kalve, Takehisa Kosugi, David Tudor and Merce Cunningham Dance Company: Improvisation IV to Fielding Sixes (with Kalve, Kosugi and Tudor), Yasunao Tone, Geography and Music to Roadrunners (with Kalve and Kosugi), program also featured Tudor, Weatherings to Exchange (Tudor alone); interviewed by Emanuelita Giannì and Lieselotte Longato; Cunningham interviewed by Lieselotte Longato (Cage/Giannì and Longato 1980; Cunningham/Longato 1980).
• April 25-May 1, 1983 (evenings). Rome, Teatro Olimpico (Piazza Gentile da Fabriano), presented by Comune di Roma, Assessorato alla Cultura. Performed with Martin Kalve, Takehisa Kosugi, David Tudor, and Merce Cunningham Dance Company: Event 1 (April 25); Event 2 (April 26); Event 3 (April 28); Event 4 (April 29); Event 5 (April 30); gave solo performance of unidentified piece (May 1); interviewed by Landa Ketoff; Cunningham lectured on film dance (April 26, late afternoon); gave composition workshop for dancers (April 27, morning, Teatrocirco Spaziozero, Via Galvani) (Ketoff 1983).
• May 5-20, 1984. Turin and Ivrea. Variously announced as John Cage a Torino e Ivrea or John Cage in Piemonte, presented by Regione Piemonte, Assessorato alla Cultura; Cabaret Voltaire/Progetto Toreat; Provincia di Torino, Assessorato alla Cultura, in collaboration with Città di Torino, Assessorato per la Cultura, Assessorato all'Instruzione, and Assessorato per lo Sport, Turismo e Problemi della Gioventù; Comune di Ivrea, Assessorato alla Cultura. Attended; press conference (May 5, morning); performed Muoyce (May 5, evening, Turin, Teatro Alfieri [Piazza Solferino, 4]); encounter with Cage (May 7, morning, Turin, Università degli Studi di Torino, Facoltà di Lettere e Magistero, Aula Magna [Via San Ottavio, 20]); Giancarlo Cardini performed Sonatas and Interludes, Winter Music, and Solo for Piano from Concert for Piano and Orchestra (May 8, evening, Ivrea, Teatro Civico Giuseppe Giacosa [Piazza del Teatro]; May 17 repeated in Turin, Auditorio); introduced by Gigliola Nocera, performed Mushroom Book [text] (May 9, evening, Turin, Teatro Alfieri, Unione Culturale Franco Anonicelli [via Cesare Battisti, 4b]); encounter with composition students (May 10, late afternoon, Turin, Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi [Piazza Bodoni]); Janos Négyesy performed Freeman Etudes [I-XVI] (May 11, evening, Ivrea, Teatro Civico Giuseppe Giacosa); Janos Négyesy performed Freeman Etudes [I-XVI] (May 13, evening, Turin, Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi); encounter with Cage, Teatro, musica, spazio (May 14, morning, Turin, Universtà di Torino, Facoltà Magistero, Aula Magna) [originally announced as Tecniche del Suono and as taking place in Politecnico di Torino, Facoltà di Architettura, Aula Magna]; Percussion Group Cincinnati (Allen Otte, James Culley, William Youhass) performed Amores, Branches, Credo in Us, Imaginary Landscape No. 2 in shared program with music by Herbert Brün and Frederic Rzewski (May 15) and Michael Udow and Michael Kowalski (May 16) (May 15, evening, Turin, Discoteca Big [Corso Brescia, 28]; May 16, evening, Ivrea, Teatro Civico Giuseppe Giacosa); during his stay, assisted in Sergio Liberovici, Opera dei bambini (May 17, morning, Turin, Teatro Infernotti, Unione Culturale); press conference (May 19, Turin, Università di Torino, Facoltà Magistero, Aula Magna); supervised first performance of Musicircus for Children with eight hundred children from schools in Torino, Ivrea, and Montalto Dora (May 19, morning, Turin, Le Cupole [Via Artom, 111]); introduced by Gigliola Nocera, performed Mushrooms et Variationes (May 20, evening, Ivrea, Centro Congressi La Serra [Corso Botta, 30]); exhibition, Photographs Cage, by Roberto Masotti (opening May 14, early evening, Turin, Galleria la Parisina [Corso Moncalieri 47]; through June 2); interviewed by Giorgio Gervasoni, P.Gal. (La Stampa), Mario Pasi and Maurizio Spatola (possibly during press conferences); filmed by Luciano Martinengo (B.F. 1984; Bonomo 1993, 9; Brizio 1984; Cage/Sumner, Burch and Sumner 1986, 18; Cella 1984; E.B. 1984; Gerus 1984; Gervasoni 1984a; Gervasoni 1984b; Gervasoni 1984c; Giolito 1984a; Giolito 1984b; L.V. 1984; Lorrai 1984; M.Sp. 1984; Mila 1984; Nocera 1983/1987-1988, 369n35, 369n46; P.Gal. 1984a; P.Gal. 1984b; P.Gal. 1984c; P.Gal. 1984d; Papini 1984; Pasi 1984; Piemonte Cultura 1984; Pulcini 1984a; Pulcini 1984b; Pulcini 1984c; Pulcini 1984d; R.G. 1984a; R.G. 1984b; Repubblica 1984; Restagno 1984a; Restagno 1984b; Restagno 1984c; Schiavazzi 1984; Spatola 1984; Stampa 1984a; Stampa 1984b; Unità 1984a; Unità 1984b; Unità 1984c).
• April 1985. Approximately one week in Rome (Vaughan 1997, 228).
• April 25-28, 1985. Naples, Teatro Olimpico, Omaggio a Merce Cunningham. Performed with Takehisa Kosugi, David Tudor and Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New Event 1 (April 25, evening); New Event 2 (April 26, evening); New Event 3 (April 27, afternoon); New Event 4 (April 27, evening); New Event 5 (April 28, afternoon).
• April 29-30, 1985. Naples, Teatro San Ferdinando. Performed with Takehisa Kosugi, David Tudor and Merce Cunningham Dance Company: Event I (April 29); Event II (April 30).
• April 1985. Modena (Vaughan 1997, 228).

1990s

• September 6-11, 1991. Pieve Caina, Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea, John Cage Symposium, organized by Alfonso Fratteggiani Bianchi and Ulrike Brand. Participants Paul van Emmerik, Martin Erdmann, Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Rainer Riehn, András Wilheim; concert (September 11, Perugia); Cage not in attendance (Frankfurter Allgemeine 1991).
• June 19-27, 1992. Perugia and Pieve Caina, Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea, John Cage e l'Europa (June 22-26). Attended and rehearsed; also attended concert in Florence (June 21); gave first performance of One12; Michael Bach performed One8 (June 22, Palazzo dei Priori, Sala dei Notari, recorded Galerie Rupert Walser); gave press conference (June 23, Palazzo dei Priori, Sala del Grifo e del Leone); Compositori e Strumentisti dei Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea (including Giorgio Battistelli, Jean-Luc Darbellay, Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Rainer Riehn, András Wilheim, Hans Wüthrich-Mathez) performed Music Walk as well as Mauricio Kagel, from Rrrrrrr (two versions, at least one of which multiple-piano version, June 23, Palazzo dei Priori, Sala dei Notari); lecture by Heinz-Klaus Metzger (June 24, afternoon, Università per Stranieri, Sala Goldoniana); Mayumi Miyata, shō, and Isao Nakamura, percussion, performed Two3 (June 24, evening, Tempio di San Michele Arcangelo); Marianne Schroeder performed Etudes Australes (complete, June 25, evening, Palazzo dei Priori, Sala dei Notari); András Wilheim performed In a Landscape, The Perilous Night, Suite for Toy Piano, Two Pastorales; International Ensemble of the Quaderni Perugini di Musica Contemporanea, Rainer Riehn, director, performed Seven2 and Mauricio Kagel, Sonant (June 26, evening, Università per Stranieri) (Bonomo 1993; Brand and Fratteggiani Bianchi 1993; Cage 1993dD; Cage/Anonymous 1993b; Metzger 1993; Ketoff 1992; Muggler 1992a; Muggler 1992b; Polaczek 1992; Raybaud 1995).