Karlheinz Stockhausen’s
ORIGINALE

About ORIGINALE ORIGINALE (1961) is Karlheinz Stockhausen’s (1928–2007) first, major theatrical work. It centers on an ill-fated performance of his electroacoustic work Kontakte for piano, percussion, and tape. The pianist, percussionist, and sound projectionist are constantly interrupted by theatrical types, from the lighting engineer in the rigging to an insufferable director. The interruptions grow more outlandish, and the Kontakte performers eventually join in the fun.

Stockhausen’s score is not much more than a time chart with notations of what happened during the original 1961 performances in Cologne’s Theater am Dom. The content could vary wildly depending on who was performing, and Stockhausen welcomed latecomers to the production with little idea what they would do onstage. His goal was to showcase original people doing original things, which is why he settled on the title ORIGINALE (Originals).

The production of ORIGINALE came during a transitional phase in Stockhausen’s career. By the time he was 30, he had become a household name in contemporary music with his theories about composition, his pioneering electronic music, and with two undisputed masterpieces (Gesang der Jünglinge and Gruppen). By the end of the 1960s, he would become a minor icon of the counterculture, famous enough to grace the top row of the Sgt. Pepper’s collage and bankable enough that Polydor saw fit to release a Stockhausen’s Greatest Hits LP.

One of the hallmarks of Stockhausen’s trailblazing career was a stunning consistency of thought. The humor of ORIGINALE is similar to the impish absurdity of the Cologne Carnival, and it is this same spirit that pervades Stockhausen’s magnum opus, LICHT (1977-2003). He spent nearly 30 years composing the seven operas of LICHT, and he was fond of summarizing the massive project as “a dance of humor”. In many ways, ORIGINALE is the work that best holds the key to understanding Stockhausen’s later music. — Joe Drew