Cologne, Germany - Mauricio Kagel, an Argentinian-born composer, died early Thursday in Cologne, Germany at the age of 76. Kagel's 200 works of contemporary classical music dispensed with harmony and singable melodies and were aimed at high-brows, who enjoyed his musical jokes. One piece featured the sound of a toilet flushing.
Born 1931 in Buenos Aires, Kagel moved to Germany in 1957 and became professor of "new music" at Cologne's Music College in 1975.
His music publisher, C.F. Peters Musikverlag, said in Frankfurt he died after a long illness.
