''Adieu'' ''für Wolfgang Sebastian Meyer'' is a composition for

wind quintet A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the i ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

composed in 1966. It is Number 21 in the composer's catalog of works, and the second of Stockhausen's three wind quintets, the others being ''

Zeitmaße ''Zeitmaße'' (; German for "Time Measures") is a chamber-music work for five woodwinds (flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, and bassoon) composed in 1955–1956 by German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen; it is Number 5 in the composer's catalog. ...

'' (1955-1956) and the ''Rotary'' Wind Quintet (1997).

History

In June 1966 the oboist Wilhelm Meyer, who had frequently performed Stockhausen's earlier quintet ''Zeitmaße'' under the composer's direction, asked Stockhausen to compose a new wind quintet for an upcoming tour of Asia. Stockhausen initially demurred because a new quintet would probably take months to compose, and the current production of ''

Hymnen ''Hymnen'' (German for " Anthems") is an electronic and concrete work, with optional live performers, by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed in 1966–67, and elaborated in 1969. In the composer's catalog of works, it is No. 22. The extended work i ...

'' in the Cologne electronic studio was taking up all of his time. A visit made a few days later to a comprehensive exhibition in The Hague of

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

's paintings made Stockhausen ask himself, when confronted with Mondrian's well-known series of paintings titled simply "compositions"—with their strict organization by vertical and horizontal lines dividing the canvasses into rectangles—why it should be necessary to take months of concentrated work to produce a piece. Recalling also that Meyer's son Wolfgang Sebastian, an

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

who not long before had asked Stockhausen to compose an organ piece, had been killed in a car crash on 10 January 1966, he immediately set to work on the new quintet in memory of the oboist's son, and completed it two days later. There were two unofficial performances, in Calcutta on 30 January and in Hong Kong on 6 February, before the "official premiere" on 10 February 1967 in Tokyo by the WDR Wind Quintet.

Analysis

''Adieu'' provokes reflection on the transience of experience by expressing feelings of separation and bereavement. This is accomplished through the use of long-held chords with

microtonal Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

fluctuations and gestures of interrupted movement—unfinished cadences, abrupt changes in the sound, and so on. "The musicians must be able to experience deeply, and form into notes, the sense of closeness to death that vibrates in this music". The work is divided into sections proportioned according to the

Fibonacci number In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...

s from 1 to 144. The main material consists of long-drawn out, static or slowly changing sound expanses, interrupted at intervals by general pauses and five short, unfinished traditional tonal cadences, reminiscent of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

. These broken-off cadence fragments open and close ''Adieu'', and divide the whole into four large sections of 144 time units each. The second and fourth of these main sections are subdivided by the pauses, resulting in a total of eight subsections, with durations of 144, 55 + 89, 144, and 34 + 21 + 34, + 55 units. These are then subdivided further into smaller measures. Each Fibonacci duration is associated throughout the composition with a particular articulation type. The value 13, for example, is associated with trills. However, when such a value is also a part of a larger one, e.g., when a section of 34 units is divided 13 + 21, the shorter section takes on in addition the character associated with 34, which is repetition of notes. On the other hand, where 13 combines with 8 to form a larger section of 21 units, the 13 bar will take on in addition to trills the character associated with 21, which is ''

crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece are the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings require interpretation by the performer depending ...

''.

Discography

* ''Stockhausen:

Kreuzspiel (Crossplay) is a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen written for oboe, bass clarinet, piano and four percussionists in 1951 (it was later revised for just three percussionists, along with other changes). It is assigned the number 1/7 in the c ...

Kontra-Punkte ''Kontra-Punkte'' (Counter-Points, or Against-Points) is a composition for ten instruments by Karlheinz Stockhausen which resolves contrasts among six instrumental timbres, as well as extremes of note values and dynamic levels, into a homogeneou ...

, Adieu''.

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

(Sebastian Bell, flute; Janet Craxton, oboe;

Antony Pay Antony Pay (born 21 February 1945 in London) is a classical clarinettist. After gaining a place with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, with whom he performed the Mozart clarinet concerto at the age of 16, he studied at the Royal Aca ...

, clarinet; John Butterworth, horn; William Waterhouse, bassoon), Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond. LP recording. DG 2530 443. Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon, 1974. ''Adieu'' reissued with ''Kontra-Punkte'', ''Zeitmaße'', and '' Stop'' on CD, Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 4. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2002. * ''Quintette Moraguès: Ligeti, Villa-Lobos,

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major ad ...

, Stockhausen''. Michel Moraguès, flute; David Walter, oboe; Pascal Moraguès, clarinet; Pierre Moraguès, horn; Patrick Vilaire, bassoon. Recorded October 1991. CD recording. Auvidis VALOIS V 4639.

rance Rance may refer to: Places * Rance (river), northwestern France * Rancé, a commune in eastern France, near Lyon * Ranče, a small settlement in Slovenia * Rance, Wallonia, part of the municipality of Sivry-Rance ** Rouge de Rance, a Devonian ...

Auvidis France, 1992. *''German Wind Quintets''. Quintette Aquilon (Marion Ralincourt, flute; Claire Sirjacobs, oboe; Stéphanie Corre, clarinet; Marianne Tilquin, horn; Gaêlle Habert, bassoon), Clément Mao-Takacs, cond. Stockhausen: ''Adieu''; Klughardt: Wind Quintet in C, Op. 79; Hindemith: ''

Kleine Kammermusik (''Chamber Music'') is a group of eight chamber music compositions by Paul Hindemith. He wrote them, each in several movements, during the 1920s. They are grouped in three opus numbers: Op. 24, Op. 36 and Op. 46. Six of these works, ''Kammermus ...

'', Op. 24, No. 2; Eisler: Divertimento, Op. 4. Recorded at , Berlin-Lankwitz, 13–16 August 2012. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Delta Classics 90 094. Frechen: Delta Music & Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG, 2013.

References

Cited sources

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History

Analysis

Discography

References

Cited sources

Further reading