Cage's Irish Circus

Introduction

Peadar Mercier (1914–91) was born in Cork and began to play the bodhran and bones in the late 1950s. He was invited by the composer Sean O’Riada to join Ceoltoiri Chualainn, and during 1966–76 he played with the Chieftains, the most celebrated Irish traditional music group. As the first professional bodhran and bones player, he performed and recorded with the group until 1976, and his playing remained influential after that date. In the 1980s Peadar and his son Mel performed extensively with Cage and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, providing bodhran duets for Roaratorio and Duets. Mercier also wrote poetry throughout his adult life.

Interviews

PD Finnegans Wake is a major document in twentieth-century literature, still perhaps more discussed than widely read. The richness of its linguistic games with sound as well as sense has provided a constant fascination for composers. In Roaratorio, using a punning title from Finnegans Wake, Cage matches the visionary complexity of James Joyce. The technique of simultaneous independent layers of music is developed from Cage’s Variations pieces in the 1960s and mixed-media events such as Musicircus and HPSCHD seen in London during the early 1970s. I asked Cage when he first came across Finnegans Wake.

JC In the 1920s. When we had transition magazine I used to read the sections from Finnegans Wake that appeared, and I loved them and used to read them to my friends to entertain them. Then in 1939 I remember going to a department store in Seattle and buying the first edition. But then I was already very busy composing, so I didn't think I had time to read the book through. I mostly went on reading the excerpts with which I was familiar.