Tierkreis (Stockhausen)

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Tierkreis (1974-75) is a musical composition by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. The title is the German word for Zodiac, and the composition consists of twelve melodies, each representing one sign of the zodiac.

Originally written for music boxes as a component part of a children's theater piece for percussion sextet titled Musik im Bauch ("Music in the Belly"), these melodies (with or without their accompaniments) form an autonomous work which can be played by any suitable instrument, and exist also in versions to be sung. Each melody is centered on a different chromatic pitch, with "Leo" (Stockhausen’s own sign) = A, Virgo = A#, Libra = B, Scorpio = C, etc., and each has its own distinctive tempo, chosen from the "chromatic" tempo scale first described in the composer's famous article, "... How Time Passes ..." (Stockhausen 1957). The striking simplicity of the melodies has led Peter Andraschke (1981) to see them (together with other of Stockhausen's works from after 1966) as precursors of the German New Simplicity movement that began in the late 1970s.

A complete performance begins with the melody corresponding to the zodiac sign within which the day of the performance falls, and proceeds through the twelve melodies of the cycle, ending with a return to the starting melody. Each melody is played several times, with variations or improvisations which in some performances have been very extensive. The melodies can also be played individually, or in smaller numbers.

[edit] References

  • Andraschke, Peter. 1981. "Kompositorische Tendenzen bei Karlheinz Stockhausen seit 1965". In . Zur Neuen Einfachheit in der Musik. Studien zur Wertungsforschung 14. Edited by Otto Kolleritsch, 126–43. Vienna and Graz: Universal Edition (for the Institut für Wertungsforschung an der Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz). ISBN 3-7024-0153-9
  • Angiolini, Giuliano d'. 1989. "Tierkreis, oeuvre pour instrument mélodique et/ou harmonique: un tournant dans le parcours musical de Stockhausen", Analyse Musicale 1er trimestre:68-73.
  • Kohl, Jerome. 1983. "The Evolution of Macro- and Micro-Time Relations in Stockhausen’s Recent Music". Perspectives of New Music 22 (1983–84): 147–85.
  • Stockhausen, Christel. 1978. "Stockhausens Tierkreis: Einführung und Hinweise zur praktischen Aufführung." Melos 45/Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 139 (July-August): 283-87. Reprinted together with an English trans. as "Stockhausen’s ZODIAC, Introduction and Instructions for Performance Practice," in a booklet now included with the score of Tierkreis.
  • Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1957. "... wie die Zeit vergeht ...". Die Reihe 3:13-42. Trans. by Cornelius Cardew as "... How Time Passes ...", English ed. of Die Reihe 3 (1959): 10-40.
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