Stockhausen made Cologne an important centre for electronic music. He also helped to make the Darmstadt Summer Courses a famous centre for modern music. He did not invite John Cage to lecture there in 1958. This led to disagreements with Boulez and Nono. In California in 1967, Stockhausen married his second wife who was a painter. During the 1960s he bought land in the country near Cologne and had a house built there. Stockhausen did not design the house himself, because he was not an architect.
Stockhausen was by now world famous. He toured the United States and many other countries with a small group of musicians performing modern music. His music was not only listened to by fans of classical music but was also becoming part of popular youth culture. His picture was included on the front cover of the Beatles’s record Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The record company Deutsche Grammophon sold more copies of his music than of any other modern composer except Stravinsky.
During the 1970s Stockhausen became even more popular. This was partly because other music, like the other arts, had become political and very left-wing in the 1960s, which made people angry. It was also partly because audiences wanted a change from music that was very complicated, and Stockhausen's music had become much simpler. His most popular compositions are "Tierkreis" (1974–75) and "In Freundschaft" (1977). Stockhausen broke with his publisher and started to publish his music himself. From 1977 to 2003 Stockhausen composed "Licht" ("Light"), a set of seven operas named for the days of the week.
Stockhausen died of heart failure on 5 December 2007 in Kuerten.
In some student works Stockhausen used twelve tone composition. He became interested in Messiaen and his composition "Kreuzspiel" shows Messiaen’s influence. In "Kontra-Punkte" (1953) the music starts with very small bits played by ten instruments. Gradually these little bits come together and at the end the music concentrates on the piano.
From 1953 he worked seriously at electronic music. He thought that electronic music was going to be the music of the future. His "Gesang der Jünglinge" is a multi-track work, using 5 tracks (later reduced to 4). "Gruppen" ("Groups") is a work for three orchestras and three conductors. They sit in different parts of the concert hall and play at different speeds at the same time. His piano piece "Klavierstück XI" ("Piano Piece eleven") shows no influence of John Cage at all. The music is written on a huge sheet of paper and the pianist decides as he plays which part of the music to go to next and how to play it. This means that each performance of the work is different. This is not “chance” music, but "mobile" music.
He continued to experiment with new ideas. "Kontakte" is a work for piano, percussion and electronic music (the tape has been prepared beforehand). He composed “live electronic” music beginning in the 1960s. This means using electronics to change the sound of normal instruments that are amplified. His operatic cycle "Licht" was started in 1977 and took him 26 years to complete. There are seven operas: one for each day of the week. Some of the music for this includes microtonal scales, in which the notes are tuned so that they are less than a semitone apart.
W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946) was an American comic actor. He had a recognizable and unique style on stage, movies, and radio. His real name was William Claude Dukenfield and he started his career when he ran away from home at the age of 11.
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and writer. He created many theories and ideas that are still used in psychology today. Psychology is the science of how people think and feel. His kind of psychology was called analytical psychology or "Jungian Analysis".
Jung worked for about seven years with Sigmund Freud early in his career, but they fell out over a theory and from 1913 went their separate ways. This was because they disagreed about what motivated people and how to understand psychology.
Jung is famous for many things that he did for psychology. The work he did was important for measuring what kind of personality people have. The test called the Myers Briggs Type Indicator is based on his ideas. He is also famous because of his ideas about the ancients - people from many years ago.
Jung spent his life learning from observation and read exceptionally widely subjects as different as philosophy, science, anthropology, religion, literature, art and historical books relating to alchemy and the occult. He thought he could learn important things about psychology from them. He investigated them to find out what symbols they contained and how ancient people tried to make sense of the world around them. Alchemy is considered a precursor of modern Chemistry.
He wrote in academic German, for doctors, psychologists and many other educated people. Most people who study Jung start with the book "Man and His Symbols". It was written by colleagues of Jung so that people would be able understand him. Another useful introduction to his work is his Biography, "Memories, Dreams, Reflections", written mostly by his secretary, Mrs Aniela Jaffe, and to which he contributed three or four chapters.
Jung died a widower in his mid-eighties in Kuesnacht, Canton of Zurich Switzerland.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer. He wrote horror stories and poems. (Romantism)
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809. His parents were two touring vaudeville actors, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins. David left the family under unknown circumstances whilst Poe was an infant. When Poe was two his mother died of tuberculosis, leaving Edgar an orphan. The wealthy John Allan took Edgar into his home in Richmond, Virginia. In 1815, the Allan family moved to England. Young Poe went to an English private school. After five years, the family moved back to Richmond, Virginia.
After moving back to Virginia, Poe entered the University of Virginia in 1826. While there, he gambled, lost money, and went into debt. John Allan became angry, and cut off all contact with Poe. In 1827, Poe published his first work, a collection of poetry titled, "Tamerlane and Other Poems". Poe did not have his name published in the book; it was attributed to "a Bostonian."
Poe enlisted in the army. He used the name Edgar A. Perry and lied about his age. He was successful as a soldier and quickly became a sergeant major. While in the army his foster-mother Frances Allan died. Poe attempted to mend his relationship with John Allan. Poe soon left the army and enrolled at West Point in New York state.
Poe did not enjoy his time at West Point and got very bored. He was expelled in March 1831. At this point, John Allan disowned him. Poe was well-liked by other cadets. They contributed money to pay for Poe to publish a book of his poems called "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems". He soon moved to Baltimore, Maryland.
In Baltimore, Poe lived with his aunt, Maria Poe Clemm. She was the sister of Edgar's real father. Clemm also had a daughter named Virginia Clemm. Virginia admired Poe very much. In 1836, when Virginia was thirteen, she and Poe married.
Poe was writing a lot by this time. He sold his first short story in 1832. His writing did not earn very much money. He also worked as an editor for various magazines over the years, becoming very well known for his literary criticism. Poe also was drinking off and on during these years.
In 1842, while Poe was living with Clemm and Virginia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Virginia became sick with tuberculosis. The family moved to the New York City area in 1843 before settling in The Bronx. On January 29, 1845, Poe published his most famous poem, "The Raven", making him very popular. Virginia died a few years later, on January 30, 1847.