Mixtur

Mixtur, for orchestra, 4 sine-wave generators, and 4 ring modulators, is an orchestral composition by the German composer , written in 1964, and is Nr. 16 in his catalogue of works. It exists in three versions: the original version for full orchestra, a reduced scoring made in 1967 (Nr. 16½), and a re-notated version of the reduced scoring, made in 2003 and titled Mixtur 2003, Nr. 16⅔.

Mixtur is one of the earliest compositions for orchestra with live electronics, and is amongst the first compositions using live-electronic techniques generally.

The original version for large orchestra was premiered on 9 November 1965 at the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg (, 51). The version for reduced orchestra was premiered in the large broadcasting hall of the Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt am Main, as part of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse on 23 August 1967 by the Ensemble Hudba Dneska conducted by Ladislav Kupkovič, to whom this version is dedicated (, 53).

Pierre Boulez conducted a number of performances of Mixtur from the early seventies to as late as 10 June 1982 (at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, with the Ensemble InterContemporain) (Vermeil 1996, 225), but was not happy with the score and problems with rehearsals and performances led to a falling out between the two composers (Maconie 2005, 259–60).

Beginning in the late 1990s, Stockhausen revised a number of his earlier aleatoric scores, making versions in which the details were worked out and fixed in conventional notation. The last of these was Mixtur, reworked in 2003. In several moments of the original version, the players choose what they play from a selection of written material. Mixtur 2003 eliminates such indeterminacy by completely writing out all the parts (Worby 2006). The overall form is also fixed in the new version, which eliminates the movability of some moments permitted in the two previous versions. Many earlier performances had presented two different versions, usually the backwards version first, followed by the forwards version. The score of Mixtur 2003 is written out twice, first in the forwards and then in the backwards version. In a programme note Stockhausen characterised this back-and-forth motion as a metaphor for the interplay between life and death (Frisius 2008, 164–65). The world premiere of the new version took place at the Salzburg Festival on 30 August 2006. Stockhausen was to have conducted (and had led the rehearsals in Berlin the previous June), but was forced to cancel because of an attack of sciatica, and his place was taken by Wolfgang Lischke (Worby 2006). The performers were the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, with electronics by the Experimentalstudio für akustische Kunst Freiburg, supervised by André Richard (Spinola 2006).

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