Inner Sleeve: Karlheinz Stockhausen

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN – DÜFTE – ZEICHEN VOM SONNTAG AUS LICHT (STOCKHAUSEN VERLAG 2003)
DESIGN BY KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

Since 1991, I have published my music on CDs (www.stockhausen.org). For every CD I have drawn a cover. In each cover are visual relations to the form and context of the composition, mainly as musical notes of a series or a formula or a form scheme. Also, the colours make clear from where the works or scenes originate. For example, in my work Licht (Light) — The Seven Days Of The Week, green is related to Monday from Light, red to Tuesday, yellow to Wednesday, blue to Thursday, orange to Friday, dark blue or black to Saturday, gold to Sunday from Light. Each letter is for me like a musical note with pitch, duration, intensity, timbre and position in space. Listening to the musical composition and looking at the related cover makes it possible to discover the relationship between sound and sight. For example, the cover of Düfte — Zeichen (Scents — Signs, 2002) (fourth scene of Sunday from Light) for seven vocalists, boy’s voice and synthesizer, already shows the contents of the work. In Düfte — Zeichen, the seven soloists sing about the seven scents and seven signs of the days of the week. They burn the scents and explain the scents and signs. Scents For the seven days of the week, I have chosen seven scents, which, as aromatic fragrances, are ignited one after the other by the soloists and explained in song. Monday’s scent is Cuchulainn (Celtic); Tuesday’s is Kyphi (Egyptian); Wednesday’s is Mastic (Greek); Thursday’s is Rosa Mystica (Italian/German); Friday’s is Tate Yunanaka (Mexican); Saturday’s is Ud Wood (Indian); and Sunday’s is Frankincense (African). Signs The seven signs for the seven days of the week were drawn by me in colour as the seven parts of Light came into being, and have been used for the sets, requisites, costumes, scores, etc. In Düfte — Zeichen these signs, in large format, are hung above the soloists, unrolled one after another, and described and interpreted by singing.
Born in 1928 near Cologne, Karlheinz Stockhausen is a composer who stands alone in the history of post-war composition. He has composed over 300 works with orchestrations that, at their most unconventional, include helicopters and shortwave radios. Increasingly interested by an idea of composition that unites sound and spirituality, he began his massive Licht cycle in 1977. Scored for two harps, Stockhausen’s Freude (Joy), the second hour of Klang (Sound) from his The 24 Hours Of The Day cycle, received its world premiere on 7 June at the Duomo Di Milano, Italy.