Talk:List of compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen

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This list certainly needs to be broken down into genres or forms, to make it more navigable. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I have the stamina to do that... Lethe 18:25, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

You and me both!! One thing about Stockhausen's music is that it resists genre classification (not to mention "form"). For example, it might be plausible to categorize the Helicopter String Quartet with chamber music, but it is also part of an opera (this is also the case for Klavierstücke XIII, XIV, XV, and XIX, but not Klavierstücke XII, XVI, XVII, and XVIII, which are arrangements or extrapolations from portions of Licht). Some of the electronic music exists in both "pure" (or "acousmatic") and "mixed" forms: Kontakte, for example (which may be performed with tape alone, as "chamber music" with piano and percussion, or as a component of the theatre-piece Originale), Hymnen (tape alone; tape with soloists; Third Region with orchestra), or the "Invisible Choirs" from Donnerstag aus Licht (a separately performable constituent of two parts of the opera, one in chamber-music texture, the other a scene for large forces). Is a live-electronic work like Mikrophonie I, which uses a single instrument as a sound source but requires at least six performers a solo, chamber-music, or something else, and does it belong in the same or a different category as/than the companion-piece Mikrophonie II? Some pieces have no fixed setting, or exist in different chamber, vocal, and/or large-ensemble versions, such as Tierkreis, Europa-Gruss, or Licht-Ruf. Works like Sternklang, Alphabet für Liège, Plus-Minus, Vortrag über HU, and Fresco defy categorization altogether.

Then there is the Klang cycle which, to date, is mostly solo (Natürliche Dauern, Himmels-Tür) and chamber music (Himmelfahrt, Freude) or a combination of the two (Harmonien), but includes the electronic composition Cosmic Pulses. If the individual titles are to be separated, then what does one do with the overall cycle title? Similarly with the "Intuitive music" compositions (is this a genre?) of Aus den sieben Tagen and Für kommende Zeiten, some constituents of which are chamber music, others are choral works, several are indicated for "ensemble" without limit on size or makeup (voices, instruments?), and one ("Oben und Unten") is a theatre piece. Then there are pieces like Ensemble and Musik für ein Haus, neither of which is yet in the list. Are these actually "compositions", or just the overall plans for two collections of simultaneously performed pieces in different genres/forms by several composers?

When I expanded this list some months ago (it was begun by other hands, but now includes every single title in his catalog--and yet may still be regarded as "incomplete", though I am tempted now to remove that banner at last). it seemed like a good idea to have an alphabetical list, since the readily available online official worklist is by work-number and therefore more or less chronological. The path of least resistance would be to keep it this way, but I agree that it is long and unwieldy. Unfortunately, I think that any attempt to create pigeonholes will end by having one huge one titled "miscellaneous", into which more than half of Stockhausen's works will have to go. Would it help to insert an alphabetic key that would allow jumping to titles beginning with each letter?--Jerome Kohl 19:39, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

I added the cleanup list tag so that others can help out. —Viriditas | Talk 20:40, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I have now indexed the alphabetical list, and added external links to the documents on the composer's website separately listing orchestral, chamber, and choral music. I have not added the many other documents there that are by instrument (percussion, violin, trumpet, etc.), chiefly because they list all works in which the respective instrument occurs, not just solo works (e.g., the percussion list includes the Drei Lieder, Gruppen for three orchestras, etc.). I hope these changes help make the list more navigable.--Jerome Kohl 21:01, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Tag removed. :) —Viriditas | Talk 21:10, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I think it should be arranged in chronological order because of the developmental nature of his work -- alphabetical makes little or no sense in the context of his work while chronological would chart his progression as a composer and as a thinker.Halfabeet (talk) 09:03, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

As mentioned above, there is a link to a chronological list for those who want one. I have added a note to this effect at the head of this list.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 17:00, 23 June 2008 (UTC)