The World's First Mixtape

"If you discover something really new, which affects human experience, I mean, there’s no discussion, that’s just the way it is. All the rest is minor talk about little details." – Karlheinz Stockhausen

After the twin peaks of his 50's music, Stockhausen would continue his hot streak with an unrelenting stream of work. In fact, the ceaseless nature of his enterprise was one of his hallmarks. There was scarcely a pause. Every year brought forth several new compositions, and almost every year saw the birth of a major work. Every year for six decades.

In the 60's, two pieces stand out as being 'really new'. The first of them could have been a recipe for a Hallmark factory's worth of dreck: Take a bunch of national anthems and turn them into a sound collage.

It was 1967, an entire season of which would be dedicated to Love. If there were ever an opportunity to churn out some truly awful music, this would be the time and the this would be the premise.

But Hymnen is a masterwork. Like Gesang, it is a seminal work of electronic music. However, Stockhausen would employ a utilitarian approach to the piece that would become the norm for the rest of his career. Hymnen wasn't just a piece of electronic music. It was also a piece for 4 soloists and tape. In 1969, he'd craft an orchestral version.

[The original electronic version can be heard in its entirety on Oshin Saginian's adorable site.]

Perhaps the most famous performance came in the Jeita grotto in Lebanon. In the picture above, the musicans are situated on the ledge in the center, and the audience trails away along the paths. To get to this performance space, they had to walk for 15 minutes, and they were lucky to be within 80 meters of the sound source.

Hymnen is divided into four Regions. The first is dedicated to Pierre Boulez and centers on the Marseillaise and the Internationale as well as the tuning of short wave radios, those devices that are such a major part of the Stockhausen aesthetic. The second Region is dedicated to Henri Pousseur and employs the anthems of West Germany and Austria. A synthesized version of the Russian anthem comes out to play towards the end.

The third Region is dedicated to John Cage, and it sees the Russians playing with the Spaniards and Americans. The fourth Region is a return to neutrality with the Swiss anthem and found sounds, most recognizably a croupier who, more than anything in Gesang, will make you think you are hearing the rough draft of "Revolution #9".

Hymnen lasts for nearly two hours, and it is one of the all-time great sonic adventures. It's like going to the dark side of the moon, or reaching the liebestod.