HARLEKIN is a remarkable, and successful, extreme of variation form. A great
deal of the long-lasting fascination of Stockhausen's music is produced by its
exploration of the extreme boundaries of music, of what music can be. This work
explores the extremes of music within a seemingly traditional framework,
extensive variation of melody, a feature that provides a special fascination of
its own.
Over a span of 45 minutes, the listener is confronted with nothing but one
single melodic formula, with innumerable variations (in its original form the
formula lasts about one minute, but mostly it is contracted to a much shorter
duration). Broadly speaking and a little simplified (as will become clear
later), the entire work consists of just a single chain of successive, yet
varied, repetitions of this formula, connected like pearls on a string.
This alone would be remarkable enough, yet even more striking is the
variation technique employed in relation to the duration of the entire work.
Even though the work is so extended in duration, no complete transformation of
melody takes place, as found for example in some late works by Beethoven, such
as the Diabelli variations or the fourth movement of the String Quartet
op. 131 (where the transformations of the material during the variation process
are so huge that they amount to magical transfigurations).
On the contrary, in HARLEKIN the basic shape of the melody is mostly
preserved, only slightly bent or furnished with different accents during
variations, and there are wide stretches of the work that do not even split the
formula melody up into motives. A similar kind of variation technique is often
heard in slow movements of the Classical period. Among the better-known examples
from this period, there are very successful ones, but also some where the music
merely drags itself from one little 'neat' variation to another, inevitably
producing some boredom on the part of the listener.
Such boredom is not inherent in the proceedings of HARLEKIN: What is so
astonishing is that the small variations presented in the composition can hold
the listener's attention during the entire duration of 45 minutes, a much longer
duration than that of any variation movement in previous music.
An experience of this nature, however, can only take place once the listener
has 'locked into' the formula, and therefore becomes able to follow all the
alterations in a state of suspense. Given both the unusually expansive breath
for this kind of music and the fact that the formula only slowly is 'un-wound', 'locking into' the formula may prove challenging for the listener.
This may be why some listeners, even Stockhausen fans, do not initially find the
work very compelling. Reasonable appreciation of the musical processes may
require repeated listening.
The humour so central to the work, audibly and – in a live performance –
visibly (keep in mind that this is very much a theatrical work), is an important
vehicle for adding interest to the variation processes. It often contributes to
special vividness and meaning of changes in accentuation of the formula.
HARLEKIN can be considered a showpiece of Stockhausen's solid compositional
craft. Few composers could have accomplished this kind of composition with such
evident mastery, and it becomes abundantly clear from listening to this and many
other works that Stockhausen is not one of the dubious cases of contemporary
composer whose music's 'fancy weirdness' conceals a lack of basic compositional
technique and skills.
It should not be overlooked that without these skills in "traditional" craft
of composition also phenomena like the organic transformations found in even
more radical works such as HYMNEN would be impossible. This is an important
reason why achievements such as HYMNEN cannot be emulated by electronic-studio
wizards who are less sure-footed in basic compositional technique.
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