Momente
Encyclopedia
Momente is a work by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen
, written between 1962 and 1969, scored for solo soprano
, four mixed choirs, and thirteen instrumentalists (four trumpets, four trombones, three percussionists, and two electric keyboards). A "cantata
with radiophonic and theatrical overtones" (Maconie 2005, 240), it is described by the composer as "practically an opera of Mother Earth surrounded by her chicks" (Stockhausen 1989, 147). It was Stockhausen's first piece composed on principles of modular
transposability, and his first musical form to be determined from categories of sensation or perception rather than by numerical units of musical terminology, which marks a significant change in the composer's musical approach from the abstract forms of the 1950s (Maconie 1973, 32).
on the south coast of Sicily. Agnello was an ardent supporter of modern music, and directed the Settimane Internazionali di Nuova Musica di Palermo
. The plan was that Stockhausen would go to Sicily first, and Mary Bauermeister
would follow a week later, to work on paintings for an exhibition planned for Amsterdam in June. Stockhausen's wife Doris would join them in March, leaving their children in someone's care in Cologne. The palazzo was freezing cold, as it was really intended only as a summer residence, and for three months both Stockhausen and Bauermeister "worked like crazy" on their respective projects, retreating to a small, easily heated room, furnished with a piano and two tables (Bauermeister 2011, 79–80).
Shortly before Doris was to have come to Siculiana a telegram arrived, saying she had been taken seriously ill and required surgery. Stockhausen decided to return to Germany to support her, and they spent a quiet time in the Black Forest, where Doris went to recuperate (Bauermeister 2011, 84).
A first version of Momente, consisting of all the K moments, i(m), i(d), M(m) and MK(d), was premiered on 21 May 1962 at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne. Moment i had already been composed, but was not included in the Cologne perfrmance. A second group of moments, including all the remaining M moments and some of the D moments, was composed for a performance planned for the 1963 Settimane Internazionali di Nuova Musica di Palermo, but the performance did not take place. Early in 1964 these moments were revised. Seven of the M moments and the i moment were added for a tour in October 1965, but the D moments were withheld for practical performance reasons (Stockhausen 1971b, 31 and 38).
Some of the D moments were subsequently reworked, and the long i(k) moment composed for a completely new version, completed in 1969 but only premiered on 8 December 1972 in Bonn. This version was recorded for commercial release and taken on a tour of Europe (Stockhausen 1978, 57).
The main compositional problem was to mediate among all these text fragments, in order to avoid the effect of mere collage
(Stockhausen 2009, 128).
s or linguistic segments
, including vowel
s, continuant consonant
s, and tongue clicks
are used "in a scale extending from unvoiced exhaling via aspiration, whispering, giggling, murmuring, speaking, shouting, screaming and laughing, to singing" in order to "permit the composition of timbral transitions and relations between spoken and instrumental sounds" (Stockhausen 1964b, 132).
In addition to singing, the choir members clap their hands, snap their fingers, stamp and shuffle their feet, and slap their thighs. They also play small "auxiliary" instruments: choir I has cardboard tubes of various lengths with glued-on covers, played like drums using light mallets; choir II uses twelve pairs of claves
—all with different pitches; choir III shakes plastic soap boxes and refrigerator drink canisters filled with buckshot, which sound like maracas
with different pitches, according to the number of pellets and the size of the plastic canisters or boxes; choir IV uses twelve pairs of Volkswagen lug-nut spanners (which kept disappearing during rehearsals, because most of the choristers drove Volkswagens). The purpose of these instruments was to create mediating links between the percussion and vocal timbres. Having the choristers play simultaneously with each syllable they sing or speak automatically and easily solves the problem of rhythmic coordination (Stockhausen 2009, 129). However, Stockhausen reported that the WDR
choir, which sang for the première, initially objected to these practices (Stockhausen 1964a) and, "because such means of sound and noise production can have a comic effect, . . . one newspaper report talked about a 'cabaret performance' and ridiculed the whole thing" (Stockhausen 1964b, 132).
There are three main groups of moments, designated by letters: eight M, seven K, and eleven D moments. The letters stand for Melodie (melody), Klang (sound, or chord), and Dauer (duration), and also have an autobiographical significance, with K for "Karlheinz" and the other two letters for Stockhausen's first and second wives, "Doris" and "Mary
" (Smalley 1974, 295).
The M group emphasizes
The K moments concentrate on
The D moments have
The K group always stands at the centre, with either the D moments preceding and the M moments following (as in the 1972 and 1998 performing versions), or the reverse. Each moment group includes one "pure" type, designated with the simple letter, and a number of "mixed" types containing "influences" from the other types, designated with multiple letters. These occur on four hierarchical levels, the first being the level of the three pure moments. In the second level, only a slight degree of influence from one other type occurs (about 30%), and is indicated with lowercase, bracketed letters, e.g., M(k) and M(d) in the M group (Stockhausen 1989, 67). On the third level, there is a nearly equal balance between two types, and the letters are capitals, such as MK and MD in the M group; each of these is partnered by a neighbouring moment that adds a slighter influence from the third type, e.g., MK(d) and MD(k). The fourth level is found only in the D group, and includes DKM, the only moment in which all three types are balanced, as well as three partially "self-reflexive" moments, D(d–m), DK(d), and DK(k). The M group also adds one entirely self-reflective moment, but on the third level: moment M(m). A basic duration is assigned to each moment according to its level. The pure M, K, and D moments are each to last two minutes; the second-level moments each last one minute; the third- and fourth-level ones thirty and fifteen seconds, respectively (Rigoni 1998, 194).
However, in many cases these basic durations are extended in actual performance, in part because of inserted material, and in part because many of the moments can or must be repeated. Sometimes the repetition of a moment involves a considerable change of speed. For example, DK(d) has a basic duration of fifteen seconds, but upon repetition is performed four times slower. Consequently, its actual duration is five times longer, at a minute and a quarter (Smalley 1974, 289).
With the exception of M(m), each moment at a lower hierarchical level is attached to a pair of moments on the next higher level, and the members of that higher pair may be exchanged, in order to prepare a version for a particular performance (Bosseur 1967, 121). In addition to this mobile condition of the moments, the internal elements ("partial moments") of six of the eight M moments (M(k), M(d), MD, MK, MD(k), and the central M moment itself) are also rearrangeable (Kohl 1999, 233–34).
To these three main groupings of moments are added four I ("informal", or "indeterminate") moments, which are used to frame and separate the three main sections:
The I moments are the longest moments in the work, and serve to neutralize the others (Stockhausen 1989, 68). As originally planned, I (the final, "praying" moment) was to last eight minutes, and I(k), I(d), and I(m) four minutes each. This would have meant their combined duration of twenty minutes would have been equal to that of the other twenty-six moments combined. However, in the compositional working-out, the durations of I and I(m) were increased to about ten and five minutes, respectively, and I(k) was even more drastically expanded, to more than twenty minutes—as long as all the other I moments put together (Smalley 1974, 289).
Momente caused a sensation at the first (partial) performance in Cologne
on 21 May 1962, in part because the moment used to begin that version, the so-called "clapping moment" I(m), begins with applause in the choirs. This was seen by some as a mockery of the audience, but by others as a means of intensifying the connection between audience and performers (Cott 1973, 143; Kurtz 1992, 119; Stockhausen 2009, 128). Besides the opening I(m) moment, this first version consisted of just two of the M and all of the K moments, separated by the I(d) "organ moment". This version was also heard in the first American performance, at Kleinhans Music Hall
in Buffalo, New York
, on 1 March 1964 (Parmenter 1964). At the Donaueschingen Festival
in October 1965, an expanded version was given, which added the remaining M moments and the I(i) "praying" moment, which is meant to conclude all versions. This version, with additions composed in the summer of 1963 and early 1964, was perceived as more good-humoured and less confrontational than the first version (Maconie 2005, 245). A recording of this version was released on the Wergo and Nonesuch labels. Completion of the D moments was only accomplished in 1969, and the first complete performance took place in Bonn
on 8 December 1972, in a version beginning with the newly composed, 25-minute-long I(k) moment, which is very different from the previously composed moments and which some critics at the time felt was out of proportion to and out of character with the rest (Griffiths 1973; Maconie 1973, 33; Maconie 1976, 175). Rudolph Frisius simply regards the original "applause" moment beginning as being characteristic of the "informal" music in the spirit of the early sixties, whereas the new beginning of the 1972 version looks forward, in its evocative ritual gestures, to Stockhausen's works of the seventies (Frisius 2008, 148). Although it seemed to some at the time that the "long and exhilaratingly dramatic section" of I(k) "could never be anything but an opening" (Griffiths 1981, 147), the version prepared under the composer's direction in 1998, begins with the original I(m) "applause" moment, and I(k) opens the second part, after the intermission (Peters 1999, 105).
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, written between 1962 and 1969, scored for solo soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, four mixed choirs, and thirteen instrumentalists (four trumpets, four trombones, three percussionists, and two electric keyboards). A "cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
with radiophonic and theatrical overtones" (Maconie 2005, 240), it is described by the composer as "practically an opera of Mother Earth surrounded by her chicks" (Stockhausen 1989, 147). It was Stockhausen's first piece composed on principles of modular
Modular design
Modular design, or "modularity in design" is an approach that subdivides a system into smaller parts that can be independently created and then used in different systems to drive multiple functionalities...
transposability, and his first musical form to be determined from categories of sensation or perception rather than by numerical units of musical terminology, which marks a significant change in the composer's musical approach from the abstract forms of the 1950s (Maconie 1973, 32).
History
Stockhausen began work on Momente in January 1962, with a performance planned for the following May. He had been invited by Baron Francesco Agnello to withdraw for the period of composition of the work to his palazzo in SiculianaSiculiana
Siculiana is a town and comune in the province of Agrigento, Sicily, southern Italy, 13 km. west from the provincial capital Agrigento.-History:...
on the south coast of Sicily. Agnello was an ardent supporter of modern music, and directed the Settimane Internazionali di Nuova Musica di Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. The plan was that Stockhausen would go to Sicily first, and Mary Bauermeister
Mary Bauermeister
Mary Hilde Ruth Bauermeister is a German artist.-Early life and family:Mary Bauermeister was artistically influenced in secondary school by her drawing teacher, Günter Ott. She studied in 1954–55 at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm and in 1955–56 at the Staatlichen Schule für Kunst und...
would follow a week later, to work on paintings for an exhibition planned for Amsterdam in June. Stockhausen's wife Doris would join them in March, leaving their children in someone's care in Cologne. The palazzo was freezing cold, as it was really intended only as a summer residence, and for three months both Stockhausen and Bauermeister "worked like crazy" on their respective projects, retreating to a small, easily heated room, furnished with a piano and two tables (Bauermeister 2011, 79–80).
Shortly before Doris was to have come to Siculiana a telegram arrived, saying she had been taken seriously ill and required surgery. Stockhausen decided to return to Germany to support her, and they spent a quiet time in the Black Forest, where Doris went to recuperate (Bauermeister 2011, 84).
A first version of Momente, consisting of all the K moments, i(m), i(d), M(m) and MK(d), was premiered on 21 May 1962 at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne. Moment i had already been composed, but was not included in the Cologne perfrmance. A second group of moments, including all the remaining M moments and some of the D moments, was composed for a performance planned for the 1963 Settimane Internazionali di Nuova Musica di Palermo, but the performance did not take place. Early in 1964 these moments were revised. Seven of the M moments and the i moment were added for a tour in October 1965, but the D moments were withheld for practical performance reasons (Stockhausen 1971b, 31 and 38).
Some of the D moments were subsequently reworked, and the long i(k) moment composed for a completely new version, completed in 1969 but only premiered on 8 December 1972 in Bonn. This version was recorded for commercial release and taken on a tour of Europe (Stockhausen 1978, 57).
Texts
Stockhausen draws on a variety of sources for the texts of Momente (Bosseur 1967, 121; Smalley 1974, 25; Stockhausen 2009, 128):- Primarily in the D moments, the Song of SongsSong of songsSong of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...
, in the translation by Martin LutherMartin LutherMartin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
. Many of the M Moments use shorter extracts from this source. - Extracts from a letter from Mary Bauermeister, mainly in moment I(k), where they are used with passages from the Song of Songs.
- Brief quotations from The Sexual Life of SavagesThe Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western MelanesiaThe Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia is a 1929 book by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski...
by Bronislaw MalinowskiBronislaw MalinowskiBronisław Kasper Malinowski was a Polish-born- British-naturalized anthropologist, one of the most important 20th-century anthropologists.From 1910, Malinowski studied exchange and economics at the London School of Economics under Seligman and Westermarck, analysing patterns of exchange in...
, an anthropological report of the Trobriand IslandsTrobriand IslandsThe Trobriand Islands are a 450 km² archipelago of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea. They are situated in Milne Bay Province in Papua New Guinea. Most of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main island of Kiriwina, which is also the location of the...
in British New Guinea, found, for example, in moment M(d). - A quotation from William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
: "He who kisses the joy as it flies/Lives in Eternity's sunrise", found in moment M(d) and, in the 1972 and 1998 versions, as an insert from M(d) in M. - Names from fairy tales, e.g., RapuntzelRapunzel"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698...
(MK); invented names, e.g., Kama, Maka, Dodi; cries and exclamations heard from audiences at performances of Stockhausen's earlier works, e.g., "bravo", "pfui", "nein, das ist unmöglich", "da capo", "stop it!", "furchtlos weiter", "sortez", "bald?". "so?", "schon?", "jetzt?", "ja!", "nein", "awful!", "doch!", "immer", "wann?", "warum?", "wie?", "wo?", "sure?", "wozu?". - Invented onomatopoeic words, and phoneticPhonemic orthographyA phonemic orthography is a writing system where the written graphemes correspond to phonemes, the spoken sounds of the language. In terms of orthographic depth, these are termed shallow orthographies, contrasting with deep orthographies...
texts written by Stockhausen himself.
The main compositional problem was to mediate among all these text fragments, in order to avoid the effect of mere collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
(Stockhausen 2009, 128).
Timbres
Momente seeks to employ the greatest possible number of vocal phenomena—not just conventional singing but also the communication functions of spoken and whispered language, crying, and laughter, producing an "infinitely rich mode of expression … [that] profoundly touches our emotive sensibility" (Bosseur 1967, 124). Isolated syllables and even single phonemePhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s or linguistic segments
Segment (linguistics)
In linguistics , the term segment may be defined as "any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech."- Classifying speech units :...
, including vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s, continuant consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s, and tongue clicks
Click consonant
Clicks are speech sounds found as consonants in many languages of southern Africa, and in three languages of East Africa. Examples of these sounds familiar to English speakers are the tsk! tsk! or tut-tut used to express disapproval or pity, the tchick! used to spur on a horse, and the...
are used "in a scale extending from unvoiced exhaling via aspiration, whispering, giggling, murmuring, speaking, shouting, screaming and laughing, to singing" in order to "permit the composition of timbral transitions and relations between spoken and instrumental sounds" (Stockhausen 1964b, 132).
In addition to singing, the choir members clap their hands, snap their fingers, stamp and shuffle their feet, and slap their thighs. They also play small "auxiliary" instruments: choir I has cardboard tubes of various lengths with glued-on covers, played like drums using light mallets; choir II uses twelve pairs of claves
Claves
Claves are a percussion instrument , consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone),...
—all with different pitches; choir III shakes plastic soap boxes and refrigerator drink canisters filled with buckshot, which sound like maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
with different pitches, according to the number of pellets and the size of the plastic canisters or boxes; choir IV uses twelve pairs of Volkswagen lug-nut spanners (which kept disappearing during rehearsals, because most of the choristers drove Volkswagens). The purpose of these instruments was to create mediating links between the percussion and vocal timbres. Having the choristers play simultaneously with each syllable they sing or speak automatically and easily solves the problem of rhythmic coordination (Stockhausen 2009, 129). However, Stockhausen reported that the WDR
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
choir, which sang for the première, initially objected to these practices (Stockhausen 1964a) and, "because such means of sound and noise production can have a comic effect, . . . one newspaper report talked about a 'cabaret performance' and ridiculed the whole thing" (Stockhausen 1964b, 132).
Form
Momente exemplifies what Stockhausen calls moment form, in which the listener's attention is on the "now", on the "eternity that does not begin at the end of time but is attainable in every moment" (Stockhausen 1963a, 199). At the same time, it constitutes a "polyvalent form", in that its 30 sections (also called "moments") can be arranged in many different sequences.There are three main groups of moments, designated by letters: eight M, seven K, and eleven D moments. The letters stand for Melodie (melody), Klang (sound, or chord), and Dauer (duration), and also have an autobiographical significance, with K for "Karlheinz" and the other two letters for Stockhausen's first and second wives, "Doris" and "Mary
Mary Bauermeister
Mary Hilde Ruth Bauermeister is a German artist.-Early life and family:Mary Bauermeister was artistically influenced in secondary school by her drawing teacher, Günter Ott. She studied in 1954–55 at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm and in 1955–56 at the Staatlichen Schule für Kunst und...
" (Smalley 1974, 295).
The M group emphasizes
- monophonyMonophonyIn music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...
/heterophonyHeterophonyIn music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody... - "random" rhythms
- mixed pitches and noises
- scoring mainly for the brass and solo soprano
- an average medium dynamic level
The K moments concentrate on
- vertical, homophonicHomophonyIn music, homophony is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords. This is distinct from polyphony, in which parts move with rhythmic independence, and monophony, in which all parts move in parallel rhythm and pitch. A homophonic...
textures - periodic rhythms
- a predominance of noises
- a scoring mainly for the men's voices and percussion
- a generally loud dynamic
The D moments have
- a "diagonal", or polyphonicPolyphonyIn music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
character - syncopatedSyncopationIn music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
rhythms - pitches but little noise
- scoring primarily for the electric organs and women's voices
- an average soft dynamic.
The K group always stands at the centre, with either the D moments preceding and the M moments following (as in the 1972 and 1998 performing versions), or the reverse. Each moment group includes one "pure" type, designated with the simple letter, and a number of "mixed" types containing "influences" from the other types, designated with multiple letters. These occur on four hierarchical levels, the first being the level of the three pure moments. In the second level, only a slight degree of influence from one other type occurs (about 30%), and is indicated with lowercase, bracketed letters, e.g., M(k) and M(d) in the M group (Stockhausen 1989, 67). On the third level, there is a nearly equal balance between two types, and the letters are capitals, such as MK and MD in the M group; each of these is partnered by a neighbouring moment that adds a slighter influence from the third type, e.g., MK(d) and MD(k). The fourth level is found only in the D group, and includes DKM, the only moment in which all three types are balanced, as well as three partially "self-reflexive" moments, D(d–m), DK(d), and DK(k). The M group also adds one entirely self-reflective moment, but on the third level: moment M(m). A basic duration is assigned to each moment according to its level. The pure M, K, and D moments are each to last two minutes; the second-level moments each last one minute; the third- and fourth-level ones thirty and fifteen seconds, respectively (Rigoni 1998, 194).
However, in many cases these basic durations are extended in actual performance, in part because of inserted material, and in part because many of the moments can or must be repeated. Sometimes the repetition of a moment involves a considerable change of speed. For example, DK(d) has a basic duration of fifteen seconds, but upon repetition is performed four times slower. Consequently, its actual duration is five times longer, at a minute and a quarter (Smalley 1974, 289).
With the exception of M(m), each moment at a lower hierarchical level is attached to a pair of moments on the next higher level, and the members of that higher pair may be exchanged, in order to prepare a version for a particular performance (Bosseur 1967, 121). In addition to this mobile condition of the moments, the internal elements ("partial moments") of six of the eight M moments (M(k), M(d), MD, MK, MD(k), and the central M moment itself) are also rearrangeable (Kohl 1999, 233–34).
To these three main groupings of moments are added four I ("informal", or "indeterminate") moments, which are used to frame and separate the three main sections:
I(d) always stands between the M and K groups, I(k) always between the K and D groups. … The I(m) moment is independent and can stand at the beginning, or before or after I(k); according to its position it will be read either forwards or backwards. Moment I always stands at the end. (Stockhausen 1971a, unpaginated introduction)
The I moments are the longest moments in the work, and serve to neutralize the others (Stockhausen 1989, 68). As originally planned, I (the final, "praying" moment) was to last eight minutes, and I(k), I(d), and I(m) four minutes each. This would have meant their combined duration of twenty minutes would have been equal to that of the other twenty-six moments combined. However, in the compositional working-out, the durations of I and I(m) were increased to about ten and five minutes, respectively, and I(k) was even more drastically expanded, to more than twenty minutes—as long as all the other I moments put together (Smalley 1974, 289).
Inserts
Once the order of the moments has been determined, "inserts" are made from some moments into the immediately preceding or following moment, according to a complex set of rules. These inserts may take on some of the characteristics of the host moment. In the D group, for example, most of the inserts must be transposed to match the central tone of the host moment.Reception
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
on 21 May 1962, in part because the moment used to begin that version, the so-called "clapping moment" I(m), begins with applause in the choirs. This was seen by some as a mockery of the audience, but by others as a means of intensifying the connection between audience and performers (Cott 1973, 143; Kurtz 1992, 119; Stockhausen 2009, 128). Besides the opening I(m) moment, this first version consisted of just two of the M and all of the K moments, separated by the I(d) "organ moment". This version was also heard in the first American performance, at Kleinhans Music Hall
Kleinhans Music Hall
Kleinhans Music Hall, home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, was built in the late 1930s and opened October 1940. It is located on Symphony Circle. The music hall was built as a part of the last will and testament of Edward L. and Mary Seaton Kleinhans, owners of the Kleinhans mens clothing...
in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, on 1 March 1964 (Parmenter 1964). At the Donaueschingen Festival
Donaueschingen Festival
The Donaueschingen Festival is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen...
in October 1965, an expanded version was given, which added the remaining M moments and the I(i) "praying" moment, which is meant to conclude all versions. This version, with additions composed in the summer of 1963 and early 1964, was perceived as more good-humoured and less confrontational than the first version (Maconie 2005, 245). A recording of this version was released on the Wergo and Nonesuch labels. Completion of the D moments was only accomplished in 1969, and the first complete performance took place in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
on 8 December 1972, in a version beginning with the newly composed, 25-minute-long I(k) moment, which is very different from the previously composed moments and which some critics at the time felt was out of proportion to and out of character with the rest (Griffiths 1973; Maconie 1973, 33; Maconie 1976, 175). Rudolph Frisius simply regards the original "applause" moment beginning as being characteristic of the "informal" music in the spirit of the early sixties, whereas the new beginning of the 1972 version looks forward, in its evocative ritual gestures, to Stockhausen's works of the seventies (Frisius 2008, 148). Although it seemed to some at the time that the "long and exhilaratingly dramatic section" of I(k) "could never be anything but an opening" (Griffiths 1981, 147), the version prepared under the composer's direction in 1998, begins with the original I(m) "applause" moment, and I(k) opens the second part, after the intermission (Peters 1999, 105).
Discography
- Stockhausen, K[arlheinz]. Momente, für Sopran. 4 Chorgruppen und 13 Instrumentalisten, Version 1965. Martina Arroyo, soprano; Aloys Kontarsky, Hammond organ; Aloys Kontarsky, Lowrey organ; chorus and members of the orchestra of Radio Cologne (WDR); Herbert Schernus, choir master; Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond. Studio-Reihe neuer Musik. Wergo WER 60024 (LP). Mainz: Wergo Schallplatten GmbH, [n.d.]. Reissued Nonesuch H-1157 (mono LP), H-71157 (stereo LP). New York & London: Nonesuch Records, [n.d.].
- Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Momente, "Europa Version 1972". Gloria Davy, soprano; WDR Chorus (Herbert Schernus and Karlheinz Stockhausen, choir rehearsals, assisted by Peter Eötvös and Godfried Ritter); Instrumentalists of the Ensemble Musique Vivante (Diego Masson, dir.); Roger Smalley, Hammond organ; Harald Bojé, Lowrey organ; Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond. With excerpt from the 1965 version (I (m), M, and I moments), from Wergo 60024. Deutsche Grammophon DG 2709055 (3-LP set). [N.p.]: Polydor International, 1976. Reissued, Stockhausen Complete Edition 7 (2 CDs with 4-colour text booklet and separate booklet with complete sung texts). Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1992.
- Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Momente [1998 version]. Angela Tunstall, soprano; WDR Rundfunkchor Köln (choir soloists: Maria Ungers, Hein Heidbüchel, Josef Otten, Kai Freundorfer, Ursula Kunz); MusikFabrik; Antonio Pérez Abellán and Massimiliano Viel, synthesizers; Rupert Huber, cond.; Karlheinz Stockhausen, sound projection. Stockhausen Complete Edition 80 (2 CDs). Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2006.
- Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Momente 1963/1972: Lesung und 2 Interviews. Includes moment I(k) from the DGG recording with Gloria Davey. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2008. Text-CD 19.
Filmography
- [Lawrence, Robert (prod.)]. 1964. Karlheinz Stockhausen: Momente. Martina ArroyoMartina ArroyoMartina Arroyo is an operatic soprano of Puerto Rican and African-American descent who had a major international opera career during the 1960s through the 1980s...
, soprano; Crane Collegiate Singers of SUNY Potsdam (Brock McElheran, chorus master); members of the Buffalo Philharmonic OrchestraBuffalo Philharmonic OrchestraThe Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in Buffalo, New York. Its primary performing venue is Kleinhans Music Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark. Its regular concert season features gala concerts, classics programming of core repertoire, Pops...
; Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond. Recorded in Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York, on 1 March 1964. Performance preceded by a discussion between Karlheinz Stockhausen, an anonymous interviewer, and the Buffalo Philharmonic's music director, Lukas FossLukas FossLukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
. Produced by NET in co-operation with WGBH (Boston), WNED (Buffalo), and Robert Lawrence Productions (Toronto). - Lohner, Henning. 1988. Stockhausen—Lichtwerke: Musik von heute, Klang von morgen. [N.p.]: onVision Film & Musik Produktionen GmbH, 1988.
- Maconie, Robin. 1980. Omnibus: "Tuning in with Stockhausen and Singcircle". London: British Broadcasting Corporation. (BBC1 Colour).
- Patris, S. Gérard (dir.), and Luc Ferrari (prod.). 1965. Karlheinz Stockhausen: Momente, Version 1965, Cologne. Martina Arroyo, soprano solo; orchestre et chœurs: West Deutcher [sic] Rundfunk; chef des chœurs: Herbert Schernus; orgues: Aloïs [sic] et Alfons Kontarsky. [Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond.]. Les Grandes Répétitions. [Paris]: Pierre Schaeffer et le Groupe de Recherche Musicale du Service de la Recherche de l'ORTF. INA/WDR [distrib.] 4456-1.
- Slotover, Robert (prod.). 1974. Karlheinz Stockhausen, Moment-Forming and Integration: "Momente" for Solo Soprano, Chorus and Thirteen Instrumentalists. Filmed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 13 February 1972. London: Allied Artists.
External links
- Moritz, Al. "Stockhausen: Momente (Moments) 1962–64/69". CD review of the Europa-Version 1972. (Accessed 31 March 2010)
- Nordin, Ingvar Loco. "Stockhausen Edition No. 7 (Momente)". CD review of the Europa-Version 1972 (with photos). SONOLOCO Record Reviews. (Accessed 31 March 2010)