Historical Figures Codexery

Karlheinz Stockhausen

German composer and pioneer of electronic music (1928–2007)

He is widely acknowledged as a key figure in 20th- and early 21st-century music, known for groundbreaking work in electronic music and for introducing controlled chance into serial composition.[1][2] A 1990 book reviewer noted that while some of his statements seem "woolly, fanciful or downright unbelievable," he remains one of the few composers who made significant, far-reaching changes to how music is composed and heard.[3] Karlheinz Stockhausen, a German composer, was born on 22 August 1928 in Burg Mödrath, a village located near Kerpen in the Cologne region, and died of sudden heart failure on the morning of 5 December 2007 in Kürten, North Rhine-Westphalia.[1][4][5]

Quick Facts

Born
22 August 1928
Died
5 December 2007
Field
Composer
Nationality
German
Known for
  • Electronic music
  • aleatory techniques
  • musical spatialization

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Stockhausen's mother Gertrud was institutionalized in December 1932 after a mental breakdown, and she was murdered in the gas chamber at the Hadamar killing centre on 27 May 1941 under the Nazi policy of killing "useless eaters"[6][7] His father Simon, a schoolteacher, was missing in action by the end of the war, presumably killed in Hungary.[6][8] From 1947 to 1951 Stockhausen studied music pedagogy, piano, musicology, philosophy, and German studies at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne.[6] In 1951 he met Karel Goeyvaerts at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse and resolved to study in Paris, where he attended Olivier Messiaen's courses from January 1952.[6]

In March 1953 he became assistant to Herbert Eimert at the newly established Electronic Music Studio of NWDR in Cologne, and he succeeded Eimert as director in 1963.[9] He married Doris Andreae in 1951 and Mary Bauermeister in 1967, and four of his children became professional musicians.[10][11][12][6] Stockhausen wrote 370 individual works, including the seven-opera cycle Licht composed between 1977 and 2003.[13][14]

What the cited sources add

A short biography notes that since 1991 a complete edition of all recordings in which Stockhausen personally participated has been released on compact discs, each identified by his signature followed by an encircled number.[15] The same source states that Stockhausen realized the electronic music and participated in these recordings as conductor, performer, sound projectionist, and musical director.[15] An account titled "Stockhausen: The Father of Electronic Music" reports that working continuously between July and November 1953 at the WDR studios, he made his first piece of purely electronic music, Studie I.[3] That account also notes that Cosmic Pulses, composed in 2006–2007, is the 13th part of the Klang cycle and Stockhausen's last purely electronic work.[3]

The same source notes that Stockhausen's third electronic piece, Gesang der Jünglinge, created between 1955 and 1956, was the first work ever to merge a human voice with electronic sound.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Barrett 1988, p. 45; Harvey 1975b, p. 705; Hopkins 1972, p. 33; Klein 1968, p. 117; Power 1990, p. 30 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Stockhausen: The Father of Electronic Music" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. "Stockhausen: The Father of Electronic Music". facts only, no text reused. sites.barbican.org.uk
  4. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anon. n.d. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bäumer 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stockhausen 1989a, p. 20–21; Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13; O'Mahony 2001 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13; Morawska-Büngeler 1988, p. 19; Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13; Grant 2001, p. 1–2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13; Maconie 2005, p. 47 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13; Tannenbaum 1987, p. 94; Rathert 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurtz 1992, p. 8, 11, 13; Tannenbaum 1987, p. 94; Rathert 2013; "Karlheinz Stockhausen: Short Biography" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stockhausen 1996b; Stockhausen 1996a, p. 94; Toop 1998; Maconie 2005, p. 47 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "Karlheinz Stockhausen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maconie 2005, p. 47; Kohl 1983–84b, p. 489; Kohl 1990 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  15. "Karlheinz Stockhausen: Short Biography". facts only, no text reused. karlheinzstockhausen.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Karlheinz Stockhausen (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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