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Stockhausen: Hymnen 1 | MS 5559/1

STOCKHAUSEN: HYMNEN

MS ms 5559/1
MS Short Title STOCKHAUSEN: HYMNEN
Text Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen (Anthems), quadraphonic electronic and concrete music, op 22, sketches and annotations
Description MS in German on paper, Köln, Germany, 1966-1967, 11 pp 30x22 cm and 21x15 cm up to 24 lines in cursive script and graphic notation, autograph, signed 5 times.
Provenance 1. Karlheinz Stockhausen, Köln (1966-2007); 2. Reiss & Sohn Auktion 175 (10.11.2015):1211.
Commentary Stockhausen (1928-2007) is one of the most important and visionary modern composers, aiming at fusion between the techniques of electronic and concrete music. His Hymnen represent a synthesis of the two on vast scale (New Grove). The work is based on themes of the National anthems from 40 different nations divided into four "regions" or movements and first performed at WDR in Köln in 1967. The work was extended with soloists later in 1967 and with chorus in 1969, and this version was first performed by NYPO conducted by Stockhausen in New York on 25 February 1971, and had a record breaking duration of 3 hours. Hymnen, although controversial, is considered one of the masterpieces of contemporary music. On occasion of the premiere the composer writes about the extreme flexibility of the performance of Hymnen: The succession and duration of the regions can be changed, or a region can be deleted entirely. Hymnen is composed for Broadcast, TV, opera, ballet, concert hall, church, or out in the free, as quartet of loudspeakers, with or without soloists or chorus.
Published Published: Hymnen was not published until after 1993 by Stockhausen Verlag, Kürten. The sketches are unpublished.
Place of origin Cologne, Gemany
Dates 1966-1967 AD