Karlheinz Stockhausen: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Stockhausen stood at the crossroads of Darmstadt serialism, the WDR electronic studio in Cologne, and a late-career mysticism that swallowed opera whole. This mix traces the Paris and Bonn laboratories that taught him to build sound from sine tones, the Cologne atelier scene around him, and the rock and techno musicians who carried his tape splices into the club.

The Kynda mix for Karlheinz Stockhausen

• Key Influence · Mode de valeurs et d'intensités by Olivier Messiaen (1949). Stockhausen moved to Paris in 1952 to study with Messiaen, and this piano étude — which assigns each pitch a fixed duration, dynamic and attack — was the template for total serialism as the young German understood it. Messiaen's analysis classes at the Conservatoire gave him the method of treating every parameter of sound as composable material, the premise underlying Kreuzspiel and the later Gruppen.
• Influencia Obscura · Elektrische Klangerzeugung by Werner Meyer-Eppler (1949). Meyer-Eppler, a phonetician at the University of Bonn, taught Stockhausen acoustics and information theory in 1954–56, and this book on electronic sound production supplied the science behind Studie I and II: sine-tone synthesis, vocoder research, formant analysis of speech. The phonetics lab work on sung and spoken vowels fed directly into the phoneme material of Gesang der Jünglinge.
• Local Roots · Anagrama by Mauricio Kagel (1958). Kagel arrived in Cologne in 1957 and stayed, becoming the other pole of the city's new-music life alongside Stockhausen and the WDR studio; both worked with the same players and the same institutional patronage. Anagrama, for four singers, speaking chorus and chamber ensemble, permutes a Latin palindrome into phonetic material — Cologne's serial laboratory turned toward theatre and vocal absurdity.
• Beyond the Medium · The Urantia Book by Urantia Foundation (1955). Stockhausen read this vast channelled cosmology in the 1970s and drew from it the archangel Michael, Lucifer and Eve who became the three protagonists of the seven-opera cycle Licht, composed from 1977 to 2003. Its hierarchy of planets, superuniverses and celestial music supplied the dramatis personae and the metaphysics for the largest project of his career, and the formula-composition that governed it.
• Peer · Le Marteau sans maître by Pierre Boulez (1955). Boulez and Stockhausen were the twin engines of Darmstadt, correspondents and rivals from their Paris meeting in 1952; Boulez helped place the young German in Messiaen's orbit and later conducted his music, before their aesthetics diverged bitterly. Le Marteau, setting René Char for voice and six instruments, is the European serial masterpiece against which Gruppen and Zeitmasse were measured.
• From the Canon · Gesang der Jünglinge by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1956). Realised at the WDR studio in Cologne, this is where his career pivots: a boy's recorded voice singing from the Book of Daniel is placed on a continuum with synthesised tones and noise, distributed over five loudspeaker groups surrounding the audience. It fused the concrète and elektronische camps he had worked in separately, and established spatialisation as a compositional parameter rather than an effect.
• Key Collaborator · Vier Stücke by Herbert Eimert (1952). Eimert founded the WDR Studio für elektronische Musik in Cologne in 1951 and brought Stockhausen in, co-directing the enterprise and co-editing the journal Die Reihe that published his most consequential theory. These early electronic pieces document the studio's first sine-tone experiments — the sonic world Stockhausen inherited, equipped with little more than oscillators, filters and tape splicing blocks.
• Legacy · Tago Mago by Can (1971). Can's Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay both studied with Stockhausen in Cologne in the 1960s, and the band's method — long improvisations cut and spliced into shape at Inner Space studio by Czukay — is tape composition applied to a rock group. Tago Mago, with the edited sprawl of 'Aumgn' and 'Peking O', is the clearest proof that the WDR studio's techniques escaped into popular music.

What influenced Karlheinz Stockhausen

• Olivier Messiaen. Stockhausen studied with Messiaen in Paris. (also via Mode de valeurs et d'intensités) “Stockhausen was educated at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne , later studying with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn .” (Wikipedia)
• Werner Meyer-Eppler. Stockhausen studied with Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn. (also via Elektrische Klangerzeugung) “Stockhausen was educated at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne , later studying with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn .” (Wikipedia)
• Anton Webern. The article identifies Webern as an influence on Stockhausen’s work. (also via Konzert für neun Instrumente, Op. 24) “He often departs radically from musical tradition and his work is influenced by Olivier Messiaen , Edgard Varèse , and Anton Webern , as well as by film [ 59 ] and by painters such as Piet Mondrian [ 60 ] [ 61 ] [ 62 ] and Paul Klee .” (Wikipedia)
• Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano by John Cage (1948). Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (John Cage) — titan for Karlheinz Stockhausen “=== Wider cultural renown === Stockhausen, along with John Cage, is one of the few avant-garde composers to have succeeded in penetrating the popular consciousness.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Elektrische Klangerzeugung by Werner Meyer-Eppler (1949). Elektrische Klangerzeugung (Werner Meyer-Eppler) — ghost for Karlheinz Stockhausen “Stockhausen was educated at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne, later studying with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo (1940). The Life Divine (Sri Aurobindo) — culture for Karlheinz Stockhausen “In 1968, at the time of the composition of Aus den sieben Tagen, Stockhausen had read a biography by Satprem about the Bengali guru Sri Aurobindo, and subsequently he also read many of the published writings by Aurobindo himself.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Frank Martin. Stockhausen joined Martin’s composition class. “He was admitted at the end of that year to the class of Swiss composer Frank Martin , who had just begun a seven-year tenure in Cologne.” (Wikipedia)
• Darius Milhaud. Stockhausen attended Milhaud’s composition classes. “He arrived in Paris on 8 January 1952 and began attending Messiaen's courses in aesthetics and analysis, as well as Milhaud's composition classes.” (Wikipedia)
• Edgard Varèse. The article identifies Varèse as an influence on Stockhausen’s work. “He often departs radically from musical tradition and his work is influenced by Olivier Messiaen , Edgard Varèse , and Anton Webern , as well as by film [ 59 ] and by painters such as Piet Mondrian [ 60 ] [ 61 ] [ 62 ] and Paul Klee .” (Wikipedia)
• Piet Mondrian (1872). The article names painter Piet Mondrian as an influence on Stockhausen’s work. “He often departs radically from musical tradition and his work is influenced by Olivier Messiaen , Edgard Varèse , and Anton Webern , as well as by film [ 59 ] and by painters such as Piet Mondrian [ 60 ] [ 61 ] [ 62 ] and Paul Klee .” (Wikipedia)
• Paul Klee. The article names painter Paul Klee as an influence on Stockhausen’s work. “He often departs radically from musical tradition and his work is influenced by Olivier Messiaen , Edgard Varèse , and Anton Webern , as well as by film [ 59 ] and by painters such as Piet Mondrian [ 60 ] [ 61 ] [ 62 ] and Paul Klee .” (Wikipedia)
• Paul McCartney (1942). McCartney explicitly names Stockhausen as a model for his tape experiments. “I thought to myself, ‘Well, just like Stockhausen, I’ll play with these tape effects myself.’” (Faber & Faber)
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Worby documents the Beatles’ acknowledgement of Stockhausen on the album cover. “The band had acknowledged Stockhausen’s work by including him in the gathering on the cover of Sgt Pepper’s .” (The Guardian)
• Music of Changes by John Cage. Cage's Music of Changes influenced Stockhausen's later piano writing. “Stockhausen's piano writing in his later Klavierstücke was influenced by Cage's Music of Changes and David Tudor.” (Wikipedia)
• David Tudor. Tudor influenced Stockhausen's later piano writing. “Stockhausen's piano writing in his later Klavierstücke was influenced by Cage's Music of Changes and David Tudor.” (Wikipedia)
• Mode de valeurs et d'intensités by Olivier Messiaen (1949). Mode de valeurs et d'intensités (Olivier Messiaen) — titan for Karlheinz Stockhausen “Stockhausen was educated at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the University of Cologne, later studying with Olivier Messiaen in Paris and with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Konzert für neun Instrumente, Op. 24 by Anton Webern (1934). Konzert für neun Instrumente, Op. 24 (Anton Webern) — titan for Karlheinz Stockhausen “He often departs radically from musical tradition and his work is influenced by Olivier Messiaen, Edgard Varèse, and Anton Webern, as well as by film and by painters such as Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Étude aux chemins de fer by Pierre Schaeffer (1948). Étude aux chemins de fer (Pierre Schaeffer) — ghost for Karlheinz Stockhausen “In December 1952, he composed a Konkrete Etüde, realized in Pierre Schaeffer's Paris musique concrète studio.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Urantia Book by Urantia Foundation (1955). The Urantia Book (Urantia Foundation) — culture for Karlheinz Stockhausen (openlibrary.org)
• Etenraku (gagaku) by Japanese Imperial Court Music tradition. Etenraku (gagaku) (Japanese Imperial Court Music tradition) — culture for Karlheinz Stockhausen

Peers and kindred spirits

• John Cage. Klavierstück XI (Karlheinz Stockhausen) — peer for John Cage (via Klavierstück XI, Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, Music of Changes) “Boulez, who used to promote Cage's work in Europe, was opposed to Cage's particular approach to the use of chance, and so were other composers who came to prominence during the 1950s, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Cologne Courses for New Music. Stockhausen founded and directed the Cologne Courses for New Music. “He founded and directed the Cologne Courses for New Music from 1963 to 1968, and was appointed Professor of Composition at the National Conservatory of Music, Cologne, in 1971, where he taught until 1977.” (Composers' Association of Serbia)
• Hochschule für Musik Köln. Stockhausen taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. “He was appointed as Professor of Composition at Cologne Music College in 1970, and held the post for seven years.” (Dazed & Confused)
• Le Marteau sans maître by Pierre Boulez (1955). Le Marteau sans maître (Pierre Boulez) — peer for Karlheinz Stockhausen “French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez once declared, "Stockhausen is the greatest living composer, and the only one whom I recognize as my peer".” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Herbert Eimert. The biography documents Stockhausen’s editorial collaboration with Eimert. “Together with Eimert, he edited the influential journal Die Reihe from 1955 to 1962.” (Composers' Association of Serbia)
• Anagrama by Mauricio Kagel (1958). Anagrama (Mauricio Kagel) — geography for Karlheinz Stockhausen “He founded and directed the Cologne Courses for New Music from 1963 to 1968, and was succeeded by Mauricio Kagel in 1969.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1965). Die Soldaten (Bernd Alois Zimmermann) — geography for Karlheinz Stockhausen (musicbrainz.org)
• Lens Box by Mary Bauermeister (1967). Lens Box (Mary Bauermeister) — geography for Karlheinz Stockhausen “On 3 April 1967, in San Francisco, he married Mary Bauermeister, with whom he had two children: Julika (b.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Il canto sospeso by Luigi Nono (1956). Il canto sospeso (Luigi Nono) — peer for Karlheinz Stockhausen “His political commitment, while allying him with some of his contemporaries at Darmstadt such as Henri Pousseur and in the earlier days Hans Werner Henze, distinguished him from others, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Sequenza III by Luciano Berio (1966). Sequenza III (Luciano Berio) — peer for Karlheinz Stockhausen “From 1954 he attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik at Darmstadt, where he met Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Vier Stücke by Herbert Eimert (1952). Vier Stücke (Herbert Eimert) — collaborator for Karlheinz Stockhausen “In March 1953, he left Paris to take up a position as assistant to Herbert Eimert at the newly established Electronic Music Studio of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) (from 1 January 1955, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, or WDR) in Cologne.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Essay by Gottfried Michael Koenig (1957). Essay (Gottfried Michael Koenig) — collaborator for Karlheinz Stockhausen “During this period, he also assisted other composers, including Mauricio Kagel, Franco Evangelisti, György Ligeti (with Artikulation), Herbert Brün and Karlheinz Stockhausen (with the realization of Gesang der Jünglinge and Kontakte).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Chinese Opera by Peter Eötvös (1986). Chinese Opera (Peter Eötvös) — collaborator for Karlheinz Stockhausen “During a period of ten years he developed personal musical preferences, for Gesualdo (the idea of the madrigal returns in pieces such as Drei Madrigalkomödien and Tri sestry), American jazz of the 1960s, electronic music (of which Karlhe…” (en.wikipedia.org)

Who Karlheinz Stockhausen influenced

• Björk (1965). Björk acknowledged Stockhausen’s influence. (also via Gesang der Jünglinge) “When I was introduced to Stockhausen it was like 'aaah' ! Finally somebody was speaking my language.” (Dazed & Confused)
• Kraftwerk (1961). Kraftwerk's early experimental style was inspired by Stockhausen's compositions. (also via Gesang der Jünglinge, Kontakte, Autobahn) “German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk also say they studied with Stockhausen, [ 221 ] and Icelandic vocalist Björk has acknowledged Stockhausen's influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Miles Davis (1926). Biographer states Stockhausen's avant-garde compositional ideas influenced Davis's 'space music' period. (also via Gesang der Jünglinge) “The effect of Davis' study of Stockhausen could not be repressed for long ... Davis' own 'space music' shows Stockhausen's influence compositionally.” (Wikipedia)
• Pete Townshend. The album sleeve describes Townshend as interested in Stockhausen. “Tim Souster was helping me with my Lifehouse project. He introduced me to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson (BBC Radiophonics Workshop) and helped me see the inevitability of wireless technology.” (Synth History)
• Irmin Schmidt. Schmidt studied with Stockhausen at the Cologne Courses for New Music. “PT: You studied with Stockhausen? IS: Yes, among others. Ligeti was more important to my development at that time than Stockhausen.” (Ptolemaic Terrascope)
• Holger Czukay. Czukay studied with Stockhausen at the Cologne Courses for New Music. “Schmidt, a pianist who studied under the experimental composers John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, was well-matched with Holger Czukay, a fellow pupil of Stockhausen and Can’s bassist.” (Northwestern Art Review)
• Revolution 9. Stockhausen’s electronic music influenced Revolution 9. “There are strong connections between Hymnen and Revolution 9 : the intoning of the number nine, recordings of waves of noisy crowds, the calling of magic names” (The Guardian)
• Sub-Kontur. Sub-Kontur quotes a formula from Inori. (via Inori, Momente) “His orchestral composition Sub-Kontur (1974–75) quotes the formula of Stockhausen's Inori (1973–74), and he has also acknowledged the influence of Momente on this work.” (Wikipedia)
• Pierre Boulez. Boulez acknowledged that performing Zeitmaße influenced his conducting. (via Zeitmaße, Le Marteau sans maître) “Boulez also acknowledged the influence of performing Stockhausen's Zeitmaße on his subsequent development as a conductor.” (Wikipedia)
• Michel Butor. Butor singled out Gesang der Jünglinge when describing what he learned from Stockhausen’s music. (via Gesang der Jünglinge, Hymnen) “The French writer Michel Butor acknowledges that Stockhausen's music "taught me a lot", mentioning in particular the electronic works Gesang der Jünglinge and Hymnen .” (Wikipedia)
• Herbie Hancock. Hancock is listed among jazz musicians who cited Stockhausen as an influence. (also via Gesang der Jünglinge) “Jazz musicians such as Miles Davis , [ 210 ] Charles Mingus , [ 211 ] Herbie Hancock , [ 212 ] Yusef Lateef , [ 213 ] [ 214 ] and Anthony Braxton [ 215 ] cite Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• The Beatles. Gesang der Jünglinge (Karlheinz Stockhausen) — ghost for The Beatles (via Gesang der Jünglinge, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) “The Beatles included his face on the cover of Sgt.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Tago Mago by Can (1971). Tago Mago (Can) — legacy for Karlheinz Stockhausen “Founding members of Cologne-based experimental band Can, Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay, both studied with Stockhausen at the Cologne Courses for New Music.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Autobahn by Kraftwerk. Autobahn (Kraftwerk) — legacy for Karlheinz Stockhausen “German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk also say they studied with Stockhausen, and Icelandic vocalist Björk has acknowledged Stockhausen's influence.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Selected Ambient Works 85–92 by Aphex Twin (1992). Selected Ambient Works 85–92 (Aphex Twin) — legacy for Karlheinz Stockhausen “In 1995, BBC Radio 3 sent Stockhausen a package of recordings from contemporary techno and ambient music artists Aphex Twin, Richie Hawtin (Plastikman), Scanner and Daniel Pemberton, and asked him for his opinion on the music.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Wolfgang Rihm. Rihm studied with Stockhausen in 1972–73. “The best-known of these composers is Wolfgang Rihm , who studied with Stockhausen in 1972–73.” (Wikipedia)
• Charles Mingus. Mingus is listed among jazz musicians who cited Stockhausen as an influence. “Jazz musicians such as Miles Davis , [ 210 ] Charles Mingus , [ 211 ] Herbie Hancock , [ 212 ] Yusef Lateef , [ 213 ] [ 214 ] and Anthony Braxton [ 215 ] cite Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Yusef Lateef. Lateef is listed among jazz musicians who cited Stockhausen as an influence. “Jazz musicians such as Miles Davis , [ 210 ] Charles Mingus , [ 211 ] Herbie Hancock , [ 212 ] Yusef Lateef , [ 213 ] [ 214 ] and Anthony Braxton [ 215 ] cite Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Anthony Braxton. Braxton is listed among jazz musicians who cited Stockhausen as an influence. “Jazz musicians such as Miles Davis , [ 210 ] Charles Mingus , [ 211 ] Herbie Hancock , [ 212 ] Yusef Lateef , [ 213 ] [ 214 ] and Anthony Braxton [ 215 ] cite Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Frank Zappa. Zappa acknowledged Stockhausen in the liner notes of Freak Out!. “Frank Zappa acknowledges Stockhausen in the liner notes of Freak Out! , his 1966 debut with The Mothers of Invention .” (Wikipedia)
• Rick Wright. Wright acknowledged Stockhausen as an influence. “Rick Wright and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd also acknowledge Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Roger Waters. Waters acknowledged Stockhausen as an influence. “Rick Wright and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd also acknowledge Stockhausen as an influence.” (Wikipedia)
• A Day in the Life. Stockhausen’s electronic music influenced A Day in the Life. “In particular, " A Day in the Life " (1967) and " Revolution 9 " (1968) were influenced by Stockhausen's electronic music.” (Wikipedia)
• Igor Stravinsky. The article identifies Gruppen as a possible influence on Stravinsky’s rhythms. (via Gruppen) “The influence of his Kontra-Punkte , Zeitmaße and Gruppen may be seen in the work of many composers, including Igor Stravinsky 's Threni (1957–58) and Movements for piano and orchestra (1958–59) and other works up to the Variations: Aldo…” (Wikipedia)
• Harrison Birtwistle. Birtwistle acknowledged Zeitmaße’s influence on his wind quintets. (via Zeitmaße) “Amongst British composers, Sir Harrison Birtwistle readily acknowledges the influence of Stockhausen's Zeitmaße (especially on his two wind quintets, Refrains and Choruses and Five Distances ) and Gruppen on his work more generally.” (Wikipedia)
• Prometheus. Ferneyhough’s Prometheus originated in an encounter with Zeitmaße. (via Zeitmaße) “Although it eventually evolved in a direction of its own, Ferneyhough's 1967 wind sextet, Prometheus , began as a wind quintet with cor anglais, stemming directly from an encounter with Stockhausen's Zeitmaße .” (Wikipedia)
• Richard Barrett. Barrett named Mantra as having affected his musical thinking. (via Mantra) “In a short essay describing Stockhausen's influence on his own work, Richard Barrett concludes that "Stockhausen remains the composer whose next work I look forward most to hearing, apart from myself of course" and names as works that ha…” (Wikipedia)
• Contra tempus. Andriessen acknowledged Momente’s influence on Contra tempus. (via Momente) “Dutch composer Louis Andriessen acknowledged the influence of Stockhausen's Momente in his pivotal work Contra tempus of 1968.” (Wikipedia)
• Per Nørgård. Nørgård heard Kontakte among works that profoundly affected his music. (via Kontakte) “At the Cologne ISCM Festival in 1960, the Danish composer Per Nørgård heard Stockhausen's Kontakte as well as pieces by Kagel, Boulez, and Berio. He was profoundly affected by what he heard and his music suddenly changed into "a far more…” (Wikipedia)
• Delia Derbyshire. Gesang der Jünglinge (Karlheinz Stockhausen) — titan for Delia Derbyshire (via Gesang der Jünglinge) “works for theatre productions, films and festivals), some of her BBC work (the majority of Derbyshire's BBC work, including the original version of the Doctor Who theme, is housed in the BBC Archive Centre at Perivale), off-air recording…” (en.wikipedia.org)