Klarinet Archive - Posting 000025.txt from 2007/12

From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Death of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:42:28 -0500

It is an obituary filled with sad reflections about anyone's
uncertain judgment on creative genius vs. baloney and a friend's
dilemma about responding honestly or deciding sadly to shrink
away. The luxury of shrinking away usually doesn't extend to family members.

I recall the biography (not the screenplay) of John Nash ("A
Beautiful Mind"). Careful reading reveals a number of people who
appear briefly and disappear. One gets the unmistakable impression
that there were more than a few who sized up the guy and decided that
they didn't need that complication in their lives.

For my taste, the comment in the obituary which speaks volumes was
"Right from his early 20s he never doubted that he was a great
composer, and this conviction guided all his actions. It made him
authoritarian in his dealings with others, whether fellow musicians
or administrators."

Anyway, thanks Dan for giving us a heads-up on the life of this guy.

Oliver

At 10:00 AM 12/8/2007, you wrote:
>You can probably find an obituary in your favorite paper, but the death of
>Karlheinz Stockhausen was announced today (12/8/07) in the New York Times.
>
>Unfortunately, I can say nothing specific about his music because it was
>always an unfathomable mystery to me. In my entire career I can recollect
>only two occasions in which I played something of his, and I have no idea
>what they were. That does not mean it was bad music. It only means that I
>have a bad head.
>
>Dan Leeson
>dnleeson@-----.net
>SKYPE: dnleeson
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------

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