In Memoriam, Karlheinz Stockhausen

Under pain of water-boarding, I will admit to having been influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen. [But not serially, nor sonically.]

I first obtained and read theoretical material by Herr Stockhausen, in West Berlin, in September of 1972, before starting college. I first met Herr Stockhausen, in person, in Berlin, in March of 2002.

Memorable performances of his works that I attended: TIERKREIS, performed by a guest organist, at my great-aunt Esther's Synagogue Congregation Emanu-El, in San Francisco, in 1976; and OKTOPHONIE (OCTOPHONY) [1990/91] which is the 8-channel tape of electronic music in TUESDAY from LIGHT, and which plays through the entire second act. I heard it in Berlin in 2002, with the white-suited Herr Stockhausen focused throughout on the projected sliver of the moon in the darkened cube inside the New National Gallery, which was the first building to be opened at the Kulturforum, and which was designed by Mies van der Rohe.

Photo credit: