ABSTRACT
Stockhausen considered the question of time to be central to the construction of his music theory and compositional technique. In actuality, Stockhausen’s theory of musical time can be explained as a creative riff on the intellectual discussions surrounding him, for the most part circumscribed by Messiaen’s interest in the question of eternity and his idiosyncratic reception of Bergson. Messiaen’s influence on Stockhausen is often understood merely in terms of the development of integral serialist technique. The possibility that Stockhausen was grappling with problems that were initiated by Bergson presents a more intriguing line of investigation, though, since it would mark the distinct resolution Messiaen made with the philosopher, a resolution that required the negotiation between music’s fluid continuity and the numerical structures, not least of all in the rhythmic constructions of total serialism.
