Karlheinz Stockhausen

1928-

Karlheinz Stockhausen was born on August 22, 1928 in Mödrath, Germany, near Cologne. He lived in Germany through World War II and in 1947 entered the National Conservatory of Music . For the next four years, Stockhausen attended the National Conservatory of Music studying music education and piano and Cologne University studying German philology, musicology, and philosophy. In 1950, he wrote his first piece Chöre für Doris for Doris Andreae, who he married in 1951. The same year, Stockhausen premiered what he considered to be his first substantial work, Kreuzspiel, which employed serial techniques. It was also his first piece to employ sound projection (four microphones and speakers).

In 1952 Stockhausen journeyed to Paris. In addition to the other compositions he wrote, he completed a piece he entitled Etude at Pierre SchaefferÕs studio. The following year, 1953, Stockhausen secured a position as a lecturer for new music courses at Darmstadt and became one of the collaborators at the West German Radio Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne. This is when StockhausenÕs first electronic pieces, Studie I and Studie II were completed. Studie II was significant in that it was the very first electronic music piece to employ a graphic score that displayed all sonic events as they occurred. He also completed another of his well known electronic compositions, Gesang der Jünglinge.

Stockhausen took a position as co-editor of die Riehe in 1954 and also enrolled in phonetics classes with Karl Meyer-Eppler at Bonn University, while still managing some time as a composer in the Cologne studios. His compositions began to gain him recognition for his work and in 1958, he began working on the sketches of perhaps his best known electronic piece, Kontakte for electronic sounds. piano, and percussion. His orchestral piece, Gruppen, was also premiered. It was not until two years later that Kontakte was given its world premiere. In 1964, Stockhausen formed a group for performing live electronic music which is still in existence today. In recognition of his work , Stockhausen received the German gramophone critics award. He continued to write electronic music and served as Visiting Professor of Composition at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California at Davis.

Stockhausen's compositions were the focus the Expo '70 world fair in Osaka, Japan. His pieces were performed for over one hundred eighty days during the year. He was given the position of professor of composition at the National Conservatory of Music in Cologne and remained there until 1977. In 1975, Stockhausen was given a grant by the German government to compose a piece as a gift to the United States for the American Bicentennial Celebration. The result was a composition entitled Sirius, which was given its incomplete premiere in 1976. A year later, Stockhausen completed it. Since 1977, Stockhausen has been working on a substantial music drama cycle entitled Licht (Die sieben Tage der Woche). The cycle, is largely complete yet remains unfinished. It has been receiving premieres in portions as they are completed.

In recognition of his contribution to electronic music, Karlheinz Stockhausen has received numerous awards and prizes. He has been named a member of the Royal Swedish Academy, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the European Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the German Society for Electro-Acoustic Music. In addition he has been awarded the Prix Ars Electronica from Austria, the Distinguished Service Cross, First Class from Germany, ad the UNESCO Picasso Medal. Karlheinz Stockhausen lives in Cologne, Germany.