Sirius (Stockhausen)

Sirius for oktophone electronic music, trumpet, soprano, bass clarinet and bass is a dramatic- musical works of the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Background

" Sirius is the attempt of a modern mystery play in the garb of a science fiction story " ( Kurtz, p 270) to distinguish it from the factory designation opera. The work is a dramatic-musical representation of the annual cycle, which are represented by the four soloists and thereby pose the following scenes: The four seasons, times of day and directions, the four elements, the four growth stages of a plant ( seed, bud, flower, fruit ) and youth, woman, lover and husband. In ancient Egypt, in whose mysteries a wisdom-filled study of the four elements was maintained, Sirius enjoyed a special status as a star. His appearance certain where she was formerly the start of the annual run. The first appearance after the summer solstice was now expected signs of the Nile flood, on which depended the fertility of the land. Stockhausen sees the star Sirius, for its inhabitants " the music is the highest form of all vibrations. Therefore, there is most fully developed the music. Each musical composition of the ' Sirius ' is connected with the rhythms of the stars, with annual and times of day, with elements and creatures differences of living things. " (Stockhausen, texts 4, p 301) According to the teaching Lorber, the inhabitants of Sirius ago millennia founded the human race and have since repeatedly visited the earth.

Composition

At the beginning of the composition with the number 43 in the Stockhausen work directory sounds through speakers the rotating brake howl of four spaceships with which land the messengers from Sirius on Earth. After the promulgation of the spaceships rise again, engine howling. In July 1975, Stockhausen began with the realization of the tape, the first work in the electronic studio since hymns, which was composed 1966-1967. The work was, however, accompanied by problems: "I have never had so much difficulty in composing, " (Stockhausen, texts 4, p 465 ) is outermost of the composer, who had to go to the hospital due to health problems and there the concept of the composition completed. The musical basis form the twelve melody formulas of Zodiac (No. 41 ½, 1974-1975 ), based on the audio tape, the four years melodies Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, which are modulated and transformed by the EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer. Sirius is divided into four parts: The introduction of the four soloists, the main part of " the wheel " of the annual run and carried forward into the final proclamation of a message from Jakob Lorber teaching of Jesus in the great gospel quartet. The approximately ninety - minute work is to be performed, if possible in a planetarium or under the open sky with the star moves over the audience. The electronic music can be presented in concert without soloists, as well as individual versions for Soloists: Aries for trumpet ( # 43 ½, 1980), Libra for clarinet (No. 43 2/3) and Capricorn Bass (No. 43 ¾ ). The musical-theatrical feature of the work paved the way for Stockhausen's great formula composition light.

Formation

Sirius was commissioned by the German government, had begun the occasion of the bicentennial celebration of the United States, with Stockhausen in the spring of 1975. Originally intended for clarinet, soprano, trumpet and bass, the composer changed the occupation in favor of his son Markus Stockhausen and wrote for him the trumpet section. On July 15, 1976 Sirius was as yet incomplete version, from the wheel of summer was only composed, to the grand opening of the Albert Einstein Planetarium in Washington DC listed. To the audience included, among other things, the then Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, his wife Loki and the U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Stockhausen had dedicated the work at the request of the German government, the American Pioneers of Earth and Space. On August 8, 1977, the first complete performance took place at the Festival of Aix -en- Provence, where the composition work briefly for the plant breath gives life ... and the formula composition was interrupted anniversary.

Reception

The performances have been partially critically received by the press. The world gave the following statement: " expressions of doubt about the programmatic superstructure of the work, it was only to initiates of course, those lovers of the occult, which is now so much in vogue again. " ( Schultze, The World, September 30, 1976)

Swell

• Christoph von Blumroder: Karlheinz Stockhausen. Texts on music from 1970 to 1977. Volume 4, DuMont, Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-7701-1078-1.
• Michael Kurtz: Stockhausen. A Biography. Bears tab, Basel 1988, ISBN 3-7618-0895- X.
• Wolfgang Schultze: Dribble from the cosmos - in Berlin Planetarium was Stockhausen's ' Sirius ' listed. In: The World. 30. September 1976.

• Works by Karlheinz Stockhausen
• Work of electronic music