Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) was a German composer whose pioneering work in electronic, spatial, and serial music made him the most influential and consequential music innovator of the twentieth century. Born near Cologne, he studied in Cologne and Paris before beginning his career at the WDR electronic music studio in Cologne, where he produced works including Gesang der Jünglinge (1956) — widely regarded as the first major work of electronic music — and Kontakte (1960).

His development of serial composition extended to parameters beyond pitch, applying serial organization to dynamics, duration, and timbre.