He is known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music , having been called the "father of electronic music", [ 6 ] for introducing controlled chance aleatory techniques into serial composition , and for musical spatialization. As one of the leading figures of the Darmstadt School , his compositions and theories were and remain widely influential, not only on composers of art music , but also on jazz and popular music. His works, composed over a period of nearly sixty years, eschew traditional forms.
In addition to electronic musicโboth with and without live performersโthey range from miniatures for musical boxes through works for solo instruments, songs, chamber music , choral and orchestral music, to a cycle of seven full-length operas. His theoretical and other writings comprise ten large volumes. He received numerous prizes and distinctions for his compositions, recordings, and for the scores produced by his publishing company. The village, located near Kerpen in the Cologne region, was displaced in to make way for lignite strip mining, but the castle itself still stands.
Despite its name, the building is more a manor house than a castle. From to it was the maternity home of the Bergheim district , and after the war it served for a time as a shelter for war refugees. Gertrud played the piano and accompanied her own singing but, after three pregnancies in as many years, experienced a mental breakdown and was institutionalized in December , followed a few months later by the death of her younger son, Hermann. From the age of seven, Stockhausen lived in Altenberg , where he received his first piano lessons from the Protestant organist of the Altenberger Dom , Franz-Josef Kloth.
His new wife, Luzia, had been the family's housekeeper. The couple had two daughters. It was generally understood that she had been a victim of the Nazi policy of killing " useless eaters ".
In late , Stockhausen was conscripted to serve as a stretcher bearer in Bedburg. Simon, who was on leave from the front, told his son, "I'm not coming back. Look after things. He had training in harmony and counterpoint , the latter with Hermann Schroeder , but he did not develop a real interest in composition until He was admitted at the end of that year to the class of Swiss composer Frank Martin , who had just begun a seven-year tenure in Cologne.
