Stockhausen Farewell

[Tronato]

PRESS RELEASE


The composer Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away on December 5th 2007 at his home in Kuerten-Kettenberg and will be buried in the Waldfriedhof (forest cemetery) in Kuerten.

He composed 362 individually performable works. The works which were composed until 1969 are published by Universal Edition in Vienna, and all works since then are published by the Stockhausen-Verlag. Numerous texts by Stockhausen and about his works have been published by the Stockhausen Foundation for Music.

Suzanne Stephens and Kathinka Pasveer, who have performed many of his works and, together with him, have taken care of the scores, compact discs, books, films, flowers, shrubs, and trees will continue to disseminate his work throughout the world, as prescribed in the statutes of the Stockhausen Foundation for Music, of which they are executive board members.

Stockhausen always said that GOD gave birth to him and calls him home.

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…for love is stronger than death.

IN FRIENDSHIP and gratitude for everything that he has given to us personally and to humanity through his love and his music, we bid FAREWELL to Karlheinz Stockhausen, who lived to bring celestial music to humans, and human music to the celestial beings, so that Man may listen to GOD and GOD may hear His children.

On December 5th he ascended with JOY through HEAVEN’S DOOR, in order to continue to compose in PARADISE with COSMIC PULSES in eternal HARMONY, as he had always hoped to do: You, who summon me to Heaven, Eva, Mikael and Maria, let me eternally compose music for Heaven’s Father-Mother, GOD creator of Cosmic Music.

May Saint Michael, together with Heaven’s musicians in ANGEL PROCESSIONS and INVISIBLE CHOIRS welcome him with a fitting musical GREETING.

On behalf of him and following his example, we will endeavor to continue to protect the music.

Suzanne Stephens and Kathinka Pasveer
in the name of the world-wide family of musicians who love him, together with everyone who loves his music.

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On Thursday, December 13th 2007, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. it will be possible to personally say farewell to Karlheinz Stockhausen in the chapel of the Waldfriedhof in Kuerten (Kastanienstrasse).

A commemorative concert will take place soon at the Sülztalhalle in Kuerten. Programme, time and date will be specially announced.

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[rbedgar]

This really struck me.
More than perhaps anyone else, Stockhausen's music and texts showed me how electronic music could be composed. I started listening to his Deutsche Grammaphone recordings in the late 1960s, and continued throughout the 1970s, while I worked with a large Moog installation and a couple tape recorders, with splicing tape and razor blades. Five years of this, with Gesang der Junglinge, Hymnen, and then Aus den Sieben Tagen as models of what could be done with electronics. Johnathan Cott's great set of interviews, along with others dug up in music libraries here and there, just laid out so clearly how one could practice with sound, music, and composition. And Stimmung, listening to the vocals that were SO like turning a pot on a high-pass filter, with the movement between those two a lesson in how to float an idea out of the stuff of the senses.
I've been a sponge over the years, I've picked up ideas, and learned to compose and better use my senses, from many, many influences. But for me, Stockhausen was huge.

[mtvic]

Give greetings to R. A. MOOG, Karlheinz.
Farewell and God Bless.

[blue hell]

Sad news indeed.

I dusted off some old tapes, has been a long time since I heard his music.

[memedesigner]

The elementary school I went to in the 70s was progressive enough to have Stockhausen's Kontakte & Gesang in the music class room LP collection -- listening to that, repeatedly, after school, was my first contact with electronic music.

Godspeed Karlheinz, here's a something for your journey. It's not much but it's the best I can do to express my gratitude:
http://www.twango.com/media/memedesigner.public/memedesigner.10005

[Stanley Pain]

i'm glad i caught Kontakte/Oktophanie when i did. sad news indeed, but he leaves us so much to mull over and enjoy.

[xjscott]

Stockhausen's Studie II was written using the nonoctave scale of 25th root of 5, which works out to 111.453 cent equal temperament. It's one of the first nonoctave pieces written in the western canon.

So many pioneers are leaving us. Electronic music is so new that we are seeing the last of the very first established generation pass away, leaving it to us to continue forward.

[rachmiel]

[x_x]

Stockhausen was a true genius.

ein! (...) zwei!! (...) drei ..........
so awesome



R.I.P.

thanks for the art

[Stanley Pain]

has anyone ever seen a score for the helicopter piece?
scoring in 3d... how do you DO that? i have to say that i'm going to be very sceptical until i see a score...

[x_x]

http://www.stockhausen.org/helicopter_intro.html

[dewdrop_world]

Thanks to Stockhausen for Gesang der Jünglinge, Kontakte and some others (I heard a bit of Hymnen on internet radio one day and found that pretty compelling too).

The helicopter quartet... Jeez, what a stupid and wasteful idea. Stockhausen kind of went off the deep end later in life and this is further evidence of it. It's a real shame to see Stockhausen squandering the respect he earned in the 50s and 60s on what is, frankly, little more than a stunt. Oooohhh... tremolos with glissandi... I've heard better undergraduate student pieces... but it's Stockhausen so let's give him an award.

Contemporary art and music both suffer from the tendency to confuse notoriety with innovation. I have less and less patience for that the more of it I see.

James

[x_x]

Well, art taste is subjective. I respect your opinion, but I disagree with you. First of all, how is this Stockhausen different from the Stockhausen from the 60's? The piece has it's own style and form(as most Stockhausen). Using glissando's & tremolo might not be innovative but mixing them with rotor blades makes it innovative. It's not stupid nor wasteful. It's highly conceptual, where the idea is the core of the art. I think it's both notorious and innovative, never seen someone attempt such a thing.

I'm sure you've heard better pieces, but this kind of piece is more focused on the idea as a whole than the music itself. But then again, art taste is subjective and might be seen in different perspectives. Just like 4'33 some people love it others hate it.

cheers

[Himer]

for me stockhausens books on his music were a very big inspiration back in 1993. I learned a view on music that was totally new for me. Those ideas raised and cured me from a deep "musical depression" i was in.
even though i dislike his egomania and find his pseudoreligious stuff very ridiculus i will always thank him for my musical rebirth and the inspirations.

RIP Karlheinz!

[v-un-v]

Did you know that two (or even 3?) members of CAN studied under Stockhausen? I however also agree with James, and I also found the majority of Karlheinz's music extremely tedious. However I don't actually think that was the great thing about Stockhausen- ie his music. What I thought was so great about Stockhausen was the amount of people who used his philosophy and created cutting edge experimental music afterwards- like CAN for eg. So it is Stockhausens legacy and what he influenced rather than what he made, which is what I find most important.

I also was saying on another part of the forum how I thought how great Tangerine Dream's 1st LP Electronic Meditation is/was- compared to their later stuff. Himer, you mentioned 'Poland'. I bought Poland when it first came out, and apart from the first track, which i quite liked, the rest of it bored the shit out of me (I had already seen TD 2 times in concert by that point (1981- White eagle tour/ 1982- Logos gig in London)- the 3rd and 4th were in 1986 and 1990- and they were truly awful by that point), but what struck me about Electronic Meditation was its Stockhausen-like freaky experimentalism which is utterly unique for a band who largely make 'wallpaper music'.

A little bit more influence from Stockhausen these days in music could spice things up again me thinks

I did (still do) like Rubycon though (very 'echoes' by Pink Floyd- don't you think? I'm sure Pink Floyd were into Stockhausen too?))

[Himer]

well that´s a large field you´re stepping into.

TD, PinkFloyd, Stockhausen - uiuiui - I´ve been listening to all of them for a long time (TD&PF since 85/86 and Stockhausen about 89) Like many others they influenced me a lot in music. Stockhausen must be seen as a great influence on those 2 bands. (In case of TD i also see lots of Philip Glass) I can hardly say whom of them is more important for me, as there are many others like Eno, Cage, Laurie Anderson, Messiaen, Sonicyouth, - just to mention a few. CAN of course too!!
Guess we have lot records in the cupboard in common...

[v-un-v]

You also like Werner Herzog too? One of my favourite directors! And while we're in Germany, Wim Wenders too; The State of things and Alice in the Cities. Wings of Desire is good too.

I also like Andre Tarkovsky. Films like Solaris and Stalker.

[janvanvolt]

Just this....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aAXkWFl5bcQ

P.S.: Yes, it is the ORIGINAL Studio of him. Await more surprises on Flickr!

[Himer]