The Compositions 1960 are a set of text-based musical pieces written in 1960 by composer La Monte Young. Building on the work of John Cage, these pieces are unique in their emphasis on performance art and unconventional actions, such as releasing a butterfly into the room (#5), building a fire in front of the audience (#2), or pushing a piano into a wall (Piano Piece for Terry Riley #1). These compositions have been described as calling into question the definition of music.
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👉 Compositions 1960 in the context of La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in post-war avant-garde music. He is best known for his exploration of sustained tones, beginning with his 1958 composition Trio for Strings. His compositions have called into question the nature and definition of music, most prominently in the text scores of his Compositions 1960. While few of his recordings remain in print, his work has inspired prominent musicians across various genres, including avant-garde, rock, and ambient music.
Young played jazz saxophone and studied composition in California during the 1950s, and subsequently moved to New York in 1960, where he was a central figure in the downtown music and Fluxus art scenes. He then became known for his pioneering work in drone music (originally called dream music) with his Theatre of Eternal Music collective, alongside collaborators such as Tony Conrad, John Cale, and his wife, the multimedia artist Marian Zazeela. In 1964, he began work on his unfinished improvisatory composition The Well-Tuned Piano, iterations of which he has performed throughout subsequent decades.