Karlheinz Stockhausen’s stage cycle Licht. Musical theatre of the world

• Authors: Agnieszka Draus
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

 The main idea of the paper is a presentation of the stage cycle Licht, absorbing the composer for over one-third of his active creative life. The question arises as to the generic affiliation of Stockhausen’s opus magnum: close to operatic works by Luciano Berio and Mauricio Kagel or to pop productions of works by Philip Glass? Analysing the subject matter and content of Licht, as well as its message and the means of expression employed, it is difficult not to discern the unification, within a single work, of what might appear to be contrasting musical genres and kinds of theatre (mystery play, expressionist drama, happening). It is worth remembering that the composer himself does not employ any specific generic term except for Opernzyklus. He often, however, refers to the forms and genres of theatre, cultivated in many different parts of the world, which have inspired him (e.g. in Malaysia, Japan, Bali, the USA), and he admits to the evolution of his views on faith. Can the substance of Licht be reduced to a common denominator? Can the heptalogy be called ‘sacred’ theatre? Or - on the contrary - an extremely profane, ‘pagan’ avant-garde spectacle?

Keywords

PL

pitch; Karlheinz Stockhausen; stage-cycle; Licht; world-theatre; The Urantia Book; Michael; Eva; Lucifer; formula-composition; Hans Urs von Balthasar

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology
• Year: 2009
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 217-226

Dates

published

2018-10-17

Contributors

author

Agnieszka Draus

• Ph.D., a tutor at the Faculty of Musical Composition, Performance, Analysis and Education of the Academy o f Music in Kraków. In her research activities she has focused on one hand on the issues o f sacred music with particular stress on sacred musical theatre especially in the works of Krzysztof Penderecki as well as Karlheinz Stockhausen (Ph.D. thesis Cykl sceniczny „Licht” Karlheinza Stockhausena. Muzyczny teatr świata [Opera cycle “Licht” by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The Musical Theatre o f the World], which received the Award of the Division of Musicologists of the Polish Composers’ Union). On the other hand her research focuses on the vocal and instrumental work of Witold Lutosławski and Marek Stachowski.