1. Treatise is a score consisting of 193 pages of graphic symbols, composed by Cornelius Cardew in
1967. The only definitely musical aspect of the written work is the pair of staves at the bottom of
each page. No duration or instrumentation is specified. There is no obligatory correlation between
what is seen and what is heard and the performer’s role is crucial. Two performing possibilities:
1. to use the score as a stimulus for improvisation or
2. to attach to each symbol a sound or sounds and to follow the development of the symbols in
order to vary the sounds.
PDST Composing – Spring 2011