Ithaca College

On Friday, October 18th, Professor Haefeli (Music History) will present at the University of Maryland's Musicology Colloquium. 

The years 1967–69 were important for the composer John Cage as his musical aesthetics and political philosophy shifted in significant ways during this time.

Based on a comprehensive study of Cage’s letters and ephemera, Haefeli claims that Cage’s work turned away from the more radical actions of the early 1960s to more traditionally conceived and composed music, poetry, and art by the end of the decade. 

Though he remained aloof from the more radical, political student movements, both of Cage’s large-scale events during this time (the Musicircus of 1967 and HPSCHD, 1969) were designed to resonate with the psychedelic youth culture. The resonance, however, was superficial at best; Cage’s utopian politics were overly abstract and naive in the context of racial tensions during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements––especially after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.––and race riots on campuses across the country at that time.

Dr. Haefeli will also speak for the Music History Pedagogy class on Thursday, October 17th, in addition to mentoring teaching assistants in the classroom.