Musik im Bauch

The performance was given by Les Percussions de Strasbourg in the haras (horse stable) in the town of Saintes, near to Royan.

The phrase prompted the toddler to erupt in laughter, throwing her arms in the air and endlessly repeating "Music in the belly!"

[1] The first sketch is a single leaf dated 28 February 1974, with brief and fragmentary written notes about the general musical and theatrical course.

The first three melodies later used in this piece, "Aquarius", "Leo", and "Capricorn", were composed in preliminary form later in 1974 during one or more of Stockhausen's composition seminars at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.

[3] In order to present the piece, Stockhausen composed twelve melodies for the zodiac signs, which can be performed independently as Tierkreis.

In comparison to early works like Gruppen and Zeitmaße, where instruments often play at different speeds, Musik im Bauch represents a massive expansion of such timescales.

220 cm) cloth doll of a birdman (a bird's head with large eyes, and a body with human hands and feet) dominates the stage.

Moving like a mechanical doll or automaton, a percussionist enters from the right and walks across the stage to a station of Klangplatten at Miron's left.

In the second section of the piece, the three performers in the rear gradually change their behavior at the sound of the tubular bell strike.

In the final section of the piece, the tubular bell sounds three more times, causing the whipping players to freeze.

The other two whippers follow suit in turns, retrieving a music box from Miron's belly, placing it on one of the tables, and playing along with their melody on the glockenspiel.

The melodies are stretched and distorted into incomprehensibility, and only the appearance of the music boxes at the end clarifies the source material for the piece.

Klangplatten (sound plates) are a custom instrument that Stockhausen purchased from a manufacturer named M. Grabmann in Bockum.

The marimba players are so independent of the others that Stockhausen indicates their attenuated versions of the Tierkreis melodies can be presented as separate pieces, provided they also perform in the same mechanical way.

Miron hanging above the stage before a performance of Musik im Bauch at NYU (7 May 2011)
Section II: "The whistling, whipping, and hissing of the switches cleans the air of evil spirits" (Iktus Percussion at the Naumburg Bandshell , Central Park , New York City, Thursday, 21 June 2012) [ 10 ]
Section IV: "The three players begin a bizarre course, circling around Miron, first running very slowly and gradually becoming faster ... until they create a dense rattling and tinkling of the bells and tramping on the floor, through an ecstatic dance with wild leaps".
Section V: "Player 1 looks to the exit, runs out, comes back with a large pair of scissors and cuts open Miron's stomach ..."
"He searches inside the stomach with his hand, pulls out a small wooden box, ... places the box on the table, ... opens it, and the music box melody ... begins".