Pioneering Composer Stockhausen Dies at 79

[TrogL]

Source: National Public Radio

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen has died at age 79, at his home near Cologne, Germany. He died Wednesday after a short illness, according to his music foundation.

...

Stockhausen's visionary approach to music took him in many directions, beginning in the 1950s with experiments in electronic music. Gesang der Junglinge, from this period, was a groundbreaking piece that critic Alex Ross describes as an "electronic classic, a cauldron of sound centered on a choirboy singing 'Praise the Lord,' setting a standard for far-out music that no psychedelic rock band has surpassed."

...

In 1977, he began the monumental music drama Light, which unfolded in extremely long sections based on the seven days of the week

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17024888

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Stockhausen was a major influence over 20th century music.

My personal favourite is Momente

[JeffR]

1. Damn

All of us who make electronic music owe him a huge debt of gratitude. RIP.

[mitchum]

10. You're right; we're all going to be stealing from him for the rest of our lives

[JeffR]

11. And to paraphrase Elvis Costello (mixing genres)

"If you're going to steal, steal from the best." I do, every time I turn on the equipment.:)

[slampoet]

16. I had the opportunity to study under Stockhausen about 15 years ago. Sorry I didn't have the money.

But you are right about all the electronic music people owing him a debt.


Stockhausen was the last of the great composers who recorded sounds with ordinary analog audio tape and then cut up the tape pieces and spliced them together. Today this is all automated and digital, but anyone here old enough to have tried the exhaustive technique of tape splicing knows how much work Stockhausen put into his works.

I'm sure he and Moog, Cage, Theremin, and all the other greats are having a good time up there.


BTW is there an Electronic music makers forum or just a regular forum here at DU?

I usually use www.em411.com for Electronic Music discussions but I'd like to see what EM people who are political are doing.

[harmonicon]

2. wow....

I've said a lot of bad shit about this guy for a long time, but this still sucks. Experimental music (my field) is a tiny world, and I'm sure this will have a big emotional effect on people I know (I know at least a few people who knew him personally and worked with him). I do still remember the first time I heard his music as a teenager... it was a vocal piece played late at night on something like a cable-access channel (just audio, no video). It did play some part in me moving into whatever it is that I do now.... and how many other musicians can you say you remember the first time you heard their work? *sigh*

[DBoon]

3. Was it "Momenta"?

Heard that one late night on the radio, very eerie and unforgetable

[harmonicon]

4. I honestly don't remember the title

but my friend and I who heard it at the same time were kind of blown away. This was in the days before the internet, so it was hard to get information. When I could I bought a stockhausen CD, which was a rather odd thing for me at the time. Over the past 10+ years since I sort of grew out of it and came to see him as old-fashioned, but it's good to look back now and remember that he had a positive impact.

[stimbox]

5. Stockhausen Serves Imperialism

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:ARLTUD5SRKQJ:www.ubu.com/historical/cardew/cardew_stockhausen.pdf+Stockhausen+Serves+Imperialism&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari

Rest im Frieden Herr Professor Doktor Stockhausen.

http://www.stockhausen.org

[harmonicon]

7. what a great and wild book

I was just playing some Cardew at this new music listening group thing at my university... that's a whole other bag of worms, Cardew. If you don't know about his music, you should look it up. Apart from being a "classical" composer, he also wrote great left-wing protest songs.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Good riddance...

Stockhausen's comments on 9/11:

Asked at a press conference on Monday for his view of the events, Stockhausen answered that the attacks were "the greatest work of art imaginable for the whole cosmos." According to a tape transcript from public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, he went on: "Minds achieving something in an act that we couldn't even dream of in music, people rehearsing like mad for 10 years, preparing fanatically for a concert, and then dying, just imagine what happened there. You have people who are that focused on a performance and then 5,000 people are dispatched to the afterlife, in a single moment. I couldn't do that. By comparison, we composers are nothing. Artists, too, sometimes try to go beyond the limits of what is feasible and conceivable, so that we wake up, so that we open ourselves to another world."

:puke:

[kurth]

8. Betcha he thought Hiroshima was a beaut

by similar logic.

[mitchum]

9. Wow...I hope that jerking knee doesn't trouble you ALL of the time

obviously, you don't get what Stockhausen meant by that all

Rest In Peace Karlheinz Stockhausen

[JeffR]

12. Have to disagree

On their face, those comments seem beyond callous, but I think what he was getting at was the gulf between the immediate potency of the artist to alter the world (in any way), and the potency of a bunch of fanatics to do so (in this case, in a horrible way). I've read these words before, and there's more context to them. In addition, I wouldn't be surprised if something was lost in translation. I agree this is a loaded statement on its face, but I believe he was alluding to the metaphysical, not the mundane reality of 9/11. Just my take, of course.

[harmonicon]

13. yeah, I think you're right

it was far more a comment on the state of artwork and artists in this world than any sort of qualitative statement about terrorists. Never once did he say it was a good thing for humanity, or that it wasn't bad that many people died. Just like bin Laden is a cunt, but he still was able to call Bush out for "they attack us because they hate our freedom" by saying, "if I hated freedom, I would have attacked Sweden". .... from a mass-murderer, but true none-the-less. The real reasons behind the terrorist act are completely open. To get back on point, the Stockhausen comment was about commitment, determination, and singular purpose. We use adjectives like "awesome" for things that are far from it, while wanton destruction and murder is truly awesome. Where are we putting out priorities and energy in this world? What amazingly good things are we capable of if so few people could do something with such great power for purposes of evil?

[JeffR]

14. "What amazingly good things are we capable of..."

A wonderful question to ponder.

[Karenina]

15. Such an IGNORANT POST.

You clearly did NOT read his comment in the original language, NOR did you comprehend the Englisch translation. HE WAS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. I met KH many times, such an INTENSE and thoughtful man, as are his sons. May HE rest in peace and may YOU swallow your own poisonous, misguided puke.

[slampoet]

17. He also said that he was misquoted and and even the quote you give makes 9-11 sound more respectful

Do a little research instead of just quoting the MSM back at someone's graveside , please.

[UndertheOcean]

18. RIP

[Karenina]

19. Another Luminary passes on...

RIP, KH, Du Einmaliger! :loveya::cry: