Stockhausen wrote 370 individual works. He often departs radically from musical tradition and his work is influenced by
Olivier Messiaen,
Edgard Varèse, and
Anton Webern, as well as by film and by painters such as
Piet Mondrian and
Paul Klee.
1950s Stockhausen began to compose in earnest only during his third year at the conservatory. His early student compositions remained out of the public eye until, in 1971, he published
Chöre für Doris,
Drei Lieder for alto voice and chamber orchestra,
Choral for a cappella choir (all three from 1950), and a
Sonatine for violin and piano (1951). In August 1951, just after his first Darmstadt visit, Stockhausen began working with a form of
athematic serial composition that rejected the
twelve-tone technique of
Schoenberg. He characterized many of these earliest compositions (together with the music of other, like-minded composers of the period) as
punktuelle Musik, "punctual" or "pointist" music, commonly mistranslated as "pointillist", though one critic concluded after analysing several of these early works that Stockhausen "never really composed punctually". Compositions from this phase include
Kreuzspiel (1951), the
Klavierstücke I–IV (1952the fourth of this first set of four
Klavierstücke, titled
Klavierstück IV, is specifically cited by Stockhausen as an example of "punctual music", and the first (unpublished) versions of
Punkte and
Kontra-Punkte (1952). However, several works from these same years show Stockhausen formulating his "first really ground-breaking contribution to the theory and, above all, practice of composition", that of "group composition", found in Stockhausen's works as early as 1952 and continuing throughout his compositional career. This principle was first publicly described by Stockhausen in a radio talk from December 1955, titled "Gruppenkomposition:
Klavierstück I". In December 1952, he composed a
Konkrete Etüde, realized in
Pierre Schaeffer's Paris
musique concrète studio. In March 1953, he moved to the NWDR studio in Cologne and turned to
electronic music with two
Electronic Studies (1953 and 1954), and then introducing spatial placements of sound sources with his mixed
concrète and electronic work
Gesang der Jünglinge (1955–56). Experiences gained from the
Studies made plain that it was an unacceptable oversimplification to regard timbres as stable entities. Reinforced by his studies with Meyer-Eppler, beginning in 1955, Stockhausen formulated new "statistical" criteria for composition, focussing attention on the
aleatoric, directional tendencies of sound movement, "the change from one state to another, with or without returning motion, as opposed to a fixed state". Stockhausen later wrote, describing this period in his compositional work, "The first revolution occurred from 1952/53 as
musique concrète,
electronic tape music, and
space music, entailing composition with transformers, generators, modulators, magnetophones, etc; the integration of concrete and abstract (synthetic) sound possibilities (also all noises), and the controlled projection of sound in space". His position as "the leading German composer of his generation" was established with
Gesang der Jünglinge and three concurrently composed pieces in different media:
Zeitmaße for five woodwinds,
Gruppen for three orchestras, and
Klavierstück XI. The principles underlying the latter three compositions are presented in Stockhausen's best-known theoretical article, "... wie die Zeit vergeht ..." ("... How Time Passes ..."), first published in 1957 in vol. 3 of
Die Reihe. His work with electronic music and its utter fixity led him to explore modes of instrumental and vocal music in which performers' individual capabilities and the circumstances of a particular performance (e.g., hall acoustics) may determine certain aspects of a composition. He called this "variable form". In other cases, a work may be presented from a number of different perspectives. In
Zyklus (1959), for example, he began using
graphic notation for instrumental music. The
score is written so that the performance can start on any page, and it may be read upside down, or from right to left, as the performer chooses. Still other works permit different routes through the constituent parts. Stockhausen called both of these possibilities "polyvalent form", which may be either
open form (essentially incomplete, pointing beyond its frame), as with
Klavierstück XI (1956), or "closed form" (complete and self-contained) as with
Momente (1962–64/69). In many of his works, elements are played off against one another, simultaneously and successively: in
Kontra-Punkte ("Against Points", 1952–53), which, in its revised form became his official "opus 1", a process leading from an initial "point" texture of isolated notes toward a florid, ornamental ending is opposed by a tendency from diversity (six timbres, dynamics, and durations) toward uniformity (timbre of solo piano, a nearly constant soft dynamic, and fairly even durations). In
Gruppen (1955–57), fanfares and passages of varying speed (superimposed durations based on the
harmonic series) are occasionally flung between three full orchestras, giving the impression of movement in space. In his
Kontakte for electronic sounds (optionally with piano and percussion) (1958–60), he achieved for the first time an
isomorphism of the four parameters of pitch, duration, dynamics, and timbre.
1960s In 1960, Stockhausen returned to the composition of vocal music (for the first time since
Gesang der Jünglinge) with
Carré for four orchestras and four choirs. Two years later, he began an expansive
cantata titled
Momente (1962–64/69), for solo soprano, four choir groups and thirteen instrumentalists. In 1963, Stockhausen created
Plus-Minus, "2 × 7 pages for realisation" containing basic note materials and a complex system of transformations to which those materials are to be subjected in order to produce an unlimited number of different compositions. Through the rest of the 1960s, he continued to explore such possibilities of "
process composition" in works for live performance, such as
Prozession (1967),
Kurzwellen, and
Spiral (both 1968), culminating in the verbally described "
intuitive music" compositions of
Aus den sieben Tagen (1968) and
Für kommende Zeiten (1968–70). Some of his later works, such as
Ylem (1972) and the first three parts of
Herbstmusik (1974), also fall under this rubric. Several of these process compositions were featured in the all-day programmes presented at Expo 70, for which Stockhausen composed two more similar pieces,
Pole for two players, and
Expo for three. In other compositions, such as
Stop for orchestra (1965),
Adieu for wind quintet (1966), and the
Dr. K Sextett, which was written in 1968–69 in honour of Alfred Kalmus of Universal Edition, he presented his performers with more restricted improvisational possibilities. He pioneered live electronics in
Mixtur (1964/67/2003) for orchestra and electronics,
Mikrophonie I (1964) for
tam-tam, two microphones, two filters with
potentiometers (6 players),
Mikrophonie II (1965) for choir,
Hammond organ, and four
ring modulators, and
Solo for a melody instrument with feedback (1966). Improvisation also plays a part in all of these works, but especially in
Solo. He also composed two electronic works for
tape,
Telemusik (1966) and
Hymnen (1966–67). The latter also exists in a version with partially improvising soloists, and the third of its four "regions" in a version with orchestra. At this time, Stockhausen also began to incorporate pre-existent music from world traditions into his compositions.
Telemusik was the first overt example of this trend. In 1968, Stockhausen composed the vocal sextet
Stimmung, for the
Collegium Vocale Köln, an hour-long work based entirely on the
overtones of a low
B-flat. In the following year, he created
Fresco for four orchestral groups, a
Wandelmusik ("foyer music") composition. This was intended to be played for about five hours in the foyers and grounds of the Beethovenhalle auditorium complex in
Bonn, before, after, and during a group of (in part simultaneous) concerts of his music in the auditoriums of the facility. The overall project was given the title
Musik für die Beethovenhalle. This had precedents in two collective-composition seminar projects that Stockhausen gave at Darmstadt in 1967 and 1968:
Ensemble and
Musik für ein Haus, and would have successors in the "park music" composition for five spatially separated groups,
Sternklang ("Star Sounds") of 1971, the orchestral work
Trans, composed in the same year and the thirteen simultaneous "musical scenes for soloists and duets" titled
Alphabet für Liège (1972).
Space music and Expo '70 Since the mid-1950s, Stockhausen had been developing concepts of
spatialization in his works, not only in electronic music, such as the 5-channel
Gesang der Jünglinge (1955–56) and
Telemusik (1966), and 4-channel
Kontakte (1958–60) and
Hymnen (1966–67). Instrumental/vocal works like
Gruppen for three orchestras (1955–57) and
Carré for four orchestras and four choirs (1959–60) also exhibit this trait. In lectures such as "Music in Space" from 1958, he called for new kinds of concert halls to be built, "suited to the requirements of spatial music". His idea was In 1968, the
West German government invited Stockhausen to collaborate on the German Pavilion at the
1970 World Fair in
Osaka and to create a joint multimedia project for it with artist
Otto Piene. Other collaborators on the project included the pavilion's architect,
Fritz Bornemann, Fritz Winckel, director of the Electronic Music Studio at
Technische Universität Berlin, and engineer Max Mengeringhausen. The pavilion theme was "gardens of music", in keeping with which Bornemann intended "planting" the exhibition halls beneath a broad lawn, with a connected auditorium "sprouting" above ground. Initially, Bornemann conceived this auditorium in the form of an
amphitheatre, with a central orchestra podium and surrounding audience space. In the summer of 1968, Stockhausen met with Bornemann and persuaded him to change this conception to a spherical space with the audience in the centre, surrounded by loudspeaker groups in seven rings at different "latitudes" around the interior walls of the sphere. Although Stockhausen and Piene's planned multimedia project, titled
Hinab-Hinauf, was developed in detail, the World Fair committee rejected their concept as too extravagant and instead asked Stockhausen to present daily five-hour programs of his music. Stockhausen's works were performed for 5½ hours every day over a period of 183 days to a total audience of about a million listeners. According to Stockhausen's biographer, Michael Kurtz, "Many visitors felt the spherical auditorium to be an oasis of calm amidst the general hubbub, and after a while it became one of the main attractions of Expo 1970".
1970s of
Mantra,
Shiraz Arts Festival, Iran, 1972 Beginning with
Mantra for two pianos and electronics (1970), Stockhausen turned to
formula composition, a technique which involves the projection and multiplication of a single, double, or triple
melodic-line formula. Sometimes, as in
Mantra and the large orchestral composition with mime soloists,
Inori, the simple formula is stated at the outset as an introduction. He continued to use this technique (e.g., in the two related solo-clarinet pieces,
Harlekin [Harlequin] and
Der kleine Harlekin [The Little Harlequin] of 1975, and the orchestral
Jubiläum [Jubilee] of 1977) through the completion of the opera-cycle
Licht in 2003. Some works from the 1970s did not employ formula techniquee.g., the vocal duet "
Am Himmel wandre ich" (In the Sky I am Walking, one of the 13 components of the multimedia
Alphabet für Liège, 1972, which Stockhausen developed in conversation with the British biophysicist and lecturer on mystical aspects of sound vibration
Jill Purce), "Laub und Regen" (Leaves and Rain, from the theatre piece
Herbstmusik (1974), the unaccompanied-clarinet composition
Amour, and the choral opera
Atmen gibt das Leben (Breathing Gives Life, 1974/77)but nevertheless share its simpler, melodically oriented style. Two such pieces,
Tierkreis ("Zodiac", 1974–75) and
In Freundschaft (In Friendship, 1977, a solo piece with versions for virtually every orchestral instrument), have become Stockhausen's most widely performed and recorded compositions. This dramatic simplification of style provided a model for a new generation of German composers, loosely associated under the label
neue Einfachheit or
New Simplicity. The best-known of these composers is
Wolfgang Rihm, who studied with Stockhausen in 1972–73. His orchestral composition
Sub-Kontur (1974–75) quotes the formula of Stockhausen's
Inori (1973–74), and he has also acknowledged the influence of
Momente on this work. Other large works by Stockhausen from this decade include the orchestral
Trans (1971) and two music-theatre compositions utilizing the
Tierkreis melodies:
Musik im Bauch ("Music in the Belly") for six percussionists (1975), and the science-fiction "opera"
Sirius (1975–77) for eight-channel electronic music with soprano, bass, trumpet, and bass clarinet, which has four different versions for the four seasons, each lasting over an hour and a half. '', in Sound Studio N, Cologne
1977–2003 Between 1977 and 2003, Stockhausen composed seven operas in a cycle titled
Licht: Die sieben Tage der Woche ("Light: The Seven Days of the Week"). The
Licht cycle deals with the traits associated in various historical traditions with each weekday (Monday = birth and fertility, Tuesday = conflict and war, Wednesday = reconciliation and cooperation, Thursday = traveling and learning, etc.) and with the relationships between three archetypal characters:
Michael,
Lucifer, and
Eve. Each of these characters dominates one of the operas (
Donnerstag [Thursday],
Samstag [Saturday], and
Montag [Monday], respectively), the three possible pairings are foregrounded in three others, and the equal combination of all three is featured in
Mittwoch (Wednesday). Stockhausen's conception of opera was based significantly on ceremony and ritual, with influence from the Japanese
Noh theatre, as well as
Judeo-Christian and
Vedic traditions. In 1968, at the time of the composition of
Aus den sieben Tagen, Stockhausen had read a biography by
Satprem about the Bengali guru
Sri Aurobindo, and subsequently he also read many of the published writings by Aurobindo himself. The title of
Licht owes something to Aurobindo's theory of "
Agni" (the Hindu and Vedic fire deity). While Aurobindo derived this concept from the
Vedas and
Sankhya to describe the spiritual "Conscious-Force" or "Will" inherent in matter, he noted that it prefigured modern discoveries in physics regarding energy and matter. Stockhausen's definition of a formula and, especially, his conception of the
Licht superformula, also owes a great deal to Sri Aurobindo's category of the "
supramental", a unitary "Truth-Consciousness" which holds the "Real-Idea" or seed of the creation. Similarly, his approach to voice and text sometimes departed from traditional usage: Characters were as likely to be portrayed by instrumentalists or dancers as by singers, and a few parts of
Licht (e.g.,
Luzifers Traum from
Samstag,
Welt-Parlament from
Mittwoch,
Lichter-Wasser and
Hoch-Zeiten from
Sonntag) use written or improvised texts in simulated or invented languages. The seven operas were not composed in "weekday order" but rather starting (apart from
Jahreslauf in 1977, which became the first act of
Dienstag) with the "solo" operas and working toward the more complex ones:
Donnerstag (1978–80),
Samstag (1981–83),
Montag (1984–88),
Dienstag (1977/1987–91),
Freitag (1991–94),
Mittwoch (1995–97), and finally
Sonntag (1998–2003). Stockhausen had dreams of flying throughout his life, and these dreams are reflected in the
Helikopter-Streichquartett (the third scene of
Mittwoch aus Licht), completed in 1993. In it, the four members of a
string quartet perform in four
helicopters flying independent flight paths over the countryside near the concert hall. The sounds they play are mixed together with the sounds of the helicopters and played through speakers to the audience in the hall. Videos of the performers are also transmitted back to the concert hall. The performers are synchronized with the aid of a
click track, transmitted to them and heard over headphones. The first performance of the piece took place in Amsterdam on 26 June 1995, as part of the
Holland Festival. Despite its extremely unusual nature, the piece has been given several performances, including one on 22 August 2003 as part of the
Salzburg Festival to open the Hangar-7 venue, and the German première on 17 June 2007 in
Braunschweig as part of the Stadt der Wissenschaft 2007 Festival. The work has also been recorded by the
Arditti Quartet. In 1999 he was invited by
Walter Fink to be the ninth composer featured in the annual
Komponistenporträt of the
Rheingau Musik Festival. In 1999,
BBC producer Rodney Wilson asked Stockhausen to collaborate with
Stephen and Timothy Quay on a film for the fourth series of Sound on Film International. Although Stockhausen's music had been used for films previously (most notably, parts of
Hymnen in
Nicolas Roeg's
Walkabout in 1971), this was the first time he had been asked to provide music specially for the purpose. He adapted 21 minutes of material taken from his electronic music for
Freitag aus Licht, calling the result
Zwei Paare (Two Couples), and the Brothers Quay created their animated film, which they titled
In Absentia, based only on their reactions to the music and the simple suggestion that a window might be an idea to use. When, at a preview screening, Stockhausen saw the film, which shows a madwoman writing letters from a bleak asylum cell, he was moved to tears. The Brothers Quay were astonished to learn that his mother had been "imprisoned by the Nazis in an asylum, where she later died. ... This was a very moving moment for us as well, especially because we had made the film without knowing any of this".
2003–2007 After completing
Licht, Stockhausen embarked on a new cycle of compositions based on the hours of the day,
Klang ("Sound"). Twenty-one of these pieces were completed before Stockhausen's death. The first four works from this cycle are First Hour:
Himmelfahrt (Ascension), for organ or synthesizer, soprano and tenor (2004–2005); Second Hour:
Freude (Joy) for two harps (2005); Third Hour:
Natürliche Dauern (Natural Durations) for piano (2005–2006); and Fourth Hour:
Himmels-Tür (Heaven's Door) for a percussionist and a little girl (2005). The Fifth Hour,
Harmonien (Harmonies), is a solo in three versions for flute, bass clarinet, and trumpet (2006). The Sixth through Twelfth hours are chamber-music works based on the material from the Fifth Hour. The Thirteenth Hour,
Cosmic Pulses, is an electronic work made by superimposing 24 layers of sound, each having its own spatial motion, among eight loudspeakers placed around the concert hall. Hours 14 through 21 are solo pieces for bass voice, baritone voice, basset-horn, horn, tenor voice, soprano voice, soprano saxophone, and flute, respectively, each with electronic accompaniment of a different set of three layers from
Cosmic Pulses. The twenty-one completed pieces were first performed together as a cycle at the Festival MusikTriennale Köln on 8–9 May 2010, in 176 individual concerts. ==Theories==