Trans (Stockhausen)

Théâtre de la Ville, Paris: site of the first French performance of Trans, ten days after the Donaueschingen world premiere in October 1971

Trans is a composition for orchestra and tape by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, written in 1971. It is Number 35 in the composer's catalog of works.

Trans is as much a work of theatre as it is a musical composition. It has a somnolent, irrational look and feel, for the simple reason that it is the representation of a dream. Stockhausen regarded it as an important work for himself, a key work and a whole new beginning—a "transcendental piece".[1]

  1. ^ Stockhausen 1978b, 511.