Drei Lieder, Nr. 1/10

When the 21-year-old Stockhausen wrote the Drei Lieder in two weeks during the summer of 1950, he had no ambition to become a composer. On the contrary, he was approaching the end of his studies in music education at the Cologne Conservatory and, after numerous classroom exercises, wanted merely to try his hand at composing something of substantial proportions. The work was originally titled Lieder der Abtrünnung (Songs of a Renegade), and set three poems written by the composer himself: "Mitten im Leben" (Midway through Life), "Frei", and "Der Saitenmann". (It is possible that there were originally five songs, but two were later destroyed.) The score is dedicated to Doris Andreae, who later became the composer's wife (Kurtz 1992, 27, 31).