Karlheinz Stockhausen is a unique figure in the history of twentieth-century music. A tireless innovator, his work has always aroused great controversy, as well as attracting a fanatical discipleship.

Stockhausen is renowned for his role in establishing European serialism, for his pioneering work in every form of electro-acoustic music - from early musique concrete to computer music - for his exploitation of physical performance space, and in the seven-opera cycle Licht for the integration of sound and movement. Stockhausen the man, however, has largely escaped analysis.

1. Now Stockhausen: A Biography reveals the personal history of this extraordinary figure. We learn of his boyhood in Cologne, his struggles as a student, his studies with Messiaen in Paris, his exacting and highly individual teaching methods at Darmstadt and Cologne, and the circumstances in which many of his greatest works were composed.