Cheap Imitation is a piece for solo piano by John Cage, composed in 1969. It is an indeterminate piece created using the I Ching and based, rhythmically, on Socrate by Erik Satie.
Like numerous other works by Cage, Cheap Imitation was a result of his collaboration with Merce Cunningham’s dance company. However, in this case the original choreography relied not on Cage’s music, but on a piano arrangement of Erik Satie’s symphonic drama Socrate. In 1947 Cunningham choreographed a dance based on the first movement of Satie’s work, and Cage provided a two-piano transcription of the music (since Cunningham’s dances were usually accompanied by piano only). In 1968 it was decided to expand the choreography by two movements, based on the remaining two movements of the Satie work. Cage, who was at the time working on HPSCHD, a large multimedia work, requested help of an acquaintance from the University of Illinois, Arthur Maddox, and together they completed a two-piano arrangement of the remaining two movements. The new choreography was to be premiered in early 1970.
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