Harlekin was composed for the clarinetist Suzanne Stephens to dance to her own playing. It was begun at Easter 1975 in Morocco, and completed on Christmas Eve of the same year on Big Corn Island off the coast of Nicaragua (Kurtz 1992, 201). In an interview from October 1984, Stockhausen recalled the circumstances: "I can see it in front of me. A rocky shore with a small restaurant on it, and the timber house where I wrote most of HARLEKIN. I can see the oil that was poured on the floor to fight those horrid cockroaches" (Varga 2013, 60). The work was premiered on 7 March 1976 in the Große Sendesaal of the WDR in Cologne by Suzanne Stephens. Although intended primarily for a dancing clarinetist, it can also be performed as "pure" music, in which case the notated dance rhythms are to be played on tabla, a Kandy drum, or similar drum. It may also be performed by a clarinetist at the side of the stage on which a dancer performs the choreography. There is an arrangement for flute, as well (Stockhausen 1978, 290).

Date of composition 1975
Premiered 1977, August 3rd (Centre Sirius) in Aix-en-Provence, France
Catalogue Nr. 42 (1/2)
Approx. duration 9 minutes
Instruments Clarinet
Autotranslations beta Karlheinz Stockhausen: Der kleine Harlekin, Nr. 42 (1/2)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Der kleine Harlekin, Nr. 42 (1/2)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Der kleine Harlekin, Nr. 42 (1/2)