Study I (Stockhausen)

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The Study I (or Electronic Study I ) by Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1953 is one of the first compositions for electronic music that was constructed according to serial row techniques and whose basic electroacoustic material consists of sinus tones . In the composer's list of works , it bears number 3 together with Study II and is 9:42 minutes long. There is also a score for the composition.

background

Karlheinz Stockhausen found himself exposed to musical limits in the early 1950s, since his “striving for a real synthesis of sound structures” (p. 39) was not feasible due to the composition with instrumental tones according to different structures and a common rational principle of proportion: “The contradiction between consistent series composition and the use of instruments, attempts to arrange the timbres of different instruments through series become clear. Just as one arranges time and volume proportions and interval relationships of the pitches as a series structure. ” (P. 39) An instrumental tone is already determined in the arrangement of its overtones and their volume ratios, which make up the characteristic of an instrumental tone. The composer therefore used pure sine tones for Study I, which are generated with sine wave generators. Every existing sound and therefore every noise is a mixture of such sine tones and their spectrum, which determines the timbre through the number, interval and volume relationships of the sine tones to one another.

Furthermore, Stockhausen saw in electronic music the possibility of overcoming the limits of a performer, which thus also limit the work for composers: “You thought of music that in many ways could not be achieved with instruments. If in individual cases such music was written with a lot of contortions and complications for instruments, in borderline cases there were almost insurmountable difficulties [...] in playing and finally the tonal effectiveness. ” (P. 41) Electronic music overcame these limits and thus could a piece of music can be composed which in some cases was technically not playable for the performing player. Nevertheless, Stockhausen did not reject instrumental music, but saw other qualities in it. Instrumental music gave the opportunity to influence the player's action through optical signs and to address a creative, constantly changing ability to react. An instrumental performance is unique every time. In electronic music, any repeatability of the performance can be achieved with a single production. (P. 148 ff.)

Emergence

The work was created in the WDR's studio for electronic music in Cologne , which opened in 1953 and was directed by Herbert Eimert . Stockhausen first realized an etude in Paris in 1952, which, however, consists of the sounds of plucked piano strings. The fact of using prefabricated material, as is customary from the tradition of musique concrete , could not be reconciled with the synthesis of sound structures to be realized, which was realized in Study I, which is why Stockhausen withdrew the Etude and initially did not publish it for a few decades .

structure

The composer set the following prerequisite for the realization on a tape: The series system of the sinus tones to be used should begin in a middle listening area defined by him, which strives in both directions of the pitch to the auditory limits. The duration of a tone should be inversely proportional to its defined frequency spacing. The sound strength should decrease with increasing frequency distance from the middle listening area proportionally to the duration.

The already mentioned ratio of frequencies is defined according to five intervals of the overtone series : 12/5, 4/5, 8/5, 5/12 and 5/4.

If you multiply a given output frequency for which Stockhausen chose 1920 Hz, you get a sequence of six tones. Each tone developed from this forms the starting point for a new series. This procedure is carried out until the limit of 66 Hz is reached, which the composer defines as the lower hearing limit. To clarify this principle, the beginning of this frequency matrix is ​​shown:

1920 800 1000 625 1500 1200
800 333 417 260 625 500
1000 417 521 325 781 625
625 260 325 203 488 390
1500 625 781 488 1170 937
1200 500 625 390 937 750

etc.

From these individual sine tones, tone mixtures are now formed, from which tone colors are developed that cannot be realized with pre-determined instrumental tones. The following sequence is selected for grouping mixed tones, which does not allow a symmetrical or monotonic sequence: 4 5 3 6 2 1.

Applying the above group scheme to the frequency matrix shown gives the following composition as an example:

  • 4: 1920, 800, 1000, 625
  • 5: 1500, 1200, 800, 333, 417
  • 3: 260, 625, 500
  • 6: 1000, 417, 521, 325, 781, 625
  • 2: 625, 260
  • 1: 325

This scheme is now chosen for the structure of the entire work: tones form tone mixtures (tone groups - vertical), tone mixtures form sequences (sound groups - horizontal), sequences form structures (sequence groups - horizontal or vertical) . This means that from a group row there are uniform proportions of the whole work, such as:

  • 4 tones in tone mix 1, 4 tones in sequence 1, 4 sequences in structure 1
  • 5 tones in tone mix 2, 5 tones in sequence 2, 5 sequences in structure 2 etc. (see p. 26)

To structure these groupings, six structure or group forms are defined:

  1. Sequences horizontal (subordinate pause duration before tone duration)
  2. Sequences horizontal (pause duration after tone duration)
  3. Sequences vertical (pause before tone, start simultaneously)
  4. Sequences vertical (pause duration after tone duration, start simultaneously)
  5. Sequences vertical (pause before tone, close at the same time)
  6. Sequences vertical (pause after sound duration, close at the same time)

The group character of the structures for the overall formal presentation of the work gives the following asymmetrical sequence: 4 2 3 5 6 1 (see p. 27)

To determine the duration, the following relationship is established: The number of centimeters in a second on the tape is 76.2 cm. The duration of a tone should be 1/10 of the frequency number and thus a band length of 192 cm, 80 cm and 100 cm results as an example for the tones 1920 Hz, 800 Hz and 1000 Hz. Each time period found in this way is referred to as a superordinate time period. The subordinate duration determines the relationship between sound and silence and is between 1/6 and 6/6 of the total overriding duration. The relationship between pause-tone or tone-pause is explained by the group or structural form and the length is also defined by an asymmetrical sequence of numbers. (see p. 32)

Continuation

In Study I, Stockhausen felt that the individual sinusoidal components were audible and did not see its synthesis in the merging of tones in sound mixtures. To this end, he developed a form plan for Study II , in which, however, an interval structure of the overtone series was dispensed with and the sound mixtures were mixed via a reverberation room.

Trivia

In the electronic study I, a single tone outside of the serial system (but inconspicuous for unprepared listeners) marks the point in time when Stockhausen was informed about the birth of his daughter Suja while working on the piece (Stockhausen speaks of a "gun shot").

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Stockhausen, Texts Vol. 1
  2. ↑ a b c Stockhausen, Texts Vol. 2

literature

  • Christoph von Blumröder: Karlheinz Stockhausen - 40 years of electronic music. In: Archives for Musicology . 50 year, issue 4. Stuttgart 1993, pp. 309–323.
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen, Dieter Schnebel (Ed.): Texts on Music 1. Essays 1952–1962 on the theory of composing. M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1963.
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen, Dieter Schnebel (ed.): Texts on Music 2. Essays 1952–1962 on musical practice. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1964.