Hymnen

"Hymnen" is a work by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed in 1966–67, and elaborated in 1969.

Musical form and content

The German title means "(national) anthems", and the substance of the work consists of recordings of national anthems from around the world. There are four movements, called "regions" by the composer, with a combined duration of two hours. The composition exists in three versions: (1) electronic and concrete music alone (2) electronic and concrete music with soloists, and (3) the Third Region (only) with orchestra (composed in 1969). This version of the Third Region can be performed by itself, or together with either the first or second version of the other three regions.

The quadraphonic electronic and concrete music was realised at the Electronic Music Studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. The world première was of the version with soloists, and took place on 30 November 1967 in a concert of the WDR concert series Musik der Zeit, at the auditorium of the Apostel Secondary School in Cologne (Stockhausen 1971, 96).

Each region uses certain anthems as centres:
*Region I (dedicated to Pierre Boulez) has two: "The Internationale" and "La Marseillaise"
*Region II (dedicated to Henri Pousseur) has four: (1) the German anthem, (2) a group of African anthems, (3) the opening of the Russian anthem, and (4) a "subjective centre", consisting of the recording of a moment during the studio work, "in which the present, the past and the pluperfect become simultaneous" (Stockhausen 1971, 96).
*Region III (dedicated to John Cage) has three: (1) the continuation of the Russian anthem (the only one made entirely from electronic sounds), (2) the American anthem, and (3) the Spanish anthem.
*Region IV (dedicated to Luciano Berio) has just one, but it is a "double centre": the Swiss anthem, whose final chord turns into an imaginary anthem of the utopian realm of "Hymunion in Harmondie under Pluramon" (Stockhausen 1971, 97).

Stockhausen originally planned to compose "many more" regions. He had collected 137 anthems, of which only 40 are used in the four extant parts (Maconie 2005, 275), and had organised materials for two further regions, according to contemporary reports (Schwinger 1967, 143; Lichtenfeld 1968, 70):
*Region V: Communist-block countries.
*Region VI: The United Arab Republic.

Performance practice

In the printed score, Stockhausen wrote, "The order of the characteristic sections and the total duration are variable. Depending on the dramatic requirement, Regions may be extended, added or omitted" (Stockhausen 1968, viii). However, in a text written on 18 March 1991 Stockhausen withdrew this option (Stockhausen 1998a, 95).

Reception

Notwithstanding Stockhausen's planned but unrealised fifth region, Konrad Boehmer castigated "Hymnen" on political grounds, claiming that its use of anthems primarily from capitalist and fascist nations presents "emblems" indicating the composer's political alignment (Boehmer 1970, 137). He calls the utopian realm of Hymunion "irrational petty-bourgeois supra-nationality" (Boehmer 1970, 140).

Johannes Fritsch calls "Hymnen" a "masterpiece", comparable to Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis", Mahler's Eighth Symphony, and Schönberg's "Moses und Aron" (Fritsch 1976, 262).

Discography

*"Ausstrahlungen: Andere Welten: 50 Jahre Neue Musik in NRW". Koch / Schwann 2-5037-0 (2 CDs). Includes "Hymnen: Dritte Region mit Orchester" Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Köln conducted by Peter Eötvös (recorded 1979).
*"Hymnen Elektronische und Konkrete Musik". Deutsche Grammophon DG 2707039 (2LPs). Reissued on CD as part of Stockhausen Complete Edition 10
*"Hymnen Elektronische und Konkrete Musik; Hymnen Elektronische und Konkrete Musik mit Solisten". Aloys Kontarsky (piano), Alfred Ailings and Rolf Gehlhaar (amplified tamtam), Johannes G. Fritsch (electric viola), Harald Bojé (electronium). Stockhausen Complete Edition: Compact Disc 10 A-B-C-D (4 CDs)
*"Hymnen Elektronische Musik mit Orchester". Gürzenich-Orchester der Stadt Köln, conducted by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Stockhausen Complete Edition: Compact Disc 47.

References

* Andraschke, Peter. 1979. "Das revolutionär-politische Zitat in der avantgardistischen Musik nach 1965". "Musik und Bildung" 11, no. 5:313–18.
*Blumröder, Christoph von. 1999. "Die Vokalkomposition als Schaffenskonstante". In "Internationales Stockhausen-Symposion 1998: Musikwissenschaftliches Institut der Universität zu Köln, 11. bis 14. November 1998: Tagungsbericht". Signale aus Köln: Beiträge zur Musik der Zeit 4, edited by Christoph von Blumröder, 188–97. Saarbrücken: Pfau-Verlag. ISBN 3-89727-050-1
* Boehmer, Konrad. 1970. "Zwischen Reihe und Pop: Musik und Klassengesellschaft", hrsg. in Zusammenarbeit mit der österreichischen Gesellschaft für Musik. Vienna and Munich: Jugend und Volk.
* Braun, Thomas Manfred. 2004. "Karlheinz Stockhausens Musik im Brennpunkt Ästhetischer Beurteilung". Kölner Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 1. Kassel: Bosse. ISBN 3764927011
* Cott, Jonathan. 1973. "Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer". New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671214950
* Custodis, Michael. 2004. "Die soziale Isolation der neuen Musik: Zum Kölner Musikleben nach 1945". Beihefte zum Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 54, edited by Albrecht Riethmüller, with Reinhold Brinkmann, Ludwig Finscher, Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen, Wolfgang Osthoff, and Wolfram Steinbeck. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-08375-8
* Frisius, Rudolf, and Ulrich Günther. 1971. "Politische und soziologische Bezüge im Musikunterricht, dargestellt an einem Ausschnitt aus den "Hymnen" von Kh. Stockhausen". In "Musikunterricht an Gesamtschulen: Analysen—Berichte—Materialen", Reihe Curriculum Musik, Jahrgang 1, Heft 1 (May 1971), edited by Willi Grundlach and Thomas Ott, 42–65, 128–35. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag. ISBN 3-12-968950-8
* Fritsch, Johannes G. 1976. "Hauptwerk "Hymnen", "Schweizerische Muzikzeitung/Revue Musicale Suisse" 116, no. 4:262–65. Reprinted in "Feedback Papers", no. 16 (1978): 19–21.
* Gutknecht, Dieter. 2003. "Karlheinz Stockhausens "Hymnen" und der Aspekt der Raummusik". In "Bühne, Film, Raum und Zeit in der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts", edited by Hartmut Krones, 275–84. Vienna: Böhlau. ISBN 3205772067
* Harvey, Jonathan. 1975. "Stockhausen’s "Hymnen", "Musical Times" 116, no. 1590 (August): 705, 707.
* Herbort, Heinz Josef. 1967. "Das musikalische Weltdorf: Stockhausens "Hymnen" in Köln uraufgeführt". "Die Zeit" (8 December).
* Hopkins, Nicholas F. 1991. "Hymnen: tractatus musica unita", "Feedback Papers", no. 37.
* Lichtenfeld, Monika. 1968. "Stockhausens Frischzellentherapie für Nationalhymnen". "Melos" 35, no. 2 (February): 69–70.
* Maconie, Robin. 2005. "Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen". Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-5356-6
* Schwinger, Wolfram. 1967. "Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt: Stockhausens elektronische "Hymnen". "Stuttgarter Zeitung" (5 December).
* Skowron, Zbigniew. 1985. "Muzyka elektroniczna Karlheinza Stockhausena. II: Utwory z lat 1955–67". "Muzyka" 27, nos. 1–2:11–36.
*Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1968. "Nr. 22, Hymnen: elektronische und konkrete Musik". Mitlese-Partitur ("a score for reading"). Vienna: Universal Edition.
*Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1971. "Texte zur Musik" 3, edited by Dieter Schnebel. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg. ISBN 3-7701-0493-5
*Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1978. "Texte zur Musik" 4, edited by Christoph von Blumröder. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag. ISBN 3-7701-1078-1
*Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1998a. "Texte zur Musik" 7, edited by Christoph von Blumröder. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag.
*Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1998b. “Bildung ist große Arbeit: Karlheinz Stockhausen im Gespräch mit Studierenden des Musikwissenschaftlichen Instituts der Universität zu Köln am 5. Februar 1997.” In "Stockhausen 70: Das Programmbuch Köln 1998". Signale aus Köln: Musik der Zeit 1, edited by Imke Misch and Christoph von Blumröder, 1–36. Saarbrücken: Pfau-Verlag.
* Toop, Richard. 1981. "Stockhausen's Electronic Works: Sketches and Work-sheets from 1952–1967". "Interface" 10, nos. 3–4:149–97.
* Weid, Jean-Noël von der. 1985. "L’apocalypse de Stockhausen." "Silences" 1:169–77.

External links

* [http://home.earthlink.net/~almoritz/hymnenintro.htm Stockhausen HYMNEN (ANTHEMS), 1966/67] by Albrecht Moritz.
* [http://home.swipnet.se/sonoloco2/Rec/Stockhausen/10.html Review of the Stockhausen-Verlag recording] by Ingvar Loco Nordin.