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"If you were music, I would listen to you ceaselessly, and my low spirits would brighten up." - Anna Akhmatova

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen is one of the most important composers from after 1945. His everlasting, youthful enthusiasm, his acuteness, drive for innovation, spirituality and musicality lead to his unique role in the history of music in the 20th century. He received his first lessons from Frank Martin, and from 1951 he befriended many young composers, such as Pierre Boulez.

Stockhausen presented himself as a pioneer in electronic music and so-called serialism. Every detail of his music was meticulously organised, from each individual sound to the larger structures. The pinnacle of his work is Gruppen (1957) for three orchestras. From 1977 onwards, Stockhausen started working on his mega opera cycle Licht (Light), which was completed in 2004 and in total accounted for seven lenghty operas. Stockhausen's style and approach is characterised by his ambition, his systematic composition techniques, the richnesses in sound, the experiment and electronica.