In 1952, David Tudor premiered John Cage’s experimental piece, 4’33” (“four, thirty-three,” as the composer calls it). Composed for any instrument, the piece instructed the performer not to play his or her instrument for its duration: four minutes and 33 seconds.
Ten years later, György Ligeti composed “Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes,” a piece so controversial that its arranged broadcast was replaced by a soccer match on Dutch television.
