Stockhausen, Karlheinz (kärl`hīnts shtôk`houzən), 1928–, German composer, music theorist, and teacher; his first name is also spelled Karl Heinz. He studied composition with Frank Martin in Cologne (1950–51) and with Olivier Messiaen Messiaen, Olivier (ôlēvyā` mĕsyäN`), 1908–92, French composer and organist, b. Avignon.
..... Click the link for more information. and Darius Milhaud Milhaud, Darius (däryüs` mēyō`), 1892–1974, French composer. Milhaud studied at the Paris Conservatory.
..... Click the link for more information. in Paris (1951–53). Stockhausen is ranked with the most inventive of the avant-garde composers. He often employs serial music serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—that constitute the equal-tempered scale.
..... Click the link for more information. techniques in his works, and he is a major proponent of electronic music electronic music or electro-acoustic music, term for compositions that utilize the capacities of electronic media for creating and altering sounds.
..... Click the link for more information. . Often using complicated contrapuntal systems, Stockhausen's compositions are characterized by much emphasis on free rhythms, tonal repetition, dissonance, and percussive effects. He is an adherent of aleatory music aleatory music (ā`lēətôr'ē) [Lat.
..... Click the link for more information. and allows performers to determine certain aspects of a performance; that is, they can improvise, begin and end at different points, and decide at what speed to sing and play.

Stockhausen's unique approach is well illustrated by his composition Gruppen [groups] (1959); in this piece three separate orchestras, each with its own conductor, play simultaneously; sometimes their music coincides; sometimes they play against one another; sometimes they play antiphonally. Among Stockhausen's other compositions are Kreuzspiel (1948); Kontrapunkte No. 1 (1953), for 10 instruments; Kontakte (1959), for electronic music; Stimmung (American premiere, 1971), for voices; and Jubilee (1981), for orchestra. His monumental Licht [light], with a separate opera for each day of the week, was begun in 1977; completion is expected early in the 21st cent.

Bibliography

See biographies by K. H. Wörner (1973) and M. Kurtz (1991); J. Harvey, Music of Stockhausen: An Introduction (1975); R. Maconie, Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen (1976, repr. 1981, 1990).

Stockhausen, Karlheinz

(born Aug. 22, 1928, Mödrath, near Cologne, Ger.—died Dec. 5, 2007, Kürten) German composer. Orphaned during World War II, he supported himself with odd jobs (including jazz pianist) before entering Cologne's State Academy for Music in 1947. After hearing Olivier Messiaen's music at Darmstadt in 1951, he began studying with the composer and experimenting with serialism. His early works include Piano Pieces I–IV (1952) and Counter-Points (1952–53). He also became involved with musique concrète, a technique using recorded sounds as raw material; his remarkable Song of the Youths (1955–56) used a highly processed recording of a boy soprano mixed with electronic sounds. His extensions of serialism continued in pieces such as Measures (1955–56) and Groups (1955–57), and he became a leading avant-garde spokesman. His Moments (1962–69) influentially applied serialism to groups of sounds rather than single pitches, and he began incorporating aleatory (chance) elements as well. From the late 1960s he conceived ever grander schemes, some incorporating literature, dance, and ritual, as in the Light series (1977–2003).