Suzanne Stephens | |
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 Suzanne Stephens in 1988. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | July 28, 1946 Waterloo, Iowa, U.S. |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels |
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Suzanne Stephens (born July 28, 1946) is an American clarinetist, resident in Germany, described as "an outstanding performer and tireless promoter of the clarinet and basset horn". [1]
Suzanne Stephens was born in Waterloo, Iowa, the daughter of an American military officer, and grew up in the US, Heidelberg in Germany, and Saumur sur Loire in France. [2] She studied clarinet initially with Ralph Hills in Fairfax, Virginia, and Sidney Forrest in Washington, D.C. She then studied in Paris with Ulysses Delecluse and Marcel Jean, before enrolling at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she studied with Jerome Stowell, second clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, receiving the degrees Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music. She won a Fulbright Scholarship in 1969–70, with which she pursued further studies under Hans Deinzer at the Academy of Music and Theater in Hanover. After passing the Konzertexamen there, she won the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at Darmstadt and a silver medal at the International Clarinet Competition in Geneva, both in 1972. In 1973 she was appointed principal clarinetist of the Radio Orchestra of the South German Radio in Stuttgart, a position she held until 1975. In 1974–75 she was part of the German Young Soloists Podium. [3]
In March 1974 she was a guest artist with the Oeldorf Group, a collective founded in 1971 by Péter Eötvös, David C. Johnson, Joachim Krist, Mesías Maiguashca, and Gaby Schumacher. They adopted this name because many of them lived in Oeldorf, a district of the municipality of Kürten, and gave concerts of new music in a barn there. Most members of the group were closely connected with Karlheinz Stockhausen, who lived nearby, and at that time was rehearsing his latest composition, Herbstmusik , with the group. Stockhausen added a concluding duet for clarinet and viola, titled "Laub und Regen" (Leaves and Rain), for Stephens to perform with Krist. Although Herbstmusik was not a success at its premiere at the Bremen Pro Musica Festival on May 4, 1974, it led to one of the most fruitful collaborations in history between a clarinetist and a composer, which resulted in more than thirty works featuring both the clarinet, bass clarinet, and basset horn. [4] [5] [6]
Since 1974, Stephens has performed Stockhausen's works, always from memory, in Europe, Japan, Israel, India, South America, Russia, and the USA. Stockhausen's opera cycle Licht includes a prominent basset-horn part in the role of Eve, also written for Stephens. [3] [7]
It was at Stockhausen’s suggestion that Stephens took up the basset horn, in order that she should play a middle-register instrument between the trumpet and trombone, two of the other principal instruments in the opera cycle Licht, begun by Stockhausen in 1977. Stephens was often more of a co-creator than just an interpreter, collaborating in the exploration of all the dimensions of performance, including new playing techniques and special effects (such as flutter tonguing, glissandos, singing while playing, microtones, breath and key noises), as well as special choreography and costumes. The basset horn Suzanne Stephens plays is an instrument built by G. Leblanc Cie/Paris in 1977, with which she uses an E♭ alto-clarinet mouthpiece in order to increase the resonance of the noises. [8] [9]
The monumental basset-horn part Licht by itself amounts to some eight hours of music: substantial portions of Donnerstag (premiered in 1981 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, new staging in 1985 at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London), Montag (premiered in May 1988 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan), and Freitag (premiered at the Leipzig Opera in 1996), as well as scenes from Mittwoch (fourth scene, Michaelion, premiered in 1998 at the Prinzregententheater, Munich) and Sonntag (third scene, Licht-Bilder, premiered October 16, 2004 in Donaueschingen). More recently she performed the world premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Hours of Stockhausen’s last and unfinished chamber-music cycle Klang : Harmonien, for unaccompanied bass clarinet (July 11, 2007 in the Sülztalhalle, Kürten, during the Stockhausen Courses there), and Schönheit, for bass clarinet, flute, and trumpet (at the Grande Auditório of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, on October 5, 2009).
Her involvement in the production of scores and records of Stockhausen works is very important to her, as is teaching and coaching the many clarinetists who have come to her for help in learning these works. Her main preoccupation is to guarantee the future of these compositions.
Licht (Light), subtitled "Die sieben Tage der Woche", is a cycle of seven operas composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen between 1977 and 2003. The composer described the work as an "eternal spiral" because "there is neither end nor beginning to the week." Licht consists of 29 hours of music.
Sirius: eight-channel electronic music and trumpet, soprano, bass clarinet, and bass is a music-theatre composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed between 1975 and 1977. It is Nr. 43 in the composer's catalogue of works, and lasts 96 minutes in performance.
Klang —Die 24 Stunden des Tages is a cycle of compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, on which he worked from 2004 until his death in 2007. It was intended to consist of 24 chamber-music compositions, each representing one hour of the day, with a different colour systematically assigned to every hour. The cycle was unfinished when the composer died, so that the last three "hours" are lacking. The 21 completed pieces include solos, duos, trios, a septet, and Stockhausen's last entirely electronic composition, Cosmic Pulses. The fourth composition is a theatre piece for a solo percussionist, and there are also two auxiliary compositions which are not part of the main cycle. The completed works bear the work (opus) numbers 81–101.
Montag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting, three acts, and a farewell, and was the third of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche. The libretto was written by the composer.
Kathinka Pasveer is a Dutch flautist.
In Freundschaft is a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, number 46 in his catalogue of works. It is a serial composition for a solo instrument, first for clarinet, and later arranged by the composer for many other instruments, often in friendship to specific performers.
Carré (Square) for four orchestras and four choirs (1959–60) is a composition by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, and is Work Number 10 in the composer's catalog of works.
Sonntag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in five scenes and a farewell, to a libretto written and compiled by the composer. It is the last-composed of seven operas that comprise the cycle Licht (Light). Its stage premiere in 2011 was posthumous, more than three years after the composer's death.
Samstag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting and four scenes, and was the second of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche. It was written between 1981 and 1983, to a libretto written by the composer and incorporating a text by Saint Francis of Assisi, and was first staged in Milan in 1984.
Donnerstag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting, three acts, and a farewell, and was the first of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche. It was written between 1977 and 1980, with a libretto by the composer.
Dienstag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting and two acts, with a farewell, and was the fourth of seven to be completed for the opera cycle Licht: Die sieben Tage der Woche. It was begun in 1977 and completed from 1988 to 1991, to a libretto by the composer.
Mittwoch aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting, four scenes, and a farewell. It was the sixth of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche, and the last to be staged. It was written between 1995 and 1997, and first staged in 2012.
Atmen gibt das Leben, is a choral opera with orchestra by Karlheinz Stockhausen, written in 1974 and expanded in 1976–77. It is Number 39 in the catalogue of the composer's works, and lasts about 50 minutes in performance.
Punkte (Points) is an orchestral composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, given the work number ½ in his catalogue of works.
Harlekin (Harlequin) is a composition for unaccompanied clarinet by Karlheinz Stockhausen, named for the commedia dell'arte character Harlequin. It was composed in 1975 and is Number 42 in his catalogue of works. A shorter, derived work called Der kleine Harlekin is Number 42½.
Stop is a composition for orchestra by Karlheinz Stockhausen, work-number 18 in the composer’s catalogue of works, where two performing realisations are also found as Nr. 18½ and Nr. 18⅔.
Unsichtbare Chöre is an eight-channel electronic-music composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen. A component part of the opera Donnerstag aus Licht, it may also be performed as an independent composition, in which form it is designated "ex 49" in the composer's catalog of works.
The Rotary Wind Quintet is a chamber music composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, the last of his three wind quintets and is Nr. 70½ in his catalogue of works. A performance lasts about 8½ minutes.
Europa-Gruss is a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen for wind ensemble with optional synthesizers, and is assigned Number 72 in the composer's catalogue of works. It has a duration of about twelve-and-a-half minutes.
Trumpetent is a quartet for four trumpets by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, written in 1995. It is Number 73 in his catalogue of works and one of four independent compositions related to his opera, Mittwoch aus Licht. A performance lasts about 16 minutes.
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