Karlheinz Stockhausen

German composer (born: August 22, 1928, Mödrath, Kerpen, Germany; died December 5, 2007, Kürten, Germany). He was acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is most known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music, aleatory (controlled chance) in serial composition, and musical spatialization. He studied with Swiss composer Frank Martin at the Cologne Musikhochschule (1947-51), but the decisive stimulus came from his encounter with Olivier Messiaen's Mode de valeurs at Darmstadt in 1951. There he saw the possibilities of long-range serial process which he pursued in Kreuzspiel (1951) and KontraPunkte (1952), both for piano-based ensemble. The latter piece was written during a period of study with Messiaen in Paris, and while there Stockhausen made his first foray into electronic music. On returning to Cologne he continued this activity, notably in Gesang der Jünglinge (1956) for vocal and synthesized sounds on tape. At the same time, he pursued the ramifications of serial instrumental music. In 1958 he made his first visit to the USA, and around this time his music became more relaxed, both in its density of events and in its notational exactitude. This was partly a result of [A=John Cage]'s influence, and partly it came from the experience of electronic music, which suggested a different way of hearing. His influence extended over a whole generation of European composers, including such contemporaries as Boulez and Berio. Father of [A=Suja Stockhausen-Lefranc], Christel, [A=Markus Stockhausen], [A=Majella Stockhausen], Julika and [A=Simon Stockhausen].