Gesang der Jünglinge "complexes" structured statistically . The last category occurs in Stockhausen's electronic music for the first time in "Gesang der Jünglinge", and originates in the course of studies Stockhausen took between 1954 and 1956 with Werner Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn. The text of "Gesang der Jünglinge" is from a Biblical story in The Book of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar throws Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace but miraculously they are unharmed and begin to sing praises to God. This text is presented in a carefully devised scale of seven degrees of comprehensibility, an idea which also came from
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego place under Nebuchadnezzar and the second under Darius; and in the first story the disobedience to the earthly ruler takes place in public, while in the second Daniel petitions God in private. The stories thus supplement each other to make the point that the God of the Jews will deliver those who are faithful to him. The legendary nature of the story is revealed by the liberal use of hyperbole - the size of the statue, the use of every kind of music, the destruction of the executioners, and the king's rage followed by his confession of the superiority of