Observations placeholder

Karlheinz Stockhausen – Text zur Musik 1970-1977

Interview 1:  Gesprach mit hollandischem Kunstkreis 1973

I love the whole circle – to traverse the whole circle of the human at least once in each composition, and thereby to feel at each moment ‘That’s coming into balance again!’, so that then one actually has the feeling at the end that one is in equilibrium, that one has received a harmonious feeling.  The best thing would naturally be if, when someone hears a piece of mine then goes afterwards to a stranger, he could embrace him and say ‘I find you wonderful!’ simply because he is happy.

Karlheinz Stockhausen – Text zur Musik 1970-1977

Interview 2:  Gesprach mit hollandischem Kunstkreis 1973

Today there is a new branch which is becoming more and more popular:  music therapy.  People are experiencing music not only as a mirror that tells them who they are; they are also learning that music can heal.  If, for instance one is sick – say, we are too nervous or fearful or aggressive or tired of life – one can cure such sicknesses with music.  But at first there are only a few who know what is good for a cure.  They can handle music therapeutically.  There must have been something like it among the Greeks, even more among the Indians in the form of the mantra techniques.  Plato’s writings say what specific music is good for.  In Europe, unfortunately, this knowledge has disappeared, because we have become scientifically too one sided, and in medicine think of almost nothing but chemical treatment or surgery.  We have no idea of musical therapeutics.  Only now we are slowly beginning to discover this again.  I know for instance, a music therapist who was formerly a biologist and now tries to heal the mentally ill with music.  Ironically enough, they only begin to heal people with music when they are already mentally ill.  They often use my music for therapy too.  Unfortunately they only start with people in the hospital who are already completely unbalanced.  Very few realise that every one of us basically needs music for self healing