Zyklus

Zyklus für einen Schlagzeuger (English: Cycle for a Percussionist) is a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, assigned Number 9 in the composer's catalog of works.

It was composed in 1959 at the request of Wolfgang Steinecke as a test piece for a percussion competition at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, where it was premièred on 25 August 1959 by Christoph Caskel.

[1] The work is written for one percussionist playing a marimba, vibraphone (motor off), 4 tom-toms, snare drum, güiro (one or several, if necessary), 2 African log drums (each producing 2 pitches), 2 suspended cymbals of differing sizes, hi-hat, 4 almglocken (suspended, clappers removed), a suspended "bunch of bells" (preferably Indian bells or tambourine mounted on a stand), at least 2 high pitched triangles, gong (with raised boss in center) and tam-tam.

[2] Zyklus contains a range of notational specificity, from exactly fixed at one extreme, to open, "variable" passages at the other.

[3] In principle, the percussionist decides on the starting point and direction through the score only at the moment of commencing a performance, but in practice this is almost universally worked out well in advance.