Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22nd, 1928, in Mödrath, Germany - died December 5th, 2007, in Kürten-Kettenberg, Germany) studied with Martin at the Cologne Musikhochschule (1947-51), but the decisive stimulus came from his encounter with Messiaen's Mode de valeurs at Darmstadt in 1951. There he saw possibilities of long-range serial process which he pursued in Kreuzspiel (1951) and KontraPunkte (1952), both for piano-based ensemble. The latter piece was written during a period of study with Messiaen in Paris, and while there he made a first essay in electronic music.
On returning to Cologne he continued this activity, notably in Gesang der Jünglinge for vocal and synthesized sounds on tape (1956).
At the same time, he pursued the ramifications of serial instrumental music in a cycle of 11 piano pieces (1956), in Zeitmaße for wind quintet (1956) and in Gruppen for three orchestras (1957).
In all these scores he began working with large groups of notes rather than with the isolated points that the avant garde had inherited from Webern and Messiaen.
His influence extended over a whole generation of European composers, including such contemporaries as Boulez and Berio.
In 1958 he made his first visit to the USA, and around this time his music became more relaxed, both in its density of events and in its notational exactitude.
This was partly a result of Cage's influence; partly it came from the experience of electronic music, which suggested a different way of hearing.
Hence the comparatively leisurely pace of Carré for four choral-orchestral groups (1960), Kontakte for piano, percussion and tape (1960) and Momente for soprano, choir and instruments (1964, extended 1972).
Then the habit of working with sound as a substance led to a period of virtual concentration on electronic pieces, many of them written for the performing group with whom Stockhausen toured: Mikrophonie I (1964), Prozession (1967), Kurzwellen (1968),
Aus den sieben Tagen (1968), these gradually relinquishing notation to the point where the last work consists only of prose poems designed to stimulate intuitive music-making.
There were also, however, major works composed on tape: Telemusik (1966), created during a revelatory visit to Japan, and Hymnen (1967), both using recordings from around the world.
The return to a more conventional medium came abruptly in Mantra for two pianos and electronics (1970), an hour-long, fully notated work based on transformations of a melodic theme.
At the same time, the latent drama in his music has become explicit: Trans (1971) requires the orchestra to be bathed in violet light and seen through a veil; Inori (1974) has one or two mimes executing hieratic attitudes in synchrony with the orchestra; and Sirius (1977) is a ceremonial for four costumed musicians and synthesized tape.
Since then all Stockhausen's works have been parts of Licht, intended to be a heptalogy for performance on the evenings of a week: so far Donnerstag (1980) Samstag (1984) and Montag (1988) have been completed.