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. The compositional Process.

The motivation to compose Stimmungwas a commission of the city of Cologne for the

vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale of the Rheinische Musikschule. Stockhausen wrote the

work during cold winter months of February and March of 1968, at which time he was living

in a rented house on Long Island Sound in Madison, Connecticut with his wife and two

children. Previously he had spent some time in Mexico where he had been influenced by his

experiences at the ancient temples of the Mexican plains. In conversations with Jonathan Cott,

Stockhhausen stresses the importance of this visit in the creation ofStimmung:

What was important for the creation of Stimmungwas the fact that Id just come

back from Mexico where Id spent a month walking through the ruins, visiting

Oaxaca, Merida, and Chichenitza, and becoming a Maya, a Toltec, a Zatopec, an

Aztec, or a Spaniard- I became the people. The magic names of the Aztec gods are

spoken in Stimmung.And then the space. I sat for hours on the same stone,

watching the proportions of certain Mayan temples with their three wings,

watching how they were slightly out of phase. I relived ceremonies, which were

sometimes very cruel. The religious cruelty isnt in Stimmung, only the sounds,

the whole general feeling of the Mexican plains with their edifices going into the

sky- the quietness, on the one side and the sudden changes, on the other.[1]

Stockhausen relates his experience of the Mexican landscape to the musical language of

Stimmung. As a listener one can see that aspects like the temporal overlap of syllabic models

in Stimmunghas this out of phase nature. This type of technique was used extensively in the

1960s by minimalist composes like La Monte Young, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley. The

music these minimalist composers is characterised by endless repetition of brief musical

phrases. Terry RileysIn C, written in 1965, utilises a technique that is known as phase

shifting in which similar rhythmic patterns play slightly out of sync with each other creating

an overlapping texture, which is akin to a type multi layer canon. The technique enables a

slow evolution of repeated patterns through shifts of rhythmic patterns and subtle rhythmic

and melodic changes. Steve Reichs early works Its Gonna Rain (1965), Come out (1966),

and Violin Phase (1967) are all concerned with phase shifting and the effects of similar

rhythmic patterns falling out of sync with new patterns emerging from the resulting

interaction. The syllabic models and magic names that are sung and recited throughout

Stimmung are in effect, like these edifices that interrupt the quietness of the Mexican

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landscape. Throughout the piece edifices are erected and assimilated and the listener, is in

effect put in that position of a viewer, who gradually discovers that the overlap of structures

creates a new visual repertoire that is far beyond the basic shape of the isolated structures. In

Stimmung the assimilation and transformation of patterns has this hypnotic effect that we

associate with minimalist music. Comparing Stimmungwith minimalist works is a useful

comparison. On the level of harmony, Stimmung, for example, is similar to Reillys In C,

which is limited in harmonic usage. In terms of rhythmic content, the rhythmic change in

Stimmungis faster than minimalist music and it is not as subtle in method of introducing new

patterns. It is however evident from reading what Stockhausen has written about Stimmung,

that the idea forStimmungwas conceived independently from the minimalist composers.

Stockhausen wrote in a letter to the Gregory Rose, the director of Singcircle, how he

discovered the technique ofStimmung:

I started composing this workwith a lot of melodies, singing aloud all the time. But after a few

days my workwas only possible during the night. The children needed silence also during the day.

So I began humming, did not sing loudly anymore, began to listen to my vibrating skull, stopped

writing melodies of fundamentals, settled on the low B flat, started again and wrote Stimmung,

trying out everything myself by humming the overtone melodies. Nothing oriental, nothing

philosophical: just the two babies, a small house, silence, loneliness, night, snow, ice: pure

miracle![2]

This quietness of the frozen nighttime environment and this imposition of silence because of

his newly born child prompted him to discover a method of timbral composition that was not

his preconceived plan. It led him to abandon his original idea of melody built on a series of

fundamentals and instead establish a single harmony built on one fundamental and the 2nd

, 3rd

,

4th

, 5th

, 7th

, and 9th

harmonics [Ex.1], which outline the major ninth chord on B flat.

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Taking these notes: B flat, F, B flat, D, A flat and C as fundamentals in themselves,

Stockhausen created an even greater vocabulary of harmonics which gave him a bigger

timbral palette. Stockhausen describes this in conversation with Jonathan Cott:

You will hear my workStimmung, which is nothing for seventy-five minutes but one chord - it

never changes - with the partials of natural harmonics on a fundamental, the fundamental itself

isnt there, the second, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, and the ninth harmonics, and nothing but that.

And then the timbral changes of these fundamentals. And the timbres are precisely notated with

the International Phonetic Alphabet and numbers. So when I sing, lets say [sings a single pitch

with many inflections] you can focus on each partial very precisely. With two breaths I could

make the whole vowel circle, and Ive written the numbers up to the twenty-fourth harmonic and

the singers six months to learn precisely how to hit the ninth harmonic, or the tenth, eleventh,

thirteenth, up to the twenty-fourth. You see, thats a real composition with timbres where the

timbres are rhythmetized the way we formally rhythmetize pitches. [3]

There is an analogy between this type of modulation and the filtering process that occurs in

electronic music. Stockhausen uses the sustained chord as his sound source and what we hear

is constantly changing timbres filtered out by the voices.

Stockhausen chose the title Stimmungafter he had completed the musical draft of the

work. Stimmungtranslates into the word tuning but as Stockhausen points out it also refers

to mental states like psychological tuning. He writes in his notes on the work:

There is in the German word Stimmung the connotation of atmosphere, ethos, spiritual

harmony (for instance the word can often be translated as humour in such phrases as good

humour or bad humour, referring to the harmoniousness or otherwise of the vibrations existing

in man and his environment); moreover, in the word Stimmung is hidden Stimme voice![4]

This notion fits quitew

ellw

ith Stockhausen perception of the effect of music: That eachperson has a unique rhythm of there own which is modulated by the electrical waves produced

by the ears response to music.[5] As the music ceases the old periodicities return, but are

modulated and have taken different shapes. Stockhausen asserts that Stimmungis meditative

music and he says: Time is suspended. One listens to the inner self of the sound, the inner

self of the harmonic spectrum, the inner self of a vowel, the inner self[6] Stockhausen is

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talking about is music as a medium to discover oneself in a spiritual transformation in which

one discovers a different conception of time is more universally orientated.

2. The Structure.

The Score consists of four elements, a formal plan, six pages of syllabic models, six

pages of magic names, and a page of poetry. The formal plan maps out 51 sections of

unfixed duration that specify which harmonic of the low B flat is to be sung [Ex. 2].

It also indicates which voice is to lead each section and which sections involve the use of

magic names. In each section there one pitch marked with a thick line, which indicates to a

particular singer the introduction of a model. There are no indications to which models should

be used for any particular section, as these are freely chosen by the singers from their model

sheets [Ex.3].

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Each of the 51 sections is introduced by a model, which is repeated periodically until that

model is assimilated by the other singers. The female singers have eight models each and the

male singers have nine. The models are patterns of nonsense syllables and sometimes words

such as days of the week and Hallelujah etc. They are notated with international phonetic

symbols and numbers that specify overtones 2-24, which determine the timbral characteristics

of the patterns. The internal rhythmic structure of the syllabic pattern is indicated using

rhythmical notation. As a model is introduced and repeated there is a temporal overlap occurs

with previous models. When the identity of the new model has been established the leader

passes the incantation to another singer and when he is satisfied that it is fully established he

signals to another singer to continue with a new model. Stockhausen lists ways that the other

singers respond to a model: with transformations, varied deviations, pulsations and

assimilation.[7] In the formal Scheme a pitch with a thin line is interpreted in different

ways according to how it is presented. If it occurs after a pause of after a double bar line then

it is brought into identity with the model. If it occurs without a bar line then there is no change

in identity and continues as previously. If it occurs after a bar line then the tempo, rhythm,

timbre and envelope are transformed into the new model and this continues until the new

identity has been reached. This is marked by the symbol T, which indicates a transformation

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from a previous model to a new model. There are six bracketed sections in the formal scheme,

where the voices sing unison pitches. In these sections, the voices on pitches marked with thin

lines after pauses, can create varied deviations that move away and come back to the model in

continuous fashion. The singer of the model ends these sections by indicating to the other

singers to sing on the unison pitch, during which time they finish their deviations.

At points marked N in the formal plan a singer introduces a magic name that is

integrated into the musical texture [Ex. 4].

This occurs after the identity of the new model has been reached. In 29 of the 51

sections magic names are pronounced and each singer has 11 names that he can introduce to

the music. In the sections marked N at least one name must be introduced by one voice and

up to six names can be added by the other voices. Not all of the names have to be used in a

single performance and the choice of names is entirely up to the performers. The names

themselves are drawn from the worlds religions and where compiled for Stockhausen by an

anthropologist. Stockhausen writes: After a singer has called a Magic Name, it is

periodically repeated in the same tempo and with approximately the same articulation as the

modeluntil it is finally assimilated, and thus integrated into the modelprevailing at the time.

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He describes the process of the introduction of models as tuning up and the element of

tuning in or attuning, of rhythm, dynamics and timbre while a Magic Name has been freely

added to the texture. This brings about a reaction in which there is a clearly perceptible

change of atmosphere, evoked by the character and meaning of the name. [8] Each section is

articulated by the pattern of repeated syllables of the prevailing model and the names are

repeated periodically in the same pitch, tempo, and articulation of that model. The singer must

retain the lip and mouth positions of the model, which leads to quite amusing distortions of

the name sounds.

In addition there are four poems that are spoken at various intervals [Ex.5].

The singer may take a word or syllable and treat it in the manner of a magic name.

There is one for each of the male voices and one for a female voice. Three of them are erotic

poems, written by Stockhausen in 1967 during what he calls were love bitten times and are

spoken rather than sung. Karl Wrner comments on the significance of these texts:

In these spoken Texts one is directly reminded of the erotic freedom of the ancients, of the

association betweensexus andspiritus that is peculiar to the tantric art of Eastern Asia.[9]

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The fourth poem about the flight of a bird is very short and aphoristic but Stockhausen

transforms it into a music statement by repetition of the constituent phonemes of the words.

3. Performance.

In a performance ofSimmungthere is no conductor, each singer receives a form scheme, a

page of models and a page of magic names. The order of the models and names can be fixed

beforehand or can be decided during the performance. The singers sing as soft as possible

using amplification to enable all the nuances to be heard. Occasionally a pure harmonic sound

is played from a tape recorder to keep the tuning.

Robin Maconie in his book The works of Karlheinz Stockhausen writes:

The movement, the constant activity going on in the music in consequence of the modulation of

the carrier frequencies by the chanted and spoken texts. There is always something in transition,

and usually at quicksilver speed: syllables chasing one another in canon, condensing into words,fusing into vowel based harmonic mixtures, or disintegrating in a tissue of consonantal

percussion.[10]

When singing a fundamental note it is possible by moving ones tongue and lips to isolate

certain inflections or carrier frequencies. The movement from one carrier frequency to

another and back creates what Stockhausen calls swinging periodicities or Rhythmetized

timbre.

Perhaps on of the most salient features ofStimmungis the effect created by the

superimposition of a model with either another model or a transformation. The sequence of

models in a performance tends to vary as models and names are not allocated to the formal

sections. Other feature like pauses, timbral modification, dynamic variation and theinteraction of performers are all improvised in performances. In view of these facts there is nofinal reading of the score as it just presents us with performance tools and not the

predefined sequence of events of a conventional score. Different versions ofStimmungsounddifferent, just as performers themselves have found differences between their own

performances. Nicholas Cook comments in his A Guide to Musical Analysis: You could

not work out what the score was like by listening to any single performance; you would have

to do it by listening to many performances and working out what they had in common.[11]

In otherwords, analysis has to be informed by performance and one single performance onlypresents a single face of the piece. Stockhausen along with John Cage explored the

possibilities of indeterminacy and the element of chance in performance. StockhausensearlierworkKlavierstck XI(1956) consists of 19 fragments that can be played in any order

spontaneously chosen in performance, each fragment followed by the tempo and dynamicindications for the next one. Stockhausen followed in the path of John Cage and his aleatoric

Music of Changes (1950), in the creation of a musical genre in which the random choice ofthe performerwas incorporated into the fabric of the music.

Two commercial recordings are available: The Collegium Vocale version produced

under the artistic supervision of Stockhausen in 1970 in Cologne and the Singcircle version

recorded in England, 1983. My immediate reaction to these recording is that I feel a much

higher level of rhythmetization and transitional complexity in the Singcircle version. The

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internal tempi of the models seem to me to be more sustained throughout sections, whereas

the Collegium Vocales version tends more towards rhythmic relaxation. Another aspect ofStimmungmentioned by Maconie, is the effect of distuned carrier pitches, which produce the

effect of quasi-electronic intermodulation. I feel that is more pronounced in the Singcircleversion, which perhaps uses more radical transformations of models. TheCollegium Vocale

version builds up more slowly at the start, beginning with models that seem to have relations

of similarity. The faster syllabic patterns are not brought into play until twelve or thirteenminutes into the piece. This is not the case of the Singcircle version, which establishesquicker rhythmetization earlier, and in effect is without the sense of, built up that felt in the

Collegium Vocale version. Both of these versions were reached with the collaboration of the

composer, but to a greater extent in the Cologne version, which is probably truer to

Stockhausens original intentions.

4. Conclusion.

Prior to the composition ofStimmungin 1966, Stockhausen spent several months in Japan and

on his return to Europe passed through Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Persia,Lebanon, and Turkey. This exposure to the east was certainly an influence on compositions

like Carr, Telemusik, Stimmungand Mantra, butat no time does he directly quote the musicof these cultures directly in his music. Stockhausen discovered the writings of Sri Aurobindo

in May of 1968 and it is in these writings that he found clarification of his own individual

philosophy. In the preface toMantra, Stockhausen quotes Aurobindo who says that music like

the mantra comes from the overmind:

For anyone who has the capacity to enter more and more consciously into relation with the higher

planes poet, writer, artist it is quite evident, perceptible, that after a certain level of

consciousness it is no longer it is no longer ideas that one sees and tries to translate. One hears.

There are literally vibrations orwaves, rhythms which lay hold of the speaker, invade him, then

clothe themselvesw

ithw

ords and ideas orw

ith music, colours, in their descent. But thew

ord orthe idea, the music, the colour, is a result, a secondary effect: they just give body to the impervious

vibration.[12]

In Stimmungthe swinging periodicities of repeated syllabic patterns conveys this feeling of

impervious vibration that Aurobido talks of. This statement of Aurobindo equally holds true

forStimmungas it expresses an important aspect of Stockhausens thinking on music.

Jonathan Cott writes:

Stockhausen has attempted to mediate between Eastern and Western musical traditions. His

Development of a new time dimension, his exploration of sounds in space, his meditation of

statistical and deterministic elements, his revelation how one can transubstantiate one musical

parameter into another, and his presentation in his compositions of the process of these changes

are all in the service of an integrating conception of art and life.[13]

It is no surprise that Stimmungwas a phenomenal success at the Osaka Worlds Fair in 1970

in Japan, when it was performed seventy two times, as Stockhausens music appeals to the

sensitivities of the Japanese. Comparisons have been drawn between the singing techniques

employed in Stimmungand Mongolian throat singing. Stockhausen like the minimalist

composers Terry Riley and La Monte Young was drawn to Indian culture and the practice of

Mantra repetition. Despite obvious parallels, Stockhausen makes the important point that

Stimmungcame to him from his own experimentation and that often when a composer tries

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discover newways of making music he parallels techniques that already are in existence in

another part of the world and hence similarities can be drawn.

Stockhausen at the Osaka World's Fairin 1970, where Stimmungwas performed 72 times

in this spherical hall that seated 550 people. Stockhausen designed it in conjunction with anarchitect and he placed fifty speakers around the hall so that the audience was surrounded

with a circle of sound. Stockhausen controlled the special quality of the sound from the

desk on the platform in the centre of the sphere and he was able to make a sound mill that

revolved around in circles over the audience's heads. The special movement of the sounds

became equally important as the other parameters of the sound such as duration and

dynamics.

Karlheinz Stockhausen werd geboren in Burg-Mdrath nabij Keulen op 22 augustus 1928. Hij volgde

een opleiding schoolmuziek- en pianoleraar aan de Musikhochschule te Keulen van 1947 tot 1951. Hij

studeerde piano bij Hans Otto Schmidt-Neuhaus, muzikale vormleer bij Hermann Schroeder en

compositie bij Frank Martin. Als wees had hij het financieel niet zo breed, en hij kwam in zijn

studietijd aan de kost als pianist.

In 1951 woonde Stockhausen de Internationale Zomercursussen bij te Kranichstein-Darmstadt. Daar

maakte hij kennis met de werken van Webern en Messiaen en hij sluit er vriendschap met Karel

Goeyvaerts. Hij voert met Goeyvaerts tot in 1955 een drukke briefwisseling waarin de technische en

esthetische aspecten van de vernieuwing van het compositorische denken uitvoerig aan bod komen.

Stockhausens werken zijn toepassingen van het zgn. 'punctuele serialisme', waarin alle 'parameters'(hoogte-duur-sterkte-kleur) van de muziek in reeksen worden geordend. Alle ordeningsdimensies

van de muziek in elk van hun elementen dienen te gehoorzamen aan eenzelfde structuurbeginsel.

Deze structuurregel dient tevens de interne opbouw van het klankmateriaal te bepalen. Voorbeelden

van de punctuele stijl zijn 'Kontrapunkte' voor 10 instrumenten (1953) en zijn ingewikkelde reeks

'Klavierstcke'.

In 1952 en begin 1953 verbleef Stockhausen te Parijs waar hij bij Olivier Messiaen de cursus analyse

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volgde aan het Conservatoire National. Hij maakte er kennis met Boulez en in de studio voor

concrete muziek van de radio werd een eerste compositie op band vastgelegd. Terug in Keulen werd

hij door Herbert Eimert uitgenodigd om te werken in de pas opgerichte studio van de Westdeutsche

Rundfunk (WDR), waarvan hij in de jaren '60 zelf directeur wordt.

Hij is tevens de eerste die na een paar 'Studies' in 1956, een uitgebreide elektronische compositie

heeft gemaakt, nl. 'Gesang der Jnglinge' (naar het boek Danil). Naast sinusklanken e.d. wordt ook

het menselijk stemgeluid elektronisch verwerkt en in de compositie opgenomen. Het gaat hier om de

klanken van n kinderstem, die soms door opeenstapeling tot een koor gemanipuleerd worden. Het

geluid loopt rondom de toehoorders via vijf luidsprekersgroepen.

Het was ook Eimert die hem in 1951 voor de eerste lezingen had uitgenodigd en met wie hij in 1955

het tijdschrift 'Die Reihe' oprichtte. Daarin verschenen zijn eigen belangrijke essays uit die tijd. Deze

vroege essays vormen het theoretisch fundament van zijn muzikaal denken. In deze geschriften is de

uitwerking merkbaar van de cursus communicatieleer en fonetica die Stockhausen aan de

universiteit van Bonn gevolgd had. Eerder had hij aan de universiteit van Keulen cursussen

Musikwissenschaft, filologie en filosofie gevolgd.

Stockhausen begon vanaf die tijd ook mee te werken bij de uitvoering van zijn composities,

aanvankelijk als mede-dirigent. Vanaf de jaren '60 was hij ook en vooral klankregisseur voor de

mixing en de ruimtelijke spreiding van het elektronisch getransformeerde klankmateriaal. Hij was

tevens algemeen regisseur van zijn muziekdramatische werken. Tegen 1964 kwam er een ensemble

tot stand dat zich uitsluitend met de uitvoering van zijn eigen werk bezig hield. Daarin speelden zijn

echtgenote en later ook hun kinderen mee.

Om de ruimtelijke plaatsing van de klank in het componeerproces mogelijk te maken, had

Stockhausen ook ideen over de bouw van aangepaste uitvoeringsruimten. En daarvan werd

gerealiseerd, nl. het koepel- of kogelauditorium van de Duitse Bondsrepubliek op de wereldexpo

1970 in Osaka. Het publiek bevindt er zich op een plateau in het midden van een bolvormige ruimte.

De klank klinkt van overal in het rond.

Tussen 1960 en 1970 zijn zijn werken vooral ontstaan in de elektroakoestische studio te Keulen.

Vanaf 1970 worden steeds vaker uitgebreide exclusieve initiatieven aan zijn oeuvre gewijd, waarbij

Stockhausen, mt ensemble, aanwezig is als uitvoerder, commentator en pedagoog van eigen werk.

Lezingen over zijn composities gaf hij eerst in Darmstadt (vanaf 1953). Later ging hij o.m. naar de

Verenigde Staten en Japan.

Vanaf 1970 vinden we kosmische meditatieve muziek bij Stockhausen. Hijzoekt naar meer eenvoud,harmonie en eenheid tussen de muzikale parameters. Deze werken klinken koeler, rustiger en

ascetischer. Stockhausen stelt hier een oplossing voor van de spanningen tussen individualisme en

universalisme. Zijn muziek is de uitdrukking van verbondenheid met de kosmos, de natuur en de

medemens. Sedert 1970 heeft Stockhausen ook een eigen uitgeverij om zijn werken in het circuit

bekend te maken en te koop aan te bieden.

Vanaf 1977 begint Stockhausen aan zijn groots opgezet werk: 'Licht', een geplande cyclus van zeven

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avondvullende muziektheaterwerken over de zeven dagen van de week, voor dansers en/of acteurs

en/of zangsolisten en/of koor en instrumentale solisten en/of orkest en/of band. Voltooid werden

tussen 1977 en 1982 de drie delen van 'Donnerstag' (Donderdag) alsmede delen uit 'Dienstag'

(Dinsdag). 'Samstag' (Zaterdag) werd in 1984 gecreerd in de Scala van Milaan.

De inhoud van het werk in soms autobiografisch. Stockhausen wil er de rest van zijn leven aan

wijden: "J'en avais assez de faire de 'pices' de musique, de m'parpiller en pices. Maintenant, il me

semblerait tout fait normal qu'un compositeur commence ds sa premire note une oeuvre o son

existance entire serait intgre", zegt hij voor 'Le Monde' (Ik heb er genoeg van om enkel stukken te

componeren. Nu lijkt het me normaal dat ik begin te werken aan een werk dat heel mijn leven

omvat). Zo stelt 'Donnerstag' het leven voor van de engel Michal, die muzikant wordt en deelneemt

aan alle mogelijk menselijke ervaringen, een reis door de wereld maakt en terug opstijgt naar de

hemel!