Helikopter-Streichquartett

The Helikopter-Streichquartett (English: Helicopter

String Quartet) is one of Karlheinz Stockhausen's best-known
pieces, and one of the most complex to perform. It involves a
string quartet, four helicopters with pilots, as well as audio
and video equipment and technicians. It was first performed
and recorded in 1995. Although performable as a self-
sufficient piece, it also forms the third scene of the opera
Mittwoch aus Licht ("Wednesday from Light").

The Dutch Grasshoppers aerobatics team, flying

the Alouette helicopters they used in the world
Contents premiere of the Helicopter String Quartet

History
Composition
Performance practice
Press reviews
The CD
Discography
Filmography
Sources
Further reading
External links

History
The Helicopter Quartet was originally commissioned by Professor Hans
Landesmann of the Salzburger Festspiele in early 1991 (Stockhausen 1996,
214). Stockhausen's initial reaction was that he was not interested in
writing a string quartet, but then one night he dreamed he was flying above
four helicopters, each carrying a member of a string quartet; he could see
into and through the transparent helicopters (Dirmeikis 1999, 21–22). He
subsequently made some sketches and plans, but it was not until 1992–93
that he found the time to compose the quartet (Stockhausen 1996, 214). By
this time, he had had several more dreams concerning the piece, including Irvine Arditti, leader of the Arditti
one involving a swarm of bees and a violinist, about which Stockhausen Quartet, who premiered and made
said, “The buzzing made by lots of bees is a magic sound to me” the first recordings of the Helicopter
(Schweitzer 2008). The Arditti Quartet was to play the première. After Quartet
Stockhausen finished his score, it was sent back to Professor Landesmann
for criticism. His reaction was positive, as was that of the Director of the
Festspiele, Gerard Mortier. A long series of negotiations started with the Festspiele and the Austrian army, who were
to lend the helicopters, as well as various TV channels who were airing the piece. In part because of protests by the
Austrian Green Party, that it would be "absolutely impossible for Austrian air to be polluted by performing this
Stockhausen", in the end the planned 1994 première had to be cancelled (Stockhausen 2004, 90).
The first performances of the piece took place in Amsterdam on 26 June 1995, as part of the Holland Festival, with
Alouette helicopters from the Royal Dutch Air Force display team, The Grasshoppers. The performers were: first
violinist Irvine Arditti and pilot Marco Oliver; second violinist Graeme Jennings and pilot Lieutenant Denis Jans;
violist Garth Knox and pilot Lieutenant Robert de Lange; cellist Rohan de Saram and pilot Captain Erik Boekelman
(Stockhausen 1996, 216). There were three performances given, at the Westergasfabriek, after two test flights at the
same location the day before, and several earlier at an airfield in Deelen for the purpose of trying out the microphones
(Stockhausen 2004, 90). Following these performances, Stockhausen revised the score, adding about three minutes of
material near the end, just before the descent, increasing the overall duration from about 29 minutes to 32 minutes
(Stockhausen 2004, 91). Since its premiere, the Helicopter Quartet has been performed "fairly regularly" and has
become "the most iconic piece of classical music from the 1990s", though it was not presented in its full context, as the
third scene of Mittwoch aus Licht, until the opera's staged premiere in August 2012 (Fallows 2012, 1284).

In 2001 Angelin Preljocaj choreographed this music for a modern dance work titled Helikopter.

Composition
Jennymay Logan, second violin,
Elysian Quartet, in the Birmingham
Opera production of Mittwoch aus
Licht, Argyle Works, Digbeth,
Birmingham, 23 August 2012
The Licht cycle—as a whole and in all of its parts—is serially composed,
being based upon a three-layered "superformula". This design principle is
an extension of the series-based techniques Stockhausen developed at the
beginning of the 1950s—a connection to which Stockhausen himself has
repeatedly called attention in his theoretical explanations (Misch 2004,
36). The Quartet is based on a short portion of the Eve layer from the
Wednesday segment of the superformula: D–F–G♭. After the initial ascent,
there are three iterations of the three-voiced superformula, each time
distributed among the four instruments, and each time with the Michael,
Eve, and Lucifer lines in a different vertical arrangement. The
superformula as a whole is successively transposed so that the Eve layer
begins each time with the corresponding pitch from the "helicopter"
segment: D–F–G ♭ (Shimizu 2004, 66). The durations of the three
statements of the triple formula are also determined by the rhythms of the
small "helicopter" segment (Stockhausen 2004, 98).

More general traits found in the work are also characteristic of the serial fabric of Stockhausen's music. For example,
the interpenetration of macro and micro dimensions, found in earlier compositions such as Kontakte, where
Stockhausen compresses rhythm into pitch, or in Hymnen, where he slows down the sound of geese until they are
revealed as the shouts of a football crowd. The violin tremolos here and also in Mittwoch's preceding scene, Orchester-
Finalisten, invoke the sound of a buzzing mosquito, so "what the composer is also saying is that the mosquito is also a
tiny helicopter", and the connection between the two is being made by the violin (Maconie 2005, 514). Another is the
way in which the scenic character of the Helicopter Quartet forms one of four "serial variants": The first and fourth
scenes of the opera represent the idea of communication and cooperation, first when World Parliamentarians meet to
debate the topic of love, and then when interplanetary delegates consider cosmic problems, while the second scene
and this one revolve around the idea of community music making (Misch 2004, 42–43).

A third serial principle is the integration of distinct elements into a whole. This was expressed by Stockhausen in a
text written in 1953:

Evidently, self-contemplation and the awareness of a universal, planned order exist today "more than
ever”. With this comes the desire to give the individual tone a very specific sense that transcends
momentary saturation and the merely impulsive play of organization and combination; a sense, that is,
of music as a representation of that comprehensive "global" structure in which everything is
integrated. (Stockhausen 1963, 46)
In Licht generally this is seen in "scenic contexts that are not tied to a single, linear, teleological narrative, but as the
compositional events in multi-dimensional, process-independent, run in folding, intersecting, or parallel layers and
yet are held together by the principle of uniformity" (Misch 2004, 42). In the Helicopter Quartet in particular this is
manifested spatially, as the physical separation of the players from the audience and among themselves, circling in the
sky in four different helicopters, is overcome through the use of audio-visual equipment, so that "only when
transmitted via television screens and loudspeakers in the concert hall do the four-layered musical events fit together
into a unified whole" (Misch 2004, 43).

Performance practice
A performance requires: four helicopters, each equipped with a pilot and
sound technician, television transmitter and three-channel sound
transmitter, and an auditorium with four columns of televisions and
loudspeakers, a sound projectionist with mixing desk, and a moderator
(optional), as well as the members of the string quartet.

The piece focuses on Stockhausen's dreamed idea of a string quartet

playing tremolos which blend so well with the timbres and the rhythms of
the rotor blades that the helicopters sound like musical instruments
(Stockhausen 1996, 214). This is accomplished by using microphones Moderator DJ Nihal introduces
placed so the helicopters may blend with the stringed instruments, with the members of the Elysian Quartet
(Laura Moody, cello, Vincent
instruments being heard as slightly louder than the blades (Stockhausen
Sipprell, viola) before a performance
1996, 215).
on 23 August 2012, as part of the
Birmingham Opera production of
The piece is played as follows: A moderator, who may be the sound
Mittwoch aus Licht at the Argyle
projectionist, introduces the quartet, and then explains the technical Works, Digbeth, Birmingham
aspects of the piece. The players then walk out, always being visible to the
auditorium audience via the video cameras that follow them, until they
have all arrived at and boarded their helicopters (Stockhausen 1996, 214–15).

From the moment of takeoff until disembarkation the musicians and helicopters remain constantly in the view of the
cameras, with video and audio (using three microphones in each helicopter) of each string player transmitted to his
assigned group of television monitors in the auditorium. "The earth can be seen through the glass cockpit of the
helicopter behind each player" (Stockhausen 1996, 215).

Then the piece begins. The helicopters circle at a radius of 6 km from the auditorium, changing altitude constantly to
create the 'bounce' of the piece. All twelve incoming signals are controlled by the sound crew (Stockhausen 2012, 36,
82).

The descent lasts five minutes, with the decreasing sound of the rotor blades acting as a background as the quartet re-
enter the hall. The moderator then takes questions and leads applause (Stockhausen 2012, 36, 39, 82, 84).

Press reviews
Writing for the New York Times, Alex Ross called the premiere a "memorable spectacle" citing the virtuoso
performances by both the Arditti and the Grasshoppers. However, his review was mostly negative:

German experimentalism in its classic form has evidently run its course. Nothing illustrated its
obsolescence more lucidly than the recent premiere at the Holland Festival of a Helicopter String
Quartet by Karlheinz Stockhausen...it was not, as Mr. Stockhausen claimed, important research into
 new sound materials, nor anything of consequence in purely musical terms. It was a grandiose absurdist
entertainment, not unlike Christo's wrapping of the Reichstag back in Berlin. (Ross 1995)

Andrew Clements in The Guardian marveled at Stockhausen's logistical achievement:

The technological complexities of making such a thing work almost flawlessly are immense (a planned
performance in Salzburg last year failed, literally and metaphorically, to get off the ground), and in the
context of Stockhausen's achievement as a composer the Helicopter Quartet may not be hugely
significant, but as a reminder of the sheer force of his creative personality and organisational ability it is
a remarkable if impossibly bizarre achievement. And what it all has to do with the opera only time will
reveal. (Clements 1995)

In his review for The Times, Paul Griffiths discusses how the piece comments on the chamber music mentality and
hints that the piece has a richer life as a concept:

Helikopter-Streichquartett says things about quartet psychology the placing of oneself at risk, the trust
that others will come in on time (isolated visually and aurally, the players could get directions only from
a click-track heard on headphones) and the devotion to duty...this is a work that can be just as well
imagined as experienced. Indeed, the Helikopter-Streichquartett of the imagination is probably to be
preferred, since the one big disappointment of the Amsterdam performance was that one had so little
sense of the musicians the Arditti Quartet being up aloft: the monitors just showed us four guys in
cramped conditions, bowing away. (Griffiths 1995)

Marlise Simons, writing in The New York Times, provides a snapshot of multiple critical reactions in the Dutch press:

The performance was widely reviewed in Dutch newspapers, which admired the flawless technical
delivery but had less ear for the unusual sounds. The influential NRC-Handelsblad found "the hot-
tempered music" from clattering aircraft disturbing and said the "noise of the rotorblades created
tension" in the audience. But Yannis Anninos, a Greek composer who had flown from Athens to attend
the concert, said the Helicopter Quartet was the "superb work of a genius."

Mr. Stockhausen said he had other performances in mind for the quartet. He was also asked if he
thought it possible to raise an entire orchestra aloft in helicopters.

"Why not?" he said. (Simons 1995)

The CD
The first CD was created on request of the Arditti Quartet themselves, and includes both the world-première recording
and a studio recording of a revised version, which adds some material composed after the world première. The studio
recording was made by the WDR, on 7 December 1996 in Kürten, using the Übertragungswagen, or mobile studio.
They used four different rooms in the studio, with the helicopter sounds dubbed in, using Sony 24-track tape.

Discography
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Helikopter-Streichquartett: Uraufführung 1995 + Studioproduktion 1996. Arditti String
Quartet (Irvine Arditti, Graeme Jennings [world premiere] and David Alberman [studio recording of the revised
score], violins; Garth Knox, viola; Rohan de Saram, cello); "The Grasshoppers" (helicopter acrobatic team);
Karlheinz Stockhausen, musical direction, recording supervision, sound projection, mix-down, and moderation [of
 the world premiere]. Stockhausen Complete Edition, Compact Disc 53 A-B (2 CDs). Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag,
1999. Studio version also released on Montaigne Auvidis MO 782097 (CD).
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Helikopter-Streichquartett. Arditti String Quartet (Irvine Arditti & David Alberman, violins;
Garth Knox, viola; Rohan de Saram, cello); "The Grasshoppers" (helicopter acrobatic team, recording from the
third Amsterdam performance, mixed in). Arditti Quartet Edition 35. Montaigne Auvidis MO 782097 (single CD).
32'00". Paris: Montaigne Auvidis, 1999.

Filmography
Helicopter String Quartet, a film by Frank Scheffer. Close-up: documentaireserie waarin Frank Scheffer zijn visie
geeft op diverse 20e-eeuwse componisten. [S.l.]: AVRO. Televisie-opname, 1995.

German DVD release (German and English, DVD) Helicopter String Quartet. Frank Scheffer; Karlheinz
Stockhausen. Kürten, Germany: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2006.
UK release: Helicopter String Quartet. Frank Scheffer; Ton van der Lee; Karlheinz Stockhausen. German.
Videorecording: DVD video 1 videodisc (77 min.). London: 2008.
French DVD release. Helicopter String Quartet. Karlheinz Stockhausen; Frank Scheffer. Videorecording: DVD
video (77 mins. [erroneously listed as 113 min. in publisher's catalogue]). [Paris]: Idéale Audience
International, 2008.
Stockhausen: Helikopter Streichquartett (https://web.archive.org/web/20120908011901/http://www.bfmi.at/special
s_stockhausen_helikopter_streichquartett.htm) (archive from 8 September 2012, accessed 13 March 2018).
Sound Director: André Richard. a co-production with Red Bull & Salzburg Festival. Bernhard Fleischer Moving
Images, 2003.

Sources
Clements, Andrew. 1995. "Super Soaraway Stockhausen". The Guardian (June 29).
Dirmeikis, Paul. 1999. Le Souffle du temps: Quodlibet pour Karlheinz Stockhausen. [La Seyne-sur-Mer]: Éditions
Telo Martius. ISBN 2-905023-37-6.
Fallows, David. 2012. "Mittwoch aus Licht: Birmingham Opera Company at the Argyle Works, Birmingham,
August 22". Opera (October): 1284–86.
Griffiths, Paul. 1995. "Stockhausen Has Lift-Off". The Times (July 5).
Maconie, Robin. 2005. Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Oxford:
The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-5356-6.
Misch, Imke. 2004. "Serielles Denken in LICHT.” In Internationales Stockhausen-Symposion 2000: LICHT.
Musikwissenschaftliches Institut der Universität zu Köln, 19. bis 22. Oktober 2000. Tagungsbericht. Edited by
Imke Misch and Christoph von Blumröder, 36–51. Münster, Berlin, London: LIT-Verlag.
Ross, Alex. 1995. "Classical View; In Flux, Berlin Remaps, Reminds", The New York Times (August 13).
Schweitzer, Vivien. 2008. "Fulfilling a Dream With Strings and Rotors (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/arts/m
usic/13schw.html)". The New York Times (13 July).
Shimizu, Minoru. 2004. "Potentiale multimedialer Aufführung und 'szenische Musik'—einige Bemerkungen zum
Helikopter-Streichquartett". In Internationales Stockhausen-Symposion 2000: LICHT. Musikwissenschaftliches
Institut der Universität zu Köln, 19. bis 22. Oktober 2000. Tagungsbericht. Edited by Imke Misch and Christoph
von Blumröder, 61–73. Münster, Berlin, London: LIT-Verlag.
Simons, Marlise. 1995. "A Helicopter Quartet. What Else?". The New York Times (July 31).
Spahn, Claus. 2007. "Abheben in Braunschweig". Die Zeit, no. 26 (21 June): 50.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1963. "Zur Situation des Metiers (Klangkomposition)”. In his Texte zur Musik 1, edited
and with an afterword by Dieter Schnebel, 45–61. DuMont Dokumente. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1996. "Helikopter-Streichquartett". Grand Street 14, no. 4 (Spring, "Grand Street 56:
Dreams"): 213–25. ISBN 1-885490-07-0. Online variant version [1999], as "Introduction: HELICOPTER STRING
QUARTET (1992/93) (https://web.archive.org/web/20141117125904/http://www.stockhausen.org/helicopter_intro.
html)" (some omissions, some supplements, different illustrations; archive from 17 November 2014, accessed 21
April 2015).
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1999. Helikopter-Streichquartett, booklet for the Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 53.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 2004. "Helikopter-Streichquartett: Eine 8-Spur-Tonbandaufführung mit Erläuterungen". In
Internationales Stockhausen-Symposion 2000: LICHT. Musikwissenschaftliches Institut der Universität zu Köln,
19. bis 22. Oktober 2000. Tagungsbericht. Edited by Imke Misch and Christoph von Blumröder, 89–114. Münster,
Berlin, London: LIT-Verlag.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 2012. "Helikopter-Streichquartett (1992/93): Dritte Szene vom Mittwoch aus Licht" /
Helicopter String Quartet (1992/93): Third Scene of of [sic] Wednesday from Light". In Karlheinz Stockhausen,
 Mittwoch aus Licht: Uraufführung, Birmingham Opera Company: London 2012 Festival, 35–40, 81–84. Kürten:
Stockhausen-Stiftung für Musik.

Further reading
Arditti, Irvine. 2008. "German Focus: Flight of Fantasy". The Strad 119, no. 1415 (March): 52–53, 55.
Bishop, Ryan. 2011. "The Force of Noise, or Touching Music: The Tele-Haptics of Stockhausen's Helicopter String
Quartet". SubStance 40, no. 3, (issue 126: "Plus d'un toucher: Touching Worlds"): 25–40.
Boehmer, Konrad. 1998. "Ab in die Wolken mit Knattern …". Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 159, no. 4 (July–August):
43–47.
Frisius, Rudolf. 2013. Karlheinz Stockhausen III: Die Werkzyklen 1977–2007. Mainz, London, Berlin, Madrid, New
York, Paris, Prague, Tokyo, Toronto: Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG. ISBN 978-3-7957-0772-9.
Oehlschlägel, Reinhard. 1995. "Das Helikopter-Streichquartett: Ein Medienereignis von Karlheinz Stockhausen".
Süddeutsche Zeitung (13 July).
Struck-Schloen, Michael. 1995. "Warten auf den Öhlscheich". Die Welt (28 June).
Toop, Richard. 2008. "Mittwoch aus Licht ('Wednesday from Light')". Grove Music Online: The New Grove
Dictionary of Opera (22 October) (subscription required) (accessed 17 April 2013).
Ulrich, Thomas. 2017. Stockhausens Zyklus LICHT: Ein Opernführer. Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau
Verlag GmbH & Cie. ISBN 978-3-412-50577-6.

External links
Stockhausen Official Site (http://www.stockhausen.org)
Maconie, Robin. "Helikopter-Streichquartett (http://www.jimstonebraker.com/maconie-helikopter.html)" (in English)
Maconie, Robin. 2005. "Stockhausen's Musical Helicopters (https://web.archive.org/web/20061118111219/http://w
ww.jimstonebraker.com/Helikopter2.pdf)" (in English)

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