Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), a controversial German composer, “one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music”, was born on 22 August bef
ore 85 years. He is known for his ground-breaking work in electronic music, aleatory (controlled chance) in serial composition, and musical spatialization. Stockhausen, along with John Cage, is one of the few avant-garde composers to have succeeded in penetrating the popular consciousness.
He was educated at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne, and later studied with Olivier Messiaen in Paris, and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn.
Some of his notable compositions include the series of nineteen Klavierstücke (Piano Pieces), Kontra-Punkte for ten instruments, the electronic/musique-concrète Gesang der Jünglinge, Gruppen for three orchestras, the percussion solo Zyklus, Kontakte, the cantata Momente, the live-electronic Mikrophonie I, Hymnen, Stimmung for six vocalists, Aus den sieben Tagen, Mantra for two pianos and electronics, Tierkreis, Inori for soloists and orchestra, and the gigantic opera cycle Licht.
Stockhausen was influential within pop and rock music as well (Frank_Zappa, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Kraftwerk, Björk etc.).
In May 2013 staging of Stockhausen’s Helicopter String Quartet skored key prize.
Watch a recording of the rarely seen Helicopter String Quartet, performed by the Elysian String Quartet, part of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, from the Birmingham Opera Company.
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