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GREGG WAGER

SYMBOLISM AS A COMPOSITIONAL METHOD

IN THE WORKS OF KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G r e g g   W a g e r

_________________________________

    Symbolism as a Compositional Method

 

in the Works of

Karlheinz Stockhausen

--   --- ---   --

 

 

 

 

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND

1998

 

                                                                                    

 

 

The following is the author's English translation of his doctoral dissertation for the Ph.D. in Musicology written at the Institut für Musikwissenschaft (Musicology Institute) of the Fachbereich Altertumswissenschaft (Department of Ancient Studies) of the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University Berlin). The original German version was officially submitted under the title Die Symbolik als kompositorische Methode in den Werken von Karlheinz Stockhausen. The first Gutachten (evaluation) was written by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Albrecht Riethmüller and the second Gutachten was written by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gert Mattenklott. The oral examination took place in Berlin on Nov. 25, 1996.

 

Copyright © 1998 Gregg Wager

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author. Printed in the United States of America.

All inquiries may be made to Gregg Wager, 28-38 38th St., Astoria, NY  11103-4302.

 

The author gratefully acknowledges permission for reproduction of the following materials: excerpts from Texte I-VI from the DuMont Verlag in Cologne; excerpts from Kontakte, Examen and Momente from the Stockhausen Verlag in Kürten as well as Karlheinz Stockhausen; excerpts from Satprem's book from the Institut de recherches evolutives in Paris; sketches and texts by Le Corbusier from the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris and the Artists Rights Society in New York; excerpts from Klaviersück IX and other materials from the Universal Edition in Vienna; excerpts from the Urantia Book from the Urantia Foundation in Chicago; and excerpts from Jonathan Cott's interview with Karlheinz Stockhausen from Robson Books in London and Jonathan Cott. 

 

This document contains quotes from The URANTIA Book, which was copyrighted in 1955 © by URANTIA Foundation; 533 Diversey Parkway; Chicago, Illinois 60614; 773-525-3319, all rights reserved. The author is using these quotes by permission from URANTIA Foundation, which owns the copyright. Any interpretations, opinions, or conclusions -- whether stated or implied -- are those of the author and may not represent the views of URANTIA Foundation or its affiliates.

 

Le Corbusier - extraits de l'ouvrage Le Modulor I - 1950 © ARS / FLC / ADAGP

 

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-90532

 

ISBN 0-9665850-0-3

 

First Edition - 300 copies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If life is limited within fifty years, we have a period of seven sevens for its first cycle.

 

 

 

Josef Rodes Buchanan

Periodicity, 1897

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOREWoRD

 

I wish to extend my deepest thanks to Prof. Dr. Albrecht Riethmüller of the Free University Berlin for his comprehensive and helpful supervision and support for this work. By working with him, I was able to amass a variety of new experiences as well as a valuable cache of stimuli and information. Professor Riethmüller was also on hand with patience and circumspection to help me with many bureaucratic problems. I thank his wife as well, Sherri Jones, for her advice and support during by residence in Germany.

                I am especially thankful to my teacher Dr. Leonard Stein (Los Angeles), who gave me the advice in the first place to turn to Prof. Dr. Riethmüller. As the former assistant of Arnold Schoenberg, Dr. Stein provided an important link to Stockhausen through his enthusiasm for both composers. I wrote my first article about Stockhausen for him.[1]

                My deepest thanks also go to Stockhausen himself. It meant a lot for me to get to know him personally during this work. I am very thankful that he was ready to help me and give me access to his archive in Kürten. Thanks also to Maria Luckas who supervised the archive while I was there.

                The following experts on Stockhausen deserve thanks for their personal advice to me: Prof. Dr. Christoph von Blumröder (Freiburg i. Br.), Peter Britton (Cambridge, England), Dr. Jerome Kohl (Seattle, Washington), Robin Maconie (Olney Bucks, England), Michael Manion (Oakland, California, and Kürten) and Barry Sullivan (Cumbria, England). Others who helped with more general information in this work were Steel Stylianou (Berlin), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Haug (Berlin), Dr. Albrecht Dümling (Berlin), Alexander Koop (Berlin), Frank Gutschmidt (Berlin), Dr. Adriaan Schakel (Berlin), Dr. Bart Kosko (Los Angeles), Dr. Richard Cytowic (Washington, D.C.) and Dr. Russell Kauper (Los Angeles). The author also extends his appreciation to the URANTIA Foundation and help from two of its members, Damian Bondi and Robert Solone.

                For their help with preparing me to use the German language while in Germany, I thank Heide Cressin, Ellen Eberling, Gabi Strigal, Beahte Berger, Lydia MacDonald, Roberta May, Anton Pechaver and especially Donald O'Toole, who was the best of mentors at the worst of times. To these ends were also the invaluable help of Michael Kiometzis, Christa Brüstle, Sabine Feißt, Claudia Franz, Ute Bonaker, Bobbi Riedl, Lars-Uwe Dittman and Ulrike Karstädt.

                For their love and belief in me while continually inspiring me with their outstanding musical talents, I thank my wife Jae-Wook and my late grandmother, Flora Swaby Wager (1908-1997). To the rest of my family, thank you, as always, for your support.

                Finally, my highest thanks to Dale Norris, who as a philosopher and poet is one of my most valued friends. To Mel Powell, ave atque vale, you will be missed.

 

 

COMMENTS ON STYLE

 

There are two important stylistic points to be made before one reads this work. The first deals with a common misspelling of the title of one of Stockhausen's works: Zeitmaße. An incorrect spelling of this title is often found: "Zeitmasze". Under "ss/ß" in the "Richtlinien" ("Guidelines") of Duden (Vol. 1)[2], the following rule is found, which is often overlooked even by Germans:

 

"If one wishes to write all capital letters, then an "ß" is replaced by "SS".

 

STRASSE, MASSE (for: Masse or Maße)

 

Only if a misunderstanding is possible does one write "SZ" (this is never written in small-case letters!).

 

MASSE (for: Masse)

MASZE (for: Maße)"[3]

 

                Because Stockhausen has preferred to write out the titles of his works with all capital letters since the early seventies, there have been this and many other similar orthographic problems in concert programs and other texts written about Stockhausen. Why the composer uses this style is not revealed in any of the Texten, Vol. I-VI, although it is a style found quite frequently among the proper names of the Urantia Book.[4] Many Stockhausen experts take on this style of writing the titles of Stockhausen's works without ever questioning or explaining it. There are exceptions; the Stockhausen biographer Michael Kurtz and the English musicologist Robin Maconie[5] write the titles of Stockhausen's works out in italics and capitalize the words of the titles according to the rules of German grammar.             

                This leads to the second stylistic point to be made about the following work. On advice from the author's mentor Prof. Dr. Riethmüller, the following work will not take on Stockhausen's style, but follow the style of Kurtz and Maconie. This decision has sound reasons. In a scholarly work, confusion arises when citing a Stockhausen composition in all capital letters since it is also grammatically proper to put it in italics as well. The reader should never forget the extra meaning Stockhausen's style gives to each of his titles. It even lends the works a certain holiness. In any case, the composer treats his works very reverently and therefore many of the authors who write about Stockhausen respect this reverence by using his style. Because it is the intention of the author of the following study to remain as neutral as possible, he has chosen to refer to the titles of Stockhausen's works using the style of Kurtz and Maconie.[6]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES                                                                                                                                               

LIST OF FIGURES                                                                                                                                              

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES                                                                                                                     

INTRODUCTION                                                                                                                                                

                § 1 "Comprehensive" Study                                                                                                             

                § 2 Symbolism in Music                                                                                                                     

                § 3 Student Activity                                                                                                                                           

                § 4 Early Works                                                                                                                                   

                § 5 The Sixties                                                                                                                                                     

                § 6 Formula-Technique                                                                                                                      

                § 7 Licht                                                                                                                                                               

                § 8 The Modern Myth                                                                                                                                       

 

CHAPTER 1 : SYMBOLISM                                                                                                                             

                Foreword                                                                                                                                                              

                § 1 The Meaning of Symbols                                                                                                                            

                § 2 The Levels of Language                                                                                                                              

                § 3 "Meaning" in Music                                                                                                                    

                § 4 The Levels of Music                                                                                                                    

                § 5 "Meaning" in Stockhausen's Music                                                                                         

                § 6 The Levels of Stockhausen's Music                                                                                         

                § 7 Metaphor                                                                                                                                                       

                § 8 Hermeneutics                                                                                                                                

                § 9 Metaphor and Music                                                                                                                   

                § 10  Hermeneutics and Music                                                                                                         

                § 11 Metaphor, Impertinence and Stockhausen                                                                            

                § 12 Hermeneutics and Stockhausen                                                                                                               

 

CHAPTER 2 : BIOGRAPHICAL MEANINGS                                                                                

                § 1 "A Child of the War"                                                                                                                   

                § 2 Spiritual Meaning                                                                                                                         

                § 3 Hermann Hesse                                                                                                                             

                § 4 Werner Meyer-Eppler                                                                                                  

                § 5 "Higher Human"                                                                                                                           

                § 6 Other Biographical Symbols                                                                                                       

 

CHAPTER 3 : NUMERICAL MEANINGS                                                                                                      

                § 1 Numerologies                                                                                                                                

                § 2 The Time-continuum                                                                                                                    

 

CHAPTER 4 : OCCULTISM                                                                                                                                              

                § 1 Beginnings of Modern Occultism                                                                                                                                              

                § 2 Telepathy, a Concept from Spiritualism (Spiritism)                                                 

                § 3 A View Towards the East: Sri Aurobindo Ghose and Hazrat Inayat Khan         

                § 4 Theosophical and Anthroposophical Background                                                                

                § 5 Sirius and UFOs                                                                                                            

                § 6 Birds, Flying and Airplanes                                                                                                        

                § 7 Stockhausen as Myth                                                                                                  

 

 

CHAPTER 5 : THE FORMULA AS A SYMBOL                                                                           

                § 1 The Formula as an Expository Statement                                                                 

                § 2 The Formula and Self-Reference                                                                                

                § 3 The Formula as Sketch                                                                                                

                § 4 The Formula-Technique and a Cycle of Pieces                                                       

 

CHAPTER 6 : LICHT                                                                                                                          

                § 1 A Lost Source for Licht: The Urantia Book                                                            

                § 2 Other Sources for Licht                                                                                               

                § 3 Examen                                                                                                                          

 

GLOSSARY                                                                                                                          

INDEX OF LITERATURE CITED WITH  ABBREVIATIONS                                     

BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                                                                                                 

INDEX                                                                                                                                                  

 

LIST OF TABLES

 

1. The Days of the Week with their Corresponding Planets or Gods                                         

2. The Fibonacci Series                                                                                                                      

3. Stockhausen's Application of the Fibonacci Series and Le Corbusier's "Blue" Row          

4. Coda from Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX                                                                                                 

5. Twelve and Seven as Chromatic and Diatonic Principles Respectively                                

6. O ctaves 1-125 of the U niverse                                                                                                                    

7. Visual light and its "Corresponding" Pitches                                                                                            

8. Examen                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of figures

 

1. The Ogden-Richards Triangle                                                                                                                      

2. The Process of Understanding Using Two Ogden-Richards Triangles                                

3. One Possible Model of Practical Communication                                                                      

4. Le Corbusier's Grid                                                                                                                                         

5. Le Corbusier's "Scale"                                                                                                                                   

6. Stockhausen's Three Symbols for Sirius                                                                                                    

7. Canis Major                                                                                                                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

 

1. Bitonality or Metaphor?: m  easures 394-397 in movement I  of                                                              

                Ludwig van b eethoven's s ymphony n o. 3 "e roica" (piano reduction)

 

2. Quote of the Melody "Dixie":   measures 60-1 in movement I "Discussions" of                 

                Charles Ives' String Quartet No. 2

 

3. Atonal "Analog" of Beethoven: measures 1-3 of                                                                                      

                Mel Powell's Beethoven Analogs (String Quartet No. 1)

 

4. Tonal Musical Statement: measures 1-8 in movement I of                                                                       

                Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 1

 

5. The Sum of Nine Fibonacci Numbers: measure 1 of                                                                  

                Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX

 

6. The Sum of Eight Fibonacci Numbers: measure 2 of                                                                 

                Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX

 

7. The "Blue" Row and the Sums of Seven  (chords) and Six (silence) Fibonacci                   

                Numbers: measures 3-16 of Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX

 

8. Six Plus Six Plus Six: measures 17-45 of Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX                                               

 

9. Perfect Fifth Formed Between the First and Last Note: twelve-tone row of                          

                Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX

 

10. Final Coda: measures 117-152 of Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX                                        

 

11. Opening Metaphor: measure 1 of Stockhausen's Kontakte                                                  

 

12. Second Metaphor: 17' 0.5" into Stockhausen's Kontakte                                                                      

 

13. Eve-metaphor: opening of the first of Stockhausen's Examen                                                              

 

14. Interchange of Tone Forms: measure 5 of the first of Stockhausen's Examen                   

 

15. Interchange of Tone Forms: measures 8-9 of the first of Stockhausen's Examen                              

 

16. Time-continuum: measures 11-13 of the first of Stockhausen's Examen                                             

 

17. Projection: "limb" of the Michael-Formula for Donnerstag aus Licht                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

inTRODUCTION

 

§ 1 "Comprehensive" Study

 

 

The word "comprehensive" creates a problem, if one has the goal of taking on any serious study of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Although earlier studies of his music by authors who maintain a rather dubious posture of "comprehensiveness" (actually quite a few) are often interesting and sometimes useful, Stockhausen's music is so complex and even filled with so many "secrets," that any attempt to analyze one of his compositions from the bottom up not only becomes pointless, but also runs the risk of creating something superficial and even useless. Of course, this argument should apply to other prominent composers in history. Perhaps the old saying that it is the essence of a masterpiece that one can experience it again and again and continue to find new things in it, should also limit the idea of a "comprehensive study" altogether, as long as the attempt to apply it is made to lasting works of art.

                One of Stockhausen's colleagues and friends, Pierre Boulez, addresses the problem of those who "take apart" pieces of music (especially serial pieces) as if they were "curious watches."[7] Perhaps it seems contradictory that a composer whose music requires such a high technical mastery of difficult passages to convey a puzzling new listening experience, makes light of the industrious scholar who diligently undertakes an analysis that attempts to provide a reason for every tone and permutation of a row or every minute nuance of a large or small musical form. Then again, it is important not to confuse the word "comprehensive" with "comprehend." One should admit, on the one hand, that the tedious activity of cataloging every idea or technique in a piece can lead to discoveries that are helpful to understanding how a piece is conceived and constructed. It is also true, on the other hand, that these studies should never be a substitute for the more important task of understanding music. Analyses should never lose track of their more subjective purpose: to shed light on a piece of music, allowing it to be more easily approachable to the listener.

                Stockhausen explains the subtle difference of this distinction with a crude analogy:

 

"But when someone is taken by a certain music, whether child or otherwise, and says to me: 'This here, I think is great,' and then when he doesn't quite know how to say it, and I ask him a question: 'Do you know how it is made?' and he shakes is head: 'no, no', and I ask him further: 'Do you want to know how it is made?' and he replies: 'yes, yes', then I'll answer him: 'all right, then I'll show you how it is made.'

Then I begin with what in surgery is called 'anatomy.' And I will say: 'But be careful; if one wants to see everything inside of a bird, one must kill it. Music also flies. But if you really want me now to kill this piece, pay attention, so that I can show you what's inside of it.' "[8]

 

                One often finds techniques in Stockhausen's music broken down into complex tables of numbers which require patient scrutiny to understand. In contrast to the music of one of the most influential predecessors of Stockhausen, Anton Webern, dense textures with seemingly countless notes and opaque complexities not only typify much of Stockhausen's music, but a solution or key (when one exists at all) to how these structures were originally put together by the composer brings with it a task resembling the untangling of the Gordian knot. Less dense works, like the tiny Klavierstück III[9], still, like many of Webern's short pieces, require extensive analysis. Stockhausen's musical thinking is, however, much more numerical, even losing itself at times in a sort of fantasy with numbers, while Webern has always maintained a more Neo-Classical posture.[10] Nevertheless, understanding Stockhausen's music is ultimately not an exercise of "dissection" and piecing together an "anatomy", although one's curiosity in that direction should not necessarily be discouraged completely. Making contact with Stockhausen (or the divine, for which he claims to be a sort of medium) through his music requires a slowly evolving understanding in which numerous overlapping levels of information are accepted for what they are, while broader gestures emerge, but never losing track of what such information is supposed to be conveying.

                In Kontakte, Stockhausen uses the term "Moment-form" to describe his intention of creating a music in which no connection whatsoever can be made from one point in the music to the other.[11] The aim is a listening experience which is almost dreamlike and avoids any sort of development. How then should this music be analyzed? A simple prosaic description of every event may be a useful exercise for the listener, but for the musicologist trying to enlighten the music for others, such a description has little value. Any author who wants to write about Stockhausen's music should accept the task at hand with self-imposed limitations and slowly, step by step, employ the utmost patience inside of these.

                In the work that follows, Stockhausen's symbolism is stressed. Naturally, it is important to define that elusive word before it can be applied to another topic such as Stockhausen's music. Between the extreme of microscopically looking at a single musical work that illustrates symbolism more than others, and the extreme of searching out every single example of symbolism and creating a chronological catalogue of sorts, the following overview of Stockhausen's entire oeuvre will hopefully shed light upon not only how his symbols come into play, but also how the subjective side of Stockhausen's musical world functions. First, the early works of Stockhausen's professional career will demonstrate how biographical aspects can be woven into a composition and how very early on in Stockhausen's life he became a symbol of the new Germany and a younger generation of composers, despite limitations put upon him by his tragic childhood. Next, his development of Moment-form primarily out of Webern's Pointillism represents a remarkably rich collection of numerologies, sometimes with secret meanings, sometimes with logical justifications and sometimes with a mystical orientation--only three of many ways of creating symbolism with numbers. Thirdly, Stockhausen's drastic turn in the 1960s to metaphysical aspects in music is reflected in his more subjective use of language to describe music (as well as incorporating absurdist theater and improvisation into his music). Following this, his "return" to the Formula-Technique in the 1970s, which had essentially been developed during his student years, has some symbolic implications as well. Finally, this work concludes with a brief examination of some of the more prominent symbols in Licht, the still uncompleted cycle of theater music.   

 

 

§ 2 Symbolism in Music

 

 

One way to develop a practical concept of symbolism which can be applied to music is to borrow certain ideas out of the modern philosophy of linguistics, such as "semiology", "semantics" and "hermeneutics". It is then only a matter of making common analogies: " 'a' is to 'b' in linguistics as 'c' is to 'd' in music." This has been a frequent practice among musicologists throughout this century, although it does little else than create interesting comparisons. Taking ideas out of linguistics with such lofty philosophical rubrics as "Post-Structuralist" and "Post-Existentialist" with an array of mostly European practitioners, such as Umberto Eco, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricœur and Claude Lévi-Strauss, might perhaps lend a high degree of intellectual sophistication to these analogies, but unfortunately only few useful, if not obvious, objective conclusions about the relationship between music and language can be made at this point in history.

                Nonetheless, the most modern studies in linguistics should follow suit and also engage in making analogies between language and the phenomenon of music. Perhaps the time has come to declare that any modern study of language is actually incomplete if it omits any mention of music. This is especially true for atonal music of the twentieth century in which composers, with and without a certain amount of success, have developed an asymmetrical form of expression which is similar to prose in language.

                Lejaren Hiller addressed this very same point of drawing modern analogies between music and language in a 1963 lecture at Darmstadt:

 

 

"If we then all agree with the assumption that music is a valid form of communication in human relationships, then it must share certain qualities with other forms of communications, for example, with spoken and written language, with other forms of art such as painting and sculpture, and finally with other communication systems in the area of technology, such as radio, television, telegraphs and even coded systems and coded communications."[12]

 

                Although other scholars have indicated this connection between music and these modern directions in philosophy, linguistics and science, there is still the difficulty of pooling resources between these areas and music in order to make important conclusions. The Belgian linguist Nicholas Ruwet[13] is a worthy exception, as well as the Canadian musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez.[14] Both serve as good examples of rather bold attempts to fuse a philosophy of language with music, although their work is still in a somewhat embryonic, though impressive state. Leonard Bernstein also made rather quixotic attempts in this direction, using linguist Noam Chomsky as his muse.[15]

                In order to go further into the implications arising from the melding of two worlds of communication which share certain similarities, it is important to go beyond mere analogies (like that between atonal music and prose) to more concrete phenomena such as how symbols "stand for something" or the accumulative aspects of both language and music: letters to words to sentences and so forth; and notes to motives to phrases and so forth. Perhaps there is also some significance to the historical development of Western music (monophony to modality to tonality to atonality) and language. With these strategies, the first chapter of this study modestly attempts to participate in comparing music and language. The primary thrust will be to show that however concrete some examples of meaning and the structure of language may appear to be, there are other examples which are not concrete. Parallels between these examples and basic analogies to music and Stockhausen's symbolism will hopefully attain some relevance for the matter at hand.

                Stockhausen's use of the "Formula", for example, is an interesting aspect for comparison. In many ways, it functions like a table of contents or even an expository statement. This is the type of comparison that moves out of the rote-for-rote analyses of Stockhausen's music that so many musicologists undertake for a more subjective look into his music as information.

                Interpreting Stockhausen's musical and theoretical work as a whole also leads to the conclusion, perhaps more than just a coincidence, that the works of his student years, at which time he first developed the Formula-Technique, function like a "Formula" for the rest of his musical development. Stockhausen could use his own (with the help of Jill Purce) interpretation of a "spiral" to interpret his career, where certain once-discarded trends "return" although a bit "higher".[16] Such use of symbols in the course of this development raises the question of "meaning" in music. This could be a matter for a "deconstruction" of a composer and his music. There can even be multi-meaning and meaning by analogy created by "metaphors" in compositions which refer to something biographical or extramusical. The author turns out of high respect to the work of French linguist Paul Ricœur for help in understanding metaphors as more than mere analogies or "category mistakes".

                But a symbol can be something other than an element of language or some similar phenomenon in music. In fact, the type of symbols which help define the more subjective side to Stockhausen's music have sources outside of his scores and statements. The work in comparative religions by Mircea Eliade may help explain how these symbols come into being.

                Interpreting all of reality as a collection of symbols is actually where the field of linguistics has transported the modern intellectual towards the end of the twentieth century. Articulations such as "hermeneutical phenomenology" or even Ernst Cassirer's approach of interpreting the sciences as a collection of symbols[17] allow language itself to become the ultimate symbol of the universe. In this sense, the same intellectual must never forget music with its own "grammar" and the way it can also function as a model of the universe (certainly Stockhausen has not forgotten this).

                With these types of questions, this investigation has a specific direction, but it cannot be stressed often enough that a "comprehensive" cataloging of symbols in Stockhausen's music is less useful than using a few symbols to illustrate broader conclusions. Counting up as many occurrences of symbols as possible may be optimal as an illustration of conclusions, but the primary goal of this study is to interpret Stockhausen's music and not to exhaustively describe it, what Stockhausen himself stresses in a 1953 quote:

 

"Why does anyone undertake with relentless rigor to be conscious of every single event from the entire presentation down to every single tone, to raise doubts about them and to critically examine them?"[18]

 

Raising this question out of frustration so early in his career certainly did not halt the presses that went on to produce the voluminous amount of analytic articles on Stockhausen's music now at hand. This study refers to these with admiration, but attempts to revert back to the composer's sentiments as stated above.

   

 

 

§ 3 Student Activity

 

 

As already mentioned, if one considers the image of a spiral, which Stockhausen explored in his 1968 composition Spiral, then Stockhausen's late return to methods developed in his student years becomes clearer. Certainly Mantra (1970) represents a more detailed use of the Formula-Technique than Formel (1951), which is only a preparation for the Formula-Technique. The time between the compositions Mantra and Formel found the composer with other concerns, perhaps the more southerly quadrant of his musical "spiral".

                Many composers, Johannes Brahms for example, found it necessary to destroy their early "lesser" works.[19] Stockhausen's renumbering (at the beginning of the 1970s) of his early works from Chöre für Doris to Punkte is perhaps a less drastic solution.

                Above all, these early works lend some understanding to his life and work in the 1950s. Just as a spiral always returns "higher" to its point of origin, Stockhausen returns to his earlier thinking by adding ten works to his official list of compositions, numbered with the simple fractions ""  (for Chöre für Doris) to "" (for Punkte).[20] The words "reprise" or "recapitulation" are perhaps fitting here, since Stockhausen has used sonata-form as an analogy of his ideas in previous lectures.[21] Then again, the similarities of Stockhausen's spiral to "sonata-form" should be taken with a grain of salt, as Stockhausen continually denies that his "spiral" or anything about his music is influenced by a "Neo-"Classicism.[22]

                In the end, Stockhausen's most sensitive years of development, his childhood and student activity, introduce the listener to the most important recurring symbols in his music. An overview of what he symbolized in the new Germany (perhaps he even symbolized the victory of "degenerate art" ("entartenden Kunst") over Hitler's "1,000-Year Empire"), relates the adventure of how he and a handful of young composers emerging from the satellites of the Nazi regime began discovering the music of Schoenberg, Webern and Paul Hindemith for the first time. They were also discovering writers like Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse (especially Das Glasperlenspiel, a novel which is known in English as Master Ludi or The Glass-Bead Game). Out of the ruins flew a phoenix.

                But even more than a mere success story, the development of ideas in Stockhausen's youth, from his early experiences with praying and Catholicism to studies in music as communication with Werner Meyer-Eppler, shed light on many of the symbols and hidden meaning in Stockhausen's music up to and including Licht. Like sprouting seeds, these early impressions developed on their own and were reflected in Stockhausen's music. Eventually, these ideas merged with kindred spirits like Sri Aurobindo or Jakob Lorber which Stockhausen discovered later in his life.

 

 

 

 

§ 4 Early Works

 

 

Stockhausen's twelve pieces from Kontra-Punkte to Kontakte, or his first "professional" works, laid the cornerstone for an international reputation as heir apparent to the New Music world created by composers such as Schoenberg, Webern, Hindemith, Edgar Varèse, Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. Perhaps because seven of these works do not stray far from traditional notation (the exceptions being Klavierstück XI, Zyklus, Refrain and the electronic works) and ten of them (excluding once again the electronic works) demand an uncompromising virtuosity, these first twelve compositions can, with some limitations, impress even the most old-fashioned skeptics of modernity, who insist that the history of Western music ended with Stravinsky (and in some more extreme cases, with Ludwig van Beethoven).

                 In many respects, they also represent the most difficult works for the listener. They require careful, industrious study. Only Gesang der Jünglinge and Carré work with "texts," although the setting of often unintelligible words in Gesang der Jünglinge and nonsensical phonemes in Carré do not represent "texts" in any traditional sense. Adding to the complexity of this music, Stockhausen's own explanation of different levels between his adapted version of Webern's Pointillism and his own "Moment-form" are equally (if not more) complex.[23]

                These twelve works are abstract, because on the surface they offer little to the listener other than their sonic structures. Then again, underneath the surface of the complex serial levels of information lurk numerologies and mysticism which are crucial to this study of Stockhausen's symbols.

                It is easy to recognize a piece from its orchestration, some of its opening bars or a specific passage, but it requires a special devotion to eke out the general logic or idea behind the structures in order to determine what the initial musical idea is in these first twelve pieces by Stockhausen. Symbology helps this process. Thinking of numbers as symbols also makes listening to these works a far more mystical experience than with the music of some of Stockhausen's contemporaries, such as Boulez, Luigi Nono or Iannis Xenakis.

                Stockhausen's mysticism, often hidden but present in his first twelve works, makes the subject of symbology a rich point of departure for a study of his music, even though most analyses ignore this aspect of his music completely. While language usually offers the reader or listener a variety of interpretations, metaphorically or hermeneutically, the subjective activity of enjoying the beauty of a simple melody carries with it a built-in mystery which allows a much broader variety of interpretations than any text could provide. This may create some leeway when interpreting Stockhausen's music, even if arbitrary interpretations or describing a music "without intention" (as is the case with John Cage) is not appropriate.

                Even in those cases where logic steers the form and development of materials in a composition, this logic consists of numbers, which as symbols bring extra meaning to the music.  Some may prefer to look skeptically on such numerical "music", while others can perceive the musical gestures for what they are. In both cases, symbols tend to lie on top of these gestures as "extramusical".

                Although coherence is intentionally avoided in Kontakte in order to create and sustain Moment-form, there are nonetheless at least two specific examples which go against this principle which stand as purely symbolic events.[24] In this very difficult and challenging piece with many different levels, one relatively brief passage becomes a sort of fanfare portending a dramatic shift in directions in Stockhausen's thinking. With this fanfare, Stockhausen arrives at a turning point, a cadence, and the mystical explosion that occurs in the works following Kontakte can be considered the second stage of a burning rocket. 

                The Janus-function[25] of Kontakte is further emphasized with Originale, a piece of absurdist theater, which is notated in detail using the electronic part of Kontakte as a backdrop. The original idea of Kontakte which was to make "contacts" between the electronic music and two soloists, now extends its idea in Originale and makes "contacts" between Stockhausen's austere, disciplined early works and a new unexplored world of theater and art, perhaps inspired in some part by the Fluxus movement. In this way, the entire piece Kontakte stands as a symbol.

 

 

§ 5 The Sixties

 

 

Stockhausen's activity in the 1960s is clearly framed, beginning with Originale, a hybrid offspring of Kontakte and theater, and ending with Mantra, the piece which introduces a mature notion of his Formula-Technique. During the 1970s, there are still scattered remnants of Stockhausen's activity during the 1960s; for example, the techniques in Stimmung (1968) can be found in Sternklang (1974) and the intuitive texts in Aus den sieben Tagen (1968) find counterparts in the intuitive texts of Für kommende Zeiten (1968-70), a piece completed after Mantra. But between Kontakte and Mantra in Stockhausen's list of works are 19 complete pieces which break drastically with the stylistic restraints and character of his first twelve serial works. They are also certainly unlike those pieces after 1970 that employ the Formula-Technique.

                At the time that Mantra was composed, Stockhausen set up his own publishing company (Stockhausen-Verlag) as he was dissatisfied with the "slowness" of the Universal Edition which up to that point had published his scores. Perhaps it was also the unconventional, even minimal nature of these 19 works of the 1960s that also challenged the Universal Edition at that time. In any case, the rise of facsimile scores for Stockhausen's works did not take place until after the 1960s, and there was still an admirable effort on the part of Universal Edition to engrave whatever Stockhausen handed them. 

                One of these highly unconventional scores, Plus-Minus (1963), could take up several chapters of a study of symbols since it is an exercise in notation and symbols in and of itself. Trying to sort out and catalogue these symbols may not be a very useful undertaking in light of the topic at hand, but rules number 13 and 14[26] in the list of instructions for Plus-Minus reveal a puzzling aspect of this do-it-yourself piece which has been open to interpretation among those composers[27] who have ventured to realize Stockhausen's otherwise precise rules:

       

"13. If a type acquires a total of +13 wholes (this being the sum of its parts) the original form (= 1 whole) replaces it, but with completely new sound characteristics foreign to the context.

 

14. If a type reaches - 13 wholes it is then eliminated throughout the remainder of the composition. Whenever it occurs again, one must proceed directly from the previous to the following event."[28]

 

                That Stockhausen abandoned the various experimental methods of notation, improvisational aspects and aleatoric techniques used in his work during the 1960s as he began to write Licht in 1977, shouldn't be interpreted the wrong way. These were not experiments leading to dead ends and shouldn't be dismissed as such.[29] The 1960s, a period in which many artists experimented with notation as well as many other things, stimulated composers such as Stockhausen to try new things. Compared to Boulez, who could not really adapt to the 1960s as Stockhausen did and has essentially not changed stylistic directions in a radical way since Le marteau sans maître (1957) or his third Sonata for Piano (1957), Stockhausen's output has been much more extensive, while Boulez shifted his energies to conducting.

                Despite the drastic nature and degree of this change of directions, there is still a similarity between Stockhausen's compositions from the 1950s and his compositions from the 1960s. This can be illustrated through Stockhausen's rich use of symbolism. Unlike the dramatic bobs and weaves of styles and techniques throughout his career, Stockhausen's use of symbolism maintains a more gradual, continuous development in his work throughout time. Although works like Mikrophonie I and Stimmung or the more improvisational Prozession may require a different approach to analysis than Kontra-Punkte, Zeitmaße and Kontakte, there is a similar handling of numerologies and mysticism in both stylistic periods. Because flexibility in the word "symbolism" has already been established, entire compositions can be used as examples of symbols, where one composition is a symbol of one type of thinking and another composition is a symbol of another.

                The most useful approach to sorting out the multifarious array of directions and influences in the 1960s may be to confront Stockhausen's mysticism head-on. This can be broken down many ways, but the following subtitles are used in this study: modern occultism, telepathy, Oriental influences, theosophy and anthroposophy, the star Sirius and other extraterrestrial elements, birds and, finally, one of the most controversial aspects of Stockhausen's artistry, despite its harmless intentions, his role as a myth. 

 

 

§ 6 Formula-Technique

 

 

Many studies of the Formula-Technique have been or are in the process of being published[30], some touching only briefly on how the Formula can exist as a symbol by itself. The analogy of a "body and its limbs" that Stockhausen often uses to describe a Formula ("limbs" being the smaller segments that make up the melody) not only finds applications in music, but also in theater, with works like Inori and Licht. Stockhausen's music in the 1970s continued to reflect the same spirit of exploration that it did in the 1960s, but there were also many different directions. Musik im Bauch, Sirius, In Freundschaft and Amour all explore a return to melodies that establish "tonal" centers, although Stockhausen resists describing them this way. Little by little, there is also a return to the restraint and austerity of the 1950s via the Formula-Technique.

                More than ever, entire pieces in the 1970s act as "symbols" for certain things or events in Stockhausen's life. Many works of the 1970s are also not clearly demarcated from one another and not only share ideas, but musical materials: Sirius, for example, is built with four melodies (plus two at the end) from Musik im Bauch. Other works stand by themselves, such as Inori, which may be guided by the Formula-Technique, but remains nonpareil in Stockhausen's oeuvre for combining body gestures and music.

                Meanwhile, Stockhausen's mysticism and myths are becoming more and more in focus and easier to detect. Works like Alphabet für Liège and Sirius demand the listener to not only experience the complexity of sonic events that the music has to offer, but also to connect to the spiritual ways of thinking that may challenge whatever ruling notions of the universe (or "Universes", as illustrated in the dense and erudite Urantia Book) the listener may subscribe to.

                In Sirius, Stockhausen establishes a world in which music is connected to every aspect of the universe: star constellations, elements, days, months and years. The smallest and most trivial of details demonstrates the composer's devotion to his own myths, such as the acknowledgment of applause at the end of the performance for Sirius: Stockhausen with extended arm turns to face each of the four musicians for exactly 12 seconds apiece. What is normally a routine and unrehearsed ritual is now ordered according to a numerology. It is almost an idea from the Middle Ages, that the simplest tasks in life should consciously be carried out according to a "higher" order.

                Astrology also finds its way more and more into Stockhausen's work in the 1970s. In addition to the traditional approach to this ancient Babylonian pseudo-science or spiritual undertaking, whatever orientation one subscribes to, Stockhausen adds his own subtle spin, mostly drawing an analogy of constellations of stars to constellations of pitches, and how both of these might "influence" a human. The 24,000-year Platonic year, which is built upon a scientifically proved phenomenon that the earth's axis shifts counterclockwise to a new astrological constellation every 2,000 years, is symbolized at the end of Sirius with two melodies Pisces and Aquarius.[31] Modern popular astrology[32] assigns to these two 2,000-year eras--the "Age of Pisces" from Christ[33] to the present and the upcoming "Age of Aquarius"--significant meanings, which Stockhausen blends into his own myths.

 

 

§ 7 Licht

 

 

That Stockhausen has never ceased to develop his musical language while continuing to surprise his listeners with radical shifts in direction long after he had established himself in the 1950s as one of the most important figures in twentieth century music, is best exemplified in his dramatic cycle Licht. Now nearly completed, according to an envisioned work-schedule spanning more than two decades, this seven-part Gesamtkunstwerk corresponding to each of the seven days of the week already dwarves all other previous activity in his career. It also breaks through with an unusually rich palette of symbols and myths as if the mystical side of Stockhausen is only now being revealed in its entirety.

                The complex use of Formula-Technique in Licht by itself has already inspired at least one extensive monograph (by the American Michael Manion[34]). This  involves not only "Formulas" but "Triple-Formulas" and "Super-Formulas" creating a many-sided, complex concoction of information, as well as reflecting a complex, mystical revelation. Aside from this extensive aspect of the cycle, which finds origins in Mantra and Inori, the libretto itself introduces an entirely new mystical universe, all reflected by symbols found in the scenery, colors, lighting, choreography and, of course, the music itself.

                In view of the details of the Formula-Technique as used in Licht, symbolism also plays a role, especially the task of interpreting the characters themselves--Michael, Lucifer and Eve. This can be done historically, mystically or symbolically or even using the characters as composites for a multitude of various things. As well as interpreting the characters by themselves is interpreting the relationships between them and what they might represent: perhaps the Trinity of Christianity (which also plays an important role in the Urantia Book), the philosophical relationship between the historical and religious myths of Michael and Lucifer, or even a metaphysical, cosmological conception of sound, light and/or the universe itself. Among all of these meanings lies the more simple, tragic and heroic autobiography of the composer himself.

                In the Urantia Book, the word "light" has a metaphysical, symbolic definition that differs from what is normally found in physics or in general use of the English language:

    

"Light - spirit luminosity  - is a word symbol, a figure of speech, which connotes the personality manifestation characteristic of spirit beings of diverse orders. This luminous emanation is in no respect related either to intellectual insight or to physical-light manifestations."[35]

 

                Stockhausen defines the word "Licht" ("light") simply as "Gott" ("God").[36] These differing definitions themselves indicate just how the deeply-rooted symbolism in Licht exists: sometimes the symbols and their meanings are very obvious and easy to find, sometimes they are buried under several layers and require, similar to a psychoanalytic interpretation, a manifest meaning and a latent one. Clearly, Stockhausen's approach to theater transcends all boundaries, whether they are psychological, religious, historical or even mystical.

 

 

§ 8 The Modern Myth

 

 

Finally, the career of Stockhausen which has stretched from the middle of the twentieth century to the dawn of the twenty-first century resembles not only a cadence of sorts to the avant-garde movement started by the likes of Schoenberg and Stravinsky, but as an elided cadence: that is, one that acts as the downbeat into a new era. His career is a seam[37] between two musical and artistic visions. It begins with the development of a then new area of total serialism attempting to forge a new path for music, using Webern as an icon, and then breaks off into a completely different world, shedding its skin of rows and musical parameters, only to grow a different, but similar skin back in the 1970s with the Formula-Technique. Modern occultism, whether with Christian or other orientations, has always steered the avant-garde of the twentieth century, even serving as one of the more provocative elements of it. Modern occultism now comes boldly to a fore with Stockhausen, who almost confronted it rather than merely allowing it to influence him. With this mysticism comes myriad symbols, numerologies and perhaps only a small inkling of where these methods will lead.

                The seemingly rough seams that have connected Stockhausen's career together are smoothed by Stockhausen's firm grip on many ideas from the early years of his development. It's accurate to say that the abrupt turning points in his career have often been inspired by many of the artistic currents and directions of his time, although his eager embrace of these changes is often attacked as a propensity for kitsch or trend. To limit ourselves to only one of Stockhausen's many creative directions, symbolism, may take only a glimpse into his version of the universe, but reveals the most continuous and consistent side of his personality. It also serves the useful purpose of delving into the often maligned myth that surrounds him. May this study provide some context and light to this side of Stockhausen.

 


[1]"Karlheinz Stockhausen: A Morphology of Form in the Early Works, 1952-1960," thesis for U So. Cal. and Cal. Inst. of the Arts, 1981.

[2]Duden, Band I: Rechtschreibung der deutschen Sprache (Mannheim: Dudenverlag, 1991) 75.

[3]"Will man nur Großbuchstaben verwenden, so wird das ß durch SS ersetzt. / STRASSE, MASSE (für: Masse oder Maße) / Nur wenn Mißverständnisse möglich sind, schreibt man SZ (dies gilt nicht für Kleinbuchstaben!). / MASSE (für:  Masse) / MASZE (für: Maße)" [trans. GW]

[4]The Urantia Book. Chicago: Urantia Foundation, 1955; see Chapter 6, § 1, 191-203.

[5]Although Maconie's latest writings now use the all-capital-letter style for Stockhausen's titles.

[6]A current list of the titles of Stockhausen's works using his own style, as well as all available CDs, scores, books and videos, can be obtained from the Stockhausen-Verlag, 51515 Kürten, Germany.

[7]Pierre Boulez, Boulez on Music Today, trans. Susan Bradshaw and Richard Rodney Bennett (London: Faber, 1971) 13; Boulez is actually quoting from: Claude Debussy, Monsieur Croche antidilletante (Paris: Gallimard, 1923).

[8]"Interview IV: Die Musik und das Kind," Texte IV, 606: "Wenn aber jemand sich in eine bestimmte Musik verliebt, ob Kind oder wer auch immer - und mir sagt: 'Das da, das finde ich toll', und wenn er nicht weiß, wie er es sagen soll und ich ihn frage: 'Weißt Du, wie es gemacht ist?', und er den Kopf schüttelt: 'Nein, nein', und ich weiter frage: 'Willst Du wissen, wie es gemacht ist?', und er sagt: 'Ja, ja', so werde ich antworten:  'Also gut, dann will ich Dir zeigen, wie es gemacht ist.' [¶] Dann beginne ich, was man in der Chirurgie als 'Anatomie' bezeichnet. Und ich werde sagen:  'Paß aber auf, wenn man sehen will, was in einem Vogel alles drin ist, so muß man ihn töten.  Auch die Musik fliegt.  Wenn Du aber wirklich willst, daß ich dieses Stück jetzt töte, so gib acht, daß ich Dir zeigen kann, was alles darin ist.' " [trans. GW]

[9]See Christoph von Blumröder,  Die Grundlegung der Musik Karlheinz Stockhausens. Beihefte zum Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 32 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1993) 109-137.

[10]Although in a master class at the Stockhausen Projekt in the Hague, November of 1982, Stockhausen referred to Klavierstück III as a "waltz" because of the use of the number three in it.

[11]See "Momentform," Texte I, 189-210.

[12]Lejaren A. Hiller, Jr., Informationstheorie und Computermusik: Zwei Vorträge, gehalten auf  den "Internationalen Ferienkursen für Neue Musik' Darmstadt 1963, Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 8 (Mainz: Schott, 1964) 9: "Wenn wir zunächst einmal in der Annahme einig sind, daß die Musik eine gültige Form der Mitteilung in den menschlichen Beziehungen ist, so muß sie mit anderen Arten der Mitteilung, wie zum Beispiel der gesprochenen und geschriebenen Sprache, mit anderen Kunstgattungen wie etwa der Malerei und Plastik und schließlich auch mit anderen, eher zum Bereich der Technik gehörigen Kommunikationssystemen, wie zum Beispiel Rundfunk, Fernsehen, Telegraphie und sogar Codesystemen und chiffrierten Mitteilungen gewisse Eigenschaften gemeinsam haben." [trans. GW]

[13]See Nicholas Ruwet, "Méthodes d'analyse en musicologie," Revue belge de musicologie 20 (1966) 65-90.

[14]See Jean-Jacques Nattiez,  Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music, trans. Carolyn Abbate (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1990).

[15]See Leonard Bernstein, the Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1976).

[16]He explained this to the author in a conversion, as well as the influence of Purce. See below, Chapter 4, § 4, 155-6.

[17]See Ernst Cassirer, Philosophie der symbolischen Formen, vols. 1, 2 and 3 (Berlin: B. Cassirer, 1923, 1925 and 1929).

[18]"Zur Situation des Metiers," Texte I, 45: "Warum unternimmt man es denn mit unbeirrbarer Konsequenz, von der Vorstellung bis zum einzelnen Ton jeden Vorgang bewußt zu machen, in Frage zu stellen und kritisch zu prüfen?" [trans. GW]

[19]Stockhausen did destroy two early piano pieces (6 Studien and Sonate). See Kurtz/Toop, 261.

[20]See Stockhausen's catalogue of works.

[21]In a 1960 lecture about the development of Moment-form at the University of California Los Angeles. A recording of this is on hand at the library of the California Institute of the Arts. See also Chapter 1, footnote 24; and also Chapter 3, footnote 23.

[22]See Chapter 1, footnote 34.

[23]See "Mary Bauermeister," Texte II, 167ff.

[24]See Chapter 3, §2.

[25]Stockhausen himself describes his entire career this way: "I feel myself to be--and I am--a bit like Janus." Mya Tannenbaum, Conversations with Stockhausen, trans. David Butchart (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987) 1; see also his description as being "double-faced" below, Chapter 2, § 2, footnote 30.

[26]Stockhausen described these rules as being a "pun" on the number 13 in a conversation with the author.

[27]Composers known to the author to have in some manner realized or interpreted Stockhausen's rules and diagrams for Plus-Minus are Frederic Rzewski, Cornelius Cardew, Stephen Mosko and Arthur Jarvinen. It was Cardew who had a similar task of interpreting rules and diagrams for Stockhausen's Carré. See Cornelius Cardew, "Report on Stockhausen's 'Carré'." Musical Times 102 (1961) 609ff.

[28]Plus-Minus, 12; see also the German, 6: "13.  Erreicht ein Typ +13 Ganze (als Gesamtsumme seiner Teile), so soll an seine         Stelle dieser Typ in seiner Ausgangsform (= 1 Ganzes), jedoch mit völlig neuer, aus dem Zusammenhang fallender Klangcharakteristik, wieder begonnen werden. [/] 14. Erreicht ein Typ -13 Ganze, so wird er im weiteren Verlauf nicht mehr berücksichtigt. Wann immer dieser Typ wieder auftritt, wird er übersprungen." © 1965 by Universal Edition (London) Ltd. London.

[29]See the quote about Trans and mixing intuitive texts with more conventionally notated music in Chapter 4, footnote 75.

[30]See Hermann Conen, Formel-Komposition: Zu Karlheinz Stockhausens Musik der siebziger Jahre (Mainz: Schott, 1991).

[31]See Chapter 4, § 5, 164.

[32]The most famous example is probably the opening of the 1968 Broadway musical Hair: the song "Aquarius," a credo of sorts for the hippie-movement.

[33]Stockhausen also points out that the early symbol for Christ was a fish. See Tannenbaum, 11.

[34]See Michael Manion, "Introduction to the Super-formula of DONNERSTAG AUS LICHT," Ideas and Production: A Journal in the History of Ideas 11 (1989) 73-84.  

[35]The Urantia Book, 10.

[36]In a 1993 conversation with the author in Kürten.

[37]Stockhausen uses this description himself; see below, Chapter 2, footnote 30.