Karlheinz Stockhausen quotes

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a pioneering German composer, widely regarded as one of the leading figures in 20th-century avant-garde music. His experimental works, especially in electronic and spatial music, greatly influenced contemporary music and inspired countless artists. He remains celebrated for pushing the boundaries of sound and musical form. Here are 25 of his quotes:

And when they encounter works of art which show that using new media can lead to new experiences and to new consciousness, and expand our senses, our perception, our intelligence, our sensibility, then they will become interested in this music. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Repetition is based on body rhythms, so we identify with the heartbeat, or with walking, or with breathing.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

It is true that the eyes dominate the ears in our time.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Whenever I felt happy about having discovered something, the first encounter, not only with the public, with other musicians, with specialists, etc, was that they rejected it.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

I became aware that all sounds can make meaningful language.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

In particular what is most important to me is the transformation of a sound by slowing it down, sometimes extremely, so that the inner of sound becomes a conceivable rhythm.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

I no longer limit myself.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Or the other process that is important is that I compress longer sections of composed music, either found or made by myself, to such an extent that the rhythm becomes a timbre, and formal subdivisions become rhythm.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

One experiments and has to choose always the best results.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

And harmony means that the relationship between all the elements used in a composition is balanced, is good.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

And I'm always interested when other musicians are trying to discover new worlds of sound. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

Since I started composing I have always worked with series of tempos, even superimposed the music of different groups of musicians, of singers, instrumentalists who play and sing in different tempos simultaneously and then meet every now and then in the same tempo.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Or in other works I have also projected the sound in a cube of loudspeakers. The sound can move vertically and diagonally at all speeds around the public.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

And the invention of transformations of certain figures has become the most important in musical composition.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

But since the middle of the century in particular, the music has become very irregular in rhythm.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

I have composed several pieces which are performed outdoors, not only in the auditoria.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

I spent most of the year in the studio for electronic music at a radio station in Cologne or in other studios where I produced new works with all kinds of electronic apparatus.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

New methods change the experience, and new experiences change man. Whenever we hear sounds, we are changed, we are no longer the same, and this is more the case when we hear organized sounds; music.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

So there is a personal sense of style for a given work - I don't like a general style, but every work has its own style, and I want to create a style for every work.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

No, what is important is neither linearity or non-linearity, but the change, the degree of change from something that doesn't move to other events with different tempos in particular.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

And I'll never forget the first time I took the possibility to project sound every day for six or seven hours with special devices which were built for me. (Karlheinz Stockhausen)

But I'm an adventurer. I like invention, I like discovery.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

But being quiet and meditating on sound is something completely different and will be discovered very soon by a lot of people who feel that the visual world doesn't reach their soul anymore.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Sir Thomas Beecham was asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen. He said, "No, but I once trod in some."

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Schaeffer gave me permission to work in the studio with a technician, but I've never worked with him.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Image

Photo: Kathinka Pasveer, CC BY-SA 3.0

Occupation: German Composer
Born: August 22, 1928
Died: December 5, 2007
Quotes count: 25
Wikipedia: Karlheinz Stockhausen

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