The Roaring Silence

John Cage was one of the most innovative and important composers of the twentieth century. He influenced not only contemporaries but also younger generations, including artists from Phillip Glass, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley to the Beatles, Brian Eno, Frank Zappa, Sonic Youth, and Radiohead. His work and ideas have reached beyond the world of music to dance, painting, video art, printmaking, and poetry, and he remains a defining force in the whole climate of contemporary culture. Among experimental artists of the twenty-first century, it would be difficult to list any not influenced by Cage.

The Roaring Silence was first published in 1992, intended to coincide with John Cage's eightieth birthday. The first full-length biography of this American master, it was written with his full cooperation. Now expanded and revised in the light of fresh reflections and new research, it documents Cage's life in unrivaled detail, interweaving a close account of the evolution of his work with an exploration of his aesthetic and philosophical ideas. While paying close attention to Cage's inventions, such as the prepared piano, and his pioneering use of indeterminate notation and chance operations in composition (utilizing the I Ching), David Revill also illuminates Cage the performer, print maker, watercolorist, expert mycologist, game show celebrity, political anarchist, and macrobiotic cook.

Arnold Schoenberg once called Cage "not a composer, but an inventor--of genius." The Roaring Silence celebrates the life and work of this true American original.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

David Revill is an English composer and writer whose music is presented worldwide (but particularly in Austria, Germany, and the United States). Besides The Roaring Silence, his involvement with Cage’s work encompasses broadcasts, publications, and performances (including the world premiere of Muoyce 2 and One4 in Britain). He lives in Baltimore.