​

DER JAHRESLAUF : Stockhausen’s Electroacoustic Gagaku

Ivan Chiarelli
São Paulo State University, Arts Institute
ivan@ivanchiarelli.com

Abstract: ​This paper explores some characteristics of Japanese ​gagaku music, and discusses how
Karlheinz Stockhausen incorporated its idiomatic elements to his own compositional style in the
​
writing of ​DER JAHRESLAUF , creating a unique sonic hybrid. It is followed by an analysis of the
first section (measures 1 through 113) with focus on the soprano saxophone and piccolo flute parts,
discussing the​ uses of ​yuri, a vocal technique peculiar to traditional Japanese music.
Keywords: ​Stockhausen. Der jahreslauf. Gagaku. Shōmyō. Yuri vocal technique.

​
1. Origins of ​Gagaku: buddhist music

There are two important pillars in the formation of Japanese music: the repertoire from
imperial China, particularly music of the Tang dynasty (618 - 917 CE); and Buddhist music. The
latter was introduced to Japan during the Nara period (8th century CE) and became an important
vehicle for the spread of Chinese culture and ideas, among them the theory and practice of
singing and composing chants based on the holy hymns ​ and scriptures (​sutras). Known in Japan
​ as ​shōmyō (声明, which may be translated as “affirmation”, “declaration” or “indication”), this
artform was further developed both through the contact of Chinese envoys to the Japanese court,
and by the return of Japanese missionaries who had travelled to the continent​[1 ]​ in order to learn
the proper techniques of praising Buddha through chant.
​ Shōmyō is thought to be rooted in the ancient Vedic hymns from India, although its theory
was transmitted to the Japanese via Chinese books. However, such knowledge wasn’t exclusive
​
property of the clergy, for the same theoretical principles are also used in ​gagaku, the ensemble
music ​ of the Japanese court. ​Gagaku—a term that means “refined,
​ proper, or elegant music”​—is
one of the oldest orchestral practices in recorded history, performed with relatively little change
​
since the 6th century CE. It is also where ​shōmyō theory can be found reasonably unchanged.
According to William Malm (MALM, 2000: p. 66~70), there are two main scales in
​ shōmyō—called ​ryo and ​ritsu—, which can also be combined to form a third scale. The two main

1
Such travels often had as destination the Yushan monastery. An important center of study for Buddhism at the time,
it received people from Japan, China, Tibet, and India looking to study the holy texts.
 scales have each 5 core, fixed notes, and 2 auxiliary notes which are interpreted as alterations of
their respective main notes​[2]​​ .

​ Figure 1 – transcription of ​Ryo and ​Ritsu scales in Western notation, with Japanese note names

The third (mixed) scale—object of debate among Buddhist sects—is called ​hanryo
hanritsu (literally, “half ​ryo half ​ritsu”). According to Japanese musical theory, all scales should
be​ rooted on specific notes: ​ryo may begin in D and G; ​ritsu on E and B; and the mixed scale
may only begin on A.
As Buddhist chant developed in the country, certain patterns of musical ornamentation
and phrasing became more common and received specific names. They can only be used in
specific ways and normally apply only to a specific scale and no other, even if these scales share
a similar name. Among these stylistical patterns, the most common is called ​yuri (​ゆり, literally
​ “​swing”), an effect analogous in function to the ​tremolo in Western music.
In terms of melodic ornamentation, the tones that make up each mode are thought to have
distinctive melodic characteristics, so that certain figures occur only on certain degrees. For
​ example, it is only ​kyū, the final of a mode, and ​chi, the fifth, that are ornamented with the
common figure ​yuri – essentially movement away from a tone and back to it, either upper or lower,
sometimes fast and sometimes slow. (TOKITA; HUGHES, 2008: p. 66)

There are many types of ​yuri. The basic, common technique is to create an oscillation or
subtle note change, adding color to the melodic line and providing a subtle sense of rhythm while
also enriching timbre. Differently from Western classical music of European origin—which
generally tends to prize precisely tuned note emissions—, traditional Japanese music seeks the
slight differences in emitting and sustaining sound as a way of enriching the sonic weave. The

2
Their names reflect such altered condition: the prefix ​ei indicates the note should be raised by a half step, while the
prefix ​hen indicates the note should be lowered by the same amount. The main use of these notes are in the processes
of music modulation (the transposition of melodic ideas to different scales) following rules quite different from those
in the Western tradition. For more details on Buddhist musical theory, see MALM, 2000: pp. 66~70.
 standard style of ​shōmyō implies the use of long notes in near-circular breathing, creating
something akin to the melismatic practice in Western music.
According to Kojun Arai (ARAI, 2007), researcher of Buddhist music and religion, there
​ are two main styles of ​shōmyō interpretation, distinguished by their use of the ​yuri decorative
voice. In ​Tendai sect practice, perceived as a more feminine and elegant style, each ​yuri is drawn
slowly by means of long breaths, imbuing a meditative aspect to the chant. On the other hand, in
Shingon sect practice, seen as more masculine and dynamic, ​yuri has a rougher sound, each
melodic line is subdivided by pauses, and each word has its own intonation.
The ​yuri technique also established itself as a soundmark in several other styles and
genres of Japanese music​[3 ]​​ , such as in the sound of ​shakuhachi bamboo flute, in the singing
accompanied by ​shamisen, in the ​koto technique, and in the phrasing of the ​hichiriki in ​gagaku
performance—this last instance being a direct descendent of Buddhist ​shōmyō and its
instrumental accompaniment.

2. On ​gagaku

Gagaku is one of the most ancient ensemble practices on the planet, maintained under the
protection of the Japanese Imperial Court with few modifications since the 6th century CE.
Because of its shared origins with ​shōmyō, religious ceremonies oftentimes included either a
gagaku or a ​bugaku group​[4]​​ . In such occasions, the music played by each group—monks and
courtiers—were overlaid, performed simultaneously in spite of the differences in repertoire.
Established from the mixture of Korean, Hindu, and Chinese musical traditions as
interpreted by the Japanese, ​Gagaku was also molded by the multiple musical treaties imported
and expanded upon​[5]​​ , as well as the many musicians hailing from the Tang dynasty and from the
kingdoms of Korea maintained by the imperial court among its staff. Such variety of influences,
each with its different instrumentation and styles, peaked on the 9th century. With a pressing
need for reform, between the years 833 and 850 CE retired emperor Saga and a team of nobles

3
More details on the usage of the technique can be found in TOKITA; HUGHES, 2008: pp. 66, 168 e 210.
4
​Gagaku is the general term that designates court music. When played as accompaniment for dances, it is called
bugaku; when performed without dance, it is called ​kangen.
5
In 734 CE, ambassador Kibi no Makibi brought to Japan a Chinese compendium of 10 volumes titled
“Compendium of Musical Matters”. These were expanded in 1233 by Koma no Chikazane into the ​Kyōkunshō,
“Selections for instructions and admonitions”
and aristocrats defined the standards for ​gagaku ensemble​[6]​​ , dividing the repertoire into two
categories and limiting the number of performing instruments.
Currently, the standard ​gagaku ensemble is thus formed:
• PERCUSSION – ​dadaiko drum, used on dance pieces; ​taiko drum, similar to the bass
drum, responsible for highlighting phrasal units with rhythmic strokes; ​shōko, a
suspended gong that marks the subdivisions of musical phrases with individual beats; and
the ​kakko horizontal drum, tied with ropes and played with sticks, whose player controls
the tempo and acts as a conductor for the ensemble.
• STRINGS – 6-string ​wagon zither and 13-string ​gakusō zither provide tonal and
rhythmic color by using predetermined rhythmic-melodic patterns; the 4-string lute
gakubiwa is used to mark the time with arpeggios.
• WOODWINDS – piccolo flute ​ryūteki, which performs the main melodic lines;
double-reed flute ​hichiriki follows the main melody in heterophony; the ​shō, a free reed
mouthorgan, provides the harmony.
Besides the theory inherited from buddhist practice, ​gagaku is also based on Chinese
music theory—subdivision of the octave in a chromatic scale of 12 non-tempered sounds that
supports several different 7-note scale combinations. Japanese tradition kept only three such
scales: the ​ryo and ​ritsu scales, each divided in three modes, and the 12-note chromatic scale.
The basic function of these modes is to transpose composition. However, differently from
western European tradition, not only is transposition limited but it also implies structural changes
in the music being performed​[7]​​ . For Westerners, used to thinking of music as sound forms in
(necessarily temporal) movement, the staticity of ​gagaku may sound alien, as its formal and
progressive elements were minimized in order to enhance the qualities of sound as timbre. Yet, it
is precisely that same staticity that Stockhausen took as model for his composition—which,
ironically, is a “musical stopwatch”—, a piece in which movement is contrasted with staticity.

6
William Malm states this was to Japanese music the equivalent of the Mannheim school.
7
This can be partially justified by the nature of the instruments in ​gagaku, which cannot play all chromatic notes
necessary to realize all necessary transpositions, in a case analogous to the natural instruments that limited the
practice of transposition in Baroque and Classical music in Europe.
3. ​Gagaku in “The Course of the Years”

Stockhausen composed ​DER JAHRESLAUF[8] (The Course of the Years) in 1977

commissioned by Toshiro Kido on behalf of the Tokyo National Theater orchestra, who had
requested a work for dancers and ​gagaku orchestra. A unique piece on the composer’s ​oeuvre
due to its deliberate use of traditional Japanese gestures and instruments, ​DER JAHRESLAUF
reflects the composer’s perennial inquiry on the extremes of time, and on mobility ​v. immobility.
Stockhausen had been in awe with the sense of timing of the Japanese, finding several examples
of his own creative concerns in the traditional Japanese arts: the speed of reaction of Sumo
fighters, in contrast with their weight; or the calm and immobility, followed by fast and precise
gestures in traditional calligraphy​[9]​​ .
The piece was originally scored for 3 ​shō, 3 ​ryūteki, shōko, 3 ​hichiriki, kakko, gakusō,
gakubiwa, and ​taiko, but a second version offers optional Western instruments: 3 harmoniums, 3
piccolo flutes, anvil, 3 soprano saxophones, bongo, harpsichord, acoustic guitar, and bass drum.
According to Robin Maconie (MACONIE, 2005: p. 397), from the early composing stages
Stockhausen already envisioned ​DER JAHRESLAUF as a contemporary stopwatch. The concept
is already present in the title: in German, the radical ​lauf—root of the verb ​laufen (to run) and of
the noun ​Läufer (runner)—indicates not only the course to be run, but also the action of running
itself. In the work, four dancer-mimes move in meticulous and calculated ways, their gestures
befitting the traditions of ​gagaku and ​noh and highlighting the ratios between four instrumental
ensembles, each acting as a “cog” in a clockwork of time: millennia, centuries, decades, and
years. The whole composition literally becomes a musical stopwatch, waving between temporal
flow and sudden interruptions that suspend time and freeze action—an interpretation of Japanese
aesthetics, which has at its core the search for the precise moment of action, for beauty in
staticity, and for the control of gestures.
The percussion instruments mark the measuring units for each layer of time: the bass
drum marks the individual measure (year); bongo marks the decade, a set of 7 measures; the

8
All of Stockhausen’s scores bring the title in capital letters. In respect to the editorial wishes of the composer, all of
his works mentioned herein are written after that fashion.
9
It is worth bearing in mind that the Japanese language also reflects this dichotomy, like many far East idioms.
Differently from Indo-European languages (typically defined by contrasts of strong and weak sounds), Japanese is
defined by short and long sounds. Besides, in his first contact with the cha-no-yu (茶の湯), Stockhausen was
delighted to know the ritual wasn’t about the good manners or even the tea itself, but rather about the timing of when
and how to drink in order to better appreciate the moment (MACONIE, 2005: pp. 396~400).
anvil sounds every 7 decades (or 49 measures), marking each century. As the work spans less
than a millennium there is no percussion instrument marking the completion of their cycle, and
the ​shō/harmoniums also follow a different organizational process than the rest of the ensemble.
During the first section of the composition, between measures 1 and 113, their temporal cycles
are aligned to the saxophones (7 measures). The recurrence of the number 7 is highly important:
Stockhausen defended this as the point beyond which individual perception of a set of notes in a
given context is altered—that is, with 8 notes or more we no longer have individual sounds, but
masses or sound gestures (STOCKHAUSEN; MACONIE, 2009: p. 49)​[10]​​ .
DER JAHRESLAUF is a direct dialog with the established Japanese repertoire, mixing
compositional and instrumental techniques of avant-garde European music with traditional
Japanese techniques, aiming to preserve a set of timbres and gestures peculiar to Eastern music.
By associating the different instrumental sections of the ​gagaku orchestra to the distinct
temporalities conceived in the piece, and by using different sound profiles for each instrumental
group, the composer presents millenia (​shō/harmoniums) as a harmonically dense but smooth
texture; centuries (​ryūteki/piccoli) are characterized by constant pointillism and brief phrasings;
decades (​hichiriki/soprano saxophones) become short melismas and note oscillations; and years
(​gakusō/harpsichord and ​gakubiwa/guitar) turn into long melodic contours that are circular in
nature (constantly approaching and departing specific notes), a motion that due to the very
characteristic ASDR envelopes of the instruments creates a temporal counterpoint to the flutes.

4. ​Yuri in ​DER JAHRESLAUF

Stockhausen incorporates the sound of ​yuri technique to the writing of ​DER

JAHRESLAUF. However, he withdraws it from its original context of long, sustained notes,
placing it in the instrumental domain. In terms of sound, he is interested in frequency oscillations,
which reference the work material of electroacoustic music.
According to musicologist Alcedo Coenen (COENEN, 1994), former assistant to the
German composer, Stockhausen’s compositional technique reflects the image of a galaxy—its
internal organization is based on the differentiation of central and accidental notes (the stars and

10
Perhaps by coincidence, ​DER JAHRESLAUF was created in 1977, when the composer turned 49 (or 7 times 7)
year old.
their planets)​[11 ]​​ . ​Some of the accidental notes mentioned in Stockhausen’s texts in regard to
formula composition are: ​echo (the repetition of core notes); ​colored silence (soft noises instead
of silent rests); ​variation (repetitions with varied degrees of modification); and ​modulation
(tremolo). Many of these accessories seem to have their origins in the practice of electroacoustic
music: ​eco and ​pre-echo are collateral effects of tape recording; ​colored silence is the noise of
the tape running in the recorder; ​variation is the distortion resulting of recording on magnetic
tape; and ​modulation is a widely known electronic effect still used in synthesizers, where the
modulation control affects the sound so as to create a tremolo effect. What was once undesired in
the early years of electronic music—sound distortion—was now incorporated to musical
creation.
In ​DER JAHRESLAUF, the ​yuri technique is broken down into four different models:
• ​sustain – holding a note without modifying its sound;
• ​linear – movement towards or away from a given note;
• ​circular – a single movement away from and back to a note;
• ​oscillatory – as ​circular, but with more iterations.
In the first section of the work, all instruments describe different progressions between
two points. In the layer relating to millennium, the ​shō/harmoniums start the piece on a sustained
unison on the A4 (440Hz). As the work unfolds, they are increasingly subdivided, suggesting a
musical scale and moving from the smoothness of the unison to a rugged cluster around F#6
(1480 Hz) by the end of the section (modulation).
Ryūteki/piccolli create granular and pointillistic layers, with repeated notes (​echoes and
pre-echoes) appearing at first within the range of a minor 3​rd (C#5 - E5), they are modulated until
reaching an apex range of a minor 17​th (C#5 - E7) after seven decades and gradually return to the
initial range of a minor 3​rd​.
Hichiriki/soprano saxophones present short ​portamenti around individual notes
(​variations), starting around F#4 and unfolding in chords until reaching, in its last position, the
notes A#4 - D5 - A5. In this section, the strings sound at regular intervals.
Gakusō/harpsichord and ​gakubiwa/guitar intercalate sounding once every measure,
reinforcing the notion of listening to the hands of a clock in movement first suggested by the

11
Stockhausen defines accident (German: ​Akzidens) as "klangliche Hinzufügung”, or “sound addition” [score of
PLUS-MINUS, p. 5]. The core of the musical idea forms a serially organized structured, and the accessories give it
character. Notice that the dichotomy between structural and accidental sounds is already present in Japanese musical
theory, as mentioned in subtitle 1 of this work (​Beginnings of Gagaku: buddhist music).
taiko/bass drum. There is, however, a linear progression in the phrasing of the strings, both from
the rhythmic and the melodic points of view. As they start from the lowest notes in each
instrument and move towards their higher notes on the registers of ​gakusō and ​gakubiwa, there is
a reduction in the length of musical figures—initially only full notes, at the end of the section one
can find quintuplet 16th notes.

5. ​Yuri analysis

For an observation of the use of ​yuri technique, let us turn our attention to the writing of
ryūteki and ​hichiriki flutes. The first decade presents three of the four melodic models in the
hichiriki: the first instrument performs an oscillatory movement between F#4 and G4, repeated
twice. Next, the second instrument performs a circular movement between the same two notes.
Finally, the third instrument performs a linear movement between F# and G in the same register.
As it approaches the traditional repertoire, it also symbolically represents a process of
deceleration related to the concept of the piece, and a movement away from both Japanese and
Western repertoire.

Figure 2 – ​hichiriki/soprano saxophones in the work’s first decade (mm. 1 - 7):

oscillatory, circular and ​linear movements

Throughout the first section of the work, the three ​hichiriki will increase the amount of
oscillations performed in each decade, gradually building a single melodic line that is extremely
ornamented and wavy. In this process, Stockhausen extracts the ​yuri out of the melodic line of
the ​shōmyō only to rebuild it as something completely independent. On one hand, this process
results in an unstable line, filled with micro-oscillations that are not present in the Buddhist
chant, or rather are not identifiable by the naked ear. On the other, the process is reminiscent of
sound resynthesis, as if the composer placed a stretch of the religious chant in the microscope
and enhanced it, highlighting the smallest oscillations in the voices of singers and the
micro-harmonies that result from the differences between them.
Something similar happens on the ​ryūteki/piccolo flutes. However, whereas the
directional movement of ​hichiriki is linear (conducting from the unison to a high-register cluster),
the flutes perform a circular trajectory by departing from a small interval range (a minor 3​rd​, on
the first decade), reaching a large interval (minor 17​th​, on the seventh decade) and return to the
smaller range, thus completing a large-scale circular movement. In this way, Stockhausen
reinforces the discursive coherence of the section and structures the form of the composition, as
the same models that reference melodic oscillations in smaller scales are also found in larger
temporal reaches.
Analyzing the ​ryūteki section, one notices an ​accelerando effect created by the three
instruments, in another parallel to electronic music. In granular synthesis, when grain size is
reduced beyond a certain measure (around 50 milliseconds), frequency and timbre can no longer
be recognized (MENEZES, 2004: p. 302)—Stockhausen had already addressed this kind of
acoustic phenomenon (the possibility of distinguishing and identifying sounds) in his famous
1957 article ​“...wie die Zeit vergeht…”. Starting from measure 50 of ​DER JAHRESLAUF,
changes in instrumental technique gradually transform notes from ​staccato to ​tenuto, as if
increasing the size of the grains.
The flutes also function as a granular filter applied to the melodic concept of the decades,
connecting them to millennia. While the latter are static, smooth sounds lacking a clear attack,
decades are short sounds with clear attack that lack reverberation. From a poetic point of view,
by turning the centuries into a process of condensation and granulation of the decades,
Stockhausen creates levels of observation. When seen from upclose, decades contain clear events
with lasting repercussions. However, when seen from afar, such events become small points
without reverberation. As the composer himself said,
[the formula] mirrors exactly my view on man and my mind's view on beings, on stones, on trees,
on everything I experience... Also a single man is not isolated, but he is the manifestation of very
large processes in the cosmos; and within a galaxy, within a solar system milliards of people are
only the expression of a certain movement and of a spiritual orientation within this movement and
 of the internal patterns of the processual development. Myriads of so-called human lives or other
lives are nothing but atoms within a covering whole (STOCKHAUSEN, 1989a: p. 367)

6. Conclusion

DER JAHRESLAUF is the apex of Stockhausen’s research on Japanese music. An

influence that began more broadly in 1966 when the composer visited Japan for the creation of a
commissioned work—​TELEMUSIK, a work that incorporates, among other things, elements of
Balinese, African, Japanese and Vietnamese music—, Eastern culture and music would also
make themselves present in different degrees in ​MANTRA (1970), ​TRANS (1971) and ​INORI
(1973-74), before a commission for a new work for traditional Japanese instruments would lead
the composer to search a direct synthesis of such divergent musical traditions, German and
Japanese. Not by chance, it is during the creation of ​DER JAHRESLAUF that Stockhausen
conceived the ​super-formula, the multipurpose structure that would sustain the composition of all
his operatic cycle ​LICHT.

References

ARAI, Kojun; HANAMITSU, Junko. “Artist Interview: Bringing the music of the
thousand-year-old shomyo chant tradition to concert hall audiences”, ​In: Performing arts
Network Japan. Tokyo: The Japan Foundation, 24/5/2007. Available at:
<http://performingarts.jp/E/art_interview/0705/1.html>. Last access in 2014/02/17.
COENEN, Alcedo. "Stockhausen's Paradigm: A Survey of His Theories", ​In: Perspectives of
New Music, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 200-225.
MACONIE, Robin. ​Other planets: the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Lanham: Scarecrow
Press, 2005, pp. 396~400.
MALM, William P. ​Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. Japan: Kodansha
International Ltd., 2000.
MENEZES, Flo. ​Acústica musical em palavras e sons. São Paulo: Ateliê Editorial, 2004.
STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz; BEYER, Anders. ​Every Day Brings New Discoveries. Interview
for the Danish Radio between Anders Beyer and K. Stockhausen, realized in November 8, 1991,
in Kürten/Germany. Unpublished article – personal copy, ceded by Stockhausen-Stiftung.
STOCKHAUSEN, Karlheinz. ​Texte zur Musik 1977-1984, Band 5: Komposition. Cologne:
DuMont Buchverlag, 1989a.
_______. “Whenever we hear sounds we are changed”, ​In: ​Texte zur Musik 11. Kürten:
Stockhausen-verlag, pp. 285~287.
_______. ​In: MACONIE, Robin (org.). ​Stockhausen on Music. UK: Marion Boyars Publishers
Ltd, 2000.
TOKITA, Alison M.; HUGHES, David W. ​The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese
Music. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2008.