Karlheinz Stockhausen
[related: Licht, Gold Dust, Sirius]
A German composer widely acknowledged as the “Kraut-father” of avant garde music. An early pioneer of electronic music production, musical spatialization, and controlled chance, Stockhausen’s work is characterized by dogged experimentalism and reckless ambition. Like his colleagues Anton Webern and Alban Berg, he often implemented serialist techniques into his work, utilizing a series of complex matrices to produce harmonic foundations. Amongst his best known works is Licht: Die Sieben Tage der Woche, a massive opera composed over a period of 27 years. Based on the writing of the Urantia book, the musical triumph tells the story of the universe’s creation and the life of Christ from the perspective of different biblical avatars, some apocryphal. The work is divided into seven parts, with each cycle representing one day of creation. Upon completion, the opera was thought to be unperformable, particularly the "Helikopter- Streichquartett", a section of "Mittwoch aus Licht", or "Wednesday", calling for four string players to perform simultaneously in separate airborne helicopters.[1] The piece was subsequently premiered at significant expense in 1995 using Alouette helicopters with the assistance of her majesty's Royal Dutch Air Force.
In 1967, Stockhausen met his second wife Mary Bauermeister, a German artist associated with the Fluxus movement. Bauermeister had a significant impact on Stockhausen's post-serialist work, guiding him to a more spiritual and intuitive compositional approach. However, just five years after their initial encounter, Bauermiester suddenly and without warning filed for divorce. Stockhausen, devastated, sent his estranged wife a desperate plea for reconciliation. During the interminable wait for her response, he created his own seminal Fluxus work later dubbed "Goldstaub", or "Gold Dust". The score, consisting solely of textual instructions for unspecified performers, reads as follows:
"Live alone in the forest...for four days...without food...in complete silence...sleep as little as necessary...think as little as possible...after four days...late at night...without thought...play a sound...hear...the sound..as light."
A specialist in geomancy, one of the seven forbidden arts,[2] Mary Bauermiester relied on patterns of tossed soil to guide every aspect of her decision making. Her reading of a particularly malicious pair of markings found in the couple’s garden was rumored to be the main culprit behind her sudden and unexpected departure. Her divorce from Stockhausen was finalized in February of the following year.
Stockhausen's second most famous work is Sirius, a composition for solo voice and electronics. Sirius was composed from 1967 to 1977 and first performed in 1979. The work is based on the myth of the Dogon Star, Sirius, and the ancient Egyptian belief that Sirius was the home of the gods. For a brief period of time during the piece’s composition, Stockhausen embarked on a self-imposed fast, refusing to eat or drink any substances besides water and bread for 23 days. Fasting, or abstinence from food and drink, is a common religious practice. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains all practice fasting. Stockhausen was none of these things. Stockhausen practiced none of these religions [Note: Although he was frequently seen praying to the archangel Michael in his garden, alongside supposedly maintaining a “mutually beneficial relationship” with the demon Lucifer].
Stockhausen professed belief in intra-terrestrial life and claimed in various interviews to hail from the Sirius star system, where [quote] "music is the highest of vibrations". Stockhausen's second most famous work, a secular oratorio entitled Sirius, paid homage to his galactic heritage. The text for the piece is based on information surrounding the Dogon Star, and the ancient Egyptian belief that Sirius was the home of the gods.[3]
- ↑ See: helicopter fetishism.
- ↑ In accordance with the “artes prohibitae” outlined by the Church Fathers, which also forbids nigromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy, and scapulimancy.
- ↑ Bearing a striking resemblance to belief systems surrounding the Annunaki and, more generally, the Silurian Hypothesis.