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Mr .Tito Cot t iT e a ~ r o CommunaleL a r ~ o Respighi 140126
Bologna, Italy
in "Iologna. And:'
I t was a pleasure to meet you and spend the day v ~ t h youto
ride on the train.I now make t he following proposa l:
1) That the I Ihappening" have the t i t ie ALLA RICERCA DEL
SILENZIOrERDUTO with the subt i t le 3 excursions in .a prcpucd ..u
.... i,l. variationson a theme by Tito Cott i by John Cage with the
aasilltance ofJuan Hidalgo and Walter Marchetti . And that the
three "movements"be l i s ted (on programs or detailed
announcements) each ~ i t b it8own dat e. t ime- ta bl e, d es ti
na ti on and stops en route in such a wayas to suggest a musical
work;
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ClOiD 1 t ~ V ~ ' ) 1( r l V J V 1 ~ t ~
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2) Where N - the number of cars carrying the public, t h a ~ a
soundsystem having N x 2 channels be installed so that each car
would. have two l o u d s p ~ a k e r s (A and B). NA speakers wil
l receive signalsfrom N microphones picking up n ~ i s e s exter
ior to each car , probablyund.erneath th e car. NB speakers t i l l
receive 5ign.,16 from N microphone.picking up noises ( S q U ~ . 1
} < . 8 , rattlcS"; etc . - -no t conversa tion) frolllthe in
ter ior of eacb cal':. Switching means (but neither volume
noron-off controls) below (or near) A and B enabling a passenger
toswitch from anyone of the N channels to any other. This
soundsystem would operate from the moment of any departure unti l
th emoment of any arr ival . At a stop or th e destination (but not
atth e end of a round-trip) th e same system would be switched
abr4Ptlyfrom NA and B to C and 0 ~ p e a k e r s placed exter iorly
on top of eachcar , C 1/4 the length of the car from one end of i t
,D 1/4 the Uengthof the car from th e o ~ h e r end of i t , NC
speakers receiving s ignal sfrom anyone of a 's ti pp ly of N x N
or preferably N x N x 2 cassettes(prepared by Hidalgo and Marchetti
from sounds environmental to th eRR Station in n o l o ~ n a )
played on anyone of N casset te m.:1chine9 placedill olle oC two
freight cars c.cntral to th e train ( ill1d o p ~ n to t h public)
,or in onlt part of a single freight car. In t h o t h ~ r freight
car or otherpar t of the Same freight car another set of N casset
te machines wil lbe used. to play anyone of an equal ly la rge
supply of cassettesprepand by Hidalgo and Ma.rchetti. from
recordings of th e reg ion local. to th e stop representing t-he
peop'1e l iv ing the re , thei r work, ' theirmusic, the noises and
sounds, "musicalll or not . of t he ir d ail y l i f e ,week-days
and Sundays. These cassettes will be transmitted by NOspeakers. The
public wil l be' informed of i t s freedom to s tar t andstop and
change cassettes du ring th e stop in tpe station.
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3) In the spaces around the stat ion there will be as manyt el
ev is ion set s as there are TV channels, eaph tuned to a
differentstat ion, each placed a t a height of about(8 1 ( so that
they areeasily visible ahove a standing publie). In addition there
willbe as many live performing musicians or groups of musicians
asare willing to play ;imultaneously and as can (in terms of a
budget)be afforded. These groups should be genuinely of the
neighcborhoodof the stat ion, representing the l i fe of the place
and i ts culture.The atation i tself should present an exhibition
of th e arts andcraf ts of the people jJho actually l ive in that
town or part of cow. ( .And the normal s e r v i c ~ 8 of food and
drink should be available or , .even be made unusually f e s t i v
~ . - ,I ~ 5 1 ~ " ' C ' h . _ ' "" (';\",\UItO A'-I' ;""" '" ' ' .
1 t ~ I [)(f'Y ~ h - ~ " )4) At a scheduled time the PA System of
the station will be used to Yrei terat ively announce the trains
departure, and a ll other usual mean.-whistles; s h o u ~ s , etc .
- will be used 90 that the pUblic re tu rn s to thecars, during
which time there will be no diminishing of the performance.,live
from the station yard, and recorded from th e NC and D speakera,or
broadcast from the TV stations. However, the moment the
trainactually starts there will be an abrupt switching from
cassettemachines as sound sources to microphones as sound sources
and fromexter ior speakers NC and D to interior speakers NA and B.
J~ Should some of the per formers from the commUnity come aboardthe
train con tinu ing to play, sing, or dance, they should
be.welcomed.Omnibus means should be available from one stop to the
next justin c a s e _ s o ~ of t p _ ~ _ g ~ b l i c have_failed to
b o a r d ~ h e _ t r a i n . J.ndtaxi means shoul4 be available
for those who decide for some realonto change their plans.
The above is my basic proposal. I can imagine also the following
whichmay be included or not as you choose.a) Food and drink should
be ava ilable i n the station from whichthe f i r s t departure is
made.
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b) In that station an orchest ra of any 23 instruments having
threeconductors (liarcello Panni, Juan Hidalgo, and Walter
Marchetti)playing my composition Etcetera (score and parts
available throughC.F.Peters) for the hour preceding th e departure.
This musicinvolves a stereo tape recording of environmental sound
includingairplanes passing above which should be'heard from speaker
s p lacedhigh above the station floor or yard.,. -,c) These
musicians would join t ~ public, taking the trip on thetrain. They
should be distributed more or less equally ( or accordingto th e
needs of their repertoires (memorized), s o ~ o . or ensemble
"'(e.g. Hidalgo and Marchetti need the presence of Esther Ferrer
inorder to perform as the ZAJ Group in the N cars a t the time
ofdeparture ( being the last t board th e train). Once there they .
~ would play from time to time any pieces they knew by heart.
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