Johnson studied, among other places, at Harvard University (M.A. in composition 1964), with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and at the Cologne Courses for New Music in 1964–1965, 1965–1966, and 1966–1967.[1]
In 1966–1967, he was an independent collaborator at the Electronic Studio of the WDR, where he assisted Karlheinz Stockhausen with the production of his electronic work Hymnen. He also operated the live-electronics in the first performances of the chamber-orchestra version of Stockhausen's Mixtur (1967), and in the Darmstadt collaborative works directed by Stockhausen, Ensemble in 1967 and Musik für ein Haus in 1968.[2][3][4]
In 1968, he was also instructor of electronic music at the Cologne Courses for New Music.[5] From its formation in Cologne in 1968, he collaborated with the experimental beat group, later known as Can, formed by bass guitarist Holger Schüring (later known as Holger Czukay), keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, guitarist Michael Karoli and drummer Jaki Liebezeit. He left in 1969, disappointed at their growing rock influences.
In the early 1970s, Johnson joined the Oeldorf Group, a musicians' cooperative, with Péter Eötvös, Mesías Maiguashca, Gaby Schumacher (cello) and Joachim Krist (viola), who organized a Summer Night Music series. Performances were held in the barn attached to the group's farmhouse in Oeldorf [de], near Kürten.[8]
Gehlhaar, Rolf. 1968. Zur Komposition Ensemble: Kompositionsstudio Karlheinz Stockhausen, Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Darmstadt 1967. Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 11. Edited by Ernst Thomas. Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne. Text in both German and English.
Kurtz, Michael. 1992. Stockhausen: A Biography. Translated by Richard Toop. London: Faber and Faber.
Ritzel, Fred. 1970. Musik für ein Haus: Kompositionsstudio Karlheinz Stockhausen, Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Darmstadt 1968. Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 12. Edited by Ernst Thomas. Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1971. Texte zur Musik 3 (1963–1970). Edited by Dieter Schnebel. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.
Further reading
Johnson, David. 1972. "Die Organica Geschichte." Feedback papers 7. Reprinted in Feedback Papers 1–16, pp. 168–177.
Morawska-Büngeler, Marietta. 1988. Schwingende Elektronen: Eine Dokumentation über das Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln 1951–1986. Cologne-Rodenkirchen: P. J. Tonger Musikverlag.