Stockhausen tierkreis score
41 7/ 8 (1977), version for clarinet and piano, Nr. 41 6/ ), version for chamber orchestra, Nr.
41 3⁄ 4 mezzosoprano, alto, or low tenor, Nr 41 4⁄ 5 baritone, Nr. Stockhausen also prepared a number of versions for various specific forces: vocal versions for five different voice ranges (high soprano or high tenor, Nr. Fragments of several of the melodies are also quoted in act 3, scene 1 of Donnerstag aus Licht, in part three ("Starry Sky") of the third Light Composition, where the signs of the zodiac are shown, one after the other, in the night sky. In addition to Musik im Bauch, Stockhausen employed the Tierkreis melodies in the central "wheel" section of Sirius (1975–77), an hour-and-a-half-long chamber opera for soprano and bass voices, trumpet, bass clarinet, and eight-channel electronic music. The melodies can also be played individually, or in smaller numbers. Though performances documented in recordings last between 12 and 63 minutes, a complete performing version by the violin-piano duo of Andrew and Gail Jennings is claimed to last 96 minutes, but they have declined to play their version complete in public. Each melody is to be played at least three times through, with variations or improvisations, which in some performances have been very extensive. Ī complete performance begins with the melody corresponding to the zodiac sign within which the day of the performance falls, and proceeds through the twelve melodies of the cycle, ending with a return to the starting melody. One melody, "Aries", mixes all three of these scale types, at different levels of the durational organization.
#Stockhausen tierkreis score series#
Various scales of durations are employed: Fibonacci numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . ), arithmetic series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . ), and "second order" arithmetic series, in which the difference between consecutive members increases arithmetically (2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 17, . ).
Like the pitches, the rhythms are also organized serially and strive for contrast amongst the melodies rather than relatedness ( Kohl 1983, 150). Each melody is centered on a different chromatic pitch, with "Leo" (Stockhausen's own sign) = A, Virgo = A ♯, Libra = B, Scorpio = C, etc., and each has its own distinctive tempo, chosen from the "chromatic" tempo scale first described in the composer's famous article, ". Because music boxes preclude any significant variation in dynamics or timbre, the structure of the Tierkreis melodies emphasize pitch and rhythm.
#Stockhausen tierkreis score serial#
They are serial in conception and all are based on tone rows, though some have more than twelve notes- Libra, for example, has fourteen, with F ♯ and D ♯ recurring in different octaves. The twelve melodies of Tierkreis are character pieces, representing the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Bert Augustus, a campanologist from the Dutch company Royal Eijsbouts programmed the melodies on a computer, with the collaboration of Suzanne Stephens and Kathinka Pasveer of the Stockhausen Foundation for Music.( On the initiative of the Committee for Art and Culture of the City Council of Cologne, from 6 July 2009 the melody from Tierkreis corresponding to the current Zodiac sign is played daily at noon on the newly restored 48-bell carillon in the tower of the Cologne Town Hall, as a tribute to the composer. The striking simplicity of the melodies has led some writers to see them (together with other of Stockhausen's works from after 1966) as precursors of the German New Simplicity movement that began in the late 1970s. These twelve melodies (with or without their accompaniments) form an autonomous work which can be played by any suitable instrument, and exist also in versions to be sung. Tierkreis was originally written for music boxes as a component part of a theater piece for percussion sextet titled Musik im Bauch (Music in the Belly), which has been interpreted variously as "a fairy tale for children" or else as "a ritual played out in Mexican Indian scenery". Once described as "melodic naïveté" in the form of "cheerful, empty-headed little tune", who nevertheless soon changed his mind, Tierkreis has proved to be Stockhausen's most popular composition. The title is the German word for Zodiac, and the composition consists of twelve melodies, each representing one sign of the zodiac. Tierkreis (1974–75) is a musical composition by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.