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''''''Formel''''' (Formula) is a compostion for chamber orchestra by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], written while he was still a student in 1951. It is given the number ⅙ in his catalog of works, indicating that it precedes the composition he recognised as his first mature work, Nr. 1 ''[[Kontra-Punkte (Stockhausen)|Kontra-Punkte]]''. ==History== ''Formel'', originally titled ''Studie für Orchester'' (Study for Orchestra), was written in November and December 1951 immediately after ''[[Kreuzspiel]]'' and was intended to have been the first movement of a three-movement composition. When he completed the other two movements the following year, however, he decided their more [[Punctualism|punctual]] style did not fit well with the more thematic character of the intended opening, and the two 1952 movements became the separate composition ''Spiel'' (Stockhausen 1978, 51; Maconie 2005, 63 and 83). Only twenty years later did Stockhausen retrospectively discover in the early piece similarities to the [[Formula composition|formula technique]] he had devised for his then-latest composition, ''[[Mantra (Stockhausen)|Mantra]]'' (1970). When asked by [[Maurice Fleuret]] for a new work for the 1971 Journées de Musique Contemporaine, Stockhausen offered this score, which he now gave the name ''Formel''. The premiere was conducted by the composer at the Théâtre de Ville in Paris on 22 October 1971, on a concert that also featured several other compositions from his days as a student: the ''Drei Lieder'' for contralto and chamber orchestra, the ''Chöre für Doris'', the ''Choral'' ("Wer uns trug mit Schmerzen"), all composed in 1950, and the Sonatine for violin and piano from 1951 (Kurtz 1992, 184; (Stockhausen 1978, 51). ==Analysis== As with several other of Stockhausen's compositions of this period (''Kreuzspiel'', ''Spiel'', the ''Schlagtrio'', the original version of ''[[Punkte]]'', and ''Kontra-Punkte''), ''Formel''gradually transmutes an initial basic pattern of notes into something else. Its form is chevron-like, first broadening the pitch space out from the centre, then systematically withdrawing notes from the middle until only the outer extremes remain—a sort of inside-out version of the procedure used in ''Kreuzspiel'' (Maconie 2005, 63–64). Unlike its companion works, however, the tone row on which it is based is not treated punctually, with notes isolated from one another, but instead they are grouped into melodic cells (Frisius 2008, 42). ==Instrumentation== Formel is scored for a small orchestra of 28 musicians: * 3 oboes * 3 clarinets in A * 3 bassoons * 3 horns * vibraphone (with glockenspiel) * celesta * piano * harp * 6 violins * 3 cellos * 3 double basses ==Discography== * Stockhausen, Karlheinz. ''Inori, Formel''. SWF Sinfonie-Orchester, Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond. DG 2707 111. ''Formel'' reissued (together with ''Schlagtrio'', ''Spiel'', and '' [[Punkte]] '') on Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 2. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, [date?] ==References== * Frisius, Rudolf. 2008. ''Karlheinz Stockhausen II: Die Werke 1950–1977; Gespräch mit Karlheinz Stockhausen, "Es geht aufwärts"''. Mainz, London, Berlin, Madrid, New York, Paris, Prague, Tokyo, Toronto: Schott Musik International. ISBN 9783795702496. * Kurtz, Michael. 1992. ''Stockhausen: A Biography'', translated by Richard Toop. London and Boston: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571143237 (cloth) ISBN 0-571-17146-X (pbk) * [[Robin Maconie|Maconie, Robin]]. 2005. ''Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen''. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-5356-6. * Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1978. "''Fresco'' für Orchester (1951)". In his ''Texte zur Musik'' 4: 1970–1977, edited by Christoph von Blumröder, 51. DuMont Dokumente. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag. ISBN 3-7701-1078-1. [[Category:1952 compositions]] [[Category:Compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen]] [[Category: 20th-century classical music]]'