Stockhausen: Sounds in Space: ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN

SONNTAG AUS LICHT
Scene 1 LICHTER- WASSER	Scene 2 ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN	Scene 3 LICHT- BILDER	Scene 4 DUFTE-ZEICHEN	Scene 5 HOCH-ZEITEN	Farewell SONNTAGS- ABSCHIED

(photo: Klaus Rudolph, SONNTAG AUS LICHT 2012 Cologne)

Nr. 76, ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN (Angel Processions)
for choir (a cappella)
(2000) ['40]

Introduction
     ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN (Angel Processions) is the 2nd Scene of Stockhausen's dramatic music work SONNTAG AUS LICHT (SUNDAY from LIGHT), which was the last-composed "day" of his 7-part, 29-hour opera cycle LICHT (Light). LICHT is a work of cathedral-like proportions for acoustic and electronic operatic forces, divided into the 7 days of the week (one opera for each day). This opera cycle revolves around 3 archetype characters, MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER, and over the 29 hours each of these characters are introduced, come into conflict, face temptation and finally come into union. The music is almost entirely based on a "super-formula", which is a 3-layered melodic-thematic representation of the 3 characters. These formula-themes are together and separately threaded throughout the opera's vocal and instrumental fabric. Story-wise, actors and narrative can (and often do) change from scene to scene, and the libretto text is sometimes made up of non-traditional grammar (or even purely phonetic sounds).

     SONNTAG (Sunday) is the Day of Mystical Union, specifically between the characters MICHAEL and EVE. The scenes in SONNTAG do not have an obvious narrative arc connecting them - instead, the actual theme of union between the 2 characters is achieved through musical, visual, spatial and even olfactory means.

     In ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN, the setting is a hall lined with a mixed choir along the rear and side walls (a "Tutti Choir"), singing slow, quiet tones and aleatoric syllables. Promenading through the audience are 7 singing "Angel Choirs" (choir groups of 4 to 6 singers). The 7th Angel Choir, the Angels of Joy, also sometimes sings from the balcony. During the Scene, the 7 Angel Choirs sing in various combinations during 7 sections labelled "Phases" (which are also each subdivided into 7 "Waves"). At the end, each Angel Choir proceeds up the middle of the hall and converges, bringing irises and lilies to form a mountain of flowers.

The Tutti Choir
     To the left, right, and behind the audience, are choir singers who sing quiet sustained notes from 4 melodic layers derived from the LICHT super-formula. These layers (the MICHAEL and EVE segments of the Sunday "day fragment" and part of the Tuesday & Wednesday day fragments) were obtained from overlaying the LICHT super-formula over the duration of the opera SONNTAG AUS LICHT (for more on this technique see LICHT-BILDER and DUFTE - ZEICHEN). In addition to the held tones, the tutti choir also softly repeats (aleatorically) the first syllable of the name of each Day Wave ("Mo", Tue", "Ve", etc...). In general this background choir is very quiet and can only be perceived as a kind of harmonic "haze" (though the Stockhausen Edition CD includes the Tutti Choir by itself on a separate disc for further appreciation).

The 7 Angel Choirs
Each Angel Choir sings in 2 layers (2-part polyphony), with the upper voice derived from the EVE formula and the lower voice derived from the MICHAEL formula. The distribution of the voices and main language used in the text for each Angel choir is as follows:

Angels of:	Water	Earth	Life	Music	Light	Heaven	Joy
Day:	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Number:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2-part Polyphony:	3T 3T	3S 3S	3A 3A	3S 3T	3B 3B	3A 3B	SA TB
Language:	Hindi (Indian)	Chinese	Spanish	English	Arabic	African (Kiswahili)	German

ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN is arranged as 49 sections ("Waves") grouped in 7 "Phases" of 7 Waves each, and one Angel Choir is usually featured in each Wave. The text of each Wave uses 1 of 7 languages as well (since each Angel Choir sings in a different language). In addition to their featured sections, the 7th Angel Choir, the Angels of Joy, often sing as accompanying "guest" soloists during the other Angel Choirs' Waves. The Soprano and Tenor from the Angels of Joy (who also should be the soloists in LICHTER-WASSER) demonstrate special hand gestures for each Day to each of the other Angel Choirs, who imitate them.

Each time an Angel Choir is featured, it uses a variation of the same text. In other words, in each Angel Choir's Wave repetition, the text is reorganized/re-phoneticized, the MICHAEL/EVE melodic formula segments are different, and articulation is usually different. Since the theme of SONNTAG AUS LICHT is "mystical union", the polyphonic EVE and MICHAEL layers of each Angel Choir gradually meld together as the Scene progresses into a homophonic texture at the end.

Form Structure

Stockhausen Edition CD 67 Cover.
(© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

The structural organization of ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN is shown on the CD cover above. There are 7 Phases of 7 Waves each. In each Phase, the order of the Angel Choir Waves is different, but the Angels of Joy are always in the final 7th Wave. The diagram shows the sequence of Angels for each Phase with the letter in each row standing for the language (I = Indian Hindi, C = Chinese, S = Spanish, etc...). Below each language letter is a number in a colored diamond, which is only the number assigned to that Angel Choir, and is not related to the row it's in. As mentioned previously, the members of the Angels of Joy also often sing soloistically with the other Angel Choirs during many Waves (singing in the native language of the featured Angel Choir). These are indicated in the diagram by the circled letters "So", "Al", "Te", and "Ba" (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass). The added soloist(s) are reflective of the characters featured in that Day of LICHT (for example, the 2nd Phase, Tuesday, features guest Tenor and Bass soloists, which reflects the War between MICHAEL and LUCIFER). In the Waves of the 6th Phase, 1 member of each of the Angel Choirs sings as an additional "soloist". In the 7th Phase, the Angels of Joy alternate with each of the other 6 Angel Choirs.

Aleatoric Angels
During each Phase, an Angel Choir sometimes "continues on" after their featured Wave, singing different varieties of aleatoric textures, such as quietly repeating melodic fragments, slow glissandi, passages of text on single pitches, etc... (the type of aleatoric texture is usually derived from the Angel Choir's assigned language). This is indicated in the cover diagram by horizontal dashed lines. For example, in Phase 1, the first Angel Choir (Water) continues singing isolated "Hindi" syllables after it's featured Wave is over, and continues for the rest of that Phase. In Phase 2, the Angels of Earth add "Chinese" aleatoric melodies for Waves 2-7, and the Angels of Water join with "Hindi" syllables during Waves 5-7. Each of these aleatoric textures are very complex and unique, and require close headphone listening to fully be appreciated on the CD recording. They can be summarized as such:

Phase 1: Angel Choir 1 continues with aleatory Hindi pitches for Waves 2 (with Monday gesture)

Phase 2: Angel Choir 2 sings Chinese from Wave 2-7 (Tuesday gesture) and Angel Choir 1 adds Hindi from Wave 5-7 (Monday gesture)

Phase 3: Angel Choir 3 (Spanish chanting, Wednesday gesture), 2, and 1 overlap (from Waves 2, 4 and 6)

Phase 4: Angel Choir 4 (English, Thursday gesture, from Wave 2), 1 (from Wave 3), 2 (from Wave 5), 3 (from Wave 7)

Phase 5: All groups sing in various combinations of harmonies with the EVE layer of each Wave

Phase 6: From Wave 2, a growing number of Angels join in a constant, breathy Eb drone.

Phase 7: No aleatoric layers, all groups harmonize at the end

Narrative

One of the most fascinating things about ENGEL-PROZESSIONEN is the way the Angel Choirs move about in space. The below table may be useful to chart this movement for the stereo version found on Stockhausen Edition CD 67. The initial placement of a choral voice on the CD is indicated in the "stereo placement" columns, though often times the voice(s) will slowly move left or right during the Wave.

PHASE 1 (Monday)
In the beginnings of Waves 3 through 7, a "colored noise" texture appears in the EVE layer, which is later picked up at the end of each Wave by the MICHAEL layer ("tsch" lip-smacking sounds, "kissing noises", tongue-clicks and finger-snaps, etc...).
In the 1st and 4th Waves the Soprano soloist (representing EVE, since Monday is EVE's Day) is very coloratura (almost hysterical).
The Alto announces "SONNTAG AUS LICHT" just before Wave 2 begins.

Wave

Angel
Choir

Trk

Dur.

Stereo Placement of
Angel Choir and Soloist (SATB)
- - - LEFT - - - - CENTER - - - - RIGHT - - -

Aleatory Layers
(In addition to Tutti Choir)

Water
(Hindi)