page_title: Samstag aus Licht
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Samstag aus Licht / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Assisi,San Rufino
context_page_description: Samstag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting and four scenes, and was the second of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche. It was written between 1981 and 1983, to a libretto written by the composer and incorporating a text by Saint Francis of Assisi, and was first staged in Milan in 1984.
context_section_description: Samstag is an opera for 13 solo performers (1 voice, 10 instrumentalists, and 2 dancers) plus a symphonic band (or symphony orchestra), ballet or mimes, and male choir with organ. It was composed between 1981 and 1983. Saturday is Lucifer's day. Saturday's exoteric colour is black (Stockhausen 1989a, 200).
  The first scene, Lucifer's Dream, was composed between May and September 1981 as a commission for the 10ème Rencontres Internationales de Musique Contemporaines Metz 1981. The score is dedicated, on the occasion of her twentieth birthday, to the composer's daughter Majella who, together with the bass Matthias Hölle, premiered the work in the Théâtre Municipal Metz on 19 November 1981. A second version of this work, without the bass voice, is Stockhausen's Klavierstück XIII. In this form it was premiered by Majella Stockhausen on 10 June 1982 in the Teatro Regio in Turin (Stockhausen 1989a, 525–26 and 531).
  Kathinka's Chant as Lucifer's Requiem was commissioned by the Südwestfunk Baden-Baden for the Donaueschingen Musiktage, where it was given its concert premiere on 15 October 1983 by Kathinka Pasveer (flute) and the Kolberg Percussion Ensemble. Pasveer also performed in the staged premiere at La Scala on 25 May 1984, but with the Slagwerkgrorp Den Haag. The work was composed in collaboration with Kathinka Pasveer in February and March 1983 at Diani Beach near Mombasa, Kenya (Stockhausen 1989a, 556). In May 1983 Stockhausen planned an alternate version of Kathinkas Gesang for flute and six-channel electronic music. In collaboration with Marc Battier, he realised this version using Giuseppe Digiugnio's synthétiseur 4X at IRCAM in Paris, in December 1983 and August 1984 (Stockhausen 1985, 41–42). A third version, for flute with five-channel recording of piano sounds and a live, concertante piano also exists, but has not yet been premiered. The work can also be performed as an unaccompanied flute solo (Stockhausen 1989a, 548).
  The opera's third scene, Lucifer's Dance, was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band and their conductor, H. Robert Reynolds, who appeared in the staged premiere in Milan on 25 May 1984 after having given the concert premiere on 9 March 1984 in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, with Luis Maldonado (euphonium), Markus Stockhausen (piccolo trumpet), Kathinka Pasveer (piccolo), and Laurence Kaptain (percussion). The score was composed from May to December 1983, and also exists in a version for symphony orchestra, which was first performed in the broadcasting hall of Radio Freies Berlin on 17 and 18 October 1987, by the Radio Symphony Orchestra with Michael Svoboda (euphonium), Markus Stockhausen, Kathinka Pasveer, and Andreas Boettger (percussion), conducted by the composer (Stockhausen 1989a, 582–83).
  Lucifer's Farewell was commissioned by the Associazione Sagra Musicale Umbra for the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis of Assisi, and was composed in August 1982. It is dedicated to Francesco Siciliani. The separate premiere of Lucifer's Farewell was performed by the Händel Collegium Köln on 28 September 1982 in the Chiesa di San Rufino in Assisi, where St. Francis was baptised. They were accompanied by Helmut Volke (Hammond organ) and seven trombonists led by Michael Struck.
  Samstag was given its staged premiere by the Teatro alla Scala on 25 May 1984, in the Palazzo dello Sport in Milan. Subsequent performances were on 26, 29, 30, and 31 May. The stage direction was by Luca Ronconi and Ugo Tessitore, with costume and stage design by Gae Aulenti. Karlheinz Stockhausen was the sound projectionist.
  A second staging was presented in Paris on 28 and 29 June 2019 by the ensemble Le Balcon, the first three scenes at the Cité de la musique and scene 4 at the Église Saint-Jacques-Saint-Christophe de la Villette. Maxime Pascal was the music director, stage direction was by Damien Bigourdan, costumes by Pascale Lavandier, and sound projection by Florent Derex (Mastropietro 2019; Stallknecht 2019).
caption: Chiesa di San Rufino, Assisi, where Luzifers Abschied was premiered
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