Stockhausen's Opera-cycle: Licht ("Light") (1977-2003)

[James]

for solo voices & instruments, dancers, choirs, orchestras, mimes & electronics...

The plot/text of this 7-part opera (one for each day of the week) may be bonkers but the music and auxillary works (which often can be performed separately) built into this massive project (around 29 hours) are quite striking & varied as I'm discovering and also more approachable compared to his earlier more experimental days of the 50s & 60s when he was discovering his musical language. Deutsche Grammophon back in the 80s released two 4-disc boxed sets of both Saturday & Thursday from this operatic cycle (both of which are sold at Archiv as CDR remake jobs with liner notes). These and the rest of the cycle & it's various sections are also available exclusively at his site; a few of the compositions from it are available on other labels.

There are plans for a complete staging of it in 2010.

Some Links:

http://homepage.mac.com/bernardp/Stockhausen/licht.html

http://www.stockhausen.org/licht_photos.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licht

[mikkeljs]

I thought the complete staging was already in 2008 during the summer! 

James, where did you got the information about 2010? Because I have often been looking for informations, but I didn´t found anything. I will do what I can, to get there, if it goes well. I heard, that opera thickets were impossible to get, but perhabs some people sell thickets over prize...I guess people will pay anything to get there! Including me. It would be a moment of the worlds history.  0:)

[gomro]

for solo voices & instruments, dancers, choirs, orchestras, mimes & electronics...

The plot/text of this 7-part opera (one for each day of the week) may be bonkers but the music and auxillary works (which often can be performed separately) built into this massive project (around 29 hours) are quite striking & varied as I'm discovering and also more approachable compared to his earlier more experimental days of the 50s & 60s when he was discovering his musical language. Deutsche Grammophon back in the 80s released two 4-disc boxed sets of both Saturday & Thursday from this operatic cycle (both of which are sold at Archiv as CDR remake jobs with liner notes). These and the rest of the cycle & it's various sections are also available exclusively at his site; a few of the compositions from it are available on other labels.

There are plans for a complete staging of it in 2010.

Some Links:

http://homepage.mac.com/bernardp/Stockhausen/licht.html

http://www.stockhausen.org/licht_photos.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licht

It's a pity that so little of LICHT is easily available; the Helicopter String Qt from Wednesday is probably the most well-known, but it's insignificant compared to pieces like Hoch-Zeiten, Lichter-Wasser, Engel-Prozessionen, Welt-Parlament, Michaels Reise, etc... I haven't begun to take in all of LICHT and its auxiliary pieces, but some of the pieces I have heard are among the best music Stockhausen ever wrote.

[Wendell_E]

I see that RADIO 4 NETHERLANDS (http://www.radio4.nl/) is broadasting Montag today at 17:00 GMT/13:00 U.S. Eastern Time.