The quadraphonic electronic and concrete music of Hymnen was realised at the Electronic Music Studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. The world première was of the version with soloists, and took place on 30 November 1967 in a concert of the WDR concert series Musik der Zeit, at the auditorium of the Apostel Secondary School in Cologne-Lindenthal (Stockhausen 1971, 96). The soloists were Aloys Kontarsky, piano, Johannes G. Fritsch, viola, Harald Bojé (de), electronium, and Rolf Gehlhaar and David Johnson, percussion. Sound technicians were David Johnson and Werner Scholz, sound direction by the composer.

Date of composition 1967 (1966-1967; elaborated in 1969)
Premiered 1967, November 30th (At the auditorium of the Apostel Secondary School) in Cologne, Germany
Dedicated to Pierre Boulez (Region I), Henri Pousseur (Region II); John Cage (Region III); Luciano Berio (Region IV)
Catalogue Nr. 22
Approx. duration 114 minutes
Instruments Electronics
Autotranslations beta Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen, Nr. 22
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen, Nr. 22
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen, Nr. 22