TELEMUSIK

Konpon Daito Pagoda, Koyasan Temple

No. 20: TELEMUSIK
(Electronic Music)
1966 (17'30")

Development
     In 1966, Stockhausen was invited to Tokyo, Japan for several weeks, where he took advantage of the audio equipment at the Japanese radio broadcasting studio NHK.  It was here that he first started to really explore the use of "found sound", i.e. - material generated from outside sources on tape or later, radio (nowadays, this practice is of course widely known as "sampling", or for environmental sounds, "field recordings").  In the resulting 5-channel work TELEMUSIK, Stockhausen manipulated recordings of traditional world folk music with ring-modulation (and other effects) and combined them with synthetic electronic tones.  In fact, the synthetic elements were intermodulated with the world music through the use of new ring-modulation circuit combinations.  Stockhausen would soon further expand his usage of "historically pre-formed objects" to create HYMNEN, a roughly 2 hour work based on the national anthems of the world.

"(In Japan) there were more modulators, which made it possible to transform
and modulate existing music and then combine it with electronically produced sounds.
And I thought it might be possible to produce a piece in which the entire music plays in a very high pitch-range...
now and then I would reflect a few parts downwards
(sections, so to speak, of this music that seems to be so far away because the ear cannot analyze it),
so that it entered the normal audible range and suddenly became understandable.
This way, I would then be able to mix electronic and existing music in the very distant
(or seemingly distant) range, and depending how I modulate parts of it downwards,
I would be able to mix the two categories and modulate them with each other.
Later, I derived the title of the work, TELEMUSIK, from this process:
“Tele” means also to bring the “distant” close up."
- Stockhausen from 1966 Lecture CD 16 (edited Jayne Obst transl.)

     Stockhausen only had a few weeks available to him in order to complete the work, so he and his assistants recorded "live" to the 6-track master tape, adding section by section.  Oftentimes 1 or more tracks were copied to another track ("bounced") through a signal processor.  On average, Stockhausen and his team completed 1 section (out of a total 32) per day.

     Before Stockhausen left the Tokyo NHK studio in 1966, he mixed down the 5-channel tape (from an 8-channel tape machine) to 2-track (with the stereo distribution described down below in the Form Structure section), since at that time there were no tape players available to play this kind of tape anywhere else.  Many years later (1987, 1995), Stockhausen contacted one of the original engineers who assisted him in the 1966 recording in order to get a copy of the original tape.  The engineer was able to refurbush a 5-track machine to operability (just before it was to be junked) and made a copy to a modern storage tape, but unfortunately the frequencies were distorted.  Stockhausen writes in the CD booklet, "When I heard this tape (referring to a 1987 dub)...literally nothing of my work (which I have in my possession as stereo copies since 1966) was recognizable.  Only a completely distorted maze of vibrations had been sent to me."  The stereo version was however, remastered from the 1966 2-track dub to a new transfer by Stockhausen himself and is available on the TELEMUSIK Lecture CD, TEXT-CD 16 (see link at bottom).

Electronic Music
     The synthetic tones which Stockhausen created are mostly very high or very low-pitched.  This alone makes the sonic "band-width" of TELEMUSIK pretty unique (he had just previously explored a full range of pitched synthetic timbres in his previous electronic work, KONTAKTE).  This middle range "bandwidth canal" allowed room for the ring-modulated world music samples to bubble to the surface (in fact, most of the samples used are so warped by the ring-modulation, that they often sound synthetic themselves, and almost unrecognizable as "folk music").  The equipment Stockhausen used to create the electronic layers included the following sound generators:

• sine wave generators
• beat frequency oscillators (creates various pulses/sine waves/bands of sound)
• function generator (used to create irregular non-sine curve waves, including irregular square waves)
• delta generator (low frequency pulse generator used as 2nd input to control amplitude modulator)

Ritual & Dance World Music Samples
     For the folk music elements, Stockhausen used samples from records of the following traditional world musics (not in order of appearance):

Country	Genre	Instrumentation/Environment	Title
Japan	Gagaku court music	ryuteki (flute), hichiriki (reeds), sho (harmonium), drums, etc..	"Etenraku"
	Kabuki dance	Matsuri Bayashi ensemble: plucked string, flute, perc	"Yasai Aikata"
	Shinto dance	Aoi Matsuri Festival	"Daidai Kagura"
	Noh theater music	percussion (ōtsuzumi) w. M/F vocal, flute	"Hashi Benkei"
	Buddhist temple chants	Koyasan Temple	"Senbotsusha Irei Heiwa Kigan Daihoyoh ceremony"
			"Shingon-Shu ceremony"
	Temple chant	from gyōdō procession, circular walking chant w. wooden shoes, Yakushiji Temple	"Jion-e"
	Conch music	Omizutori Festival, Nara	field recordings
Bali	Gamelan orchestra	rhythmic metallic and wood percussion	"Baris Bapan"
Vietman	Music of the Montagnards	female voice	"Song of the Festival of Love"
		bamboo flutes	"Concert of Bamboo Whistles"
		gamelan-like	"Air de Gongs"
China	Peking opera	Chinese flute and orchestra: flute, strings, fast percussion	"Keihosau"
Spain	Flamenco	guitar, castanets, rattles, male singing	"Sevillanas"
Hungary	Hungarian folk song	children's song for violin, fast rhythmic drum tom	"Pista Bácsi, János Bácsi"
Africa	South Saharan song	kalimba-like percussion w. group singing	"Ibani-Sansa"
Amazon South America	Shipibo Indians song	drums, ringing, blowpipes, girls exclamations	"Dance for Adolescent Girls"
	Javahé Indians song	girls, panflutes, rattles, perc.	"Lullaby"
	Suyá Indians song	low men's choir w rattles

     From the selection above, it seems that Stockhausen chose mostly ritual or folk dance music in order to bring the distant past into union with his very modern synthetic tones.  The Stockhausen official website has a Text-CD (lecture recording) of Stockhausen talking about TELEMUSIK available for purchase, and the page also includes brief audio samples of each of the world music selections he used.

     Stockhausen also used field recordings of Japanese temple percussion sounds as "signals" at the beginning of each of the 32 sections.  The resonance (decay time) of each percussive strike is proportionately related to the length of the ensuing section.  The sequencing of the 32 sections is based on durations in a Fibonacci series, which is a device which Stockhausen has used in other works as well.  Listed below from highest to lowest pitch, Stockhausen used the following bells/wood clappers:

• taku (柝, wood clapper): 3rd A above middle C (least resonant, shortest sections)
• rin (metal singing bowl): 3rd Ab above middle C & Bb above middle C
• bokushō (墨床, large wood clapper): 2nd E above middle C
• keisu (磬子, large bronze bowl): G# above middle C w rising gliss & D below C (longest decay, for longest section)
• mokugyo (木魚, "wooden fish"): Eb below middle C
• 5 kane (large temple bells): bass clef and below

Taku (High Wood)	sp   ace	Rin (High Metal)
Bokushō (Med Wood)	sp-------ace	Keisu (Med Metal)
Mokugyo (wooden fish) (Low Wood)	space	Kane (Low Metal)

 "Intermodulation"

"TELEMUSIK is not a collage.
Rather - through the process of intermodulation between old 'found' objects
and new sound events which I made using modern electronic means - a higher unity is reached:
a universality of past, present and future, of distant places and spaces:
TELE-MUSIK."

- Stockhausen, 1969

At the NHK Tokyo studio, Stockhausen used the following signal processors:

• 2 ring-modulators (creates sum and difference frequencies of 2 inputs, see MIXTUR)
• amplitude modulator (one signal is modulated by a second input, creates fades/pulses)
• high and low-pass filters, octave filters (to select and accentiuate/filter out frequency bands before and after ring-modulation)
• transposing variable speed tape recorder (used mostly to create "echoes" on the Structure signal hits)

     These signal processors were used to modulate the synthetic tones, the world music fragments, and the synthetic tones with the world music.  For TELEMUSIK, Stockhausen designed a few unique circuits, one of which he called the "Gagaku Circuit", since it was first used to modulate the Japanese gagaku orchestra music in Structure 3.  This circuit basically used 2 ring-modulators, one to modulate the original signal, and another to modulate the ring-modulated signal (sometimes with glissandi in the 2nd ring-mod sine-wave) to create a "double ring-modulation" mix of the original sample.

In this example, 12 kHz was used in both the 1st and 2nd ring-modulation, with a glissando in the 2nd ring modulation.
.The music was also frequency-filtered in different stages at 6 kHz and 5.5 kHz.

     For example, in one scenario (above), the 1st ring modulation A used a very high 12 kHz sine-wave base frequency, resulting in a very high-pitched buzzing texture (for example, a piano note of A, or 0.440 kHz, would become a high 12.440 kHz and 11.560 kHz).

     The 2nd ring-mod B base frequency (in this case with a slight gliss. variation on the same 12 kHz base frequency) has the effect of "demodulating" the signal (bringing it back down to near A).  This demodulated signal is also frequency filtered to accentuate low frequencies (dark sound).

     These 2 elements (high buzzing from the 1st signal and low distorted sounds from the 2nd) are intermittently mixed together with faders.  By varying the 2 ring-mod base frequencies and the 3 frequency filters, different effects could be achieved.  This process of modulation and demodulation is what Stockhausen means when he says he was able to "reflect a few parts downwards". 

     This is only one example of intermodulation between a single 12 kHz tone and a second sound source using the Gagaku Circuit.  In 1967, Stockhausen described (in an introduction following the world premiere of HYMNEN) some of the many other ways in which he was able to intermodulate electronic tones and folk music in TELEMUSIK:

1. Rhythmic Modulation: The rhythm of one (folk) music is modulated onto another fragment.  In other words, if a slow chant is the 1st input and a drum beat is used as the 2nd input, each strike of the drum will create a ring modulation "disturbance" onto the the chant input, in the rhythm of the drum beat.
2. Harmonic Modulation: Synthetic chords are modulated to follow a folk melody (or the reverse, where a drone-like Koyasan temple priest chant is pitch-transposed by the melodic changes of a synthetic tone melody). 
3. Dynamic Modulation: The dynamic envelope of a song (such as an Indian lullaby, softly sung but with intermittent loud accents and pauses) is modulated onto another (for example, an Hungarian folk song, with a constant rhythm accompaniment).  In a typical scenario, dynamic accents and rests from the 1st input source control the output volume of the 2nd input (for example, the Indian lullaby's accents and phrasing impose unpredictable volume spikes and gaps of silence on the otherwise-constant Hungarian folk song).

     In all honesty, it's very hard to point to a section in TELEMUSIK and identify specifically which of the above types of intermodulation was applied, and the realization score itself does not seem to highlight the intermodulation type either (though it's in German, so I may well have missed it).  In any case, with the Gagaku Circuit and the use of various color (bandwidth) filters, many shades of modulated world music sounds were obtained.  Several other types of circuit schematics were also used and are included in the score (and the CD booklet).  See MIXTUR for more on ring modulation.

Score
     Because of limited equipment, often times multiple sine waves were recorded on different tracks and then bounced to a single track, which was then processed with ring-modulation (or the Gagaku Circuit) and bounced to yet another track.  Some explanations follow, though the CD booklet gives more information about the details and circuits (score excerpts copyright Universal Edition).

Structure 1 In Structure 1, the sequence is described in these steps: Beat frequency generators were used to record 5 pairs of tones on tracks II-VI. Tracks II-VI were bounced to track 1 to create a 10-layer sine wave band. 4 pairs of tones (1 even, the other with slow vibrato) were recorded to tracks III-VI. Tracks III-VI were bounced to track II. 3 pairs of tones were recorded to tracks IV-VI in 3 fragments (and changing frequencies for each fragment). Tracks VI-VI were bounced to track III. 2 pairs of tones were recorded to tracks V &VI in 5 "tight" bursts (and changing frequencies for each burst). Tracks V &VI were bounced to track IV. Tracks I-IV were bounced to track V. Track V was processed with RM (ring-modulation) and a fragment was bounced to track IV. BOKUSHO field recording dubbed onto track III (erasing the previous tone fragments from Step 6). Track VI erased. (After this process, track V still has tracks I-IV combined, which is not shown in the score graphic)

Structure 3 3 different tones (let's call them A, B and C) are recorded through a RM circuit onto track I.  A, B and C go straight through, but B & C also surface as 3 RM'ed fragments with different attacks/decays.  C also has a fast descending scale near the end. Repeat the same process with 3 different frequencies and attack envelopes for tracks II-IV. Record Japanese gagaku music through the Gagaku Circuit onto track VI.  The first RM signal is even (but pushed into a high frequency range), the second RM signal is in 2 de-modulated "audible range" fragments (the first even, the second with a slow glissandi, causing beat patterns).  Track VI and a MOKUGYO field recording (with accelerando) are simultaneously dubbed onto track V. Track VI erased.

Structure 5 The beat frequency oscillator was used to create 11 different pulse tones (in irregular rhythm) on track II. Repeat with a different set of tones and rhythms on tracks III-VI. Bounce tracks II-VI onto track I, resulting in 55 irregular pulses between 8000 and 11970 Hz (the score graphic in track I is an example of just 1 layer of 11 tones). Repeat steps 1-3 using using longer pulse tones on tracks III-VI and then bounce the 4 layers onto track II, simultaneously with a BOKUSHO recording. Combine tracks I and II (from steps 1-4) with 3 sine tones into a ring modulator, then process through an amplitude modulator (controlled by a low frequency wave from a delta generator).  The output is passed onto track III in 10 fragments of different attack shapes. Balinese gamelan music is processed with the Gagaku Circuit onto track IV (as in Structure 3, this creates one HF band and a few fragments of twice-modulated sound). African dance music with voice and kalimbas (?) is processed with the Gagaku Circuit onto track V (1 HF band, 1 layer of audible material beginning about a third in). Track VI erased.

Form Structure
     The chart below shows the bell/clapper "signals" and the Structures where world music samples were used.  The "SYNTHETIC TONES" column summarizes my impressions of the most audible electronic elements, including some of the modulations of the folk samples, but in general every world music fragment was processed through the "Gagaku Circuit".  The channels are referred to in this column as I through V, but they are not actually the 1st through 5th sequential columns in the table, since these table columns are arranged from far left to far right (for stereo listening - they're not in order, since Stockhausen switched channel II with IV).  When the channel continues down into the next Structure without a border, that means that the sound structure continues in some way.  RM means ring-modulation, HF or LF means high-frequency/low frequency, X means that that channel was unused.  If a box is blank with no "X", then some electronic element was present (and probably described in the "SYNTHETIC TONES" column).  The CD track numbers are from Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 9 (tracks 1-66 are MIKROPHONIE I and MIKROPHONIE II, also included on CD 9).
     For convenience's sake, the bell/clapper signals can be summarized like this:

TAKU:	High Wood	spaceeeeeee	RIN:	High Metal
BOKUSHO:	Medium Wood		KEISU:	Medium Metal
MOKUGYO:	Low Wood		KANE:	Low Metal

(The "ŌTSUZUMI" in the last section is an hourglass drum)

CD Trk	Structure	SYNTHETIC TONES	I (far left)	IV (mid left)	III (center)	II (middle right)	V (far right)	Dur.
67	1	High Frequencies with intermittent low patches and a brief metallic RM cloud (IV)			>[BOKUSHO]<			0:28
68	2	HF gliss and "choppy noise gliss", 2 perc. Echoes (III)		>[TAKU]<				0:13
69	3	CH. I-IV: HF w isolated notes, swells					>[MOKUGYO]< (accelerating echoes) JAPAN: Gagaku	0:34
70	4	CH I, II: Bandwidth fallling/rising while expanding/shrinking			>[TAKU]<			0:14
71	5	HF waves (I), intermittent low delta generator pulse bursts (III)		BALI: Gamelan		>[BOKUSHO]<	AFRICA (South Sahara): Song w "kalimba"	0:22
72	6	CH I-IV: slow falling gliss with some gaps Falling gliss eventually becomes slow pulses with more gaps (function generator)					>[TAKU]<  w "punch" echoes	0:13
	7.1						>[TAKU]< Alternating fragments of JAPAN (Gagaku),  BALI, and AFRICA, then adding SPAIN: Flamenco	0:14
73	7.2	CH. II, V: HF slowing to high pulses w 1 low punch-in	>[KANE]<	>[KANE]<	JAPAN: Buddhist chant (1)			0:27
74	8	High and low drones, with various swells and bursts in between (function generator)			>[RIN]<			0:54
75	9	LF RM drone, intermittent w vibrato, HF whistle, "tape scrubbing-like"		HUNGARY: drum & violin children's song	SPAIN: Sevillanas Guitar song	>[MOKUGYO]<	X	0:35
76	10	CH I, II, IV: swells of wideband noise with asynchronous gaps	>[BOKUSHO]<	>[BOKUSHO]< (echo of I)		>[TAKU]<		0:21
77	11.1	Octave filtered noise (III), low pulses changing speed (II), Kabuki RM in gaps (I)	JAPAN: Kabuki	>[KEISU]<				0:55
	11.2		JAPAN: Shinto dance	>[KEISU]< (3 transposed rising)				0:34
78	12	multiple frequency fast pulses, warbling and scrubbing ("scratching")	>[TAKU]<			HUNGARY: drum & violin children's song		0:13
79	13			X			>[BOKUSHO]< AMAZON: Brazilian Indians, Shipibo Tribe "Dance for Adolescent Girls"	0:23
80	14	Background HF	JAPAN: Kabuki		HUNGARY: drum and violin children's song	>[TAKU]< (9x transposed)		0:14
81	15	CH I-IV: 11 indiv. ascending RM "inserts" from 1, 4-9, 11, 13, 14 (Bali, Kabuki, Indian, Taku sound)					>[MOKUGYO]< (echoes, varying tempo)	0:37
82	16	CH II, III: HF drone w fragments of falling/rising scales	>[RIN]<	X			X	0:57
83	17	Descending RM "inserts" of 1, 4, 8, 9 (II-V), scale fragments (I)	>[BOKUSHO]< JAPAN: Conch Music (lower)					0:22
84	18	CH II-IV: brief RM/function generator fragments faded in				JAPAN: Conch Music	>[TAKU]< (12x with falling/rising dynamic)	0:13
85	19	staccato middle freq fragments w reverb					>[TAKU]< (feedback echoes, ritard/accel.)	0:14
86	20	Slow, rising TAKU pulses (V),  RM'ed world music fragments (I - II - III - IV)	BALI: Gamelan	>[BOKUSHO]< AMAZON: Shipibo Indians	AFRICA Song w Kalimba sound	JAPAN: Gagaku		0:23
87	21	TAKU pulses (V) begin rising and getting faster		CHINA: Peking Opera w flute	>[MOKUGYO]<  (2x)	CHINA: Peking Opera w flute		0:36
88	22	Quiet HF drone fades in and out	JAPAN: Buddhist Chants (1 & 2)	X	AMAZON (Brazil): Javahé Indians "Lullaby" Suyá Indians (at 0:48) (men's chant w rattles)	JAPAN: Conch Music	>[KEISU]<	1:31
89	23		>[TAKU]<	JAPAN: Conch Music Low	JAPAN: Conch Music High			0:14
90	24	LF buzzing and distortion (Octave filters) Low creaking/scrubbing fragments    Vietnam in brief spikes, Octave filter (II) Javahé Song reappears as an "insert" in I (from 24.II)		AMAZON (Brazil): Javahé Song	>[RIN]< VIETNAM: "Song of the Festival of Love" (girls) & "Concert of Bamboo Whistles" (flutes) (at 0:33)	JAPAN: Shinto dance	>[RIN]<	0:56
91	25			>[BOKUSHO]<		VIETNAM (cont'd from III, less RM)	X	0:21
92	26			>[TAKU]< VIETNAM: "Air de Gongs" (gamelan-like)				0:14
93	27	1 brief quote from 24, low buzz	VIETNAM: "Air of Gongs" (cont'd from IV) and "Concert of Flutes (cross-faded)		>[MOKUGYO]< (echoes rit.)	X		0:34
94	28	Vietnam (I) rhythmically modulated, falling octave filter gliss (IV),  slow gliss with gaps (V)			>[TAKU]<			0:14
95	29				>[RIN]< & >[KEISU]< transposed hits w RM echoes	>[BOKUSHO]<  &  >[MOKUGYO]< transposed hits w RM echoes		0:22
96	30				JAPAN: Temple chant	>[TAKU]< with 4 "punch" echoes		0:14
97	31	Various overlapping HF fragments and RM gagaku (I)		>[KANE]< 4 Large temple bells w RM (unison, then increasingly apart) Conch music (at 1:29)		JAPAN: Gagaku	JAPAN: Temple chant w wooden shoes (cont'd from III), RM'ed by KANE hits	2:23
98	32	Rising glisses (I) Rising and falling RM Noh fragments (II, IV, V)		>[TAKU]<   JAPAN: Noh Music	BALI: (Gamelan modulated by Noh Music!)	>[TAKU]< >[ŌTSUZUMI]< JAPAN: Noh Music	>[TAKU]< >[ŌTSUZUMI]< JAPAN: Noh Music	0:13
99	"FINAL SOUND"		>[TAKU]<	>[TAIKO]<	>[TAKU]<	>[TAIKO]<	>[TAIKO]<	1:34

Sound Impressions
     TELEMUSIK is without doubt one of my favorite Stockhausen works.  The melding of synthetic tones with "ancient music" is an amazingly successful one, even without the ring-modulation as "lubricant".  It's no surprise that many in the avant-garde crowd are also fans of "early music" - both are somewhat beyond our general listening experiences that they might as well come from other planets.  The ritual music of Asia is especially appropriate since it's form mostly stays away from western classical "tonic-dominant" cadences and homophonic textures.  In general, they're somewhat more modal in tonality and use heterophony as the main form structure.  This actually has a very similar flavor to the manipulation of sine-wave bandwidth tones.  Having said that, the ritual music is very modulated, so that on initial listens I didn't even know most of the time what was synthetic and what was "found sound".  After spending some time exploring world music, these fragments are much more recognizable, and at that point Stockhausen's quote about finding an "apple on the moon" becomes much more appropriate.  Another thing that strikes me as fascinating is that the "high band" layer of the RM'ed world music still has every element of the original but in a parallel "higher sphere".  Like YLEM, this brings to mind the modern cosmological theory of "stacked" parallel universes.

     It's interesting to compare this with Stockhausen's previous ring-modulation work, MIXTUR.  There, Stockhausen processed melodic and rhythmic fragments and textures, so that the RM effect is audible when an instrument is playing.  In TELEMUSIK, the samples are all rhythmic (steady and periodic) and have a generally even density.  In this way, instead of creating a melodic figure with a trombone solo, faders and "solo" buttons are used to "play" isolated bits of the prerecorded music (for example, in Structure 1 channel III and IV).

     The score is absolutely fascinating to study.  Stockhausen  does everything he can to provide instructions on how to create TELEMUSIK on one's own.  The step-by-step instructions and photographs of the equipment used give a rare look at exactly how electronic music was created in the mid-1960s (at least by Stockhausen).  The copy at my local library was only in German, but the thick Stockhausen Edition CD booklet gives enough information that it's basically decipherable to an English speaker.  The Text CD with Stockhausen's lecture on TELEMUSIK and extended samples of the world music he used also includes a newly remastered transfer of TELEMUSIK from the original stereo mixdown.

Links
TELEMUSIK Sound samples, tracks listings and CD ordering 
Stockhausen's 1966 Lecture on TELEMUSIK - CD 16 (with Sound Samples and new transfer!)
Stockhausen's 1966 Lecture on TELEMUSIK - (English translation)
Purchase the Score 
Stockhausen discusses TELEMUSIK in the British Lecture 1972 (Youtube clip)
TELEMUSIK Wiki
"Serial Composition, Serial Form, and Process in Karlheinz Stockhausen's Telemusik." In Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives (Jerome Kohl), ed. Thomas Licata
Telemusik – a system of planetary order (Asbjørn Blokkum Flø)
Analysis of TELEMUSIK (Presentation Notes, Arshia Cont)
Creating the Gagaku Circuit on MAX/MSP
Creating the Gagaku Circuit on MAX/MSP demo 2

LICHTER–WASSER

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

The BLUE line shows the "flight path" of the notes in the 1st MICHAEL Wave (M-Wave 1).
The GREEN line shows the flight path of the 1st EVE Wave (E-Wave 1).
CD 58 Cover (© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

No. 75: LICHTER–WASSER 
(SONNTAGS-GRUSS)
(LIGHT WATERS/SUNDAY GREETING)
for soprano, tenor, and orchestra (29 instruments) with synthesizer
1st Scene of SONNTAG AUS LICHT
(SUNDAY from LIGHT)
1998-99 [51']

Introduction
     LICHTER-WASSER (LIGHT-WATERS) is the 1st Scene of Stockhausen's dramatic music work SONNTAG AUS LICHT (SUNDAY from LIGHT), which was the last-composed entry of his 7-part, 29-hour opera cycle LICHT (Light).  LICHT is a work 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 MICHAEL and EVE.  The scenes in SONNTAG do not have a dramatic arc connecting them, instead the actual theme of union between the 2 characters is achieved through musical, visual, spatial and even olfactory means.

"...SUNDAY is the day of the mystical union of the cosmic mother EVE, 

and MICHAEL, the cosmo-creator, the ruler of the universe.  

This affects all areas: the atomic world, the minerals, the world of plants, 

of animals, of human beings, of the stars."

- Stockhausen, Lichte-Gestalten, 1998

     In LICHTER-WASSER, Stockhausen celebrates light and water, two primary ingredients for life to exist.   The vocal text describes the sun, planets and moons of the Solar System (names, characteristics, significances), and the melodic material travels through the performance hall in various differently-shaped "orbits" (sometimes disturbed by "flares" and "comets").  LICHTER-WASSER combines 4 basic principles which Stockhausen has been exploring since virtually the beginning of his mature period:

• Changing sequences of timbral/instrumental colors
• Durational (rhythmic) development of small and large structures
• Positioning and movement of sounds in space
• Inserts of "free" figures which break out of the formal design

     These elements are all explored in this piece, and so it requires some dedicated repeated listenings to completely absorb, though one can also easily appreciate it simply for it's purely emotional and lyric content.

MICHAEL and EVE Groups
     Originally commissioned by Southwest German Radio for performance at the Donaueschingen Festival, this work features 29 musicians spread throughout the performance space with the audience situated in wedges between them.  A tenor vocal soloist is associated with 17 musicians (the MICHAEL Group), each with a blue bowl next to them (blue being MICHAEL's color).  The MICHAEL Group has generally higher register instruments (flute, violin, etc...).  A soprano vocal soloist is associated with 12 other musicians (the EVE Group), each with a green bowl next to them (green being EVE's color).  This group has generally lower register instruments (bass clarinet, tube, etc...).  This initial division of the 29 musicians into 2 groups is not a strict one though, since often times a player from one camp will be "lent out" to the other (sometimes for spatial reasons).  In fact, it turns out that one member of each group actually gets used more by the other group than in it's own "official" group.

MICHAEL Group 17 Treble Instruments	EVE Group 12 Bass Instruments
2 flutes	2 violas
oboe	bass clarinet
clarinet	2 bassoons
Eb clarinet	2 horns
5 violins	baritone sax
3 violas	2 trombones
2 trumpets	euphonium
English horn	tuba
tenor horn

The orientation of the musicians as seen from above the performance space is shown.
The audience sits in the wedges facing the center.
During the Waves, the formula notes ping-pong from instrument to instrument,
sometimes forming simple shapes through path repetition,
and sometimes like a pinball machine when less-repeated paths are taken.
(© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

Initial Duet & Entrance of the Musicians
     The work begins with an "Initial Duet" between the Tenor and Soprano accompanied by synthesizer.  The synth sounds are designed to represent specific MICHAEL and EVE timbres, which were initially developed during preparations for MITTWOCH AUS LICHT's 4th scene, MICHAELION.  The Tenor and Soprano use elaborated versions of the MICHAEL and EVE Nuclear formulas, respectively (below).  The Nuclear formulas are the MICHAEL and EVE formula-melodies from the LICHT super-formula in simplified form.

The Nuclear formulas of MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER with 17, 12 and 11 notes respectively.
(© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

     In the following "Entrance" phase, the Soprano (now singing the MICHAEL Nuclear formula) leads each of the 17 MICHAEL musicians to their places, and the Tenor (singing the EVE Nuclear formula) does the same for the 12 EVE musicians.  As the musicians are led to their assigned spots, the soprano or tenor lights that musician's candle (though some light their own candle), after which the instrumentalist then begins playing assigned pitches from the Nuclear formulas in free (but slow and sustained) rhythm.  The growing number of players and pitches eventually results in a thick 29-note chord, or a vertical harmony of the EVE and MICHAEL Nuclear tones (the tone row associated with each Nuclear formula).

MICHAEL formula

EVE formula

A variation of the MICHAEL formula occurs in each M-Wave.
A variation of the EVE formula occurs in each E-Wave.
(Click to enlarge)

Waves, Bridges and Comets
     Following a brief pause, each group plays 12 cycles of the MICHAEL and EVE formulas (above), which Stockhausen labels "Waves".  Each instrument only plays 1 note (or a short fragment) of a formula melody, and the next note is played by a different musician in turn.  In other words, the melody is essentially carried through the group in constantly changing instrumental timbres as the members of the the MICHAEL/EVE group "take turns" playing the notes of the MICHAEL/EVE formula (this is, in a way, a spatially-exploded cousin to Anton Webern's Symphony Opus 21, which also uses changing instrumental timbres to carry a double canon tone row).  In the Waves, some instruments double ("echo") the vocalists or other instruments for a short time.

Score - Bar 87
(© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

     The above score excerpt is the beginning of the first Wave pair.  The Tenor and Soprano lines are at the top and bottom.  The MICHAEL Wave (based on the MICHAEL formula) is below the Tenor staff ("Orch."), and the EVE Wave (based on the EVE formula) is above the Soprano staff.  The abbreviations above each of the 2 "Orch." staves indicate which instrument plays those notes.  The boxes above the instrument abbreviations show the relative positions of that instrument in space.  Even though this is the first Wave section, right away there are some "deviations" from the basic pattern: The EVE tuba starts the EVE Wave with a full phrase, almost "acting out" by grabbing a bunch of notes for itself (instead of just one like everyone else).  In the middle, an orchestral tutti chord "flares".  At around the same time a MICHAEL Eb clarinet (Kb) echoes flute 2 (F2), and then an EVE tuba (Tu) echoes trombone 2 (P2) and horn 2 (H2).  This first Wave essentially acts as a kind of "exposition" to the following 11 Waves.

     This 1st Wave has relatively straightforward MICHAEL and EVE formula versions, but in each Wave going forward the formulas are "gradually enlivened".  Stockhausen does this basically by adding more rhythmic elaboration to the original figures (subdividing the durations).  For example, a single held note played by one instrument in the initial Waves could be split into four or more notes of the same pitch and shared through four instruments.  Additionally, the register of each successive Wave is transposed to different pitches, following a sequence derived from the LICHT super-formula.  And finally, while progressing through the 12 waves, some of the MICHAEL formula phrases are further transposed to match EVE fragment pitches (ie - towards a "mystical union").

     Each individual wave has constantly changing tempos (12 "chromatic" steps from 47.5 to 90 bpm), but they generally speed up from Wave to Wave.  Since the MICHAEL and EVE Waves can have different average tempos, M-Waves 2 and 3 (MICHAEL's 2nd and 3rd Waves) finish at the same time as E-Wave 2 (EVE's 2nd Wave).  The Wave endings coincide like this 7 times, and after each of these junctions a "Bridge" occurs, which is a kind of classic Stockhausen "insert" (such as in many works like GRUPPEN, CARRÉ, MANTRA, etc..). In the inserts, Stockhausen incorporates "free" structures in order to break from the formal design.  During these Bridges, the tempos are much more stable and the texture is focused more on solos and homophonic textures (also making the timbral-spatial changes generally slower).  Oftentimes the vocal lines are doubled by instruments.  The melodic content of the Bridges is usually a preview of the newly-transposed formula elements to come in the following Wave (or Waves).  More importantly however, each Bridge features the gradual molding together of the simplified MICHAEL and EVE Nuclear formulas.  In the 1st Bridge, these two Nuclear formulas are heard as separate and distinct melodies, but by the 6th Bridge they have coalesced into 1 "united" Nuclear formula chord melody.

     Besides the tutti interruptions and "echoes", another additional factor are the "Comets", which are basically ensemble scalar or glissando passages (Stockhausen's sketches indicate "eruptions of scales").  These Comets become much more active after the 3rd Bridge.  

Announcements, Exit, & Final Duet
     After the 9th E-Wave (and 8th M-Wave) 3 "Announcements" occur.  The Announcements are basically vocal and synthesizer recitative structures with sung instructions for 12 musicians to "ascend" to the balcony (and later come back down), so that the 2-dimensional spatial paths can temporarily take on a 3-dimensional aspect (up/down).  The 3 Announcements are separated by 2 occurrences of the 4th Bridge which take advantage of this short 3-D moment.

     After the Waves/Bridges are over, an "Exit" occurs, where the musicians one-by-one are signaled by the singers to take a drink of water from their colored bowl and slowly leave the stage, all the while still playing (so in effect, LICHTER-WASSER begins with the lighting of candles and ends with the drinking of water).  After all the instrumentalists have left, the two vocalists engage in a "Final Duet" (now much more in "mystic union" than in the Initial Duet) supported only by synthesizer, while the 29 green and blue candles continue to burn.

Spatial Movement

On the CD cover (shown at top of this post) the "flight paths" of
M-Wave 1 and E-Wave 1 are shown (CD track 3).
Here, the top 2 diagrams are the paths of the 1st half of M-Wave 8 and
second half of E-Wave 8 (CD track 17), which are more chaotic.
The bottom 2 diagrams are the paths of the 2nd half of M-Wave 8 and
all of E-Wave 9 (CD track 18), which return to more repetitive shapes.
Stockhausen sketch from JAHRESKREIS (© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

     The instrumentalists are situated all around and throughout the audience space, so the passing of the Wave notes from 1 instrument to the next creates a surrounding and constantly-moving melody.  Since there are 2 formula melodies moving through space at the same time (the MICHAEL and EVE formulas) the 2 melodies could be seen as being in spatial counterpoint.  These spatial layers are designed somewhat to represent the rotations of the planets and moons of the Solar System (but obviously much faster!).  The speed of movement of the first Wave starts at roughly 20 mph, and in each following Wave it trends upwards until the average speed at Wave 11 is 108 mph (Wave 12 is actually even faster in spurts, but has interrupting chords which act as "speed bumps").  The 1st Wave uses the same basic shape (or path) over and over again (see CD cover at top), but later the shapes become less repetitive.  The shapes are basically composed based on Stockhausen's sense of balance and proportion, and not in any mathematically-ruled serial sequence (in fact KONTAKTE was the last time Stockhausen really used classical serial operations to determine spatial coordinates).  Sketches do indicate "increasing connection in space", which translates to shorter distances between "tagged" instruments.


     The synthesizer generally plays long 3-4 note drones (MICHAEL and EVE notes), sometimes with very long glissandi, and sometimes adding in a more articulated note or two into the Wave fabric. It drops out temporarily during the 5th Bridge.  During the performance, the sounds of the MICHAEL notes follow the Tenor in space, and the EVE notes parallel the soprano's position.  Stockhausen recommends that the sound mixer uses 4-channel joysticks to make these motions for the synth channels.

Listening Guide and Text
     At first listening, it may be difficult to follow the Waves if one is not familiar with the MICHAEL and EVE formulas.  It may be helpful to keep in mind that the higher register instruments (flutes, violins, oboe...) are often in the MICHAEL Group and the lower register ones (tuba, bass clarinet, baritone sax...) are usually in the EVE Group, though as mentioned earlier, alot of "sharing" goes on (violins 4 and 5 play in both roughly equally, tenor horn plays much more often in EVE than in it's own MICHAEL Group (Miller thesis)).

CD Trk	MICHAEL ---WAVE---	EVE  --WAVE---	Musical Forces	Text excerpts and general description	Nuclear Formulas and Space	CD Dur.
1	INITIAL DUET		The Tenor and Soprano duet, accompanied only by slow synth chords (synth tones continue throughout except for in the 5th Bridge). At the end the synth plays a slow rising glissando.	SUNDAY FROM LIGHT, mystical union,  MICHAEL - EVE,  LIGHT WATER	Tenor: M1NF Soprano: E1NF Synth:  2 M Nuclear tones above  2 E Nuclear tones	1:53
2	ORCHESTRA ENTRANCE PROCESSION		The Tenor and Soprano sing while leading the orchestra musicians to their places, who begin playing individual assigned notes in free rhythm.  5 ensemble pauses occur during this slow growth towards a 29-note harmony (combined MICHAEL & EVE nuclear tones).  Form Structure of the MICHAEL & EVE Groups: (Soprano is with the M (MICHAEL) Group,  Tenor is with the E (EVE) Group) ---------------------------------------- MMMMM  MM  MMMM    MMM     MMM MM-MM MMM EEEE   EEE E   EEEEEEE EEE EEEEEE-EE EEE ----------------------------------------	SUNDAY FROM LIGHT, mystical union,  MICHAEL - EVE,  LIGHT WATER	Tenor & MICHAEL group:  E1NF Soprano & EVE group:  M1NF	4:53
3	M-Wave 1	E-Wave 1	These are the slowest Waves and closest to the original formula versions. The 1st half has 2 ensemble "flares" and a "tongue click cluster".	MISCHA day from LIGHT, You are sun, Light-spirit of our universe, creator renovator. EVE of SUNDAY from LIGHT, you are moon-woman..	basic instrument sequence, "exposition"	3:44
4	1st BRIDGE		This Bridge has a polyphonic texture. Euphonium plays a brief solo. Violin doubles the Soprano and Horn doubles the Tenor.	Suns, planets and moons - Solar system of the Earth	M2NF,  E2NF	0:22
5	M2	E2	M-Wave 2 features a cluster of "kissing noises" and a short Clarinet solo. M-Wave 3 is twice as fast as M-Wave 2.	Helios Sol - URIEL bless this Sun, 9 planet children (or 10?).  I give you all 61 moons - yes! Mercury, first without moon, Hermes messenger of the Gods	E Group borrows an M instrument	2:01
6	M3					1:14
7	2nd BRIDGE		Overlapping solos based on the Nuclear formulas from Bassoon, Tuba, Oboe and Flute, with a supporting harmonized string figure. Trumpet doubles the Soprano, and  Bass Clarinet doubles the Tenor.	Mercury of the 2nd Heaven, Angel of Art in Yellow	M4NF,  M5NF,  E3NF	1:06
8	M4	E3	M4 has a 2-note tremolo burst, and ends after a brief oboe outburst with a tremolo tail (hard to hear). E4 has a falling Comet, a tremolo burst, and tongue clicks. It also has background solo figures with tremolo tails (E. horn, vln, clr).  E4 ends with a harmonized triad figure (before M5 starts). M5 has a tongue click tutti. At this point the speed is audibly faster than the first Waves.	[This text describes Venus and the Earth.]	M Group borrows an E instr. E3 - slower spatial velocity, very few repeated paths, least # of moves M5 has non-repetitive short moves and slower spatial velocity since the points are closer (less leaping)	1:16
9		E4				1:12
10	M5					1:22
11	3rd BRIDGE		Bassoon doubles Tenor, Flute doubles Soprano. Several solos based on the Nuclear formulas overlap: violin and trombone, bassoon, viola, baritone sax, clarinet and bass clarinet	Holy be this Earth, human home, human world.	M6-8NF, E5-9NF Less spatial motion (solos have no motion)	1:31
12	M6	E5	M waves go up an octave, and E waves go down an octave. M6: 1 rising/falling Comet M7: Eb Clr  doubles Tenor, 1 Comet hits just before E6 begins E6, E7: each have 1 Comet E8: 2 Comets M8: Violin doubles Tenor, and has a trilling Comet, a tremolo Comet with pulsing tail and a staccato Comet with a Bass Clarinet tail E9: 1 big Comet cluster and then several small ones	[This text describes Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, as well has their respective moons.]	M7 has a star shape, more repeating moves  (see diagrams above) Much more sharing of members occurs in E5-E9	0:55
13	M7					1:27
14		E6				1:39
15		E7				1:22
16		E8				1:34
17	M8					1:10
18		E9				1:05
19	1st ANNOUNCEMENT		The Soprano sings solo, accompanied by glassy synth tones and wind timbres. 12 musicians ascend to the balcony to create a 3-dimensional spatial arena for the Waves to travel through.	As usual, of course, in our exceptional items, we have planned - composed - something special for you, so that you not only hear the tones trickling by like a string of pearls, but also experience something solid.  Ready?  Maestro, please!		1:22
20	4th BRIDGE (1st time)		2 harmonized melodies (both balcony and floor ensembles) are periodically interrupted by 10 vertically-mirrored (normal and inverted) duo figures and solos (Comets), ending with applause.	[This Bridge text reviews the previous stellar objects.]	M9-10NF,  E10NF	1:25
21	2nd ANNOUNCEMENT		The Soprano is again accompanied by glassy synth tones.	After such rousing applause we will respond appropriately and - at no extra cost - will play this 4th Bridge of LIGHT-WATERS one more time.  Ready?  Maestroso, for the apotheosis of the millenium!		1:12
22	4th BRIDGE (2nd time)		(repeat of previous 4th Bridge structure,  this is a good second opportunity to count the 10 Comet pairs if you missed any the first time!)	MICHAEL Master, protect our solar system...Holy is the Earth where you teach Mankind...etc. EVE Mary, bless the Sun, the Earth, planets, moons.  Holy is this Earth, school of Humanity...etc.	M9-10NF,  E10NF	1:21
23	3rd ANNOUNCEMENT		The Tenor and Soprano duet with synth tones. The musicians on the balcony return to their original positions	You may all come down (All of you come down to us): (1st trumpet, clarinet, flute, 2nd trumpet, oboe, Eb clarinet), trombone one, English horn, tenor horn, bassoon (hurry up, we want to continue), euphonium, tuba.    Well, my dears, what do you say to that?  Stockhausen, we can start!		1:21
24	M9	E10	(by this time the speed of the spatial movement is consistently very fast, with instrumental hand-offs even for 16th-note figures) This block ends with a harmonized vocal glissando duet.	[This text describes Uranus and Neptune and their moons.  (MIRON is mentioned here.)]	More repeating moves, esp. E10.    M9 is still "star" shaped.    M10 is 2 "circles", left and right	1:16
25	M10					1:45
26	5th BRIDGE		No synthesizer in this Bridge. The 1st half has a harmonized low brass melody in the background, but is otherwise polyphonic.  The spatial tempo slows down briefly.	[Above continues.]	M10NF,  E10NF?	0:42
27	M11	E11	These Waves have the widest interval leaps and the fastest spatial motions. (Actual speed is 103/108 mph, from Paul Miller's analysis. The tempo actually matches the true tempo of the LICHT super-formula.)	[Pluto and its moons are described here.]		1:13
28	6th BRIDGE		This Bridge is 1 united harmonized melody with no solos.	9 planets, plus moon of the Earth and the sun make 11.  We also count the 12th planet MICHEVA.	M12NF,  E12NF	0:33
29	M12	E12	These rapid Waves are constantly interrupted by 72 Flares (3-7 note plucked/accented chords played by up to 12 players), occurring roughly every 1-4 seconds. (30 7-note chords, 24 longer 3-notes chords, 18 other chords of mixed numbers of notes - Paul Miller)	...SUNDAY from LIGHT - Holiday of the mystical union of MICHAEL, EVA - festive day of the mystical uniting - Lights - Waters	E12 is a semi-retrograde shape from E11 (reverse direction)	3:53
30	ORCHESTRA EXIT PROCESSION		A complex harmonized melody gradually shrinks in pitch range to B, as the musicians leave the space.  A few stray figures surface (clarinet, synth, violin, etc...). (In the CD recording the musicians do not leave so there is no decrescendo)	[no vocal text]	M1NF (vert.) & M13NF (horiz.)  with E1NF & E12NF	2:23
31	FINAL DUET		The Tenor and Soprano have a final duet accompanied only by slow bending synth chords.	[unknown language]	M1NF,  E2NF	3:52

(The Nuclear formula and spatial analysis in the Nuclear Formulas and Space column above is based on Paul Miller's analysis in "Stockhausen and the Serial Shaping of Space".)

A simplified structure chart is shown below:

Live Performance

SONNTAG AUS LICHT 2011 Trailer:

Sound Impressions
     Stockhausen's use of each instrument as its own spatial locus is his ultimate expression of spatial composition for live instruments, first explored in the 3 orchestras of GRUPPEN.  However I think some of the variety of the spatial paths is very hard to experience on a stereo recording (on CD).  Stockhausen recorded each of the 29 instruments and then mixed them down into 8 tracks.  These 8 tracks were then further mixed down to 2 track stereo.  The work is sometimes played as an 8-track tape, but obviously even then it doesn't compare to a live performance (so ask your local orchestra to program this work in the next season).

     Having said that, this work can be very enjoyable as a stereo recording of a fast-moving counterpoint work for chamber orchestra and 2 vocalists.   The Entrance and Exit sections each have a beautiful "gothic" texture to them, and despite their being so many notes in the stacked chords, they never really seem "dissonant".  The Waves get amazingly fast as they progress, and the level of skill of the musicians to synchronize at the higher speeds is really quite head-spinning (literally!).  The Bridges and Comets add welcome scenic stops to this whirling melodic and timbral roller-coaster.

Links
LICHTER–WASSER Sound samples, tracks listings and CD ordering
Buy the Score
Wiki Entry
"Stockhausen and the Serial Shaping of Space" (Paul Miller 2009 thesis)
Generative processes in Stockhausen's Lichter Wasser (PDF, Bianchi 2013 thesis)
Adventure into Outer Space: Karlheinz Stockhausen's LICHTER-WASSER & the Analysis of Spatialized Music (Perpectives of New Music 50)
SONNTAG AUS LICHT in Rehearsal 1 (YouTube, German)
SONNTAG AUS LICHT in Rehearsal 2 (YouTube, English/German)
2011 Musikfabric/Oper Köln SONNTAG Production
2011 SONNTAG AUS LICHT Production Dance Company Page