Stockhausen - Sounds in Space - The LICHT Super-Formula

9/19/2018 Stockhausen: Sounds in Space: The LICHT Super-Formula
mais hendersonjrodrigues@gmail.com Painel Sair
Stockhausen: Sounds in Space

Analysis, explanation and personal impressions of the works of the avantgarde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Welcome Works: Alphabetic Works: Chronological Works: Timeline The Complete Stockhausen CD Series
The LICHT Opera Cycle The LICHT Super-Formula KLANG, The 24 Hours of the Day
All content here is for educational
The LICHT Super-Formula

purposes only and is designed to
illuminate and otherwise share the great
work of the composer/sound designer
Karlheinz Stockhausen. Please support
the Stockhausen Foundation for Music by
purchasing CDs, DVDs and scores from
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Thanks to Stockhausen Verlag for
allowing usage of images from their
CDs and scores.

Analyses and editorial content
copyright Ed Chang unless otherwise
indicated.

Dramatic breakdown for SAMSTAG AUS LICHT based on Measures 1416 of the LICHT superformula
(© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org) SPECIAL FEATURES
I feel that the sounds and intervals of the super formula are actually the characters, and Stockhausen Sound Equipment Gallery
(WDR)
that the people who realise the sounds represent them. So the true actors in the entire work of
LICHT are actually the pitches and durations, the intensities and the colours, and the toneforms The Stockhausen Courses in Kürten
of the superformula. It is difficult to explain to people that I, as a musician, see sounds like
http://stockhausenspace.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-brief-guide-to-licht-pt-2-super.html 1/14
people and experience them as such while composing. A Timeline History of 20th Century
Stockhausen, "FREITAG, World Theatre" Classical and Electronic Music
"This is your pilot speaking..."

This page describes the musical development of the 7opera LICHT cycle from Stockhausen's LICHT "superformula". A
LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC
more general introduction to the LICHT cycle can be found here.
PIECE?
Going Towards the Light Go!
Stockhausen's 29hour work LICHT ("Light") is basically a multidisciplinary expansion of a 3voice theme which he characterizes as
a "superformula". This concept is the culmination of musical experiments which Stockhausen had been exploring since virtually the
very beginning of his career. A FEATURED WORK

DONNERSTAG AUS
In his earliest works he explored ways to generate a variety of musical gestures by conducting nonrepeating serial operations on LICHT
pitch, duration, dynamics and timbre (such as in KREUZSPIEL and PUNKTE). This was followed by adding the concept of "points vs.
groups" and tempo (KONTRAPUNKTE, GRUPPEN). Then in MANTRA and INORI he added the idea of considering musical gestures …
themselves as elements to be quantified and put into a "row", so to speak. These included gestures such as "a scale", "echos", "non
musical noises", "regular and irregular repetition", "clouds of notes around a central tone", etc... (see KLAVIERSTÜCKE V–X and
MANTRA for more on this). The behaviors were solidified into a "formula", which is a kind of serial row for musical "gestures" as
opposed to notes (though it is basically notedriven). THE LICHT CYCLE

Overview
While in Japan, working on a piece for a traditional Japanese Gagaku orchestra (DER) JAHRESLAUF, Stockhausen wondered to
DONNERSTAG AUS LICHT
himself what aural factors gave the different kinds of ethnic world music traditions their identity. He noticed that, for the most part, all of
these global music genres still used common pitches and scales (for example, pentatonic, whole tone, diatonic, harmonic minor, etc...), SAMSTAG AUS LICHT
but the element that gave each folk style a specific flavor was actually articulation and treatment of the pitches as they progressed from MONTAG AUS LICHT
one note to the next. Examples of these articulation types include microtonal glissandi, use of consonants or sibilant noises, tremoli, DIENSTAG AUS LICHT
overtone vowels, etc... All of these additional articulation gestures were used to further develop the formula technique used previously in FREITAG AUS LICHT
MANTRA and INORI.
MITTWOCH AUS LICHT

SONNTAG AUS LICHT
LICHT Works
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Stockhausen on Electronic
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GESANG DER
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KLAVIERSTÜCKE V X
KONTAKTE Planning &
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GRUPPEN
Stockhausen at Ryoanji, Kyoto Japan 1977
(© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)
Stockhausen also describes these individuallyarticulated pitches as "Tonformen". The LICHT formula has 36 "nuclear" tones, and
the full formula is basically the expansion of these 36 Tonformen nuclear tones into musical gestures which can each be somewhat
AUS DEN SIEBEN TAGEN
characterized as having a "head", "body" and "tail". This concept was also informed by his experience with electronic music, where each
sound has to be described with an attack, body and decay.

The LICHT SuperFormula
Stockhausen hit upon the idea of layering the 3 formulas on top of each in order to get to the LICHT superformula, which ultimately
included just about every idea Stockhausen had used up until this time (with the notable exceptions being spatial music and intuitive KLAVIERSTÜCK XI
music through texts or "plusminus" symbols). The 3 horizontal staves of the superformula are named the MICHAEL layer, the EVE
(EVA) layer and the LUCIFER (LUZIFER) layer, each of which is its own formula. The superformula was then divided vertically into 7
segments (2 to 4 measures long), one for each day of the week. Each of these segments decides the overall form of each of the 7
operas in LICHT (each quarter note in the superformula is expanded into 16 minutes of "realtime" to determine the durations of the acts
and scenes see top and bottom pictures of this page). PLUSMINUS

Besides the 3 "character" formulas, each of these also have reduced versions which strip the formulas of their gestural elements and
leave only pitches, duration and dynamics essentially a melodytheme. These are called "nuclear formulas" ("kernformel"). The
nuclear formulas can also be further reduced to just their notes (without duration), which is basically a tone row in the prewar
Schoenbergian sense. These are the "nuclear tones", also called "central tones" or "kernels". MICHAEL has 17 nuclear tones (13
ETUDE, STUDIE I & II
actually, but some are repeated), EVE has 12, and LUCIFER has 11. Finally Stockhausen uses socalled headmotives derived from
the first few notes of each of the 3 formula layers to act as character leitmotifs or transition signals.

Aside from these various simplified versions of the LICHT superformula, these parts can all also be used in retrograde or inversion
form (backwards or upsidedown), though retrograde is only really used in LICHTBILDER (and very briefly in LUCIFERs TRAUM). All of
this material is then stretched temporally, and transposed vertically in some cases. Some of the musical material of LICHT may be
based on a gestural element, and sometimes the material is an exact expression of the melodic content of a formula. It is actually very
rare, however, to hear the formulas used as thematic material in the "classical sense" unlike say in a Tchaikovsky ballet, one usually
doesn't end up leaving with a "tune" drilled into one's head. In LICHT, the MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER formulas are used more as
structural forces whose tonal characteristics exert a kind of planetary gravity over the surrounding musical ether. However, once a
listener becomes more familiar with LICHT, the formulas do surface as "tunes" and, as Stockhausen implies in the quote at top, they
become almost like "friends". CATEGORIES

In other words, the instrumentation is actually an interpretation that I make on the 1950s (17)
spot. It even depends on the commission. I would never have thought of using a symphony 1960s (23)
band for this particular scene if it hadn’t been for this commission. But in the first scene, 1970s (18)
for example, where the basic idea was that Lucifer dreams a 13th Piano Piece, a piano 1980s (11)
is mandatory...
1990s (14)
Stockhausen, "SAMSTAG, World Theatre"
2000s (16)

In using this concept of a superformula, Stockhausen gave himself a firm supporting structure and form on which to build musical Chamber (41)
materials. As seen in the quote above from "SAMSTAG World Theatre", the LICHT superformula was written in 1977/78, but ElectroAcoustic (29)
Stockhausen often didn't know the musical forces he would be using to express each day's opera of LICHT until close to the time he was Electronic Music (or solo synth) (17)
about to actually begin working on a scene, and this method of development continued all the way up to LICHT's completion in 2003. Intuitive/PlusMinus/Aleatoric (18)
Many times the instrumentation of a scene was driven by commissions, or sometimes by the urge to write a work for family/friends. Also,
Orchestral (24)
because many elements are based on shapes and colors rather than pitch motifs, this gave Stockhausen plenty of room to incorporate
Piano (13)
virtually any kind of compositional timbres he wanted, both acoustic and electronic.
RingModulation (5)
The LICHT superformula is shown below but it's instructive to note that this roughly 1minute sequence of 19 measures almost never Shortwave Radio (5)
actually gets played simply as written. The closest he gets to that is probably in the piece BASSETSUTRIO from bar 160 to 189 (CD Vocal/Choral (31)
55, track 15), or possibly the ROTARY Wind Quintet (CD 105, track 6, starting from 4:26). Both works are from the scene
MICHAELION/MITTWOCH AUS LICHT. For the most part, the superformula acts more like a basic pattern from which to form a much
more complex quilt of lines and colors. STOCKHAUSEN RESOURCES
Stockhausen: Sounds in Space Facebook
page
Official Stockhausen Page
Video clips, English translations, CD
Samples, etc...
Stonebraker Stockhausen Archive
(backup)
Stockhausen Discography
Stockhausen Forum
Fin O'Suilleabhain's Set Sail For the Sun
Composer's Compendium: Karlheinz
Stockhausen (Thanima's somewhat
hipstery overview)
Albrecht Moritz's Essays
Sonoloco Record Reviews
Stockhausen's Spaceship (GMG Forum
Topic)
The Stockhausen Society
Markus Stockhausen on Stockhausen
James Ingram's Page
BLOG ARCHIVE
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► July (5)
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MICHAELs REISE UM DIE ERDE
MIXTUR
ZYKLUS
SOLO
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UNSICHTBARE CHÖRE
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Ed Chang
View my complete profile
The LICHT Superformula (English translation) MY OTHER RESEARCH

PROJECTS
(The numbers in boxes refer to the tempo.) The Quodlibet Recordings Annex

Cue By Cue: Film Music Narratives
Stockhausen calls the extramusical gestures in the superformula "accessories". These include
Music of Allan Holdsworth Analyzed
Modulation regular/irregular changes in timbre, rhythm, dynamic, etc...
Giacinto Scelsi: A Thumbnail Guide
Scale even rising/falling notes connecting one nuclear tone with another
Radio Station EXP: The Music of Jimi
Variation ornamental improvisation ("satellite tones") on 1 or more connected nuclear tones Hendrix
Echo & Preecho repetition with diminishing dynamic values, or an anticipatory note World Music: Turkey
Wind usually "breathing" pitches with a very transparent timbre, but sometimes played as harmonics The Daily Beethoven
etc... Now's The Time (Jazz History)
The next sections describe how Stockhausen used elements from the LICHT superformula to create macro and micro structures in The Horrible Conclusion: HP Lovecraft
Exhumed
the 7 LICHT operas.
Ed Quits Smoking (Fictional Timelimes)
The 7 Days of the Week Uatu's List Marvel Comics 19611986
Each of the 7 operas takes a 2to4 measure segment of the LICHT superformula and expands it Chronology Project
to create a form structure which determines the durations of its Acts and Scenes. Stockhausen's Quodlibet Recordings
ruleofthumb was that 1 quarternote would be equal to 16 minutes in playing time (this rule was
often stretched, of course). The following are the 7 days of LICHT with their respective measures in
the superformula (also marked in the above superformula itself by slightly thicker measure lines):

MONTAG (Monday): M 13
DIENSTAG (Tuesday): M 4, 5
MITTWOCH (Wednesday): M 6, 7
DONNERSTAG (Thursday): M 811
FREITAG (Friday): M 12, 13
SAMSTAG (Saturday): M 1416
SONNTAG (Sunday): M 1719
The LICHT Superformula segments for each day
Click to enlarge.

The MICHAEL Formula
The MICHAEL formula has lots of ascending and descending figures and its
characteristic note interval is the perfect 4th, which is also featured in the
MICHAEL "head motif". Some of the main gestural features ("accessories")
featured include ornamentation/improvisation (Measure 2) of the 3 notes in
M1, colored pauses (as tongue clicks) (M3), 3 echoes (of M4 in M5), timbral
variation (M7), scale runs (M9), rhythmic modulation (M12), preecho (M14)
of the repeated note in M15, rhythmic pulses (M15), trilling and dynamic
modulation (M18). The signature melodic intervals of the MICHAEL formula
are: ascending/descending perfect 4ths & 5ths, descending minor 6ths.

It's worth pointing out that the "echoes" in the Tuesday segment "fade away". MICHAEL formula divided into day segments
Additionally, the timbral changes found in measures 810 (Thursday segment) and with Nuclear tones in diamonds.
(Click to enlarge)
are done through the use of mutes (the "vowel" symbols actually represent a
scale of 7 mute positions, from fully "closed" to fully "open"). The repeated notes
in the Saturday segment each have different held dynamic attacks, while the final Sunday segment has different "pulsed" dynamic
attacks. These are just some examples of the precise elements of the formula which make it more than just a melody theme.

The formula is most easily heard in the beginning of MICHAELs REISE UM DIE ERDE in the ABSCHIED segment. There, the
trumpet plays the formula as a solo and the features of the musical gestures are clearly felt and heard. If Stockhausen Edition CD 30
isn't readily handy, this piece can also heard in a live rendition here .

The LUCIFER Formula
LUCIFER's formula includes more dissonances and has a more "martial"
feel. It has a headmotif of a major 7th (Measure 2). The augmented 4th or
tritone (named by 18th C. musicians as "the devil in music", appropriately
enough) also features prominently. Some of the main gestural features that are
displayed here include a marchlike regular pulsation (M1), colored tremolo
(flutter tongue, M2), broken ascending scales (M3), irregular rhythm (M4, 13,
15, etc...), ornamental improvisation (M5), colored silence (M12), colored
silence with counting (M7, 14, 19), timbre modulation (M810 (with phonetic
vowels), M16), and tempo modulation (rhythmic deceleration) (M17). One
place that the LUCIFER formula can be heard relatively intact (and at a pretty
LUCIFER formula divided into day segments
brisk clip) is in MICHAELs REISE UM DIE ERDE in the trombone part of the 2nd and with Nuclear tones in squares.
STATION segment. The signature melodic intervals of the LUCIFER formula (Click to enlarge)
are: ascending Major 7ths, ascending minor 6ths. (© www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

The EVE Formula
EVE's formula holds all 12 notes of the chromatic scale and has more
"smooth" legato transitions between pitches as well as the simplest rhythms. It's
characteristic interval (used in the EVE head motif) is the "cheerful" major 3rd. It
has many of the same gestural features as the MICHAEL and LUCIFER
formulas with the notable additions of broad pitch glissandi (M3), colored pitch
bending (M8, 9), microtones (M15), rhythmic colored noise (breathing
noises, M12), yodeling (M13) and different degrees of vibrato (M1). One place
that this formula can be heard relatively intact is in MICHAELs REISE UM DIE
ERDE in the flute part of the 1st STATION segment. The signature melodic
intervals of the EVE formula are: ascending Major 3rds, ascending tritones,
descending octaves. EVE formula divided into day segments
and with Nuclear tones circled.
(Click to enlarge)
As mentioned above, all 3 ("elaborated") formulas in the form of the 3layered
superformula can be heard (at reduced tempo with minor variations) in the piece
BASSETSUTRIO from bar 160 to 189 ("Viertes FormelTrio", track 15 on Stockhausen Edition CD 55).

Formulas from Nuclear Tones and Nuclear Formulas
A graphical representation of the 16 (13 + 3) MICHAEL Nuclear Tones. This is a 12 tone pitch row with the 1st note (D) repeated as the last pitch. Then 3 more notes (F
F# F) were added as a transition between the 12th and 13th notes.
Here the MICHAEL Nuclear Tones have now been given note durations. This is now called the MICHAEL Nuclear Formula.
This Nuclear Formula (like the full Formulas and the Nuclear Tones) are divided into 7 "day" fragments, to be used as motivic devices.
Each of the 16 notes in this Nuclear Formula was "elaborated" to create the full MICHAEL Formula (marked with diamonds in the MICHAEL Formula image earlier).
Below is Stockhausen's colored sketch for the Nuclear Tones sequenced pitches he wanted to use in the superformula. These
sequences can be used to generate rhythmic figures and ostinato figures without being subject to the prescribed rhythms in the formulas
and nuclear formulas. MICHAEL's nuclear tone sequence has 13 tones plus 3 extra repeated tones (the unconnected pitches in segment
5 below). EVE has 12 notes and LUCIFER has 11 notes. Each of these minisegments can be used alone or in combination as motivic
material.
LICHT Nuclear Tones. Glieder = limbs.

The Nuclear Formulas were created by giving durations to the Nuclear Tones, essentially making them into short melodies. Below
are the 3 Nuclear Formulas ("kernformel") of MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER, in this picture layered on top of each other, though they are
often used just by themselves. Compared to their full Formula incarnations, it's clear that these are highly simplified versions of the
LICHT Formulas before all of the "dialect accessories" were added in. This makes them much easier to use as motifs and themes in a
classical sense, especially when used for tutti groups of instruments such as chorus or brass. Oftentimes these are broken up into
fragments so that characters can "speak" with each other musically.
The 3 LICHT Nuclear formulas. Each is divided into 5, 7 and 6 "limbs" (fragments used as motifs).
(original Nuclear formula transcription from "Into the Middleground: Formula Syntax in Stockhausen's LICHT" Jerome Kohl)

All 3 nuclear formulas can also be heard in the piece BASSETSUTRIO from bar 117 ("Erstes FormelTrio", track 12 on Stockhausen
Edition CD 55).

The first few notes of the 3 LICHT nuclear formulas are also used as the head motifs (below) of each character. These are
somewhat like the "signatures" of each of the 3 characters of LICHT.
Head motifs of MICHAEL (perfect 4th), EVE (major 3rd) and LUCIFER (major 7th).
With all of these musical formulas and their reversed/inverted/fragmented variations, Stockhausen had enough musical building
blocks to work on LICHT for the following 26 years.

From Formulas to LICHT
Stockhausen used the formulas, nuclear tones and head motifs in many different ways to generate the musical drama of LICHT, but
probably the most obvious use was still generally based on pitch and duration (as opposed to the gestural elements). A typical scenario
could be to take a day's segment (say the SAMSTAG segment of measures 14 to 16 and use those 3 layers on top of the full LUCIFER
formula layer to create a 4 layer polyphony, or to use the LUCIFER headmotif as a recurring figure during a scene. In DONNERSTAG's
MICHAELs REISE, the trumpet and the bassett horn have duets where they "trade licks" with each other, musically teaching the other
fragments of their respective formulas. In the HELIKOPTER STREICHQUARTETT the string players play the full superformula with
tremolo glissandi, but each string player switches from layer to layer. In KATHINKA's GESANG each note of the LUCIFER formula gets
it's own workout. Some scenes use many interpolations of formulas, but with a single formula influencing the general tonal character of
a scene.

The only part of LICHT which is not fully based on the superformula is Act 1 of DIENSTAG AUS LICHT, JAHRESLAUF, since it is an
adapted staged version of DER JAHRESLAUF, which was completed before the superformula was developed. However, working on
DER JAHRESLAUF inspired Stockhausen to begin work on LICHT, and the version used in LICHT includes additional vocal parts which
use the LICHT superformula.

More detailed explanations of how the LICHT superformula is used to germinate the individual scenes can be found in the posts
describing the individual parts of the operas. A good place to start is the article on MICHAELs REISE.

"...structures can be composed into each element which accord with
the overall structure of the work to be composed.
The elementary microstructures and macrostructures of a composition are derived
from the unique, total conception of the work..."
Stockhausen writing about GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE in "Actualia", 1955/rev.1991

LICHT Forces
The links below lead to brief synopses and breakdowns of the
instrumental forces utilized in each work.
DONNERSTAG AUS LICHT
SAMSTAG AUS LICHT
MONTAG AUS LICHT
DIENSTAG AUS LICHT
FREITAG AUS LICHT
MITTWOCH AUS LICHT
SONNTAG AUS LICHT

Dramatic breakdown for FREITAG AUS LICHT based on M12 & 13 of the LICHT superformula.
Links
Wiki Entry on LICHT
Into the Middleground: Formula Syntax in Stockhausen's Licht (Jerome Kohl)
The Evolution of Macro and MicroTime Relations in Stockhausen's Recent Music (Jerome Kohl)
Time and Light (Jerome Kohl)
Malcolm Ball's interview with Stockhausen on LICHT (1997)
Bernard Pulham's Site on LICHT
Generative processes in Stockhausen's Lichter Wasser (Bianchi, PDF Thesis)
An Analysis of Karlheinz Stockhausen's TraumFormel Pt 1 (Vickery, PDF Thesis)
The Saxophone Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen (Bunt, PDF thesis)
Ed Chang

(These blogs function not so much as "web diaries" but more like "online books" I've written (or am writing), with each post being analogous
to a book "chapter". The blog projects I work on are typically histories, song breakdowns, synopses, and/or analyses. I've learned a lot while creating
these things, and I hope you enjoy them.)
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9/19/2018 Stockhausen: Sounds in Space: The LICHT Super-Formula

mais hendersonjrodrigues@gmail.com Painel Sair