Aus den Sieben Tagen (From the Seven Days) is a collection of 15 text compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed in May 1968 and characterized as “Intuitive music”—music produced primarily from the intuition rather than the intellect of the performer(s).
Stockhausen noted, “I don’t want some spiritistic sitting—I want music! I don’t mean something mystical, but rather everything completely direct, from concrete experience” (Stockhausen, quoted in Ritzel 1970, 15).
The fifteen consituent pieces are:
1. Richtige Dauern (Right Durations), for ca. 4 players
2. Unbegrenzt (Unlimited), for ensemble
3. Verbindung (Connection), for ensemble
4. Treffpunkt (Meeting Point), for ensemble
5. Nachtmusik (Night Music), for ensemble
6. Abwärts (Downward), for ensemble
7. Aufwärts (Upward), for ensemble
8. Oben und Unten (Above and Below), theater piece, for a man, a woman, a child, and 4 instrumentalists
9. Intensität (Intensity), for ensemble
10. Setz die Segel zur Sonne (Set Sail for the Sun), for ensemble
11. Kommunion (Communion), for ensemble
12. Litanei (Litany), for speaker or choir
13. Es (It), for ensemble
14. Goldstaub (Gold Dust), for ensemble
15. Ankunft (Arrival), for speaker or speaking choir
The seven days of the title were 7–13 May 1968. The texts were written at Stockhausen’s home in Kürten during the first five of those days, at night or late in the evening (Stockhausen 1978, pp. 149 and 529). During daylight hours, including the remaining two days, Stockhausen wrote “many poems,” as well as reading Satprem’s book on Sri Aurobindo, and experienced “many extraordinary things” (Stockhausen 1978, pp. 528–29).
