John Cage: Music, Philosophy, and Intention, 1933--1950 explores the early part of John Cage’s life and career, concentrating on the "pre-chance" period from roughly 1933 to 1950. These essays consider influences on Cage’s work, his early percussion pieces, his evolving aesthetic, and his movement toward an ideology that would later shape his own work, arguing that a reevaluation of this early period is crucial to understanding his later work. It includes contributions from an international group of music and art scholars.