 As reported in the German magazine Der Spiegel , the première ( and only performance to date ) on 15 November 1969 of Stockhausen 's work Fresco for four orchestral groups ( playing in four different locations ) was the scene of a scandal . The rehearsals were already marked by objections from the orchestral musicians questioning such directions as " glissandos no faster than one octave per minute " and others phoning the artists union to clarify whether they really had to perform the Stockhausen work as part of the orchestra . In the backstage warm @-@ up room at the premiere a hand @-@ lettered sign could be seen saying : " We 're playing , otherwise we would be fired " . During the première the parts on some music stands suddenly were replaced by placards reading things like " Stockhausen @-@ Zoo . Please don 't feed " , that someone had planted . Some musicians , fed up with the monkeyshines , left after an hour , though the performance was planned for four to five hours . Stockhausen fans protested , while Stockhausen foes were needling the musicians asking : " How can you possibly participate in such crap ? " ( " Wie könnt ihr bloß so eine Scheiße machen ! " ) . At one point someone managed to switch off the stand lights , leaving the musicians in the dark . After 260 minutes the performance ended with nobody participating any more ( Anon . 1969 ) . 
