Score Without Parts (40 Drawings by Thoreau): Twelve Haiku

One of the most influential composers, musicians and writers of the 20th century, John Cage was a pioneer of atonal music and serialism in music. Drawing attention to the fundamental relationship between music and sound, to the processes of creation, and the method of composing and performing by encouraging coincidences, Cage not only influenced music but also every area of avant-garde art in the 1950s and 1960s.

A drawing that reproduces the representation of notes in the work "Score (40 Drawings by Thoreau) and 23 Parts", composed by John Cage in 1974, "Score Without Parts (40 Drawings by Thoreau): Twelve Haiku" was also inspired by Thoreau. In this work, Cage reorganises the presentation of notes in classical music according to the formal rules of the Japanese haiku. Score Without Parts is one of John Cage’s remarkable works, being one of the first instances in which he attempts to discover the visual possibilities of music, music writing and notation.