Yes, some celebrated artist of some sort that I have never heard of said that and other things.
This world is full of all types. Maybe this should be in the Pit.
I don’t get surprised anymore. But everytime I say I think I’ve seen (heard) everything…
Wow. I thought Gyorgy Ligeti was dead?
Stockhausen has written a lot of good and “um…interesting” music (we studied a lot of his works in electronics music classes), but I think he’s way, way off-base on this one.
(Thanks for the article. Always wondered what Karlheinz was up to lately.)
My wife is a musicologist and forwarded the original Stockhausen article to me when it was first published. I, like many who read his insensitive comments, was horrified at his apparent callousness. However it now appears that he was badly misquoted and his words twisted in a way that was totally contradictory to his intent. Here is Stockhausen’s reply to the article, as forwarded to me from my wife through the mailing list of the American Musicological Society.
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"After returning from Hamburg I find false, defamatory reports in the press.
"I am as dismayed as everyone else about the attacks in America.
"At the press conference in Hamburg, I was asked if MICHAEL, EVE and LUCIFER were historical figures of the past and I answered that they exist now, for example Lucifer in New York.
"In my work, I have defined Lucifer as the cosmic spirit of rebellion, of anarchy. He uses his high degree of intelligence to destroy creation. He does not know love.
"After further questions about the events in America, I said that such a plan appeared to be Lucifer’s greatest work of art. Of course I used the designation ‘work of art’ to mean the work of destruction personified in Lucifer. In the context of my other comments this was unequivocal.
"I cannot find a fitting name for such a ‘satanic composition’. In my case, it was not and is not my intention to hurt anyone. Since the beginning of the attack on I have felt solidarity with all of the human beings mourning this atrocity.
"Not for were one moment have I thought or felt the way my words are now being interpreted in the press.
"The journalist in Hamburg completely ripped my statements out of a context, which he had not recorded in its entirety, to use it as a vile attack against my person and the Hamburg Music Festival.
“This whole situation is regrettable and I am deeply sorry if my remarks were misconstrued to offend the grieving families of the brutal terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. I will continue to keep the victims of this outrage in my prayers.”
Karlheinz Stockhausen
September 19, 2001