The article is a collage of texts written on the subject of Treatise by Cornelius Cardew. Two texts have been written specially for this collage: Christopher Williams, “How and Why Treatise: a brief empirical account”; Jean-Charles François, “Texte pour le Collage Cardew”. You can have access to the integrality of these texts at the end of the Collage (French and English versions for Williams, only French version for François).
All the other texts are quotations from already published articles. The contributions by Cardew and Wittgenstein are quotations from these articles on Treatise included in the Collage. John Tilbury’s text is taken from his book Cornelius Cardew, A Life Unfinished, Copula, 2008, quotations from chapter 6: “Treatise 1963-67”. The contributions of Arturos Bumsteinas, Laurent Doileau, Jim O’Rourke, Keith Rowe, Matthieu Saladin and Marcus Schmickler are taken from number 89 of Revue&Corrigé (September 2011). David Gutkin’s text is taken from his article “Notation Games : On Autonomy and Play in Avant-Garde Musical Scores”
https://www.academia.edu/9224980/Notation_Games_On_Autonomy_and_Play_in_Avant-Garde_Musical_Scores.
The collage is organized in chapters:
- Prolog: description of the circonstances of the conception of the score Treatise.
- Wittgenstein : the relationships developed by Cardew with Wittgenstein’s philosophy, notably in connection with the Treatise
- Cage/Cardew: a comparison between Cage’s approach and Cardew’s
- Image of sound / Image independent from sound: a reflection on musical notation, on the graphic representations of Treatise.
- Interpretations: analysis of diverse interpretations of Treatise.
- Towards improvisation: the discovery by Cardew of improvisation with the AMM ensemble, during the time of Treatise’s conception.
- Towards a more affirmative political implication: the evolution of Cardew during the conception of Treatise, towards projects with increased political commitment, as with the Scratch Orchestra and later Cardew’s adherence to the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist).