Kreuzspiel (Crossplay) is a composition byKarlheinz Stockhausen written foroboe,bass clarinet,piano and fourpercussionists in 1951 (it was later revised for just three percussionists, along with other changes). It is assigned the number1/7 in the composer's catalogue of works.
Stockhausen regardedKreuzspiel as his first original composition, as opposed to the style-imitation exercises he did as part of his music studies.[1] According to the composer, it was influenced byOlivier Messiaen's "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" (1949) andKarel Goeyvaerts'sSonata for Two Pianos (1950), and is one of the earliest examples of"point" music.Kreuzspiel was premièred at theDarmstädter Ferienkurse in the summer of 1952, conducted by the composer. According to Stockhausen, the performance "ended in a scandal".[2]
Kreuzspiel has been analysed in print more often than any other work by Stockhausen, though all but one[3] restrict themselves to just the first of its three stages.
Though routinely described (by the composer as well as others) as a "serial" composition,Kreuzspiel does not employ a referential, recurringtwelve-tone ordered set. Rather, it uses constant reordering of twelve-element (linked pitch, duration, dynamic, and—in the original version—attack) sets—a device sometimes called "permutationalserialism" (e.g. Howel)[4] It also uses a permutational seven-element system to controlregister.[5]
The composition consists of three linkedmovements, or "stages". In the first stage, six notes begin in the highest register, and six others begin in the lowest register. These gradually move into the four middle octaves until an equal distribution of pitches throughout the entire range is achieved at the centre of the movement. From that point to the end of the movement, the process is reversed, so that all notes arrive again in the two extreme registers, only the six notes originally in the top are now at the bottom, and vice versa. The second movement carries out a similar formal process, only starting in the middle register, spreading out to all seven octaves, and then contracting again to the middle. The third movement superimposes the first two.[6][7])
Compositional control of these shapes is determined in the first stage through the parameter of duration, while in the second stage the dominant element is pitch.(Kohl 1981, p. 18)
50 Jahre neue Musik in Darmstadt, Vol. 1. IncludesKreuzspiel (3rd stage only, version with four percussionists). Romolo Grano, oboe;Friedrich Wildgans, bass clarinet; Irmela Sandt, piano; Hans Rossmann,Bruno Maderna, Willy Trumpfheller, and Paul Geppert, percussion; conducted by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Recorded 21 July 1952. CD recording. Col Legno WWE 1CD 31894. Munich: Col Legno, 1996. Also issued as part of 4-CD set,50 Jahre neue Musik in Darmstadt. Col Legno WWE 4CD 31893 (box); vol. 1: WWE 1 CD 31894; vol. 2: WWE 1 CD 31895; vol. 3: WWE 1 CD 31896; vol. 4: WWE 1 CD 31897. Munich: Col Legno, 1996
Stockhausen:Kreuzspiel;Kontra-Punkte;Zeitmaße;Adieu.London Sinfonietta, cond. Karlheinz Stockhausen.Kreuzspiel recorded in London, 21 March 1973. LP recording. 12 in. Deutsche Grammophon 2530-443 (stereo). [Hamburg]: Deutsche Grammophon, 1974. Reissued on CD in a different coupling, as Stockhausen:Chöre für Doris;Choral;Drei Lieder;Sonatine;Kreuzspiel. Stockhausen Complete edition CD 1. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2002.
Passeport pour le XXe siècle: Voyage guidé par Pierre Boulez.Ensemble intercontemporain, conducted byPierre Boulez. Recorded 1987–88. Ensemble intercontemporain, conducted by Pierre Boulez. L'oeuvre du XXe siècle. Recorded Paris,IRCAM, 1987–1988. (Kreuzspiel excerpt only; with works byIgor Stravinsky,Edgard Varèse,Anton Webern,Luciano Berio,György Ligeti, and Pierre Boulez). CD recording. Disques Montaigne WM 334 88 518. Paris: Disques Montaigne, 1989. [Music taken from the six-part television series,Boulez xxe siècle, presented by Jean-Pierre Cottet. Coproduction: FR3, la Sept, Caméras Continentales, IRCAM, Ensemble intercontemporain, andCentre Georges Pompidou, with support of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, and participation of theCentre National de la Cinématographie.Kreuzspiel occurs in part 3, "Rhythm".] Reissued as Disques Montaigne 780518. TheKreuzspiel excerpt with otherwise different material reissued on disc 3 ofD'un siècle à l'autre. 3-CD set. (With works byJanáček,Mahler,Debussy,Sibelius,Ravel,Bartók,Stravinsky,Shostakovich,Schoenberg,Ives,Webern,Varèse,Berg,Messiaen,Dutilleux,Carter,Xenakis, Ligeti, Berio,Kagel,Harvey, andDusapin.) Montaigne/Naïve MO 782096 (box), disc 1: MO 782096-1, disc 2: MO 782096-2, disc 3: MO 782096-3. Paris: Montaigne/Naïve, 2000.
Karlheinz Stockhausen:Plus-Minus. Ives Ensemble (Esther Probst, oboe; Hand Petra, bass clarinet; John Snijders, piano; Arnold Marinissen, Wilbert Grootenboer, and Fedor Reunisse, percussion), conducted by Richard Rijnvos. Recorded 29 June to 2 July 2002 at Theater Romein, Leeuwarden, Netherlands. (In addition toKreuzspiel, includes Stockhausen:Refrain andPlus-Minus.) CD recording. Hat Hut hat[now]ART 178. Basel: Hat Hut, 2010.
Borio, Gianmario, and Michela Garda. 1991. "Problemi d'analisi della musica seriale:Kreuzspiel di Karlheinz Stockhausen." InL'analisi musicale: Atti del convegno di Reggio Emilia, 16–19 marzo 1989, edited by Rossanna Dalmonte and Mario Baroni, 144–161. Milan: Unicopli.ISBN88-7061-929-X.
Howell, Tim. 1995. "Eisler's Serialism: Concepts and Methods". InHanns Eisler: A Miscellany, edited byDavid Blake, 103–132. Contemporary Music Studies 9. Luxembourg; Australia; New York: Harwood Academic Publishers.ISBN3-7186-5573-X (cloth);ISBN3-7186-5575-6 (pbk).
Kohl, Jerome. 1981.Serial and Non-Serial Techniques in the Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1962–1968. Ph.D. diss. Seattle: University of Washington.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1964. "Kreuzspiel (1951), für Oboe, Baßklarinette, Klavier und Schlagzeug". In Karlheinz Stockhausen,Texte, Band 2: "zu eigenen Werken, zur Kunst Anderer, Aktuelles", edited byDieter Schnebel, 11–12. DuMont Dolumente. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.
Bračanin, Philip. 1971. "The Abstract System as Compositional Matrix."Studies in Music no. 5:90–114.
Harvey, Jonathan. 1975. "Chapter 2:Kreuzspiel." InThe Music of Stockhausen: An Introduction, 14–20. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Keller, Max Eugen. 1972. "Hörte und komponierte Struktur in Karlheinz StockhausensKreuzspiel."Melos 39 no. 1 (January–February), 10–18.
Kinzler, Hartmut. 1997. "Viereinhalb Marginalien zum ersten Stadium von StockhausensKreuzspiel."Musiktheorie 12, no. 1:71–86.
Maconie, Robin. 2005.Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Oxford: The Scarecrow Press.ISBN0-8108-5356-6.
Misch, Imke. 2016. "Karlheinz Stockhausen: The Challenge of Legacy: An Introduction". InThe Musical Legacy of Karlheinz Stockhausen: Looking Back and Forward, edited by M. J. Grant and Imke Misch, 11–19. Hofheim: Wolke Verlag.ISBN978-3-95593-068-4.
Sabbe, Herman [nl]. 1981. "Die Einheit der Stockhausens-Zeit ...: Neue Erkenntnismöglichkeiten der seriellen Entwicklung anhand des frühen Wirkens von Stockhausen und Goeyvaerts. Dargestellt aufgrund der Briefe Stockhausens an Goevaerts". InMusik-Konzepte 19: Karlheinz Stockhausen: ... wie die Zeit verging ..., ed. Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn, 5–96. Munich: Edition Text + Kritik, 1981.
