Musicology Annotation << Back Katharina Clausius John Cage’s «Whiteness»: Cheap Imitation Lipov Anatoliy Like many of composer John Cage's works, his indeterminate piano piece "Cheap Imitation," based on the Chinese divination book I Ching and rhythmically on Erik Satie's "Socrates," was the result of his collaboration with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cage's piece was originally used as music for Cunningham's choreographed piece "Second-Hand," with sets and costumes by Jasper Johns. The composition was based on Erik Satie's 1918 dramatic composition "Socrates," originally conceived for voice and orchestra. Cage's original transcription (of one movement) of Satie's score served as the "accompaniment" to choreographer Cunningham's solo dance, "Idyllic Song," premiered in Richmond, Virginia, on November 20, 1944. In 1968, Cage wanted to complete a transcription (of the other two pieces) but was prohibited from doing so by Satie's Salabert publishers. His ingenious solution was to compose a new work that perfectly matched the phrase structure of Satie's music and Cunningham's dance, which was already under development by the choreographer. The result was a piece of music that had the same phrases, rhythms and even some of the general contours of Satie's music, but was otherwise completely different from it. This solved Cage's copyright problem, and he playfully called his modified new work “Cheap Imitation». Keywords: composers John Cage, Erik Satie, composition «Cheap Imitation”. DOI: 10.25791/musicology.7.2026.1496 Pp. 23-30.