The Stockhausen Foundation announced today that composer Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away on December 5 at his home in Kuerten, Germany. He was 79. Easily one of the most important composers of the 20th century, Stockhausen was most lauded for his groundbreaking experiments in electronic music (think Edgard Varèse, not Richard D. James), as well as in serial composition, relying on tape recordings and math and often in aleatory environments.
As I write this, I'm listening to Kontakte, one of Stockhausen's most acclaimed compositions. Composed in four channels, Stockhausen's idea for this composition was to control sound through its four main properties (pitch, intensity, duration, and timbre). Unlike the bulk of electronic avant-garde music nowadays, Stockhausen composed this piece for an actual live audience. Surrounding the audience with four loudspeakers and using a "rotation table," Stockhausen sent sounds throughout the venue sourced from both live and pre-recorded material. Despite not being able to experience the work as originally intended, the sounds are nonetheless chilling, unpredictable, and utterly penetrating. It quite literally shifted my paradigm when I first heard it.
One of Stockhausen's last major works was Helikopter-Streichquartett, which consisted of members of a string quartet performing on four separate helicopters, with both the quartet and the sound of the helicopters playing to an audience in a concert hall below. The last presentation of this performance was on June 17 earlier this year for the Stadt der Wissenschaft 2007 Festival in Germany.
Of course, these works were just two of over 300 works. Stockhausen's vast discography is a testament to his endurance and dedication to exploring the physical properties of sound, as well as audience reception, while attributing a sensibility to a culture that seemed so forward-thinking you'd call it "music of the future." But Stockhausen never bought that. As he famously put it: "What is modern today will be tradition tomorrow." And, of course, he was right. In and through his music, Stockhausen has directly and indirectly influenced not only the entirety of modern classical, electronic, and avant-garde traditions, but also everyone from Miles Davis and Jim O'Rourke to Björk and Paul McCartney (you can spot Stockhausen on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's).
To say we're now missing an important musician is an understatement. Stockhausen was a cultural blessing.