Study II (Stockhausen)

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Study II is a single-channel (mono), electronic music composition with a length of 3:20 minutes by Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1954 and, together with Study I, forms his work number 3. The composition was commissioned by the then NWDR , in its studio for electronic Musik Köln the piece was created. The world premiere took place on October 19, 1954 as part of the Musik der Zeit series , together with Study I and works by other composers, in Cologne.

The work became significant because it was made without the use of (electronic) instruments, but from pure sine tones ; here for the first time a complete compositional control of the timbre was achieved; it is organized serially on all musical levels and it was published as the first electronic music score .

prehistory

In 1952 Stockhausen studied with Olivier Messiaen in Paris . At the invitation of Pierre Schaeffer , he got to know how to work with tape , a technology that was still young at the time , in the “Studio for Concrete Music” of the French radio . His piece Etude was created in weeks of work with “tailoring and gluing” . In doing so, he learned how to master time by calculating in tape meters. The sound material consisted of sounds of variously prepared, iron struck deep piano strings.

In contrast to musique concrète , Stockhausen then resolved to “not use electronic sound sources that already generate composite sound spectra (melochord, trautonium), but only sine tones from a frequency generator ('pure', overtone-free tones)” (p. 23) do not use electroacoustic instruments or other found sounds. His ideal was to produce every sound synthetically in every detail and thus to determine it himself: "The conscious musical order penetrates into the microacoustic area of ​​the sound matter." (P. 22)

In Study I , he first tested sound synthesis with sinus tones . But there was an aesthetic problem: “Instead of merging the sine tones into new, more complex sounds, the individual sine tone components appear separately audible and are therefore easy to identify. Instead of a new sound quality, this creates the impression of chords made up of sine tones. On the other hand, thanks to their easy identifiability, the individual sine tones have their own sound quality, comparable to the specific sound of a simple musical instrument somewhere between the flute and special pipe organ stops. ” This sound impression was described by Theodor W. Adorno: “ It sounds like you're deceiving Webern on a Wurlitzer organ. "

In order to obtain more complex sounds, Stockhausen initially thought of the method of sound analysis when designing Study II , namely "breaking down the 'white noise' into 'colored noise'" (p. 22), but this would have required electronic filter systems, that didn't exist back then.

General

Characteristic of the work is - in the words of the composer - a striving for "uniformity of sound matter and its form" . (P. 22) Every sound and every noise can be represented as a superposition of sine tones using Fourier transformation . They can therefore be understood as the elements , as the smallest, irreducible parts of acoustic phenomena. The simultaneous sounding of sine tones results in a mixture of tones. In contrast to Study I , which was carried out in August 1953 , the tones in Study II were grouped and merged into “superordinate tone colors” (p. 44). In this sense, higher-order formal criteria come to the fore in this piece; Stockhausen speaks of “row variations using a mix of tones” (p. 44) (see also subsection aesthetics ). The work can be assigned to serial music , since not only pitch and duration, but also mathematically decipherable details of the timbre are composed using serial techniques, which also determine the structure (form) of the piece: “The technical realization made it possible that from smallest detail down to the overall form a strict, at the same time uniform and highly differentiated number structure is effective. "

The composition incorporates the practical experience that Stockhausen had made with the realization of electronic music: instead of creating the sound mixes by copying them over one another, which would make the tape noise very strong, he used a reverberation room that mixes the sine tones simultaneously. Thus "Stockhausen wanted at least indirectly closer to a sound result, could not be technically realize the directly (for lack of sufficiently differentiated filter): The faded clay mixtures with their different interval widths should sound like different widths filtered noise bands." Emphasis Pungent are the beats between pure tones in the low frequency range (below 200 Hz).

Another important design element of the piece is the dynamic course of the sounds. Envelopes that describe this course lead to new tonal structures by defining the coming and going of the individual sounds. In contrast to Study I , dynamic envelopes and reverbs became part of the composition.

It is the first piece of electronic music for which a score has been published (at Universal Edition Vienna ). “It gives the sound engineer all the data necessary for a sound realization and may musicians and enthusiasts use it as a study score, especially in connection with the music” (p. 37).

material

For this piece Stockhausen introduced an 81-step equidistant pitch scale that starts at 100 Hz and extends to 17247 Hz. The distances between the successive pitches are all based on the frequency ratio - in other words, the interval 5: 1 (two octaves plus a pure major third) is divided into 25 equal parts. This differs from the traditional tempered tone system , in which an octave consists of twelve sections, i.e. the distance between two levels is defined by the ratio . The interval unit in Stockhausen's tone grid is approx. 10% larger than the tempered semitone of the twelve-tone system.

Stockhausen produced mixtures of sounds , which are defined as “ sound composed of sounds of any frequency” . In this case the frequencies were not random, but calculated according to serial proportions. These tone mixtures each consist of five partials (sine tones), which are spread to different extents in the spectrum of the 81-step scale, i.e. form intervals of different sizes (namely 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 times ). For example:

  • Tone mix 1 - here the interval unit is multiplied by 1 - consists of the tones: 100 - 107 - 114 - 121 - 129 Hz.
  • Tone mix 6 - here the interval unit is multiplied by 2 - consists of the tones: 100 - 114 - 129 - 147 - 167 Hz.
  • Tone mixture 11 - here the interval unit is multiplied by 3 - consists of the tones: 100 - 121 - 147 - 178 - 217 Hz.

Stockhausen thus received 193 different such tone mixtures, which form the sound material of the piece.

The individual sine tones were generated with measuring technology devices - as they were common in radio technology at the time - and recorded on tape. Stockhausen first recorded the 5 notes of the same interval that he wanted to use on separate tapes, then cut them into 4 cm long pieces and stuck them together so that he received a 20 cm long tape, which he then made into a small endless loop with white tape made. At a running speed of 76.2 cm / sec, the 5 tones were played in a time of 0.26 seconds and directed into a reverberation room, where they mixed; he recorded the resulting sound on another tape. He repeated this work process until he had the 193 clay mixes together.

The five sine tones had the same volume; that of the sound mixes could then be varied on a 31-step intensity scale (between 0 and −30 dB). The envelopes are designed to be either rising or falling; Stockhausen has not commented on the principles of the arrangement.

aesthetics

The general problem of electronic compositions lies in the “inseparable interaction of detailed, 'microscopic' arrangement and superordinate 'macroscopic' form conception.” (P. 58) In this sense, electronic music has to undergo a “comprehensive new systematization process” (p. 59) put. The situation, the musicians and advocates of this are "unprecedented" music in, brings with it the responsibility to meet this historic task, because that decision will show "the direction in which the newly to be applied in large gamut." ( P. 59)

Stockhausen takes the position here that the development of electronic music is a continuation of music history , contrary to the - in his opinion - amateurish opinion of some composers who focus their essence on effects such as the "expansion of the sound space" or the increasing "possibilities for the sound fantasy " to reduce. With continuation of the history of music is not meant to take conventional form idea, but the relationship between the individual and the whole, Element and shape - as one strives to perfect it for centuries of musical history - consciously on micro and macro levels to form. In Stockhausen's words: “The individual sizes are multiples of a common smallest unit, they are related to one another. How an entire work grows out of a row, how tones become sounds in group rows, sounds become subordinate form units, these are again composed into superordinate form units and these are finally composed into a whole work unit, so that the whole work is the enlargement of the original series [...] this is a problem that concerns every composer well enough. ” (p. 60)

This new perspective was carried out in an exemplary manner in Study II . It could be understood as a timbre composition, since Stockhausen gives up the "ability to distinguish between different tones" in favor of a "superordinate timbre " which in turn is a member of a "superordinate timbre series" . (P. 61) The tonal shape of Study II is the consequence of such structural thinking. However, a different meaning established itself for the term “timbre composition ” in the 1960s (see sound composition ).

reception

Study II was the very first “concert presentation of the compositions created in the Cologne studio of the NWDR”. That evening the public heard for the first time a purely electronic piece based on sine tones. The effect of the sounds and noises and the compositional methods associated with them on the audience was correspondingly unpredictable and novel.

In the further course Study II became not only a milestone in Stockhausen's early work, but also in the history of electronic music in general. In his “Gesang der Jünglinge” he used not only electronic sounds but also vocal sounds; later he built on Gottfried Michael Koenig's method of "transforming unification of the originally different" when he also played live sounds (in the orchestral piece Mixtur as well as in the instrumental or vocal ensemble pieces Mikrophonie I and Mikrophonie II ) or (in the tape composition Telemusik ) Include recordings of traditionally produced music in the ring modulation .

Publications

Study II was initially published on record with other electronic compositions by Deutsche Grammophon (DG 16133); It is included in the complete CD edition of the Stockhausen-Verlag on CD 3 with Study I , the Singing of the Youngsters , Contacts (electronic version) and Etude . The work is also included in the collection “Music Studies in Examples” (DG 136322) and on an accompanying CD for the book “ Musik der Zeit 1951-2001” (Wolke-Verlag Hofheim).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karlheinz Stockhausen Etude , in: Textheft zu Stockhausen CD 3, pp. 5–8.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Karlheinz Stockhausen, TEXTE zur Musik Volume 2, DuMont, Cologne 1964
  3. ^ Wolfgang Lack Electronic Music from Cologne ( Memento from July 11, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Theodor W. Adorno, The Aging of New Music (1954), in: Dissonanzen , in: Gesammelte Schriften Vol. 14, (Suhrkamp) Frankfurt (Main) 1973, 160.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Karlheinz Stockhausen, TEXTE zur Musik Volume 1, DuMont, Cologne 1963
  6. ↑ a b c Rudolf Frisius Electronic music - pure electronics?
  7. ^ Herbert Eimert, Hans Ulrich Humpert, Tongemisch , from: The Lexicon of Electronic Music , Regensburg 1973
  8. ↑ from the program booklet for the first performance of the piece on October 19, 1954
  9. ↑ Cf. Christoph von Blumröder: Karlheinz Stockhausen - 40 years of electronic music. In: Archives for Musicology . 50, 1993, pp. 309-323; see. also Martin Thrun (arrangement): Klangraum. 40 years of New Music in Cologne 1945–1985. Cologne 1991, p. 72
  10. ^ Stockhausen discography I

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