The work was first performed at an International Composers' Guild concert during their second series at the Klaw Theatre on March 4, 1923. The audience laughed throughout the performance and hissed during the ovation.[1] Someone, perhaps Carlos Salzedo, got on the stage and urged the audience to take the work seriously. It was repeated to no better effect on the crowd. There was one report of a fistfight between two men who were exiting the hall.[2]
"It remained for Edgard Varese (to whom all honor) to shatter the calm of a Sabbath night, to cause peaceful lovers of music to scream out their agony, to arouse angry emotions and tempt men to retire to the back of the theater and perform tympani concertos on each other's faces." (William James Henderson)[2]
^"Taxi Toots Sound Sweet After Music By Composers Guild: Many Hisses Greet Conclusion of 'Hyperprism'; Dissenters Told to Leave and Piece Is Played Over Again", New York Tribune, March 5, 1923.
