Sirius (Stockhausen)
Sirius for electronic music (eight-channel), trumpet , soprano , bass clarinet and bass is a scenic-musical work by the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen , which was composed from 1975 to 1977. In the Stockhausen catalog raisonné it bears the number 43 with a total length of 96 minutes.
background
"Sirius is an attempt at a modern mystery play in the guise of a science fiction story," to distinguish it from the work title opera . The work is a scenic-musical representation of the annual cycle , whereby these are represented by the four soloists and represent the following scenes:
- The four seasons
- Times of day and cardinal points
- The four elements
- The four growth stages of a plant (seed, bud, flower, fruit)
- Young man, woman, lover and man
In ancient Egypt , in whose mysteries a wise study of the four elements was cultivated, Sirius enjoyed a special status as a fixed star . His appearance there determined the beginning of the year. The first appearance after the summer solstice was a sign of the expected flooding of the Nile, on which the fertility of the country depended.
Stockhausen sees in Sirius the star, for whose inhabitants “music is the highest form of all vibrations. That is why the music is most perfectly developed there. Every musical composition of 'Sirius' is connected with the rhythms of the stars, with the seasons and times of day, with elements and essential differences in living beings. ” According to Lorber's teaching , the inhabitants of Sirius established the human race thousands of years ago and have since then had the earth again and again visited.
Emergence
Sirius is a composition commissioned by the German federal government on the occasion of the bicentenary of the USA , which Stockhausen began in spring 1975. Sirius was originally intended for clarinet, soprano, trombone and bass, but the composer changed the line-up in favor of his son Markus Stockhausen and wrote the trumpet part for him. On July 15, 1976, Sirius was listed as an incomplete version for the grand opening of the Albert Einstein Planetarium in Washington, DC . The audience included the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt , his wife Loki and the American Vice President Nelson Rockefeller . At the request of the German Federal Government, Stockhausen dedicated the work to the American Pioneers of Earth and Space .
The first full world premiere took place on August 8, 1977 at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence , with the composition work being temporarily interrupted for the work Breath gives life ... and the formula composition Jubilee was interrupted.
composition
At the beginning of Sirius, the rotating braking howl of four spaceships with which the messengers from Sirius land on earth can be heard over loudspeakers. After the announcement, the spaceships rise again, their engines roaring. In July 1975 Stockhausen began to make the tape, the first work in the electronic studio since hymns , which was composed from 1966 to 1967. However, the work was accompanied by problems: "I have never had such great difficulties composing," said the composer, who had to go to the hospital due to health problems and there completed the concept for the composition.
Sirius is divided into four parts: the introduction of the four soloists, the main part “the wheel” of the course of the year and the concluding proclamation of a message from Jakob Lorber's teaching of Jesus in the great gospel, presented in the quartet . The musical basis is formed by the twelve melody formulas from Zodiac (No. 41½, 1974–1975), the tape is based on the four seasonal melodies that are modulated and transformed by the EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer :
The performance date determines where the circle is entered. The approximately ninety-minute work should, if possible, be performed in a planetarium or in the open air with the star movements above the audience. Sirius represents the beginning of the multiformal composition technique, in which formulas are filtered from a polyphonic super formula, which are based on parts. The music-theatrical quality of the work paved the way for Stockhausen's great formula composition light .
Versions
The electronic music can also be performed in concert without a soloist (spring, summer, autumn and winter version), as can individual scenes for soloists:
- Aries for Trumpet (No. 43½)
- Libra for clarinet (No. 43 2/3)
- Capricorn for bass (No. 43 ¾)
reception
Some of the performances were received critically by the press. Die Welt made the following statement: "Expressions of doubts about the programmatic superstructure of the work, which can only be understood by the initiated, those lovers of the occult, which has become so fashionable again today."
Trivia
Stockhausen claimed to have been trained on Sirius and to return there after his death.
swell
- Christoph von Blumröder: Karlheinz Stockhausen. Texts on music 1970-1977. Volume 4, DuMont, Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-7701-1078-1 .
- Michael Kurtz: Stockhausen. A biography. Bärenreiter, Basel 1988, ISBN 3-7618-0895-X .
- Wolfgang Schultze: Dribble from the cosmos - Stockhausen's 'Sirius' was performed in the Berlin planetarium. In: The world. September 30, 1976.