Karlheinz Stockhausen
German composer and pioneer of electronic music (1928–2007)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer whose work made him both one of the most significant and one of the most divisive figures in 20th- and early 21st-century music. He is often called the father of electronic music, and he pioneered the use of controlled chance in serial composition, as well as the spatial placement of sound.
Stockhausen studied at the Cologne Conservatory and the University of Cologne, then with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and Werner Meyer-Eppler in Bonn. A key member of the Darmstadt School, his ideas and pieces influenced not only classical composers but also jazz and popular musicians. Over nearly sixty years, he avoided traditional forms. His output includes electronic works (with and without live performers), miniatures for music boxes, solo pieces, songs, chamber music, choral and orchestral works, and a cycle of seven full-length operas. He also wrote ten large volumes of theory and other texts. He won many prizes for his compositions, recordings, and the scores from his publishing company.
Notable works include the nineteen *Klavierstücke*, *Kontra-Punkte*, *Gesang der Jünglinge*, *Gruppen*, *Zyklus*, *Kontakte*, *Momente*, *Mikrophonie I*, *Hymnen*, *Stimmung*, *Aus den sieben Tagen*, *Mantra*, *Tierkreis*, *Inori*, and the opera cycle *Licht*.
He died at age 79 on 5 December 2007 at his home in Kürten, Germany.
Stockhausen was born in Burg Mödrath, a manor house near Kerpen in the Cologne region. Though called a castle, it was built in 1830 by a businessman named Arend. From 1925 to 1932 it was a maternity home; after the war it housed refugees; in 1950 it became an orphanage run by the Knights of Malta; later it returned to private ownership. In 2017 an anonymous buyer turned it into a modern art exhibition space, with the first floor housing the museum of the WDR Electronic Music Studio, where Stockhausen worked from 1953 until the studio closed in 2000.
His father Simon was a schoolteacher; his mother Gertrud came from a farming family. A sister, Katherina, was born in 1929, and a brother, Hermann-Josef, in 1932. Gertrud played piano and sang, but after three pregnancies in three years she had a breakdown and was institutionalized in December 1932; her younger son died a few months later.
From age seven Stockhausen lived in Altenberg, where he took piano lessons from the Protestant organist of the Altenberger Dom, Franz-Josef Kloth. In 1938 his father remarried the housekeeper, Luzia, and they had two daughters. Unhappy with his stepmother, in January 1942 Stockhausen became a boarder at a teachers’ training college in Xanten, continuing piano, oboe, and violin. In 1941 he learned his mother had died of leukemia, but it was understood she was a victim of the Nazi policy of killing “useless eaters.” Research later showed she was murdered in the gas chamber at Hadamar on 27 May 1941. Stockhausen dramatized her death by lethal injection in his opera *Donnerstag aus Licht*.
In late 1944 he was conscripted as a stretcher bearer in Bedburg. In February 1945 he saw his father for the last time; Simon said he would not return. By the war’s end, Simon was missing in action, presumed killed in Hungary.
From 1947 to 1951 Stockhausen studied music pedagogy and piano at the Cologne Conservatory, and musicology, philosophy, and German at the University of Cologne. He trained in harmony and counterpoint with Hermann Schroeder but did not become interested in composition until 1950, when he joined the class of Swiss composer Frank Martin. At the 1951 Darmstadt summer courses he met Karel Goeyvaerts, who had studied with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud in Paris. Stockhausen resolved to do the same, arriving in Paris on 8 January 1952.
- born
- 22 August 1928
- died
- 5 December 2007
- field
- Composer
- nationality
- German
- known_for
- Electronic music, aleatory techniques, musical spatialization
Lore & Background
Stockhausen was born in Burg Mödrath, the "castle" of the village of Mödrath. The village, located near Kerpen in the Cologne region, was displaced in 1956 to make way for lignite strip mining, but the castle itself still stands. Despite its name, the building is more a manor house than a castle. Built in 1830 by a local businessman named Arend, it was called by locals Burg Mödrath. From 1925 to 1932 it was the maternity home of the Bergheim district, and after the war it served for a time as a shelter for war refugees. In 1950, the owners, the Düsseldorf chapter of the Knights of Malta, turned it into an orphanage, but it was subsequently returned to private ownership and became a private residence again. In 2017, an anonymous patron purchased the house and opened it in April 2017 as an exhibition space for modern art, with the first floor to be used as the permanent home of the museum of the WDR Electronic Music Studio, where Stockhausen had worked from 1953 until shortly before WDR closed the studio in 2000. His father, Simon Stockhausen, was a schoolteacher, and his mother Gertrud (née Stupp) was the daughter of a prosperous family of farmers in Neurath in the Cologne Bight. A daughter, Katherina, was born the year after Karlheinz, and a second son, Hermann-Josef ("Hermännchen") followed in 1932. Gertrud played the piano and accompanied her own singing but, after three pregnancies in as many years, experienced a mental breakdown and was institutionalized in December 1932, followed a few months later by the death of her younger son, Hermann. From the age of seven, Stockhausen lived in Altenberg, where he received his first piano lessons from the Protestant organist of the Altenberger Dom, Franz-Josef Kloth. In 1938, his father remarried. His new wife, Luzia, had been the family's housekeeper. The couple had two daughters. Because his relationship with his new stepmother was less than happy, in January 1942 Karlheinz became a boarder at the teachers' training college in Xanten, where he continued his piano training and also studied oboe and violin. In 1941, he learned that his mother had died, ostensibly from leukemia, although everyone at the same hospital had supposedly died of the same disease. It was generally understood that she had been a victim of the Nazi policy of killing "useless eaters". The official letter to the family falsely claimed she had
Reader's Guide
Stockhausen was educated at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne, later studying with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn. As one of the leading figures of the Darmstadt School, his compositions and theories were and remain widely influential, not only on composers of art music, but also on jazz and popular music. His works, composed over a period of nearly sixty years, eschew traditional forms. In addition to electronic music – both with and without live performers – they range from miniatures for musical boxes through works for solo instruments, songs, chamber music, choral and orchestral music, to a cycle of seven full-length operas. His theoretical and other writings comprise ten large volumes. He received numerous prizes and distinctions for his compositions, recordings, and for the scores produced by his publishing company. 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. He died at the age of 79, on 5 December 2007 at his home in Kürten, Germany.
Did You Know?
- Stockhausen worked at the WDR Electronic Music Studio from 1953 until shortly before the studio closed in 2000.
- His mother Gertrud was murdered in the gas chamber at the Hadamar killing centre on 27 May 1941.
- He was conscripted as a stretcher bearer in Bedburg in late 1944.
- Burg Mödrath, his birthplace, still stands and was opened in April 2017 as an exhibition space for modern art.
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
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