Stockhausen’s Electronic Music GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE had its world première 50 years ago on May 30th 1956 in the large broadcast auditorium of the WDR (West German Radio) in Cologne. It is the first work of four-channel spatial music with composed directions and movements of the sound all around the audience. For the first time electronic music is combined with speech (the praising of God in the Song of the Youths in the fiery furnace from the 3rd book of Daniel). A twelve-year-old boy sang all of the syllables and tones which Stockhausen composed together with the electronic sounds. The world première ended in a legendary scandal, which is documented in many protests in all the media and which led to a lawsuit of a popular music critic  against the WDR.

Stockhausen worked from 1953 to 1998 in the Studio for Electronic Music of the WDR. From 1963 to 1975 he was its director and until 1990 its artistic advisor. He has realised circa 200 works of electronic or electro-acoustic music, 15 of which in the WDR studio, such as

Electronic STUDY I (1953, 9 min. 42 sec.) and STUDY II (1954, 3 min. 20 sec.), 
GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE / SONG OF THE YOUTHS (1955/56, 13 min. 14 sec.),
KONTAKTE / CONTACTS (1958–1960, 35 minutes 30 seconds),
MICROPHONY  I (1964, 28 min.), 
MICROPHONY II (1965, 15 min.),
HYMNEN / HYMNS (1964–67, 114 min.),
SIRIUS (1974–76, 96 min.),
UNSICHTBARE CHÖRE / INVISIBLE CHOIRS (1979, 50 min.),
MONTAGS-GRUSS / MONDAY GREETING (1986/88, 34 min.),
MONTAGS-ABSCHIED / MONDAY FAREWELL (1986/88, 28 min.),
CHOIRS of MONDAY from LIGHT (1987, 68 min., 30 sec.),
OCTOPHONY (1990/91, 69 min.),
ELECTRONIC MUSIC with SOUND SCENES of FRIDAY from LIGHT,
(1992–94, 145 min.),
MITTWOCHS-ABSCHIED / WEDNESDAY FAREWELL (1996, 44 min.). 

His last work in the WDR studio was the Electronic Music of MICHAELION, which was cut short on March 12th 1998, and was completed in his own studio with synthesizer (WEDNESDAY GREETING, 54 min.).

He realised other electronic or electro-acoustic works, such as TELEMUSIC (17 min. 30 sec.) and SOLO (ca. 17 min.) in 1966 at NHK, the Japanese Radio in Tokyo, and the Electronic Music of KATHINKA’S CHANT (33 min.) in 1983/84 at IRCAM in Paris.

At this time, Stockhausen is composing an Electronic Music entitled KLANG (SOUND) – 6th Hour for a world première in Rome.