In a press conference in Hamburg on 16 September 2001 , Stockhausen was asked by a journalist whether the characters in '' Licht '' were for him " merely some figures out of a common cultural history " or rather " material appearances " . Stockhausen replied , " I pray daily to Michael , but not to Lucifer . I have renounced him . But he is very much present , like in New York recently " . The same journalist then asked how the events of 11 September had affected him , and how he viewed reports of the attack in connection with the harmony of humanity represented in '' Hymnen '' . He answered : Well , what happened there is , of course — now all of you must adjust your brains — the biggest work of art there has ever been . The fact that spirits achieve with one act something which we in music could never dream of , that people practise ten years madly , fanatically for a concert . And then die . Hesitantly . And that is the greatest work of art that exists for the whole Cosmos . Just imagine what happened there . There are people who are so concentrated on this single performance , and then five thousand people are driven to Resurrection . In one moment . I could n't do that . Compared to that , we are nothing , as composers . ... It is a crime , you know of course , because the people did not agree to it . They did not come to the " concert " . That is obvious . And nobody had told them : " You could be killed in the process . " ( To see how the excerpt appeared out of its context , and in English translation , see . For a translation of a larger context of the exchange , see . The full text of the press conference , in German , is printed as . ) As a result of the reaction to the press report of Stockhausen 's comments , a four-day festival of his work in Hamburg was cancelled . In addition , his pianist daughter announced to the press that she would no longer appear under the name " Stockhausen "
events of 11 September
September 11 attacks
Karlheinz Stockhausen