Prozession is one of a series of works dating from the 1960s which Stockhausen designated as "process" compositions. These works in effect separate the "form" from the "content" by presenting the performers with a series of transformation signs which are to be applied to material that may vary considerably from one performance to the next. In Prozession, the performers choose material from specific earlier compositions by Stockhausen. In the subsequent companion works, Kurzwellen for six performers, Spiral for a soloist, Pole for two, and Expo for three, this material is to be drawn spontaneously during the performance from short-wave radio broadcasts (Kohl 1981, 192–93). The processes, indicated primarily by plus, minus, and equal signs, constitute the composition and, despite the unpredictability of the materials, these processes can be heard from one performance to another as being "the same" (Kohl 2010, 137).

Date of composition 1967 (May 1967) in Basel, Switzerland
Premiered 1967, May 21st in Helsinki, Finland
Dedicated to Written for and dedicated to the ensemble with which Stockhausen was regularly touring at that time: Alfred Alings and Rolf Gehlhaar (tamtam with hand-held microphone), Johannes Fritsch (viola), Harald Bojé (electronium), and Aloys Kontarsky (piano).
Catalogue Nr. 23
Instruments Gong / Tam-Tam
Viola
Electronium
Piano
Other - Microphones
Other - Filters
Other - Potentiometers
Autotranslations beta Karlheinz Stockhausen: Prozession, Nr. 23
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Prozession, Nr. 23
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Prozession, Nr. 23