''Schlagtrio'' (Percussive Trio) is a chamber-music work for piano and two

timpanist Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

s (each playing three timpani) composed by

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 ...

in 1952. It is Nr. ⅓ in his catalogue of works.

History

The ''Schlagtrio'' was originally written in Paris in 1952 as a ''Schlagquartett'' (Percussive Quartet), for piano and three timpanists, each playing a pair of drums. It was premiered that year in Hamburg, but only in a radio recording. The first public performance was given in Munich on 23 March 1953, in

Karl Amadeus Hartmann Karl Amadeus Hartmann (2 August 1905 – 5 December 1963) was a German composer. Sometimes described as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century, he is now largely overlooked, particularly in English-speaking countries. Life Born in ...

musica viva Musica Viva was founded in 1945 by Romanian-born violinist Richard Goldner, with the aim of bringing chamber music to Australia. The co-founder was a German-born musicologist, Walter Dullo. At its inception, Musica Viva was a string ensemble per ...

concert series, after which Stockhausen decided that he had made impractical demands for subtle attack differentiations in both the percussion and piano parts. He withdrew the score after those two performances until 1973, when he decided to renotate it. This revision was carried out during a holiday break in 1974, at N'Gor, a beach resort near Dakar in Senegal. The attacks and pitches remained unaltered, but the six timpani were redistributed, three each for just two players, and the note values were doubled in order to facilitate reading.

Analysis

The six timpani are tuned to a

whole-tone scale In music, a whole-tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or ''hexatonic'' sc ...

, a

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

lower than the piano. Each drum corresponds to one octave in the piano. This oppositional scoring differentiates the piece from its immediate predecessors, ''

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 comp ...

'', ''

Spiel Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day boardgame trade fair which is also open to the public held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen e ...

'', and '' Formel''. The former two use percussion as a noise element in contrast to pitch, while ''Formel'' integrates percussion timbres into the pitch structures of the other instruments. The course of the work describes a process in which the clear sounds of the piano and the more shadowy notes of the timpani gradually come together, make contact and overlap, and then withdraw once again. This is accomplished in a succession of twenty-three phases. The central, twelfth phase is the only one in which all twelve pitches in the piano and all six stroke types in the timpani are present.

Discography

* Stockhausen: '' Drei Lieder'', ''

Sonatina A sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementar ...

'', ''

'', ''Schlagtrio''. Sylvia Anderson (alto), Südwestfunk Sinfonie-Orchester, Karlheinz Stockhausen (cond.);

Saschko Gawriloff Saschko Gawriloff (born October 20, 1929) is a German violinist and violin teacher of Bulgarian descent. Life Gawriloff was born in Leipzig and received his first violin lessons from his father Yordan Gavriloff, who was a violinist in the Leipz ...

(violin),

Aloys Kontarsky Aloys (14 May 1931 – 22 August 2017) and Alfons (9 October 1932 – 5 May 2010) Kontarsky were German duo-pianist brothers who were associated with a number of important world premieres of contemporary works. They had an international reputatio ...

(piano), Jean Batigne, Georges van Gucht (timpani). LP recording. DG 2530 827. Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon, 1977. ''Spiel'' and ''Schlagtrio'' reissued, together with ''

Punkte ''Punkte'' (Points) is an orchestral composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, given the work number ½ in his catalogue of works. History ''Punkte'' originated as a punctual orchestral work which was begun in September in Hamburg and had reached a ...

'' and ''Formel'', on Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 2. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1991. * Stockhausen: ''

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 ...

'', ''

Refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

'', ''

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. ...

'', ''Schlagtrio''.

ensemble recherche The ensemble recherche is a German classical music ensemble of nine soloists, especially dedicated to contemporary music. Founded in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1985, they premiered some 500 works. They were awarded the Schneider-Schott Music Prize ...

Rupert Huber Rupert W.M. Huber (born 1967 in Mödling, Austria) is an Austrian composer and musician. In 1994, Huber founded ''Huber Musik'' to publish his own music, and in the same year, founded Tosca with Richard Dorfmeister. Huber's 2006 release of ''Fu ...

(cond.).

Wergo WERGO is a German record label focusing on contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1962 by German art historian and music publisher (1903–1975) and the musicologist Helmut Kirchmeyer. Their first release, filed under "WER 60001", was S ...

WER 6717 2. Mainz: Wergo, 2009. Disc reissued as part of ''Music Of Our Time: 50 Years: 1962–2012''. 5-CD set. Wergo 6946. Wergo, 2012. *Stockhausen: ''Complete Early Percussion Works''. Steven Schick, percussion;

James Avery James La Rue Avery (November 27, 1945 – December 31, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Shredder in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Judge Michael Conover on ''L. ...

, piano; Red Fish, Blue Fish (Ross Karre, Justin DeHart, Matthew Jenkins, Fabio Oliveira, Jonathan Hepfer, Gregory Stuart). CD recording, digital: 2 sound discs, stereo. Mode 274–275. New York: Mode Records, 2014.

Filmography

* Brandt, Brian, and Michael Hynes (prod.). 2014. ''Stockhausen: Complete Early Percussion Works''. Steven Schick, James Avery, Red Fish Blue Fish. DVD recording, region 0, NTSC, Dolby 5.1 surround/DTS 5.1 surround, aspect ratio 16:9, color. Mode 274. New York: Mode Records.

References

Cited sources

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History

Analysis

Discography

Filmography

References

Cited sources

Further reading