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born on 22 August 1928 in Mödrath nr Cologne, he has
composed 313 works and published 10 volumes of texte zur musik, comprising
sketches and explanations about his own work. In 1975 he founded the
Stockhausen Verlag, which publishes all his scores and books. In 1991, it
began to release cds in the Stockhausen Complete Edition, which comprises
116 dics to date (as well as videos).
Already the first pointillistic compositions such as Kreuzspiel (1951),
Spiel for orchestra (1952) and Kontra-Punkte (1953) brought Stock-hausen
international fame. His works are linked with all the major trends in
post-1950 music such as pointillism, serial music, electronic music,
‘new percussion music’, ‘new piano music’, spatial
music, statistical music, aleatory music, live-electronic music, intuitive
music, ritual music, group and ‘moment’ composition,
‘process composition’, formula and multi-formula composition,
the integration of ‘found objects’ (national anthems, folklore
of various countries, short-wave sounds) into a ‘world music’
and a ‘universal music’; the synthesis of music of various
continents into a ‘telemusic’, and, finally, the vertical
‘octophonic music’.
At the expo 1970 in Osaka, in a spherical auditorium conceived by the
composer, most of Stockhausen’s works composed until 1970 were
performed for 183 days, five and a half hours a day, by twenty
instrumentalists and singers, thereby reaching an audience of over one
million listeners.
Stockhausen’s work can be classified as spiritual music; this becomes
more and more evident not only in the compositions with religious texts, but
also in what is referred to as ‘cosmic music’ (Stimmung, Mantra,
Sternklang, Inori, Atmen gibt das Leben, Sirius, licht).
Stockhausen began to compose the operatic cycle licht (The Seven Days of the
Week) in 1977. It is to last about 29 hours. The first five of the Days have
already had their premieres: donnerstag (Thursday) in 1981, samstag (Saturday)
in 1984 and montag (Monday) in 1988, all at Milan’s La Scala. dienstag
(Tuesday) and freitag (Friday) were staged at the Leipzig Opera, in 1993 and
1996 respectively. The world premieres of the four scenes of mittwoch (Wednesday):
World Parliament, Orchestra Finalists, Helicopter String Quartet and
Michaelion took place between 1996 and 1998 but the whole opera mittwoch aus
licht has not yet been staged. The world premiere of the first part
of sonntag (Sunday): Lichter – Wasser (Sonntags-Gruss) was conducted
by the composer himself during the Donaueschinger Musik-
tage in 1999; The 2nd scene, Engels Prozessionen, was premiered on
9 November 2002 in Amsterdam. The 5th scene, Hoch-Zeiten, was
premiered in February 2003 in Las Palmas, and the 4th scene, Düfte-Zeichen
at the Salzburg Festival in August 2003. The last scene, Licht-Bilder was
completed in December 2002 and will be premiered on
16 October 2004 in Donaueschingen.
He has lectured in Switzerland, the United States, Finland, Holland and
Denmark. From 1971 to 1977 he was a professor of composition at the
Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
Since 1998 he has led the annual courses for composers, performers,
musicologists and music fans in Kürten (Stockhausen Courses Kürten).
He has received numerous awards, distinctions and honorary titles for his
artistic achievements. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the Free
University in Berlin (1996) and the Queens University in Belfast (2004). He
is a member of the Academies of the Arts and Sciences in 12 countries, and
Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has received the
German Order of Merit, First Class, the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the
unesco Picasso Medal, the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine
Westphalia, seven awards from the Society of German Music Publishers, the
Hamburg Bach Prize, the Cultural Award from the City of Cologne, and the
Honorary Diploma of the City of Kraków (2001). In 2001 he was awarded the
Polar Music Prize.
Kontra-Punkte
The work is based on the premise that in a many-facetted sound-world with
various pitches and durations, all oppositions are to be dissolved until a
state is reached in which everything that is heard is unified, immutable.
The work is in one movement. Six different (pairs of) timbres are used:
flute–bassoon; clarinet–bass clarinet; trumpet–trombone;
piano; harp; violin–violoncello (i.e. 3 different pairs of wind
instruments, and 3 of string instruments with struck, plucked, and bowed
strings). These 6 timbres merge into one timbre: that of the piano (struck
strings). The individual instruments drop out in this order: trumpet,
trombone, bassoon, violin, bass clarinet, harp, clarinet, violoncello, and
flute. The 6 different dynamic levels (ppp to sfz ) successively become pp.
The considerable difference between the very short and very long note values
is dissolved: only medium, closely related note values are left (sixteenth-note/semiquaver,
sixteenth-triplet/triplet semiquaver, dotted sixteenth/dotted semiquaver,
quintuplet sixteenths/quintuplet semiquaver etc.). The opposition between
vertical and horizontal relationships is resolved in a monochrome two-part
counterpoint.
In this work, the sound dimensions (also called parameters) are actually
counterpointed, and this in a defined four-dimensional space: lengths (durations),
heights (frequencies), volumes (dynamics), types of vibrations (timbres).
What was valid in four through-organized compositions written immediately
before kontra-punkte (kreuzspiel, spiel, schlagtrio, punkte) becomes
gradually more convincing: the same thing is always sought after and tried
out: the power of transformation – its effect as time, as music.
Therefore: no repetition, no variation, no development, no contrast. All of
these presuppose figures – themes, motives, objects – which are
repeated, varied, developed, contrasted; dismembered, arranged, enlarged,
reduced, modulated, transposed, mirrored or inverted. All of this has been
abandoned since the first pure point-compositions. Our world – our
language – our grammar.
No neo…! But what now? kontra-punkte: a series of
extremely secret and striking transformations and renewals – there is
no end in sight. One never hears the same thing. But one clearly feels that
there is no falling out of this unmistakable and extremely unified
construction.
A cohesive hidden strength, related proportions: a structure. Not the same
figures in changing light, but different figures in the same light, which
penetrates everything.
(From the programme note
of a Westdeutscher Rundfunk concert, 21 May, 1962)
The first version of Kontra-Punkte for 10 instruments
dates from 1952. Half of the second version was premiered on 26 May, 1953
during the World Music Days in Cologne. Hermann Scherchen conducted, and in
the same year he directed the first complete performance at
a Domaine Musical concert in Paris. The work is dedicated to my wife Doris.
Karlheinz Stockhausen
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