Sternklang

Sternklang (Star Sound), is "park music for five groups" composed in 1971 by Karlheinz Stockhausen, and bears the work number 34 in his catalogue of compositions. The score is dedicated to Mary Bauermeister, and a performance of the work lasts from two-and-a-half to three hours.

History and concept

Sternklang is "park music", to be performed outdoors at night by 21 singers and/or instrumentalists divided into five groups, at widely separated locations. The sounds from each performer is separately amplified and projected over loudspeakers. "Sound runners" transport musical "models" from one group to another, while a percussionist stationed at a central position helps synchronise the groups to common tempos at ten points in the piece (Stockhausen 1978, 174–75). The piece has been described as "a twilight fantasy … an extended outdoor Stimmung" (Griffiths 1974a). From a technical point of view, it tackles and solves the problem of coordinating independent harmonic groups (Maconie 2005, 335).