Karlheinz Stockhausen

Lore & Background

Stockhausen was born in Burg Mödrath, a manor house near Kerpen in the Cologne region. His father was a schoolteacher, and his mother, who played piano and sang, was institutionalized after a mental breakdown in 1932 and later died under the Nazi policy of killing 'useless eaters', murdered in the gas chamber at Hadamar in 1941. From age seven he lived in Altenberg, receiving his first piano lessons from the Protestant organist of the Altenberger Dom. He was conscripted as a stretcher bearer in 1944; his father was later missing in action, presumably killed in Hungary.

He studied music pedagogy and piano at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and musicology, philosophy, and German studies at the University of Cologne, later studying with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn. He worked as assistant to Herbert Eimert at the NWDR Electronic Music Studio in Cologne, succeeding Eimert as director in 1963. He married twice, first to Doris Andreae in 1951 and then to Mary Bauermeister in 1967, and had six children, four of whom became professional musicians. He resided in Kürten from 1965 until his death.

Reader's Guide

Stockhausen's significance lies in his role as a leading figure of the Darmstadt School and his profound influence on art music, jazz, and popular music. His compositions, spanning nearly sixty years, eschew traditional forms and include electronic works, solo pieces, chamber music, choral and orchestral music, and a cycle of seven full-length operas. Notable compositions include the Klavierstücke series, Gesang der Jünglinge, Gruppen, Zyklus, Kontakte, Stimmung, and the opera cycle Licht. He introduced controlled chance into serial composition and pioneered musical spatialization. His theoretical writings comprise ten large volumes, and he received numerous prizes for his compositions, recordings, and scores. His work at the WDR Electronic Music Studio, where he worked from 1953 until its closure in 2000, cemented his legacy as a foundational figure in electronic music.

Did You Know?

• Stockhausen's mother was murdered in the gas chamber at the Hadamar killing centre on 27 May 1941 under the Nazi policy of killing 'useless eaters'.
• He composed a series of nineteen Klavierstücke (Piano Pieces) and a cycle of seven full-length operas titled Licht.
• Four of his six children became professional musicians, and he composed works specifically for them, including trumpet pieces for his son Markus.
• The house where he was born, Burg Mödrath, was opened in April 2017 as an exhibition space for modern art and the permanent home of the museum of the WDR Electronic Music Studio.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Tuning In (1981) BBC documentary on Stockhausen." — Karlheinz Stockhausen "Sir Thomas Beecham was asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen.

He said, "No, but I once trod in some." — Karlheinz Stockhausen "Miles Davis; As quoted on p. 329. in his autobiography with Quincy Troupe, "Miles", published by Simon & Schuster, 1989." — Karlheinz Stockhausen "Björk; As quoted in a web-article "Why I Love Stockhausen", published by the Guardian, 29 Oct. 2008." — Karlheinz Stockhausen