Ylem

Ylem is a term used by Gamow, Alpher and their associates in the late 1940s to name a hypothetical primordial substance or condensed state of matter that gave rise to subatomic particles and elements as we know them today. It was the name Gamow and his associates gave to the "thing" that supposedly existed immediately after the Big Bang along with a large amount of high-energy photons, the thermal residue of which is observed today in the form of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

The term derives from a Middle English word meaning "primordial substance from which all matter is formed" [wikipedia] and in turn descends from the Greek hylem, "matter."

Ylem, for 19 performers, composed by Stockhausen in 1972, is an allegory of the primordial explosion and the oscillatory theory of the universe. It takes the form of a largely indeterminate score, consisting of text only, without any notation, according to which the performers begin concentrated around the piano, and then "explode" into the universe. playing the central note of their instrument with gradually decreasing density, while the 10 portable instrument players move away from the center until they stand around the audience.

Then the reverse process begins: the music gradually thickens, and the players return to focus to create a new explosion. The set of instructions, however, is more complex than this brief simplification of mine. It prescribes various actions, including the passage of a signal consisting of the sacred syllable HU (the name of the nameless), the use of a shortwave receiver, and some specific instructions for the four electronic instrument players (synthesizers).

It is also striking that this is a piece with almost completely invariant pitches. Most of the instrumentalists, in fact, concentrate on a single note or chord, performing at most brief fluctuations around it.

Karlheinz Stockhausen – Ylem (1972), for 19 performers

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