The German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (born 1928) was one of the most influential composers of the post-World War II period. His works embodied most of the advanced musical tendencies of his time.

Karlheinz Stockhausen was born August 22, 1928, in a suburb of Cologne, the son of a schoolteacher. He did not show any particular interest in music until after his demobilization from the army at the close of World War II in 1945. Then he studied musicology at the University of Cologne and music at the Musikhochschule, supporting himself by playing the piano in dance bands. His first compositions date from 1950, strongly influenced by Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and have complex serial plans and pointillistic texture.

In 1951 Stockhausen attended the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, the center for many of the postwar developments in music. Here he became acquainted with Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez. He found their...