Stockhausen: A Biography

by Michael Kurtz

Karlheinz Stockhausen is a unique figure in the history of twentieth-century music. A tireless innovator, his work has always aroused great controversy, as well as attracting a fanatical discipleship. Stockhausen is renowned for his role in establishing European serialism, for his pioneering work in every form of electro-acoustic music - from early musique concrete to computer music - for his exploitation of physical performance space, and in the seven-opera cycle Licht for the integration of sound and movement. Stockhausen the man, however, has largely escaped analysis.
Now A Biography reveals the personal history of this extraordinary figure. We learn of his boyhood in Cologne, his struggles as a student, his studies with Messiaen in Paris, his exacting and highly individual teaching methods at Darmstadt and Cologne, and the circumstances in which many of his greatest works were composed.

Genres: Music, Biography

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Danny Marcalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Platzhalter für "Stockhausen - Der Mann der vom Sirius kam"

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Kurtz's STOCKHAUSEN: A Biography was first published in German in 1988. This English translation by Richard Toop appeared in 1992, and includes a few brief remarks on events which occured between the two editions. The book is emphatically a biography, for while it is understood that one can best describe the composer's life by the works he turns out, there is little heavy analysis of Karlheinz Stockhausen's music. In fact, it's almost as musicologically lightweight as Toop's biography of Ligeti, though it is illustrated not only with photos but also with many samples from the scores.

After a preface that vaguely descibes the mature Stockhausen's long writing of his opera LICHT (which was finally completed years after this biography appeared), we start with Stockhausen's birth. The history of his family and the interesting landscape of his ancestral lands is presented and, while coverage of Stockhausen's childhood and adolescent is limited, the reader learns how the young man first wrote a variety of literary works before deciding to become a composer.

Most of the book covers the period 1951-1975. We meet first the Darmstadt serialist, and see him become a electronic wizard. Entering the 1960s, Kurtz tracks Stockhausen's impressive world travels, including frequent visits to the U.S. and a highly significant first visit to Asia. The formation of the Stockausen Ensemble and its notable performances in a Lebanon cave and at the Osaka World Fair get detailed examination. Along the way, there are a few references to Stockhausen's personal life, such as his marriage to Doris Stockhausen, followed by his relationship with Mary Bauermeister and eventual parting. Kurtz never outright judges Stockhausen to have become an increasingly eccentric and bizarre figure, but enough details are there that the reader can understand why critics many feel this way.

One major downside of the work is the skimpy coverage of Stockhausen's life after the middle of the 1970s. Granted, Stockhausen had ceased to grant many interviews at this time, and was working with an intimate circle of family and close friends who aren't too talkative, so these decades would be a challenge for a biographer. But there's not even much talk of the musical output. We're repeatedly told that the LICHT cycle is a significant piece of work, but details about the operas complete up until that point are missing.

And while we see Stockhausen's place in the wider Darmstadt circle in the 1950s, there seems little attempt to place him in a larger context afterward. For example, the German composer was not the only one to turn to astral mysticism in 1968, as Per Norgard in Denmark did the same, but there's no such discussion of such trends. Stockhausen's close friendship with Boulez in the 1950s is mentioned, but the reader does not find out how the two men viewed each other in later decades.

If you are looking for serious analysis of Stockhausen's music, Robin Maconie's OTHER PLANETS is the book to get. Kurtz's biography is a good resource for anyone wanting a short overview of this highly influential and eccentric composer's life, in spite of its faults.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stockhausen died in December, 2007. If you haven't heard any of the following pieces than I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so!!:

Drei Lieder
Sonatine
Kreuzspeil
Etude
Spiel
Schlagtrio
Kontra-Punkte
Klavierstück I
Klavierstück II
Klavierstück III
Klavierstück IV
Klavierstück V
Klavierstück VI
Klavierstück VII
Klavierstück VIII
Klavierstück IX
Klavierstück X
Zeitmasze
Gruppen
Klavierstück XI
Gesang der Jünglinge
Zyklus
Carré
Refrain
Kontakte (electronics only version)
Kontakte (for electronics & instruments)
Momente
Microphonie I
Mixtur
Microphonie II
Stop
Solo
Telemusik
Adieu
Hymnen
Prozession
Stimmung
Kurzwellen
Aus den sieben Tagen: Liaison
Aus den Sieben Tagen: Aufwarts (Upwards)
Aus den Sieben Tagen: Intensität (Intensity)
Aus den Sieben Tagen: Setz die Segel zur Sonne - Fais Voile Vers le Soleil
(Set Sail the Sun)
Aus den Sieben Tagen: Kommunion (Communion)
Aus den Sieben Tagen: Es (It)
Opus 1970
Mantra
Fur Kommende Zeiten (For Times to Come): Zugvogel (Bird of Passage)
Fur Kommende Zeiten (For Times to Come): Ceylon
Sternklang
Trans
>>Am Himmel Wandre Ich...<<
Ylem
Musik im Bauch (Music in the Belly)
Tierkreis (Zodiac)
Der Jahreslauf (The Course of the Years) (Tuesday from Light)
Donnerstag aus Licht (Thursday from Light)
Eingang und Formel (Entry and Formula) from Donnerstag aus Licht
(Thursday from Light)
Unsichtbare Chöre (Invisible Choirs) from Donnerstag aus Licht (Thursday from Light)
Drachenkampf (Dragon Fight) from Donerstag aus Licht (Thursday from Light)
Samstag aus Licht (Saturday from Light)
Geburts-Arien (Birth-Arias) vom Montag aus Light (Monday from Light)
Madchenprozession (Girl's Procession) (full version)
from Montag aus Light (Monday from Light)
Helikopter Streichquartet from Mittwoch aus Licht (Wednesday from Light)

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faber and Faber are not my favorite publishers, I think many of their books are meant to be seen on a shelf. If I came upon another Stockhausen bio I'd read it. Even so, you could do way worse than this one.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this book is brief, this writer knows his Stockhausen and it shows on every page. I wish it was much longer, but covers his life and work well up to 1991.