Gyorgy Ligeti

“The most exciting, comprehensible, analytically profound and conceptually lucid study to date, which, in addition, for thefirst time incorporates the sketches in the discussion and thereby elucidates the basic ideas underlying many of the works.“ (Fonoforum) Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of Musicology at the University of Hamburg. Among his works are volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes, about Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg. Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch is professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. He has translated several books by Constantin Floros. www.peterlang.com 265499_Floros_AK_A5HCk.indd 1 Ligeti „This study excels all previous monographs on the subject of Ligeti in factual thoroughness and breadth of aesthetic horizon, in fineness of intellectual portraiture and authority of musical analysis.“ (Lutz Lesle) Constantin Floros · György This monograph is an authoritative study of the oeuvre of one of the most important composers of our time. For the first time, Ligeti’s key works are presented in the context of their drafts and sketches. His personal and artistic development is set forth and illuminated, and his principal compositions are analyzed and reinterpreted, based on detailed studies of the scores and drafts, as well as on personal conversations with the composer. In addition, numerous questions concerning today’s composing are raised and discussed. Music does not have to be puristic: Ligeti’s spheres of interest are close to universal, embracing history, natural science, and visual arts, as well as music of diverse eras and ethnicities. This expanded world of the musical comprises not just tones and sounds, speech and music, the vocal and the instrumental: Ligeti conceives music as a cosmos of acoustic form. György Ligeti Beyond Avant-garde and Postmodernism Translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch CONSTANTIN FLOROS ISBN 978-3-631-65499-6 18.09.14 12:29 György Ligeti For Dr. Vera Ligeti with profound admiration C. Fl. Constantin Floros György Ligeti Beyond Avant-garde and Postmodernism Translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch de. Vienna PL Academic Research is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH. Vienna/Austria.translator. © by MUSIKZEIT Verlag Lafite. translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch. Ligeti. Mainz/Germany. without the permission of the publisher. KG.d-nb. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Floros.Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie. © for all other languages: MUSIKZEIT Verlag Lafite. 1923-2006--Criticism and interpretation. Constantin . Revised and expanded version of the German original edition: György Ligeti. ML410. [György Ligeti. II.com . and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.peterlang. This publication has been peer reviewed. translations.3726/ 978-3-653-04783-7 © for the English edition: Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2014 All rights reserved. Courtesy of SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH & Co. Cover illustration: György Ligeti. I. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law. www.L645F5613 2014 780. Constantin. 1934.92--dc23 2014021260 ISBN 978-3-631-65499-6 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-653-04783-7 (E-Book) DOI 10. microfilming. György. Bernhardt-Kabisch. is forbidden and liable to prosecution. Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙ Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. „Jenseits von Avantgarde und Postmoderne“ by Constantin Floros. English] György Ligeti : beyond avant-garde and postmodernism / Floros. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb. Title. ISBN 978-3-631-65499-6 1. This applies in particular to reproductions. Ernest. ............. 9 Questions of Identity ...................................... 1 1 Part One: Personality and Fundamental Aspects of the Work ...........7 2............................ Imaginary Space ................................................................ A Universalist Concept of Art and Music ...............................................................................5 2................8 2.... 117 The Turning Point ca.......... 94 Lux aeterna ....................... 71 2...........................................................10 1............................................ 28 Innovativeness: Aspects of Compositional Technique..................... 106 New Conceptions of the Concertante: Notes on the Cello Concerto .................................................................................................. 84 Micropolyphony ............... 66 2 Part Two: Works .... 89 Language and Music in the Requiem ............. Allusions and Synaesthesias ............9 2.... 34 Motion Types..................Table of Contents Preface ................... 79 Atmosphères – a Secret Requiem? .....................10 2............... 5 1.... Vacuum and Music of the Spheres .............................................. 156 “Quasi-Equidistance” and Polyrhythm: Coordinates of the Piano Concerto..............17 2.....................................................5 1..................................................... 26 Metaphors................................16 2......................... 63 Backgrounds of Ligeti’s Popularity ............................................ 103 Continuum .............................................................................11 2.................................................................................................................. 55 Diversity of Inspirational Sources.................... 110 On the Three Pieces for Two Pianos ..........1 2...........................................................................7 1.................................3 1..................................6 2..............................................................................................................................................8 1......................4 2......................2 2....................... 18 A “Non-Puristic” Music............13 Biographical Sketch ................................................9 1...............2 1................................ 207 2...................................15 2....11 1..................................................14 2............. 144 Notes on the Hölderlin Fantasies ............................................................................................................... 151 Construction and Imagination: Principles of the Piano Etudes ........... 40 Time and Space............ 73 Going beyond Serialism ...............................................6 1.......................................................................................... 76 Apparitions and the Dream of the Web .............................. 44 New Sound Images – New Semantemes.................................. 114 Mad World Theater: Le Grand Macabre................................................... 15 Towards an Intellectual Physiognomy .................... 50 A “Double-Bottomed” Relation to Tradition ....... 1980 ..............................12 1.............. Tonal Gestures and Expressive Characters ....1 1..........................................................................................18 V ................................................................3 2................................................................. 192 The Horn Concerto ................................. 180 The Violin Concerto ..........................................13 Composing in the Homeland .............................................................................. 57 New Ways of Transcending the Tempered System .4 1.......................................................................................................... “Cystoscopy”......................... 140 Épater l’Avant-garde: Retrospective and Forward-Looking Elements in the Horn Trio.......12 2.. ...............2 3...................... 218 Register of Works .......................................................5 Abbreviations .................................................... 211 3 Part Three: Appendix .................................Afterword: Beyond Avantgarde and Postmodernism ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 231 Selected Bibliography .......................................................................................4 3..................1 3............................ 236 Index of names .... 217 Notes .. 249 VI ................................................................................................................3 3................................................................ 215 3........................................................... On July 24. 1962. in articles that appeared in the Swedish journal Nutida Musik. I vividly recall the concluding session. pleaded for a conception of music capable of accommodating also the interstitial/intermediate areas of the musical. in Gütersloh and in the Rhine region. I began to scrutinize his works. I had repeated opportunities to be in contact with him and over the years got to know him as an altogether unconventional. The more extensive second part comprises 1 . but if you want to talk with me. and am equally delighted that you are writing a book about my music. I told him of my intention to write a book about him. in Hitzacker. still relatively littleknown composer. It gave me particular pleasure to introduce some of his compositions. Ligeti was awarded the noted Bach Prize in Hamburg. After Ligeti’s appointment to the Hamburg Musikhochschule in 1973. In the spring of 1989. whose musical idiom had always fascinated me. Of primary importance were the conversations I had with Ligeti in his Hamburg apartment. in which György Ligeti. His path-breaking presentation made such a powerful impression on me that I decided forthwith to concern myself at closer range with the works of the then 39-years-old. This book is initially based on these conversations and on an intensive study of his numerous writings and the many interviews he has given. I am also delighted that you will be giving a seminar about my music at the Musicological Institute next semester. art and music theory. If you need me. I think it is much too laudatory (but I can bear it …). Duchesneau will always know where to find me. he wrote me: I read your eulogy with great pleasure and thank you most cordially for it. the Society of Musical Research held its International Musicological Convention in Kassel. I gave lectures about his music not only in Hamburg but in Vienna. and I was chosen to present the eulogy. in a captivating paper on electronic music.Preface From September 30 to October 4. in Graz. on “Problems of Structure in Contemporary Music”. I will spend the summer in Vienna. In 1975. I am of course at your disposal. The first (introductory) part centers on questions of biography. his intellectual physiognomy and the phenomenology of his music. at times even before their first performance. and to publish essays about them. Ms. the psychology of creation and general aesthetics and concerns basic traits of Ligeti’s personality and work. From 1987 on. intensely curious individual of profound wit and comprehensive knowledge and a warm-hearted friend. with special emphasis on the processes of creation. I am also much obliged to Professor Dr. to outline the technical problems of composition that occupied him. My friend Professor Dr. Louise Duchesneau stood tirelessly by me throughout the writing of the original version. My principal thanks are owed posthumously to György Ligeti for his patience in answering my questions and his permission to inspect the drafts and particelli of his works. My most cordial thanks go to him. The Universal Edition of Vienna. Mr. A focal point of this study is the discernment that it is Ligeti’s synaesthetic endowment that opens up a deeper understanding of his music. She got hold of books. to explore the relation between imagination and construction. Hamburg. and to Michael Rücker and Andrea Kolb of the Peter Lang Publishing House for their generous editorial advice. Edit Spielmann helped me in rendering the Hungarian texts in Ligeti’s drafts. Vera Ligeti kindly put some hitherto unknown portraits of her husband at my disposal. May 2014 Constantin Floros 2 . Dr.F. Peters Publishing House in Frankfurt let me have important music material. scores. which we were able to clarify in our correspondence. and recordings for me and advised me on numerous questions.discussions of his most representative works. Synaesthetic aspects will therefore be continually considered in the analysis and interpretation of the works. For the first time. too. Altug Ünlü for the formatting of the volume. The present English translation of the book differs from the original German version by some substantial additions. I was particularly concerned to elucidate the genesis of his works. From conversations with the composers Wolfgang von Schweinitz. It goes without saying that this study. Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch of Indiana University once again provided a translation of uttermost scrupulosity and raised numerous questions. My gratitude goes to all of them. and likewise to elucidate the extra-musical associations accompanying the compositional process. Professor Manfred Stahnke and Professor Altug Ünlü I derived valuable information about Ligeti as a teacher. would not have come off without the support of dear friends and numerous amiable colleagues. B. Peter Petersen and professor Albrecht Schneider kindly put recordings of radio interviews at my disposal. Péter Hálasz and Ms. Dr. Ligeti’s drafts will be an object of scholarly investigation in this book. Schott’s Sons in Mainz and the Henry Litolff / C. a music that requires an analogous synaesthetic perception on the part of the listener. My colleagues Prof. Contacts over many years: letters of Ligeti to the author (top) and to the editor of the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift (bottom) 3 . 4 . 1 Part One: Personality and Fundamental Aspects of the Work . 6 . 7 . 8 1.1 Biographical Sketch “C’est la musique qui est ma seule passion.”1 “Work and workaday life somehow flow together for me.”2 “The affairs of daily life are regulated in such a way that there remains sufficient time for work.”3 “I want to be able to work more and faster. Hence the necessary changeover to ‘telegram style’ in all matters of life, so that enough time remains for composing.”4 From 1973 to 1988, György Ligeti served as professor of composition at the Music Academy in Hamburg. When he was asked whether his retirement signified a turning-point in his life, he firmly denied it, saying that his appointment in Hamburg had not seemed a caesura to him either, since he had previously taught also in Sweden and in the United States (at Stanford University). He was thus alluding to a continuity in his life, which had always centered on composing and teaching. Even so, it would be an exaggeration to say that there had been no incisive events in his life. One such event, for example, was his flight from Hungary to the West in December of 1956. The first thing one wants to learn from the biography of a creative person is how he came to be what he is. To answer this question, one has to look into an entire complex of matters such as his/her socialization, training and development, the influences to which s/he was exposed, the historical circumstances under which s/he worked and so on. In Ligeti’s case that means that one has to search for explanations of his talent, his originality, his ability to implement the musically imagined, his openness to all things of the intellect, his strong scholarly and musico-ethnological interests, etc. These aspects will therefore be at the center of the following chapters. György Ligeti was born on May 28, 1923 as the son of Jewish Hungarians, in Dicsöszentmárton, a small Transylvanian town that was part of Romania but whose inhabitants spoke Hungarian. His parents, the bank clerk Alexander Ligeti and the ophthalmologist Ilona Somogy, were from Budapest; both were music lovers. In a conversation with Reinhard Oehlschlägel, Ligeti told that even as a small, three- or four-year old child he got in the habit of imagining music5 – a habit he retained all his life. One begins to get a sense of what these imaginings were like once one has taken a look at the master’s sketches. They synaesthetically relate a rich musical vocabulary to literary impressions, visual sensations and psychic states. 9 In 1929, shortly before the boy turned six, the family moved to Cluj, the second-largest Romanian city of between 120,000 and 150,000 inhabitants and a center of culture. Here Ligeti attended elementary school and then the Gymnasium (secondary or prep school), and here he saw his first operas, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Verdi’s La Traviata, a work that put him in a regular trance. At the age of eight, he had his first concert experiences and began to listen intensively to music on the radio – a habit he was to retain for many years. He took particular delight in comparing the transmissions from Budapest with those from Bucharest. The story of how he came to be a musician is a curious one.6 His father, who was unhappy in his profession and would have liked to be a free-lance writer (he authored several books), envisioned an academic career for his son, preferably as a natural scientist. Since he regarded him as overly playful, he for some time ignored the boy’s wish to learn to play an instrument (the violin). Then a lucky coincidence came to Ligeti’s aid. A violin teacher discovered that György’s younger brother, Gabor, had perfect pitch and prevailed upon Alexander Ligeti to let the boy take violin lessons; whereupon the fourteenyear-old György was able to insist on receiving piano lessons. Since there was no piano in the house, he had to practice at his piano teacher’s. He made rapid progress on the instrument and within weeks began to compose. His first attempt was a waltz in A minor in the manner of Edvard Grieg. At fifteen, he wrote a string quartet, and when he was sixteen, he embarked on the composition of a symphony – one complete with a cannon shot and gunpowder explosion! Around this time he also immersed himself in the study of classical masterpieces and began to learn to play the timpani. For two years he performed in an amateur orchestra as a percussionist. Meanwhile the political situation in central Europe had deteriorated markedly. From 1933 on, a Nazi movement began to grow in Romania. Jewish students were discriminated against in the schools and often beaten up. Ligeti, too, suffered the effects of such discrimination. Having brilliantly passed his abitur in May of 1941, he wanted the study mathematics and physics at Cluj University but learned that university study was denied to Jews. In the vain hope that the situation would soon change, he registered for courses in mathematics and physics at a kind of ersatz university of necessity improvised for Jews. At the same time he studied harmony and counterpoint with Ferenc Farkas at the Cluj Conservatory in order to acquire the needed technical expertise, and learned to play the cello and the organ. In the summers of 1942 and 1943, he took private lessons in composition with Pal Kádosa in Budapest. An event of decisive force was his encountering the music of Béla Bartók in the winter 10 of 1941/42, an experience that very likely hastened his resolution to give up the study of mathematics, hopeless in any case, and to become a musician. After the end of the war, still in 1945, Ligeti settled in Budapest. Here he studied at the Music Academy, initially counterpoint and fugue with Sandor Veress, who was regarded as the most important Hungarian composer after Bartók and Kodály, and then instrumentation and free composition again with Ferenc Farkas, who had meanwhile transferred to the renowned Budapest academy. He also completed studies in strict composition (strenger Satz, Palestrina-style), to which many years later he ascribed particular relevance also for his own compositional work. What, incidentally, he thought of his teachers we learn from an essay he published in 1949. He regarded Sandor Veress’s often barely accessible music as terrific, “full of hidden beauties,” which the listener had to seek out. Pál Kadosa he lauded as the boldest harmonist, as a composer whose works offered “a whole range of interesting formal problems, exciting metric and technical bravuras.” And Ferenc Farkas he praised as a master of vocal music, as the creator of the eminent lyrical cantata “Sankt-Johannes-Brunnen” (St. John’s Well) and as a composer of innovative lieder.7 Having passed his final examination at the Music Academy in 1949, Ligeti went on an extended trip through Romania, in order, following the example of Bartók and Kódaly, to research folk music. He collected and evaluated several hundred Transylvanian (Hungarian) folk songs during this journey. He also composed an exhaustive treatise on the improvised polyphony of Romanian folk music and its harmonic principles. This preoccupation bore abundant fruit. Ligeti began to adapt Hungarian and Romanian folk songs to all manner of instrumentations: piano, voice and piano, as well as chamber orchestra and chorus; he even wrote an orchestra piece entitled “Romanian Concerto.” By 1951 at the latest, however, the realization matured in him that he should distance himself from folklorism and differentiate himself from the Bartók succession. He began to search for new ways as a composer. From 1950 to 1956, Ligeti served as instructor of harmony, counterpoint and formal analysis at Budapest’s Music Academy. During this time he wrote two excellent textbooks on the “classical” theory of harmony. He did not have to teach composition – luckily, he thought, as he vehemently balked at the aesthetic maxims of socialist realism, the prevailing doctrine at the time. His compositions during those years – avant-garde music influenced primarily by Bartók and Stravinsky, in part also by Alban Berg – defied these maxims and as result were destined for the drawer: there was virtually no chance of a performance for them. Thus Ligeti’s First String Quartet of 1953/54 was premi11 ered only in 1958 in Vienna. Of his “progressive” works, only five of his Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet were performed at a small music festival for contemporary Hungarian music in the fall of 1956, three weeks before the uprising – the sixth was omitted because of its notorious dissonances. Since the year 1948, Hungary had been totally cut off from the West, not only politically and economically, but also culturally. Everything that ranged under New Music in the West was simply taboo in Hungary. But Ligeti took a vivid interest in just this New Music; he was avidly seeking to know it and therefore listened attentively to the night programs of the German radio stations. By this means he first encountered Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony and electronic music by Herbert Eimert. After the political opening in the spring of 1956, it became possible to obtain records and music from the Western countries. Ligeti was happy to be able to acquire, for the first time, string quartets by Schönberg, Berg and Webern. He established contacts with Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Otto Tomek and Hanns Jelinek, who supplied him with music and essays. “It was a great shock for me – perhaps the most beautiful of my life”, he told later, “to suddenly be able to study, read and listen to what until then I had only vaguely guessed at, only secretly intercepted in snatches at night on the radio – it was like a liberation. I was in the middle of the most intensive compositional work on Víziók, writing down, in this piece, the results of years of solitary experimentation with new musical possibilities, and now acquired intelligence of the New Music in the West. It strongly confirmed me in my own path!”8 In the above-mentioned conversations with Reinhard Oehlschläger, Ligeti described in vivid colors the dramatic events after the suppression of the Budapest uprising: how the initial confident mood – the hope of liberation – abruptly changed into anxiety and panic after the invasion of the Soviet troops on November 4, 1956; how, on November 7 he was all alone in his apartment – all the other occupants hid in the cellar, afraid of being hit by flying bullets – and for the first time heard Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge (Song of the Youths) and Kontra-Punkte on the radio, and how, after the street battles and the mass arrests, he resolved to flee to the West, because he did not want to live under a dictatorship. On December 10, he boarded a train going west and, under cover of night, crossed illicitly into Austria. He was accompanied by his girlfriend, Vera Spitz, whom he married in 1957, and who later became one of the most prominent representatives of Freudian psychology. On October 15, 1944, the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian Fascist party, had celebrated its coming to power with the shooting of ten thousand Jews. Vera Spitz, who was fourteen years old at the time, had escaped certain 12 produced his first electronic compositions (Glissandi and Articulation). Arrived in Vienna. In 1957. Stockhausen took him in for six weeks. He offered seminars on “Problems of Form and Structure in Webern”. Luigi Nono and Henri Pousseur. as little was he persuaded by the rigidity of serialism’s principles. only to then sink back into another 24-hour sleep. Ligeti met Friedrich Cerha and Hanns Jelinek. Both invited him to Cologne to work with them on the Studio. which. Ligeti’s long-cherished wish to be able to hear and study the music of Schönberg. he repeatedly served as a lecturer at the Summer Courses. From 1959 on. as well as an analysis of Webern’s first cantata. There he met Pierre Boulez. 13 . and above all was able to firmly establish his own artistic point of view. frugal as he was. He became close friends with the early deceased Bruno Maderna (d. about the New Music. Through the efforts of Eimert. Stockhausen and others could finally be satisfied.death only at the last moment. and how. he promptly launched into a nearly four-hours long discussion about the New Music and electronic music. he obtained a stipend for four months. Wörner tells a story of how upon his arrival in Cologne Ligeti collapsed in total exhaustion and slept for more than 24 hours in Stockhausen’s apartment. He got to know the Cologne music scene at close quarters. where he worked above all with Gottfried Michael Koenig. after finally waking up.9 The story does not seem to be correct in every detail. their compulsions and abysses. works of Pierre Boulez. whose gift as a conductor he continued to praise to the skies. refusing any and all food. Looking back. Gradually he got to know nearly all the representatives of the time’s avant-garde. Ligeti professed that the eighteen months he spent in Cologne were important ones for him. became familiar with the aims of the period’s avant-garde. at the time. a period filled with intensive conversations about the New Music. Ligeti was able for the first time to visit the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt. enabled him to remain in Cologne for a year and a half. Yet he evidently did not at first intend to reside` in Vienna. She had then and there resolved to choose a profession that would best enable her to understand human beings. Berg and Webern. the founders of the noted Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne. As strongly impressed as he was with the consistency of Stockhausen’s way of thinking. In his Stockhausen book of 1963. but it conveys a sense of Ligeti’s passionate concerns. Karl H. obtained valuable experiences in the Studio for Electronic Music. as he promptly turned to Eimert and Stockhausen. 1973) – an “angelic” being. honorary senator of the Hamburg Music Academy. Wolfgang von Schweinitz. and in Jyväskylä. 1960. Students of mine at Hamburg University who also attended Ligeti’s courses at the Music Academy were fascinated by the way he analyzed chamber music works by Franz Schubert. among them Hans-Christian von Dadelsen. From 1969 to 1973. and that of Atmosphères on October 22. Many of his works earned prizes. Manfred Stahnke. inasmuch as the highly successful premieres of Apparitions and Atmosphères brought him an instant international breakthrough. but he also traveled around numerous European countries. at the Academy Chigiana in Siena. Finland. at the Folkwang School in Essen. Italy. Ligeti has been overwhelmed with honors like few other composers of his generation. honorary doctor of Hamburg University.The years 1960 and 1961 marked a turning-point in his life. His pupils. He taught as a guest professor at the Music Academy in Stockholm and offered courses in composition in Madrid. Wolfgang Andreas-Schultz. 1961. His appointment as professor of composition at the State Academy of Music in Hamburg in 1973 brought some stability into his restless life. in Dutch Bilthoven. and member of several academies and artistic institutions. he lived mostly in Vienna (in 1967 he acquired Austrian citizenship). One indication of his world-wide recognition is the fact that for many years festivals featuring his music have been held in many countries. such as the League of Austrian Composers (Österreichischer Komponistenbund). His international renown drew many gifted young composers to the Hamburg Music Academy. As the bearer of the Great Austrian State Prize or the Praemium Imperiale of Tokyo. Babette Koblenz. Thus he championed the Mexian Conlon Nancarrow and the Romanian Stefan Nicolescu. at the Donauseschinger Musiktage (Donaueschingen Music Festival) was no less successful. at the World Music Festival of the International Society for New Music in Cologne. Germany. Altug Ünlü. Detlef Müller-Siemens. In the ‘sixties. In 1972. 14 . he spent half a year as composer-in-residence at Stanford University in California. Massachusetts. was a sensation. With these and the following works Ligeti advanced to the forefront of contemporary composers. The premiere of Apparitions on June 19. It is also typical of him that he engaged himself energetically in behalf of composers whom he valued. though he continued to teach courses in composition at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood. he enjoyed high prestige all over the world. He was given the highest awards available in our cultural world. though he did not obtain a firm appointment until 1973. he lived predominantly in Berlin. in Aixen-Provence and elsewhere. had the feeling of belonging to an elite. as member of the Order Pour le Mérite. to name only a few. Ligeti lived alternately in Hamburg and in Vienna. then of Hungary and finally of Austria. he remained attached to his Hamburg apartment as the site of many years of creativity. opposed to all nationalist movements. His pupils and friends included members of many nations. Born in Transylvania and raised in Hungary. He was polyglot. I say: I am a Transylvanian-born Hungarian of Jewish descent and a citizen. he lived and worked in many European countries as well as in the U. To the end.2 Questions of Identity “If I am asked who I am. though at one point he had thought of moving to Paris. because I am a Jew.A. As a child in Romania and Hungary. and he defined his identity tellingly in these words: My native language is Hungarian.After his retirement in 1989. he said. Austria’s great tribute of 1990 1. he once remarked. I am not a member of a Jewish 15 . continuing to work intensively in Hamburg while seeking recreation in Austria.S. and his reputation was international. but I am not a genuine Hungarian. originally of Romania. I belong to no place: I belong to European intelligentsia and culture. and until his death in 2006. At the same time. he always led a twofold existence. He was. spoke several languages and felt at home as much in Vienna as in Hamburg or Paris.” No one familiar with Ligeti and his life’s story will miss the cosmopolitan bent of his personality. tell them that I am sick. he once remarked. to music. only a Johnnie-come-lately.10 Ligeti was forced to leave Hungary and was able to exist outside of his homeland. Yet a feeling of nostalgia. Yet I am not a real Austrian. a highly decorated lieutenant during World War I. because I am not baptized. he told me he felt himself to be Hungarian and belonging to Hungarian culture. was de16 . written in 1945 in Budapest. But I am not completely assimilated. why in 1983 he had set the Magyar Etüdök. Already in his youth he had composed nostalgic poems. either. during his childhood and youth he had only the vaguest knowledge of the Jewish religion. In foreign parts I hide my head. stop. the dramatic events of World War II and the persecution of Jews during the Third Reich had traumatic effects upon him. The world of Jewish belief. but he cared little for religion. and have for a long time been an Austrian citizen. Stop.11 The feeling of standing apart from all groupings and formations. His father was a member of the Jewish community. so I am an assimilated Jew.12 After a visit to Israel. bird. He came from a Jewish family (his paternal forebears were called Auer – Ligeti is the not quite exactly magyarized form of that name). If they ask where I am.religious community. he felt that Jewish culture was basically alien to him. poems of the major Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres. Entitled “A Black Bird”. The following choral song. and my German speech will always retain a Hungarian coloration. for my betrothed. Ligeti himself was not a member of any Jewish congregation. was closed to him. In it a black bird grooms its feathers. Now. That was his explanation. take my letter with you for Father and Mother. It does not require much imagination to understand that the virulent antiSemitism after World War I. is based on a Hungarian folk poem. in any case. His father Sándor. He said he loved Hungarian literature and retained a strong tie to his native language with its concise images and rhythmic structures. In September of 1993. of a yearning for his home remained alive in him. either. thus seems to be particularly characteristic of him. as an adult. the consciousness of not belonging a hundred percent to any group. His relation to Judaism is symptomatic of that attitude. an English version would read as follows: A black cloud rises. I live in Austria and in Germany. he was taken with his father’s political and economic theories and was left-oriented – a “utopian socialist. was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Percussion and Celesta and the Miraculous Mandarin. Time and again he emphasizes his political interests. The pacification of humankind was close to his heart.ported to Buchenwald and murdered in 1944 in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. even Bach and Handel were being suppressed (the latter two because of their “clericalist” tendencies). freedom of opinion and personal and religious liberty.” His subsequent experience of the Stalinist dictatorship compelled him. he professed an emphatic commitment to democracy. Since his flight from Hungary. his younger brother Gábor died at the Mauthausen camp. realizing that they rested on ideas similar to Hitler’s polemics against “degenerate art. Honegger and Britten. He was a declared opponent of all ideologies. For some time he suffered considerable guilt feelings. a physician.” He was dismayed to learn that composers like Hindemith. and that the performance of works by Béla Bartók that he cherished particularly. didn’t think much of 17 . He did not wish to put his music in the service of any ideology or to have it proclaim a message. Gothic cathedrals and Shakespearean drama. by what right.14 A boundless urge for independence and a highly critical way of thinking mutually conditioned each other in Ligeti’s nature. the Music for String Instruments. Ligeti called himself “doubly damaged”. In 1948. he of all people had been spared. such as the middle string quartets. by National Socialism and then by Hungarian Communism. His mother. was forbidden. Several of his other relatives perished likewise. calling himself an “anti-ideologue”. tormenting himself with the question why. to radically revise his political persuasions. to human dignity. Hungary turned Communist and Stalinist. Looking back later. at the latest. Hans Werner Henze or Helmut Lachenmann. He entertained a profound admiration for great achievements in all cultures – for great music as well as for the Egyptian pyramids. however. He saw the danger of art being misused by politics and argued that there should be no bridge between music and current events13 – though he did not object to taking positions on such events indirectly. Ligeti came to know the principles of “Socialist Realism” and was disgusted with the cultural politics of Shdanov. praising in this connection Arnold Schönberg’s Survivor from Warsaw. During the Hitler years. Ligeti’s relation to politics is no less complex. But he did not count himself among the representatives of politicized art: in this respect his work differs radically from that of Luigi Nono. while others barely survived in the Budapest ghetto. in politics or in art. Robert Musil. He opposed all dogmatic thinking and the rule of rigid systems.”15 German literary history distinguishes the poeta doctus. He was the opposite of a conformist. He felt drawn to artists that seemed kindred to him.3 Towards an Intellectual Physiognomy “I am interested in everything: natural science. It is precisely because he always preserved his independence and autonomy that he was repeatedly able to help the New Music out of crisis and to point out new ways for it. For years he studied the complex music of the late 18 . Gottfried Benn and Arno Schmidt. When he spoke of them. also the mannered. while others’ works seemed miles apart from his own. but also toward the technical norms that modernity posited for composition. Many of his works evoke associations with electronic music in the listener. Yet he openly proclaimed that he did not make any scientistic music. adopting sides. 1. taking a stand. which extended from the discoveries of modern biochemistry and the visualization of fractals all the way to African and Javanese music. one could cite György Ligeti as a contemporary representative. politics. Especially illuminating is his relation to the great composers. history. the learned poet. will be found in his music. but he was also closely familiar with literature and painting. Art and science are closely adjacent yet different. He was as well-versed in music history and theory as any professional musicologist. whether in life. He was interested in both electronic and computerized music. questioned a great deal and was indifferent to all fads. the constructive. including in the former category such major writers as Thomas Mann. writers and visual artists. Ligeti did not believe that one can make sensible music by converting mathematical formulae into musical processes. He had a special predilection for the complex. If one were to speak analogously of a musicus doctus. This outlook affected his attitude not only toward the various directions taken by the New Music. A congress organized in Hamburg in 1988 in honor of his sixty-fifth birthday impressively documented the breadth of his intellectual interests. from the poeta vates or poet as seer. the excogitated.doctrinaire persuasions. Neither “scientific” nor “mathematical” elements. he once explained. His relation to technology is symptomatic of his artistic orientation. but rather a combination of construction and poetic-emotional imagination. in whom he discovered traits that particularly affected him. he did so by way of assessment. and numerical proportions play a prominent role in quite a few of them. linguistics. Ligeti’s maxims included an affirmation of emotionality in art but also an aversion to pathos and did not want the one to be confused with the other. The term weltanschauung was suspect to him. His relation to Dmitri Shostakovich was similarly ambivalent. but he hastened to add that their pathos was “alien” to him. He praised him as an artist who did not let himself be enslaved by any rule. the pompous. inward. Once he got to know The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mzensk. Debussy is altogether one of the composers most deeply venerated by Ligeti.Middle Ages. the confessional and histrionic. the ars nova and ars subtilior. the ballet Agon and the Canticum sacrum.16 In the early ‘sixties.” Elegance is also what captivated him about many works of Igor Stravinsky.” At the same time it seemed important to him that “a core of the Romantic tradition remained” in Webern’s music. “is closest to me: total fluidity. the direct. yearningly enigmatic. as great composers. the affirmative. He had an aversion to the “heroic”. whose Lyric Suite made a lasting impression upon him. rhetorical sentimental and lachrymose. though the regarded the wonderfully orchestrated Rheingold prelude as the very archetype of “static” music. he wrote the text to a ten-part radio series about Anton Webern. but excluded everything long-winded. holding that both had conserved the “poetry of Romanticism” but had abhorred its pathos – a memorable formulation that seems to mirror Ligeti’s own aesthetic position. It is thus symptomatic that he firmly distanced himself from Expressionism. not in order to use them as models but so as to enrich his experiences and to tap new wells of inspiration. he was reserved about the works of the great Russian. he once said. found his own style and gained “distance from Romanticism. he changed his mind fairly radically. He valued the prelude to Rheingold and the magic fire music of Die Walküre for their coloristic qualities. He acknowledged Arnold Schönberg and Alban Berg. 19 . but he distanced himself from the heroism and pathos of his music dramas. which was broadcast by Germany’s Southwest Radio in 1963/64. He admired the compositional genius of Richard Wagner. one “that preserved the poetic aspects – the tender. a sense of mission in art made him uncomfortable.”17 Ligeti drew a parallel between Webern and Claude Debussy in this context. of which he especially valued the Symphonie d’instruments a vent. “Debussy”. So long as he knew only the Song of the Forests and the Seventh Symphony. He explained there how Webern gradually moved away from Wagner as well as from the style of his own teacher Schönberg. the unequivocal. elegance – that is essential for me. the authors that particularly attracted him were Lewis Carroll. In a letter to Ove Nordwall of August 5/6. Dadaism. were to be found already in his Aventures and really also in many of his other works. encounters with fantastic creatures in an odd world in which causality is suspended and the laws of nature are turned upside down. Ligeti freely admitted that his preference is for Mannerism. Hölderlin’s appeal lay for him in the “combination of unbridled. He preferred Kafka’s “extremism” to Mann’s “classicity. the bizarre stories of the heroine’s dream adventures. he declared Kafka to be his “favorite poet. projects a world of grotesque archetypal images and was created as a deliberate persi- 20 . it becomes clear that his literary preferences were for Surrealism. Classicism and Mannerism are regarded as diametrically opposed stances in the history of the arts. 1968. His five-act drama Ubu Roi (King Ubu). in the best sense of the word deranged imagination and extraordinary formal rigor. He frankly confessed that he loved the mannerists more than the classicists. The ideal of force to which many of the great Hungarian’s works seem to pay tribute is not one of the things that enchanted the older Ligeti. Even in later years. including the String Quartet No. at least in part. though he hinted at having distanced himself considerably from him.Ligeti’s early work was strongly influenced by Béla Bartók. he professed to greatly love Bartók. He preferred Hölderlin’s “craziness” to Goethe’s classicism. The figure of Alice and the formal characteristics of her stories. Many of his early pieces profited from impulses received from Bartók. Kurt Schwitters. the Theater of the Absurd and the imaginary generally.”18 His judgment about the relative worth of Kafka and Thomas Mann was similar. Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando.” Though he greatly esteemed the latter’s Buddenbrooks. 2 (1968). Alfred Jarry. Gyula Krudy. Boris Vian and Sándor Weöres. and that Ligeti at the time was thinking of producing a stage spectacle based on Carroll’s book. he said. Apart from Kafka.19 It is also worth noting in this connection that at the end of the last of the Ten Bagatelles for Wind Quintet (1968) there is a quotation from Alice’s Adventures. Ligeti wrote that Carroll’s book had probably been as important to him as Kafka.” In delving into Ligeti’s intellectual world. premiered in Paris in 1986. but also in literature and visual art. Two of the books that left a lasting impression on him were Lewis Carroll’s (1832-1898) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the LookingGlass. Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) is regarded by theater historians as a forerunner of the Dadaists and Surrealists and as a pioneer of the Theater of the Absurd. not only in music. Krudy’s necrophilia has been essential to Ligeti.21 He also did not conceal his predilection for Schwitters’ famous Sonate in Urlauten (Sonata in Primordial Sounds).flage of theatrical conventions. The Adventures of Sinbad) are mostly located in a fantasy world of dreams and imaginary adventures. K. Indeed. Tzara.g. Ligeti derived vital impulses also from Gyula Krudy (1878-1933). often regarded as akin to Marcel Proust as well as to the Surrealists. Ligeti himself referred more than once to the influence of this play on the conception of his opera Le Grand Macabre. His novellas and novels (e. Huelsenbeck. Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948). who as the meaning of a poem accepted solely the “consistent abstinence from any kind of conventional lyrical signification. Along with Arp. Schwitters. was one of the most prominent representatives of literary Dadaism.”20 Of programmatic importance for literary Dadaism was his poem “An Anna Blume”. Ligeti wrote to Ove Nordwall that probably no artist was closer to him in human terms than Schwitters. as has been the fact that in Krudy’s novels the process of time frequently seems suspended. Hausmann. Schwitters made a name for himself primarily also by his advocacy of an enlargement of the means and materials of art (see his “Merz-Bau” below). Picabia and Janco. first published in 1919. “Merz-Bau“ (akin to Ligeti’s thinking) 21 . a relatively little-known Hungarian writer. In the spring of 1964. it takes an acquaintance with this sonata to begin to understand sound compositions like Aventures and Nouvelles aventures. By his own confession. In Vian he was impressed by the way the terrible things he says in his plays L’Ecume de Jours (The Foam of the Days) and L’Automne à Pékin are always made to sound ridiculous. he said. “Carnival of the Harlequin” (with Ligeti’s “Artikulation”) 22 . which. he once remarked. J. the Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher was “closest” to him. The Inhabitants of the Clouds).23 Of the pictorial artists. a great Hungarian poet. He was conversant with the history of both painting and architecture and staggered even professional experts with his knowledge and sense of quality. Family Scene. Ligeti likewise had an affinity with the visual arts. strike one as mildly Surrealist. Amazingly enough he approximated both of them to Kafka.22 Three of his drawings. who composed several epics and invented entire mythologies. such as the imaginary land Nakonxipan. however. How much Ligeti felt drawn to the tragicomic world of Boris Vian one can gather from the fact that he titled one of his piano etudes after Vian’s novel L’arrache-coeurs (The Heart-Snatcher) – a striking piece. 109). and Escher’s interest in the illusion of non-existent perspectives corresponded to his own pleasure in patterns of rhythmic illusion (see illustration p. he did not include in the second cycle of the piano etudes. was occupied by Sándor Weöres. for “dramaturgical” reasons.Two further authors that fascinated Ligeti were the Austrian Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando (1877-1954) and the Frenchman Boris Vian (19201959). resembled his own way of working. finally. A special place in the pantheon of authors close to Ligeti. which became known in the ‘nineties. Escher’s illusionism. Miró. Jüngstes Gericht. Familienszenerie and Die Bevölkerung in den Wolken (Last Judgment. His comic epic Bolond Istók constitutes a mythology about the creation and the end of the world. ”25 Ever since his stay at Stanford University. His essay “Zur Anwendung von Computern in der Komposition” (On the Use of Computers in Composing). we must not forget mathematics and natural science. petrified. he did not want to pass any judgment on the aesthetic effect of such structures. A special place was reserved in his thinking for the relation between art and science and that between music and technology. p. In speaking of Ligeti’s intellectual interests.”26 Fascinated by the complexity of musical structures.28 23 .He was also drawn to the paintings of Paul Cézanne and loved the pictures of his in which time seems to stand still. He drew a sharp dividing line between art and science. he tellingly remarked. the frozenness of time. 1988. sufficient wealth of relationships are categories of artistic worth – there are extremely simple works that constitute great art. As a high-school student. The process of time not as a light dance but congealed. which always greatly appealed to him.”24 It goes without saying that he had many other partialities. 100) as well as of many pictures by Paul Klee. contains the following significant reservation: “We do not even know if sufficient complexity. he excelled in physics and in chemical experiments. can well fertilize artistic ideas and conceptions and thereby beneficially affect the development of a new visual art and a new music.” But he also qualified this statement by adding: “Scientific facts. On May 22. “I am becoming aware that there is an art to which I feel very close: the heaviness of time. In the early nineties he turned his attention to fractal geometry and chaos research. he had been impressed by Joan Miró’s Carnival of the Harlequin. “Scientific ideas and methods”. Ligeti at times declared complexity to be one of his foremost artistic aims. he was fascinated by computer science and artificial intelligence. Significantly he regarded mathematics as a kind of language and located it “somewhere between the natural sciences and art. “differ so fundamentally from artistic ones that neither technology nor mathematics by themselves would be able to produce any art. As a genuinely dialectical spirit. however. however. “In concerning myself with Cézanne now”. and he greatly valued the pioneering work of Claude Risset and John Chowing. A mainspring of these interests was the desire to discover the laws underlying complexities in the arts.”27 He approved of data processing for the production of sounds and even complex tone structures. and he would have studied physics if the anti-Semitic laws of the rightist government in Hungary at the time had not prevented him from attending a university. he wrote in 1985. he wrote to me that while working on Artikulation. Thus he was fond of the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch (see illustr. Psychologists assert that highly creative beings often incline toward illusion. imagination. drew detailed maps of its topography. received a contract for it from the Stockholm Opera.But he had qualms about algorithmic composition. 24 . but he settled for notated music.29 For a while he even played with the idea of writing a full-length music drama entitled Kilviria. cities. a love of formal rigor and at the same time for the crazily mannered. He had. and painstakingly depicted its geological formations. for the worked-out score. imaginary. the unprecedented in art. calculation and spontaneity. stylized emotionality. the complex. illusionary and imaginary – these are some of the traits of György Ligeti’s spiritual physiognomy. fantasies and utopias. The libretto was to be written in a kind of imaginary language. In Ligeti’s work. the illusionary. fantastic plays a large role. he described its language and grammar. As a youth he had conceived the imaginary realm Kilviria (see the illustrations below). spaces and languages. in fact. In lengthy notes. islands. He had a soft spot for imaginary lands. A passion for the new. Ligeti was thinking in terms of a labyrinthine collage of motives from ancient mythology. a fondness for the excogitated. a pondering reason and a lively imagination. He could appreciate the serendipitous in musical invention. Inhabitants’ Settlements 25 . 2. 3. Imagined Routes. Fantasy of a World Landscape (Drawings by G. Mountain Ranges and Rivers.FS 3-5 “Kilviria”. Ligeti) 1. ”33 Ligeti’s position on these questions was diametrically opposed to the views of Stockhausen and Boulez. organs. they would feel reminded of bells.”31 Nothing is more characteristic of the aesthetics of several composers belonging to the avant-garde of the ‘fifties than their purist point of view. That explains the presence of such numerous extra-musical 26 . birds or water faucets. that does not mean that I am opposed to associations evoked by music. but also vehemently championed the notion that the new music they propagated should remain free of any and all associative side effects. It is contaminated by an insane number of associations. as well as about the use of idiophones in the orchestra. material consistency. because I think highly synaesthetically. of cymbals or a gong. was perceived as an individual factor. (One could justifiably speak of a material fetishism. because such a sound is linked to an anecdotal connotation.1. form. color. solidity and visible as well as palpable form in me. a prime criterion for the quality of an electronic composition was “to what extent it has been kept free of any instrumental or other tonal associations. he thought.”32 Pierre Boulez. It would have the tendency “to step out of the context of the composition and thus to evade its dialectic. was taken with the idea of admitting only “neutral” elements to a composition – elements that did not aim at any “anecdotal characterization. Stockhausen therefore demanded that electronic music should.” For this reason he had considerable doubts about John Cage’s prepared piano. Unlike the tones of a violin or trumpet. even abstract concepts instinctively link themselves to tonal ideas in my mind. They not only paid homage to an extreme structuralism. the sound of a percussion instrument. And conversely.”30 “My music is not puristic. contain only sounds and sound combinations that were “unique and free of associations. he wrote: Although I have an aversion to everything expressly illustrative or programmatic.4 A “Non-Puristic” Music “Music is not an island to me but part of a complex continuum of life and experience. In a commentary on a performance in Hamburg in the fall of 1960. detracted the mind of the listeners from the autonomy of the sound world presented to them. if possible. On the contrary: sounds and musical contexts always call up sensations of color. too.” Such associations. he thought.) Thus for Karlheinz Stockhausen. such suggestive titles as Apparitions and Atmosphères. Atmosphères or Continuum. decay. dialogues. disappearance. a music heavily shot through with associations. interpenetrate or merge with each other. events. His domain is instrumental and vocal music. his Zeitmaße in 1955/56 and his Gruppen in 1955/57 – Ligeti gave his first compositions. There are indications that the universal world of the musical he had in mind not only comprised sound and noise. – conditions. such as Apparitions. The following remark of his is illuminating in this connection: 27 . language and music. Is Ligeti’s music. dry. insects. How different the theoretical orientation of the three composers was is suggested by the titles of their respective works at the time. transformations. Stockhausen composed his Kontra-Punkte in 1953. albeit a music sui generis that profited from his experiences with electronics and that frequently ranges in a region between the world of tones and that of noise. which made a great stir in the early ‘sixties.traits in my compositions. he once explained. phrases. His music is. then. – shreds. “program music without program. impulses. “pure” music or “program music”? That question frequently arises. – imaginary buildings. amalgamations. It is symptomatic for him that he did not attempt a synthesis of electronic and instrumental music. grainy and compact materials. fragments and traces of all sorts. Many of his works reveal that his conceptions of music and the musical extended far beyond the current views. labyrinths. – floating networks that tear apart and get knotted. and our answer must be: neither – nor. catastrophes. evoke associations with electronic music in the listener – associations of tonal mixtures. texts. from whispering and rustling to shrieking and explosive thunder. brittle. which supersede. as well as white noise. fibrous. sticky. – wet.”35 He distanced himself categorically from the program music of a Liszt. Music is to him everything between the soft flageolet to the full orchestral sound. Whereas Stockhausen and Boulez had a predilection for technical terms – Boulez’ Structures pour deux pianos were written in 1951. That explains why many of his instrumental works. processes. – all these are elements of my non-puristic music. Berlioz or Richard Strauss. inscriptions. gelatinous. the vocal and the instrumental but that the borderlines between these areas were frequently fluid. Tonal planes and masses. and accounted for that by his predilection for the ambiguous or polysemous. Music for Ligeti seems to be the cosmos of everything acoustically shaped.34 In these sentences Ligeti indirectly but unmistakably turned against the then prevailing puristic musical aesthetics of his most prominent colleagues. I do not know if these associations are my private matter. connections and processes appear sensualized to me and have their place in an imaginary space. rainbow. I would say a certain level of education is necessary to hear my music otherwise than if one listens to it without these associations. political aspects and a great many other things play a major role for me. My music is “impure”. The fifth of his piano etudes. as well as vice versa. Ligeti does not hesitate to confess that the sources of his inspiration are frequently extra-musical in nature. things of daily life. relations.” In a conversation with Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich in 1972. literary involvements. acoustic sensations with colors. 28 .”38 “My music is not puristic. pictures. which I speak or think or sense while I envisage music. It does not want to be abstract. it does not want to be pure. I love allusions. With sounds I always think of forms. disadvantages. but also certain scientific aspects. It is never program music. it is “sullied”: by weaknesses. Ambiguous are also the various pictorial associations with my music.37 1. one quickly notices that they do not at all exhaust themselves in technical categories but frequently allude to extra-musical matters. double-entendres. as pure music. paintings. objects of the visual arts – all these act as creative stimuli to his imagination. too.5 Metaphors.Everything that is direct and unambiguous is alien to me. forms and material consistencies with sounds. Henze said: My music has these human. but is very strongly charged with associations. the cryptic. and imperfections. the double-bottomed. forms and material conditions. with forms of colors and sounds etc. Verse. bears the suggestive title Arc-en-ciel.36 Ligeti’s views about his “non-puristic” music are conspicuously close to those of a contemporary. ambiguities. from literature. I nearly always associate colors. for example. confessed to a “musica impura. allegorical. because I think highly synaesthetically.. who as a composer nevertheless took a completely different route: Hans Werner Henze. colors. Even abstract concepts such as quantities.”39 In looking at Ligeti’s numerous utterances about his music and his works. poems and texts that affect him. Allusions and Synaesthesias “A spontaneous translation of optical or tactile sensations into acoustic ones is very frequent with me. as Neruda said of his poems. so that actually a great deal from the visual arts. It is contaminated by incredibly many associations. by his own confession. to use the technical term. the idea of time. Claude Debussy. he stresses that many of his works evoke specific allusions – allusions. They impressively document Ligeti’s synaesthetic perception.45 Very instructive in this context are also Ligeti’s notes to the early works Atmosphères. sensory ideas. making a very soft hhhh-like noise. and sometimes also thereafter. Written in Hungarian. figures.44 The manner in which the acoustic is linked to the optical here allows us to speak of synopsy. slowly and inexorably flowing from left to right. for example. shrill and mellow. “When I hear music”. spontaneously translates visual and tactile sensations into acoustic ones and nearly always associates both colors. he uses not only the adjectives high and low. to Frédéric Chopin. to Romantic music. to organ music.”41 He thus experiences music like Olivier Messiaen. The second of his Drei Stücke für zwei Klaviere. for example.” They 29 . one begins to understand Ligeti’s remark that for him the artificial product called “work of art” was “linked to every level of perception.During the creative process.42 Keeping all that in mind. who was also a synaesthetic. In addition. Self-portrait with Reich and Riley (and Chopin is with it. mingled fast. Very suggestive are also the verbal images “individual birds” and “suddenly the trembling of a butterfly. but also the terms thin and thick – expressions that refer to tonal volume and clearly point to the realm of the so-called ur-synaesthesias. to Johann Sebastian Bach. mingled motion. he once said. bears the title Selbstportrait mit Reich und Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei). He often uses diverse metaphors to explain his music. is a purple place of tinny consistency and accordant sound. too). then again stop. associations to literature and the visual arts come to him. is something white and fog-like. forms and material conditions with sounds. Ligeti repeatedly declared that music was “something primarily intuitive” for him. with a skin-like surface and a muffled sound. and that the creative process was set in motion for him by concrete.”43 If the above quotations are fairly general. For me. they were translated into Finnish by Erkki Salmenhaara46 and then transferred to German (unfortunately not without errors) by Helke Sander. synaesthetically endowed. In seeking to verbalize his tonal ideas. or Gustav Mahler. loud and soft.40 He is. “Dies Irae” (from the Requiem) and Aventures. in this case. for example. while “right is orange in color. including that of concrete life. “I also see colors. associations that in many instances he has actually named. “Left”. the following statement conveys an impression of how Ligeti connects certain conceptions with sounds. ” Fittingly. too. he found verses in an ode by John Keats that were close to this music. Ligeti wrote to Ove Nordwall. At the same time he associated the musical sounds with liquid crystals. 145. and here. After embarking on the work. with the stained-glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle and with Piranesi’s famous etchings I carceri.48 How do such associations come about. milling. The spatial illusion occurs because the entrance of the three horns comes suddenly after a passage in fourfold forte. “The horns sound from afar and from old times. and to what can the synaesthetic relations between music and the other realms be traced back? As an example of the illusion of spatial distance evoked by music. Ligeti cited the piano entrance of the stopped horns in m. The nature of this entrance also inevitably suggests allusions to the music of late Romanticism. precarious.47 In conversation with Josef Häusler. one finds the notes “Pursuit. hysterical terror. he also spoke about associations with Altdorfer’s painting Die Alexanderschlacht (The Battle of Alexander). 100). panic.emerge in the middle of the description of musical facts in the “Dies Irae”. Angel of Darkness by Matthias Grünewald We likewise get a keen insight into Ligeti’s perceptual world from his remarks about his great orchestral work Lontano. Even the title is ambiguous. P. Small Bosch objects in the texture of the pursuit” – a clear indication that in sketching the “Dies Irae” Ligeti associated some passages with pictures of his favorite painter Hieronymus Bosch (see illustr. one has to read it poetically as well as musically Lontano (From Far Away) means both distant music and a remote world: the title thus signals spatial as well as temporal distance. of Bruckner. of Mahler and also of Wagner. the verses from Keats’ “Ode 30 . moreover. Analogously.to a Nightingale” that so impressed Ligeti speak of the bird’s song evoking forlorn dream landscapes:49 The same that oft-times hath Charmed magic casements. The association with Albrecht Altdorfer’s famous painting Die Alexanderschlacht Ligeti. The tertium quid in the musical-optical correspondence here is thus the quality of radiance. in turn. explained by referring to the gradual brightening of the music in mm. revealing the golden rays of the evening sun shining through them. Ligeti formulated the following memorable statement: “Behind the music there is another music and be- 31 . the clouds open in Altdorfer’s painting. Through a long crescendo and the gradual rise to higher and higher registers. 127-145. Light of the setting sun in A. Altdorfer’s “Alexanderschlacht” (with Ligeti’s “Lontano”) To make the spatial aspect of Lontano quite clear. the music here becomes brighter and brighter until it begins to “radiate” as the violins and the celli all reach the high d-sharp. opening on the foam Of perilous seas. in faery lands forlorn. hind that yet another. which bears the following NB to the opening movement: Regarding the natural flageolet tones of both the solo violin and the strings in the orchestra (except for the double bass): during the entire 1st movement. G. B. We find one example in the score of the Violin Concerto. The more often one listens to this movement.50 It is possible that this perception in turn suggested the comparison with Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s “imaginary prisons” (Carceri d’invenzione – see illustration). His 32 . When he sketched his works. and the ‘not-always-secure intonation’ produces the impression of brittleness and hazard. Piranesi. shimmering character of the movement is based on the natural flageolets. Ligeti had a penchant for colors. completed in 1992. just as when one sees oneself in two mirrors and an infinite reflection occurs. as the glassy. he used color pencils. and not just for making a grid. an unending perspective. The “Imaginary Prisons” (with Ligeti’s Lontano) From what has been said it is clear that Ligeti’s associations are by no means “arbitrary” ´but depend on specific correspondences. they should not be replaced by artificial flageolets. if the flageolet notes do not always fully intone. for delicate as well as strong ones. He once showed me a volume containing colorful Irish illuminations from the high Middle Ages – striking miniatures that strongly appealed to him. They result from peculiarities in the structure of the work or specific properties of the tonal material. the clearer it becomes that the manner of playing it does indeed produce the impression of fragility. of the emerging light. often accompany his creative processes. They constitute a synaesthetically interlinked cosmos. Ligeti’s “association-charged” music makes special demands on the listener. then. No wonder. blinding brightness – generally important to him. with it. Maurice Ravel. he replied that he associated the image of dawn. When I once told him how deeply I was impressed by the sound image of vacuum in his music. Diverse conceptions of light – sparkling crystals. Ligeti’s ideal listener would be an educated one capable of recognizing the associations inherent in the music and sensitive to its associative qualities. Alexander Scriabin and Olivier Messiaen – an art that without synaesthetic collaboration can really be neither properly apperceived nor fully enjoyed. “black” light. that his predilection was for music with timbre. requiring synaesthetic cooperation of him. In that respect Ligeti’s art suggests comparisons with the art of Claude Debussy.score drafts often look like colorful sketches for paintings. The most frequent are the following: Space/Universe (Ür) Clouds Crystals Water Cataclysm Weeping Lamenting Tumult Panic Hurry Grille/Grating African Masks Shamans Wizards/Sorcerers Demons Dance Cystoscopy Catastrophe 33 .51 During a detailed study of Ligeti’s sketches and the notations in them. one discovers a number of concepts or conceptual pairs that appear to have had been in his mind during the creative process. it is not worth making the same experiment again. Ligeti believed already in 1966 that one could counteract academicism only by constantly inventing new things. If a new experiment has been made and there has been a result.1.6 Innovativeness: Aspects of Compositional Technique “To produce something that already exists is of no interest to me. his music is subject to a slow but steady transformation. unmistakable personal style in Ligeti: constants are at work in his multifarious work. Theodor W. At the same time. displaces the continuance that works of art have always aimed at. the details are frequently altered and refined. therefore. for example. one can speak – more justly than with other contemporary composers – of a fully developed. he hears the piece from beginning to end with his “inner ear. Surprisingly enough.1 (from UU to YY) and in Atmosphères (from the letter T to the end). one discovers that some expressive characteristics that seem typical of his “advanced” works are fully developed already in his Hungarian period. Even more astonishing is the fact that some compositional ideas that captivated him during his Hungarian years were newly realized in a totally different way much later. He remained true to this principle to the end. he conceives the basic idea of the piece. however. he 34 . even if one juxtaposes works of vastly different periods. Adorno outlined the dialectic between this category and the concept of duration and spoke of a conflict. a movement in which the flageolet idea receives a wholly new realization. Before he approaches the process of solving a particular technical problem.” This tonal vision. by a “system of interconnections. he thought. In his Aesthetische Theorie.”54 Before Ligeti begins to compose. consists of the permeation of naive musical ideas by rational calculations. Yet how different is the sound of the first movement of the Violin Concerto. Each work may be understood as the solution to yet another technical problem. coincides only by and large with the score elaborated thereafter. The thirst for the new. heard within. On the basis of constructive reflections. Thus his musical idiom is nearly always recognizable. Ingenious flageolet passages.” He imagines the music in the way it is to sound later. occur both in the String Quartet No. Here he disclosed that the first impulses that launch the compositional act for him are of a “rather naïve kind. How does the creative process operate in Ligeti? An essay he published in 1971 contains some essential statements about that.53 Independently of Adorno. however. He never repeats himself.”52 The category of the new is central to the avant-garde art of the 20th century. The process of composition for him. for example.engages in all kinds of deliberations. after he had decided to write his Aventures. which. Thus. The “text” sung by the voices is written in an “imaginary language”. another vocalise composition. published by H. He loved artisanal precision. relying primarily on E. Ligeti makes do with 13 vowels and 13 voiced consonants. has a “solely musical function. as a note in the score has it. no fewer than 119 phone(me)s are used in this vocalise composition. and had a penchant for detail. DG 1 “Aventures”: Specifications on Verbal Articulation Amazingly. Wendt in 1961 (diagram 1).55 In Clocks and Clouds. perfection generally. 35 . F.” The phonetic signs are borrowed from the International Phonetic Alphabet. he undertook intensive phonological studies. Dieth’s Vademekum der Phonetik of 1950 and on the volume Sprachen of the Fischer Lexikon. From 1964. Besides myself. A dream György Ligeti told from his childhood seems to support this theory. These events suddenly happening here and there gradually altered the structure of the web: in some places.” “mesh”: Ligeti uses these terms frequently in explaining the compositional techniques of many of his works. large. could recur. inextricable knots formed. he had worked with clusters. however. were caught in the gigantic netting. moths and beetles of all kinds. he started to rehabilitate the 36 . “Net. he canceled the diastematic neutralization by forming “intervallic crystallization cores”. too. Some of his scores create the impression of woven patterns.” “grate. no configuration. Every move of the trapped creatures caused a tremor that spread through the whole system.According to psychoanalytic theory. which had tried to reach the area lit by several dimly burning candles. so that the heavy pillows constantly swayed back and forth and thus in turn produced a quaking of the whole. The narrative runs as follows: In early childhood I once dreamed that I could not manage to get to my crib (which was latticed and was felt to be a secure place of refuge). even the key. artistic creation brings to fruition almost exclusively impressions going back to early childhood. There was something unspeakably sad in this process.” “web. new compositional problems. once past. and his famed micropolyphony is at base nothing other than a weaving technique. whose putrid filling was bursting from rents in their cases. caverns in others. damp-dirty pillows. other creatures and objects. The changes in the system were irreversible. he abandoned that position. only to be soon lost anew with a choking hum in the billowing texture. In Apparitions and Atmosphères. and more fully from 1966 on. Ligeti was constantly in search of new ideas. similar to the secretion of silk worms.” “netting. neutralized marked diastematics and annulled rhythm as a major constructive factor.56 This dream not only reads like a Kafkaesque short story but above all provides a key. which in pupating fill the entire interior of the boxes in which there are bred with their cocoons. while working on the final movement of the Requiem and above all on Lux aeterna. for the entire room was filled by a thin-threaded but extremely dense and complicated webbing. the hopelessness of elapsing time and of an irreparable past. Now and then the mutually affecting motions became so powerful that the net would tear here and there and some of the beetles were unexpectedly freed. in which some shreds from the originally coherent mesh floated about like gossamer. Soon thereafter.57 and from 1968 on. to a fuller understanding of Ligeti’s music. A kind of cluster also opens the Chamber Concerto of 1969/70. a twelve-note chord played without change initially for eight bars by the woodwinds. moving. are constantly present throughout the first 14 bars. 1). The individual voices often stand out from the texture. but he never composed a single strict twelve-tone music. 2. It is characteristic of Ligeti that he did not commit himself to any fixed method. 37 .(formerly neglected) factor of rhythm – most consistently at first in his String Quartet No. Arnold Schönberg invented the method of composing with twelve mutually related tones. he frequently deviated from them. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez paid homage. brasses and strings. the primary one being the “horizontal plane” (liegende Fläche). but the individual techniques. in the ‘fifties and ‘sixties. he set out from rules that he himself devised for the purpose. Not only do the compositional problems change in Ligeti. rather. Similar observations can be made about the development of the cluster technique. He had a strong interest in mathematical structures. the pieces composed since 1966 exhibit a loosening of the micropolyphony. g. mutate. The work begins with just such a tonal plane. Olivier Messiaen experimented with new modi. in composing. they are not assigned to different instruments. the polyphony becomes graphically transparent. but never raised modality to the level of a compositional principle. b-flat. Iannis Xenkis translated mathematical calculations into music. He based some of his pieces on innovative modi. a-flat. Paul Hindemith formulated his Unterweisung im Tonsatz. It is well known that several composers of the 20th century developed innovative compositional methods. However. g-flat. to the principles of serialism. While. If in his first. a. transform themselves. He was a decided opponent of all orthodoxy. but he saw no sense in deriving principles of musical construction from formulae of probability calculus. which intertwine in a heterophonic manner (Ex. A typical instance is the modification the principle of micropolyphony underwent in the course of his compositional career. too. Atmosphères is distinguished by the use of diverse cluster types. He occasionally made use of characteristic twelvetone rows. The five notes composing the cluster. sensational works he had written densely meshed voice weaves. all rigorism. garland-like melodic lines are formed. 58-59. a. and the second solo cello quintuplets and sextuplets (Ex. Several sections in the Cello Concerto (and in other works) are based on the chromatic scale. melody instrumentation and rhythm. moreover. Ex. results from the fact that the scale is played in different rhythms by the various instruments: in mm. however. however. timbre. 1 Chamber Concerto: cluster in motion (g-flat. a-flat. the first solo cello octuplets and nonuplets. are marked by considerable finesse. The special appeal of the construction. The minor second. the first solo violin plays septuplets and octuplets. the solo viola quadruplets and quintuplets. b-flat) Ligeti experimented not only with new procedures in polyphony and cluster formation but also with new kinds of harmony. g. His works are a bonanza of formations and compositional techniques. is systematically avoided: in its place we hear large intervals – major sevenths and minor ninths.Ex. 2 Concerto for Violoncello: diversely rhythmed chromaticism 38 . as the following example will illustrate. 2). played by different instruments starting from different degrees and in opposite directions (ascending and descending). Even the seemingly simple ones. the second solo violin sextuplets and septuplets. extending from the relatively simple to the most complex. How are inspiration and construction related in Ligeti? Does he observe certain rules in composing? In trying to answer this question, one should recall that during his years as lecturer on theory at the Budapest Music Academy, Ligeti authored two books on harmony, which were published in Hungarian. And those who know him also know that he thought a great deal about questions of compositional technique. Thus it is not surprising that in working on the “Dies Irae” he formulated fundamental “rules” about voice-leading, harmony, text treatment and the twelve-tone aspect – rules which at least in part retained their validity also for the works written in the ‘sixties and thereafter (e.g. Lontano).58 His notes about the dodecaphonic aspect are particularly instructive in this context. He writes: Economy with the twelve pitches: although there are no twelve-tone rows, the notes are distributed vertically and horizontally in such a way that the same note does not return, if possible, before the others and thus the twelve tones (including octave positions) are distributed as evenly as possible. This even distribution, however, is subject to the rules of voice-leading and harmony: an early return of a tone is possible if the other, more important rule prevents the even tone distribution.59 In the end, however, what strikes one about Ligeti is his unconcern about norms, doctrines, prohibitions and dictates. To cite an example, Arnold Schönberg, in his sensational 1935 lecture Composition with Twelve Tones, had banned the use of doubled tones60 - a prohibition that followed logically from his dodecaphonic theory and practice. The consequence was that parallel chords (mixtures) were taboo in the New Music. For some time, Ligeti, too, respected that taboo. After 1980, however, he no longer adhered to it but began to work frequently with mixtures – a technique that the chorale in his Violin Concerto exemplifies strikingly. Analysis of his works shows that, in composing, he frequently starts out from specific ideas (always different ones), without, however, always developing them rigorously to the end; for he hated the stereotypical – thought little of the schematic and mechanical. Art, in his view, consists in nuance and in deviation; its charm resides in the anomaly, the irregularity. If he had to choose between a commitment either to the “automatic”, i. e., the strict application of a “rule” once it has been set up, or to free choice, he would decide in favor of the latter. 39 If one looks back over his oeuvre, it yields an impression of continuity and simultaneously of constant innovation. Like a Proteus, Ligeti ever transformed, yet remained true to, himself. To return to the image of the net, he never stopped reticulating the web once begun. Though rents and knots occur, upon closer inspection it becomes clear that the knitting continues in another pattern. 1.7 Motion Types, Tonal Gestures and Expressive Characters In an interview with Josef Häusler, recorded on December 14, 1969, by Germany’s Southwest Radio, Ligeti pointed out that for his earlier compositions, those of the later ‘fifties, two opposite formal types or “types of motion” were characteristic. In the static forms, for which he had a predilection, music could not be perceived as a process but became a state. The second, contrasting type, on the other hand, was characterized by being completely chopped and splintered. He cited Atmosphères as an example of the first type and the “Dies Irae” (also the Aventures and the Nouvelles Aventures) as illustrating the second. From these two types of motion, he continued, he had, in the last few years, been moving on to other types, “which are neither total arrest nor completely abrupt change.”61 In studying Ligeti’s oeuvre, one finds that certain musical situations, whether “motion types”, gestures or expressive characters, do indeed recur in different works, although the particular shaping is different in each case. Judging from the frequency of their recurrence, it should be possible to extract a kind of typology from the plethora of individual manifestations. Some examples will clarify what I mean. According to his own statement, the technical world is of special value as a source of inspiration to Ligeti. Clocks, clockworks, regular successions always fascinated him. He had composed, he once remarked, pieces representing “mechanical processes.”62 Several of his works, indeed, are of a recurrent type whose rigid, clockwork-like rhythmic structure reminds one of precision mechanics. The phrase “like a precision mechanism”, indeed, occurs repeatedly. Prototypical examples are found in the String Quartet No. 1 (mm. 781-1028) and in the second movement of the Nouvelles Aventures (mm. 31-34) – a short passage headed, in fact, Les Horloges Démoniaques.”63 If the “stiff”, clockworklike music here consists only of four bars, Ligeti later constructed entire movements modeled, as it were, on this miniature prototype. I am referring to the piece for harpsichord entitled Continuum (1968), to the third movement of the String Quartet No. 2 (1968), and to the third movement of the Chamber Concerto (1969/70) – scores notable for their grid-like visual appearance. 40 In this type we should include also the ironically meant Poème symphonique, which Ligeti arranged in November 1962 for 100 metronomes operated by two musicians. The premiere took place in September of 1963 in Hilversum, with the composer himself conducting. At the end, the performers left the stage, leaving the audience and the machines to confront each other. The piece was dismissed as mere ballyhoo. In a letter, Ligeti explained several years later that his hoax was meant to ridicule the musical situation of the ‘sixties, the concert life and the various ideologies that left the audience in the lurch. The letter includes the telling sentence: “Artistic freedom means being free of all blinkers, even those of ‘modernity’.”64 In 1972/72, Ligeti composed Clocks and Clouds, a piece for twelve-voiced women’s chorus and orchestra commissioned by Austrian Radio for the city of Graz’s “Music Protocol.” He took the title of the work from an essay by Karl Popper about exactly measurable processes (clocks) and indeterminate ones describable only statistically (clouds). Herman Sabbe has justly remarked that the title of Ligeti’s work constituted a “metaphorical designation of two textural types” that were characteristic of the composer’s entire oeuvre.65 Ligeti himself spoke graphically about associations with a formal process “in which rhythmically and harmonically precise shapes gradually merge into diffuse tonal textures and vice versa”, and overlappings occur besides, so that ‘clocks’ tick within ‘clouds’ and ‘clouds’, as it were, hollow out and liquefy ‘clocks’ from within.”66 Ever since Bertolt Brecht’s notes “Über gestische Musik”67 and Theodor W. Adorno’s Versuch über Wagner,68 at the latest, pertinent publications repeatedly talk about gesture and gesturing in music. A number of contemporary composers, too, including Ligeti, like to speak of the “gestures” in music. The term gestus, Brecht explained, is not to be taken to mean “underscoring or clarifying movements of the hand”, but rather “overall attitudes.” The concept of gesture should be located in the vicinity of the “character” that music expresses, or the “tone” in which it speaks. Gestures, according to Adorno, can be “repeated and reinforced, but not really ‘developed’.” The gestural is, of course, also immanent to Ligeti’s music. Especially the conclusions of many of his works have the effect of gestures. Three kinds of such final gestures can be distinguished. To begin with, there are endings that give a new shape to the traditional gesture of extinction and lapsing into silence (as, e.g., in the symphonies of Gustav Mahler or the Lyric Suite of Alban Berg): typical here is the expression mark diminuendo poco a poco - moriendo – niente. Secondly, there are endings that are not “conclusions” but stop abrupt41 ly and quasi violently. The direction” “Plötzlich aufhören wie abgerissen”, (stop suddenly as if disrupted) occurs at every turn in Ligeti. The third category consists of endings that seem as if the music vanishes into nothingness. The second, fourth and fifth movements of the String Quartet No. 2 offer instructive examples for these three categories. It is also important for Ligeti that he often notates the silence. In countless pieces we come upon the direction that the dying or else suddenly stopping music is to be followed by “absolute silence”, whose duration he more than once specifies at “ca. 10 seconds.” One of the intermediary regions that strongly interested Ligeti is that between music and language. For some time, he tirelessly studied the phonemes, the gestures, the music of language and their various expressive characters. The artistic result of these studies was the Aventures and the Nouvelle Aventures (1962-1965) for three vocalists and seven instruments – two “mimodramas”, whose imaginary, non-semantic texts consist of phonemes, vowels and consonants, phones and their combinations that have no semantic meaning and are artfully and organically integrated into the material sphere of the music. In both works, Ligeti created impressive examples of an innovative amalgamation of the vocal and the instrumental. A basic idea of the two mimoramas, which are among Ligeti’s most experimental works, is the sudden alternation of “emotional characters” – in a letter to Bo Wallner, Ligeti circumscribed these Gefühlscharaktere with the adjectives “mystical, idyllic, nostalgic, funereal, relieved, excited, ironic, erotic, touched, humorous, hypocritical, cold, indifferent, triumphant, pathetic, stupid, hysterical, emotionally saturated, startled, fiery, exalted, alarming, unbridled, mannered-ornate, vicious,” etc.69 – and the concept of a “polyphony of expression” (Ausdruckspolyphonie) or “counterpoint of feelings.” Thus in two sections of Aventures (“Conversation” and “Action dramatique”), the recital of each of the three vocalists is subject to a constant change of the Ausdruckscharaktere.70 In this way a network results of heterogeneous and contrasting characters that are simultaneously present. Ligeti compared the peculiar disposition of this music to that of a person who is “torn between the most diverse feelings.” Ausdruckspolyphonie is thus an emblem for the complexity of the world of emotions, but at the same time perhaps also an allegory of the crisis of communication to which modern man is exposed. The expressive characters into which the Aventures issue are angst (anxiety, fear) and despair (see Ex. 3). 42 Ex. 3 Aventures: changing expressive characters in Soprano, Alto, Baritone Speaking of music and language: among the most conspicuous characters of Ligeti’s music is that of whispering (bisbigliando). Whispering or whisper-like passages and effects occur repeatedly in the most diverse shadings in both vocal and instrumental works. There is, for example, the “especially intensive whisper directed at the audience (‘stage whisper’)” of the three vocalists in Aventures (mm. 20-37), the whisper-like passage (“like a flitting breath”) of the instrumentalists in the second movement of the Nouvelles Aventures (mm. 3639), the “whisper cadence” at the conclusion of the Cello Concerto, or the 43 ”72 “To suggest space or to produce it associatively. from playful irony to rank despair. from the tender to the brutal. One can conceive this if one considers that the past is realizable really only in re44 . the different pitches to be played only on strings III and IV. who coined the handy formula of “spherical time”. the sequence of a before and an after. He evidently received a sustained impression from the Allegro misterioso of Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite – a famous movement. the philosophical and artistic thinking of the occident has simultaneously entertained two diametrically opposed conceptions of time: time as a linear process. from the mysterious to the ecstatic.8 Time and Space. a static motion. present and future fuse in the stream of human experience and consciousness to a single whole. past. spatial associations within music play a very large role.fourth movement of the Chamber Concerto. which the composer desired to be performed “sempre prestissimo. irreversible development. whereas the former.” In looking over the range of Ausdruckscharaktere inherent in Ligeti’s music. but it is a purely imaginary space. 1. such as the rotation of the planets. that was something I strove for in my music. mostly small-stepped diastematics. whose flurry-like tonal character evokes associations with whispering. reflects rather the subjectively experiential. one cannot but marvel at their enormous variety. which goes back to St.”76 According to his conviction. Augustine. an even rhythm. They represent every degree and nuance from the subjective to the mechanical. Some characteristics of Ligeti’s whispering/murmuring music are note sequences to be played very fast. a progressive. and time as a circular happening.75 The latter view is evidently modeled primarily on cosmic processes. pianissimo and legato articulation. in which what was originally motion and time is presented as something immovable and timeless. a cyclical consciousness. to abolish its transience.”71 “For me. favored the idea of a “unity of time” as a “unity of present.”74 Since the late 18th century. but played voicelessly. Of a character all its own is the “whisper cadence” at the end of the Cello Concerto. to encapsulate it in the moment. Imaginary Space “One of my compositional intentions is the creation of an illusory musical space. past and future. Bernd Alois Zimmermann. which commences with whisperlike passages.”73 “My principal compositional project is to exorcize time. quasi perpetuum mobile (no slowing down to the end!). 78 In July of 1987. including the temporal dimension of music. are nevertheless likewise articulated in the present. Adorno thought he could assert that in Debussy’s music. and also in that of Stravinsky.” Ligeti did not accept this concept.80 Ligeti commented in similar terms about a novel by Gyula Krudy: “It is a very strange situation! Time does not pass. In his view. etc. is marked by its “dynamic” traits. In his radio talk on Webern.presentation.g. labyrinths. subsidiary areas. the infinite melody”. Musical Impressionism. “the flux of time seemed to have become arrested in it.77 Nobody will deny that some of Debussy’s piano pieces (by no means all) evoke a static feeling in the listener – e. and that our wishes and plans. form had thereby become more static. undergoes a development: in the symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler. “the perpetual flowing on and on.”79 How greatly Ligeti was fascinated by the concept of “frozen time” appears also from the fact that he felt drawn to certain paintings and literary works – paintings by Cézanne as much as novels by Kafka or Krudy . in his musical imagination. music unfolded in space. it is always winter. can in part be understood as an artistic rendering of states. He let no occasion go by to emphasize how essential the aspect of the “imaginary space. has a “final” character. We can thus understand how Theodor W. there is 45 . he hinted why he valued the Austrian composer so highly: because by transposing so many of the musical figures and configurations of Romanticism. where the surveyor K. The conception of music as “frozen time” and “static form” was a favorite one of Ligeti’s. We talked about many things. to mention only these three musicians. was for his music. which refer to the future. winter for a thousand years. Ligeti had invited my colleague Vladimir Karbusicky. his “Voiles” from the first book of the Préludes.largely because he thought they realized this idea. Webern had “annihilated” the essential formal type of that age. her husband and me to dinner. on the other hand. Louise Duchesneau. I brought the conversation round to Zimmermann’s philosophy of music (a composer for whom Ligeti had a great deal of sympathy) and his theory of the “spherical shape of time. Unforgettable to him was the passage in Kafka’s Castle. he said. the Finale is always the telos toward which the preceding movements gravitate. is alone in the snowed-in courtyard and the world surrounding him seems utterly to congeal. there were main rooms. The music of Richard Wagner. the “spatialization” of time became absolute.” and spatial thinking as such. Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. time stops from the beginning to the end. Gurnemanz leads the young fool to the Grail castle. here time turns into space. inverting Richard Wagner’s famous dictum. Throughout the entire novel. Gurnemanz comments with the famous sentence “Du siehst.no longer any spring.82 Pierre Boulez. yet seem as if I race).”83 Perhaps.)81 The deeper meaning of this utterance. in 1966. the musical time. To Parsifal’s question “who” the Grail was. and nothing ever changes. my son.” Paul Cézanne. doch wähn ich mich schon weit” (I barely stride. “Ich schreite kaum. He did so to express that Wagner’s renowned director-grandson had been able to set the music “in exact congruence with the scenic image. which would seem to tell us something about Wagner’s philosophy of time/space. “The Banks of the Marne (Bridge at Créteil)” (re temporal form in Ligeti) In the first act of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal. has to date not been definitively interpreted. mein Sohn. Ligeti. Parsifal’s line. on the contrary. proclaimed that his aim 46 . zum Raum wird hier die Zeit” (You see. he also wanted to hint by this inversion that in his view music was reducible above all to time. Gurnemanz replies he would not tell. however. entitled his obituary on Wieland Wagner “Der Raum wird hier zur Zeit”. Thus in the score of the Volumina. In between. the tonal process was primarily temporal. we find the notation: “Texture – quick. Richard Wagner’s line Zum Raum wird hier die Zeit seems to apply to Ligeti’s entire oeuvre. emptiness. with both hands over the entire extent of the manuals” (Ex. To obtain an impression of this kind of idea. to cause it to stop. high – low. Ligeti made the remarkable observation that in our imaginative and cognitive world. 4). 4 Volumina: Spaces. organ-like (wind instruments).” Ex. Even so imaginary spatial relations were generated on several levels: “Musical shapes and events are imagined by us as if they occupied places in the imaginary space feigned through them to begin 47 . manifold echo texture” and “Quite low and quite high.was to exorcize time. with labyrinthine motions In his treatise about form in the New Music. the other one promptly appears associatively. time and space always appeared coupled: “where one of the two categories is a primary presence. very dense labyrinthine motions in irregular rhythm. at the number 36.” While listening to music. Ligeti in composing often let himself be guided by spatial ideas. one only needs to study the graphic notation of the Volumina or the published sketches to the “Dies Irae.” They document that his imagination conjured up ideas of boundless spaces and musical labyrinths. a-periodical. depths. continuous.85 stretched. Similarly instructive are also the notes to the “Dies Irae”:84 “Infinite space. By his own admission. Levels. Ligeti distinguishes systematically between voices “in the foreground”. 27 that the prolonged fluctuating of the dynamics gave the music a quasi stereometric shape. the first of the Three Pieces for Two Pianos.with. that is. Many of Ligeti’s works suggest spatial ideas in the listener. such as from depth to height. such as the house. Ligeti thought about the second movement of Webern’s Piano Variations op. proceeds in the manner of a slowly moving sound train from the lowest depth to the height. nests and shells/conches. He analyzed both images of intimate spatiality. drawers.”88 A massive sound produces the illusion of nearness. as the following examples may demonstrate. middle and background. By “topoanalysis”. for example. the hiding-place and the cave. Gaston Bachelard endeavored to explain psychologically the images of space that frequently occur in the poetry of different languages. the within and the without. producing associations of spatial depth: “the chords struck fortissimo seem to stand out from the structure. evoke illusions of space: an imaginary perspective. These and similar associations are by no means arbitrary. Nearly all of Ligeti’s compositions evoke spatial associations. the simultaneity of very high and very low notes.”86 Here Ligeti indicates quite clearly that he conceived the musical event as “architecture in space. massiveness of sound. The introitus of the Requiem. and the “housings of things”.” Modern psychology distinguishes between inner and outer space. the listener perceives the various dynamic levels as fore-.”87 Bachelard’s categories and topo-analytical findings can serve to elucidate Ligeti’s spatial conceptions in a specific direction. In a remarkable book. In several of his works. in a middle area and “in the background. The diagram (DG 2. below) designed by Erkki 48 . he meant the systematic psychological study of the “localities of our intimate lives. depth and height. as well as by octave-doubled notes played in unison in several registers. while the cells played piano remain in the background. Thus the dynamic degrees loud and soft suggest nearness and distance. These spatial effects are called forth primarily by differing degrees of volume intensity. proximity and distance. gradually captured the tonal space. chests. The listener often seems to register motions within the imaginary space. In other instances one gets the impression as though the music. starting from one point. width and narrowness. constructed according to the method of micropolyphony. they result from the structural conditions of the music itself.” In the “Monument”. while octave-doubled notes played simultaneously in several registers evoke the illusion of spatial expanse. Very high and very low notes played simultaneously rouse the sense of vacuum. 90 DG 3 Continuum for Harpsichord: Macro-form As one can see. In m. which. of the mezzo sopranos and altos on the one-line c in m. a piece for harpsichord. on the small a-flat in m. the basses. 3. the tonal field with which the piece begins is located on the middle pitch region. can give only an approximate impression of the course of the movement. 46. and finally of the sopranos. The tonal fields of the three middle sections open increasingly and do so in both directions. 59. DG 2 Requiem: Tone Train of the Introitus Some clarifying notes: the tonal train should be imagined as a chromatically condensed polyphonic texture. is located in the highest register. An altogether different course is taken by Continuum. 29.Salmenhaara. mezzo sopranos and altos on the one-line f-sharp in m. This is followed by the entrance of the altos. enter with the low interval f-sharp/g. is the two-line d-flat. divided into four groups.89 being not quite exact. it opens slightly and closes again. In the first section. clearly divides into five formal sections (see DG 3). 65. according to Hartmuth Kinzler’s minute analysis. 49 . The tonal band of the concluding part. The highest note. however. tenors and basses on the small f in m. on which the women’s chorus closes. That instantly produces the impression of widened space: the “narrowness” that set the character of the movement’s opening drops away. As a synaesthetically endowed individual. What strikes 50 . In m. His many-facetted oeuvre is covered with a dense net of associations. The eminent relevance of this associative element emerges when one undertakes to study his drafts. For some time. musicologists in many countries were intent on studying only the form and structure of musical works of art. Tones and tone formations often have a semantics all their own. Thus the beginning of the first movement of the Chamber Concerto is based on a cluster. as we have seen. it was practically sacrilegious to ask questions about the extra-musical “meaning” of musical works. not mere sound play. The goal this development aims at is the e-flat. From m. the idiom. But the opening of the tonal field in both directions is characteristic also of the beginning of Lontano. spiritual and intellectual dimension. which in m. the realization has won through during the last several decades that besides structure. 16. Ivanka Stoianova expressed the view that the manylayered textures in Ligeti can be seen in the final analysis as “ramifications” of the tonal material. “Cystoscopy”. 38 is intoned in multiple octave doublings by several instruments in unison. the expression and the semantics of music likewise deserve to be an object of reflection. the note d-flat2 and d2 follow. Ligeti’s oeuvre also offers instructive examples for the gradual increase of the tonal expanse in a single direction. 14 on. Hermeneutic questions were regarded as taboo.92 Fortunately.91 Interestingly enough. 1. 27/28. and in mm. translated both visual and tactile impulses into music. the “tone”. but also has a psychological. Ligeti.In an illuminating study. from whose five notes (fsharp1/g1/a-flat1/a1/b-flat1) “minimalist” figurations are formed (eventually minus the f-sharp). the range gradually increases: the horn enters here on b1.9 New Sound Images – New Semantemes. one of Ligeti’s works bears in fact the (original) title Ramifications. There is no doubt that by adducing the term “tonal ramification” one can describe the course of a number of his compositions more precisely. Vacuum and Music of the Spheres Music – at least a certain kind of music – is not just an acoustic phenomenon. the c2 is added. Part Two of the book will deal with this in greater detail. Of many of Ligeti’s compositions it can be said that they display a quasi stereometric sound shape. Continuum provides an instructive example. The first 13 bars are furnished from this tonal supply. 5. It begins with an ingenious unisono on the three-line e-flat (mm. and later (l. 51 . which in this high register sound so shrill that they are physically painful (Ex. Ligeti called the piece a “cystoscopy”93 – an initially rather strange-seeming nomenclature. mm. 32-39).94 Interestingly enough. It is headed Sostenuto stridente. the term “cystoscopy” occasionally also occurs in the sketches for the Piano and the Violin Concerto. In the second scene (ll. oboe and clarinet. The ninth of the Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet is a “trio” for piccolo flute. highly dissonant clusters. whose third movement climaxes in an excited accumulation of dissonances that is likely to have impressed Ligeti. below): mm. e.) and in the fourth movement of the Concerto for Violin (mm. occurring repeatedly in his works. Typically. 1-7) and then unfolds in the form of slowly changing. 8/9 d3 + eb3 + e3 mm.. sometime in connection with Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony op. 10 d3 db3 + e3 + f + e3 + f3 etc. in the second movement of the Concerto for Piano (stridente. In a letter to Ove Nordwall of November 67. 42 ff. which refers to the accumulation of dissonances and begins to make sense when one recalls that the medical term evokes the rather painful procedure of a specular bladder examination. 65. 88-98). in Atmosphères (mm. The “cystoscopic” sound image is actually a kind of topos with Ligeti. they illustrate the perception of a “strange light refraction”. in the first movement of the Concerto for Violoncello (mm. 49-54). 273) the words “Das All ist menschenleer” (The universe is void of humans or deserted). which is so precise that one can speak of semantemes in the sense of modern linguistics. is to be played sempre fortissimo and takes only one minute and eight seconds to play. in diverse shapes but with a similar or the same semantics. 187-189).g. 1968. 9/10 m.one especially is that in his oeuvre certain tone images recur. We will discuss three of such salient tone images/semantemes. “Cystoscopic” sounds also determine several passages in Le Grand Macabre. the catchword cistoscop crops up several times in Ligeti’s notes to Michael Meschke’s libretto. In a commentary. Trio: cystoscopic dissonance accumulation Another. over pedal points of the double basses. intones the very “highest” notes: the 13th.Ex. Between these extremes. At the conclusion of the first movement of the Cello Concerto. there is nothing – the sense of emptiness emerges automatically. very expressive sound image in Ligeti evokes the vacuum. g4 and g#4). Ligeti conceived this memorable passage as a cipher for loneliness. for example. he explained it this way: 52 . A strikingly thin. two-voiced “movement” combines a very slowly unfolding melody train in the highest register with pedal point-like notes in the lowest one. 5 Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet. the 14th and the 15th overtone (f#4. the soloist. with similar or identical semantics. 6). “very softly” entering cluster-like notes in the flutes and oboes are heard over a 13-bar pedal point of the double basses on the low c-sharp. At the beginning of the “Lacrimosa” in the Requiem.“In the first movement. Toward the end of the Horn Trio (Lamento53 . either at the beginning or at the end of movements. its perilously thin whistling flageolet tone finally breaks”95 (Ex. 6 Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra: Sound Image of the Vacuum This suggestive sound image recurs. the conclusion suggests solitude and desolation: the solo cello remains hanging in immeasurable height over basses of unfathomable depth. in several works. Ex. “Melodic” lines must not be audible. Emptiness and vacuum are at times linked to the idea of the universe. … for what now is are eternity. … it exists no more. If in the penultimate section of the First String Quartet (from the letter UU on) such tones are still relatively simple in structure (the flageolet glissandi of the four string instruments are here based on the triads C major. Again at the beginning of the second movement of the Piano Concerto. End of the movement in full density. a lone pedal point of the double basses on the low f. a vacuum of several octaves initially gapes between the low pedal tones of the horn and the ethereally high melody of the violin. The individual string players are to be equalized. after the putative end of the world. According to a note in the score. however. A very impressive example is the melodramatic treatment of Nekrotzar’s words in the third scene of Le Grand Macabre (ll. hints at the mental state of the prince Go-Go. 76 ff. Atmosphères closes with a texture of far more complexly combined flageolet tones. so that no single voice stands out. The solo violin very high and the double basses very low (possibly bass clarinet [?]. AFRIQUE. who. One might add that in the fourth scene of Le Grand Macabre (ll. and the great … nothing!” A detailed note about the poetico-musical conception of the opening movement of the Violin Concerto is also instructive in this connection. emptiness. Very softly. This note applies mutatis mutandis also to the flageolet part at the beginning of the fourth scene of Le Grand Macabre. In it grow the layer rows. with sounds of lamentation. a passage that illustrates in tonepainting the hovering of Piet and Astramor.).” The head movement of the Violin Concerto in both of its composed versions has nothing in common with this plan – Ligeti evidently distanced himself from it. the individual parts should merge completely into the all-enveloping tender chromatic texture. over a long pedal point of the double basses. lasting for 19 measures. D major and A major). from nowhere. FRACTAL. seems to be the only being left alive. It is found in the sketches in Hungarian and translates as “Emptiness / vacuum / universe (Ür). Several of his works include entire parts that consist exclusively or predominantly of flageolet sounds and glissandi. mm. Ligeti had a special penchant for the immaterial flageolet sound.Adagio. seems to have played a part in the conception of the Passacaglia. From a note of Ligeti’s in Mi54 . The flageolet glissandi are to be played very delicately. and fill the vast space. the piccolo flute hesitantly announces itself. 591-593): “Time has stopped. G major. The notion of a gradual growth of “layer rows”. 623-627). the musical tradition has ever played an important role in my music […]. he thinks. For another. but more like an aura and allusion. Far more im55 . he here compares the history of art to a gigantic net. Ligeti has spoken about his own peculiar relation to tradition. which individual artists continue to weave. He admits that within that gigantic weft there are places “where the knitting does not continue but the net is rent.99 Ligeti very rarely quotes the works of other composers in his music.” Even then. In a fascinating simile. specifically to Bach (Volumina).. 2). Béla Bartók and Alban Berg (String Quartet No.”97 But even the tears.chael Meschke’s libretto we can gather that he had “music of the spheres” in mind for this passage. a literal one from Schubert’s “Grätzer Galopp” and a free one from Rameau’s “La Poule. Gustav Mahler (Lontano). and especially to Claude Debussy (Apparitions. traditional training at the Budapest Music Academy. For one thing. The same goes for the rhythm of the theme from the Finale of the Eroica. I underwent a very strict. these reflections imply a belief in the force of tradition even in avant-garde art. Ultimately. But how much further Ligeti developed the technique. and what new sonorities he knew how to extract from it! 1. Atmosphères). not as a quotation dimension.”96 Ligeti’s treatise on form in the New Music includes not only discussions of form-theoretical questions and reflections but also observations on the philosophy of history. which he called not only “doublebottomed” but “cryptic” or “sly. are imperceptibly spun over by hanks of thread.g. Seen in historical perspective.10 A “Double-Bottomed” Relation to Tradition “I really always had a double-bottomed relation to tradition. he spoke of hidden allusions to traditional music.” By way of illustration. both of them are so totally integrated into their extremely complex context that in listening they will not be recognized as quotations. Bernd Alois Zimmermann).98 In contrast to many of his colleagues. and neither as a craft discipline. even the seemingly tradition-less has secret links to the past. When I once spoke with Ligeti about his highly original flageolet glissandi. a rhythm that is intoned ostinato-like during Nekrotzar’s processional entrance. That is certainly true. who have a penchant for quoting both themselves and others and for the musical collage generally (e. he reminded me modestly that Stravinsky had anticipated the technique in his Firebird and Petrushka.100 One exception is the opera Le Grand macabre. where quotations occur in two places (Bourrée perpetuelle and Galimathias). are allusions to traditional music. Terms like “neotonal” or “postmodern” do not apply to it in any way. of course. begins with an Andantino con tenerezza and concludes with a Lamento. the aura of that music surrounds several of the Piano Etudes. the passacaglias that conclude his opera Le Grand Macabre (1974-1977) and the Horn Trio (1982) have only the basic idea in common with the baroque form. Ligeti’s music has not for a moment ceased to be new and original. treats quite originally.a work that Ligeti prized particularly for its spatial effects. In terms of complexity. At the same time. for whom this term meant the integration of the work of art into the context of the past. This is manifest most overtly in pieces like the Ciaconna and the Passacaglia ungherese for harpsichord. there is a tendency in the later works to linger over certain expressive characters. many of his more recent works seem to surpass everything that had gone before.102 How significant allusions to traditional music are for Ligeti can also be gathered from the fact that the sketches to the “Dies Irae” contain a reference to Mahler’s First Symphony103 . Klaus Kropfinger has rightly pointed out101 that the way in which Ligeti speaks of aura reminds of Walter Benjamin. in particular. He sometimes connects to Romantic expressions (e. the Piano Etudes and the Violin Concerto would have been unthinkable fifty years earlier. one cannot but marvel at the way in which its relatively simple eight-bar theme. Sudden. Several compositions evoke allusions to the music of the 19th and early 20th century. The aura of past music surrounds many passages in his works. Conception and execution are quite different. which he. Nevertheless. To be sure.g. works like the Horn Trio. The later works generally appear to accentuate the expressive. the horn fifths that everybody knows from Beethoven’s piano sonata Les Adieux op. abrupt changes of expression are much rarer than they were earlier. the constraint of continuous variation of a given theme.. 81a). for Ligeti. more direct and transparent. 56 . ostinati and retrograde canons is especially striking in this connection. must have fascinated him as a challenge to his inventiveness and his constructivist mind. The Horn Trio. Listening to the passacaglia that forms the finale of the opera. His predilection for passacaglias. however.104 Ligeti’s relation to tradition changed after 1978.portant than quotations. The idea of the passacaglia. became closer. in the course of which the expression of lament and mourning intensifies enormously. He defamiliarizes and transforms them and evolves figures from them that are miles distant from their point of origin. A symptom of Ligeti’s redefined relation to tradition after the ‘seventies is the turn toward baroque compositional forms and techniques. for example. but he does so in a completely new way. Ravel) and to Russian music (Stravinsky. he differed radically from a composer like Iannis Xenakis. one should not forget that he commanded a marvelous knowledge of the so-called occidental music.consisting exclusively of consonant sixths. It is similar with the finale of the Horn Trio. Ligeti’s astonishingly original music. grew from the tradition of Hungarian music. with some exceptions. behind it stand Debussy. also to Charles Ives with his technique of heterogeneous layers. whose five-bar passacaglia theme is treated so intricately that in merely listening one cannot really perceive it as such. He was keen about getting to know ever more compositions from the area of the Ars subtilior. 1. According to the composer’s own avowal. He did much listening to music and never grew tired of studying scores. such as African pulsation rhythms and much else. I confess that for a long time I used to regard this peculiar gift mainly as an intellectual trait of his personali57 . what is most alive with me at the moment as far as tradition is concerned is a penchant for precise structures. A Universalist Concept of Art and Music “Well. are the three crab canons that Ligeti wrote in the last of his Three Pieces for Two Pianos (1976). In discussing Ligeti’s relation to tradition. Prokofiev. mostly those four. finally.”105 Hearing Ligeti talk or debate about questions of art and music. beyond the tradition of German music. Webern.11 Diversity of Inspirational Sources. which enable him to draw in even remote and seemingly disparate subjects and areas. one may marvel not only at the breadth of his knowledge and his wide horizon but also at his unique powers of association. In this respect. it is situated. although I then relate to altogether different aspects. to Nancarrow. in Le Grand Macabre and in the first of his Magyar Etüdök (1983). Stravinsky. greatly prized Gesualdo. and there are also several extra-musical impulses. Of extreme complexity. the thought-out and mannered. who had no interest whatever in traditional music. Much simpler in structure are Hungarian Rock (a chaconne) and Passacaglia ungherese – both intended as ironic contributions to the debate about postmodernism. It is more closely related to the music of French Impressionism (Debussy. develops step by step into an edifice of extraordinary complexity. These testify less to his link to tradition than to his penchant for the artful and artificial. Ravel. it has to be emphasized in conclusion. analyzed string quartets of Haydn and Mozart – not to mention his stupendous knowledge of the music of the 19th and 20th century. Shostakovich). 5. Agon. say. He thought of Ravel’s Tzigane. with Ligeti’s work. he lets himself be stimulated by the most dissimilar areas. the Violin Concerto. Ravel and Prokofiev. the Brandenburg Concertos). 3. The “references” he was fond of jotting down thus signify relationships and affinities. Thus when he made his final decision to take on the violin concerto. both of technique and mood. with parallel situations in other artists and in ethnic music. such as he thought he saw realized in works by Paganini (Etudes). Above all. the chaconne. hint at predilections and a similar climate. and diverse. include references to works by Debussy (Études. or serve as aids to memory. For a brief spell he considered keeping his eye on Mendelssohn’s famous Violin Concerto as a “model” – Mendelssohn’s “lightness” attracted him – but he soon discarded the idea again. elements meld into a single. a work that repeatedly seems to evince relationships. Images). the Beethoven Violin Concerto and violin concertos of Mozart. Petrushka and Elegy). The following areas have served him as “inspirational sources” in the widest sense of the term: 1. 4. two symphonies of Shostakovich obtruded themselves upon his deliberations. as one can see 58 . the Fourth and the Eighth. 2. moreover. enable us to realize that he associated the tonal ideas that he entertained during the conception of. he gave preliminary thoughts to the tradition with which he wanted to class his work and noted down works by Johann Sebastian Bach (the sonatas for solo violin. The sketches.ty. whose idiom and rhapsodic nature probably appealed to him. and of the second movement (Vivacissimo) of Prokofiev’s first Violin Concerto. From the start he envisioned an ideal of a mad virtuosity. What impressed him about the Fourth. as well as by Stravinsky (Sacre. as well as to non-European music and jazz. occidental classical music European folklore and non-European music Jazz works of the visual arts diverse other visual impressions Ligeti’s numerous references to both compositions and paintings. It was only once I began to study his very detailed drafts for the Piano Concerto and the Violin Concerto that my eyes were opened and I realized that his astonishing power of association comes to the fore also in the process of his conceiving his works – that is to say. by Szymanowski and Enescu. and the situations he envisioned. even heterogeneous. whose elegance he admired. unmistakable musical language. He is inspired by many things. He was quite familiar with the music of the Banda Linda (Central African Republic). he pointed out that his Etudes D’esordre and Automne à Varsovie. Hungarian-Romanian gypsy music no doubt had far more than a merely nostalgic significance for him. For a while he was so impressed by the music of the Pygmies and the Gbaya that he thought of letting the stimulation he received from both bear fruit in two movements of his Violin Concerto.106 He was as fully versed in both European folk music and non-European music as any scholar in the field and loved to talk about and discuss both. Transdanubian. African music fascinated him above all for its confounding polyphony and polyrhythm. the Gbaya (Southern Sudan). Ligeti also had a marked interest in musical ethnology. very emphatic movement (Allegro ma non troppo). Nigeria. had very little to 59 . about Romanian research in folk music and about polyphony in Romanian folk music. to regions in Africa (Cameroon. whose shrill dissonances at the end signalize a catastrophe: a comparison with similar passages in Ligeti – we may recall his “cystoscopy” – clearly suggests itself. Romanian and Gypsy music. Dufay’s mass Ave Regina Coelorum and Gesualdo’s fifth and sixth Madrigal Book. Zaire. Already in Hungary he had occupied himself with problems in ethnomusicology. They include references to Hungarian. Madagascar) and in the Far East (Thailand. In a conversation with Denys Bouliane. Cambodia. walking in the footsteps of Bartók. The geographic catchwords with ethnomusicological signification that occur in the sketches to the Violin Concerto are particularly instructive. A number of passages drafted for the Violin Concerto Ligeti associated with older music. the Chokwe (Angola) and the Pygmies. Vietnam. As Béla Bartók once did with Hungarian peasant music. of whose chromaticism he was thinking while composing his fourth movement. he seems to have been fascinated by the third. In the Eighth Symphony. surprises and exaggerations”: abrupt changes of expression and character are indeed conspicuous in this work. Zimbabwe. In 1950 and 1953.from his notations. was its “suddennesses. Ligeti drew inspiration for his diversified creations from the unexhausted music of numerous ethnicities. Bali. In 1949/50. These intriguing notes lead to the conclusion that in conceiving many a passage he included impulses from both European folklore and non-European music. as well as his Piano Concerto.). though that plan came to nothing. Transylvanian. to the Shetlands and Norwegian music (slâttar). including Schubert’s String Quintet in C major. et al. he collected several hundred mostly Hungarian folksongs in Transylvania. he published two studies in Hungarian. The Africa and Far East.do with the Schönberg. For another example of ethnically colored passages: in the sketches to the Concerto for Violin. in perfect fifths between flute and clarinet or else clarinet and bassoon. his more recent work at least has nothing in common with folklorism. Stravinsky. Among the notations for the first movement of the Violin Concerto we find the following memo: “Stop the Hungarian-Gypsy-Romanian folk music manner. Closer examination might reveal wherein the “Burmese” of this passage consists. one will not be able to miss the Far Eastern timbre of the marimba episode and that the pizzicato of the strings following thereupon almost sound like African xylophones. as well as with several ethnic music cultures. 7 Concerto for Violin: Burma reminiscence Ligeti utilized the run for a passage in the Finale.” Listening to the head movement of the work attentively. however: as much as Ligeti may owe to his study of European folk music and non-European music. the brilliance. the speed. however. not as a melting down and neither as an “eclecticist composite of diverse elements of style”. One thing is certain. those lands that his music seems to evoke.”107 This clear delimitation from the method of Béla Bartók is plausible. there is a partly whole-tone run in parallel minor sevenths assigned to the violin and the viola (Ex. 7). not only African but also Indonesian and Melanesian. Ives and Webern. but as a “structural way of thinking. 41-44). 39/40) mixture-like in minor sevenths between alto flute and oboe. the virtuosity. The Transdanubian will stay but it will tend toward Balinese-Thai. as 60 . He did not want that to be taken as folklore. but a great deal with Debussy. very little also with Darmstadt and Serialism. where it is heard in part intertwined contrapuntally with other ideas. then (mm. Keep the smoothness. under the heading “Burma” (the quotation marks are original). 44-46) as a run in major sixths between the solo violin and a scordated violin or else viola. at first (mm. Yet it can’t be denied that Ligeti’s more recent compositions display various ethnic “colorations” in places. again mixturelike. are mainly thought out and dreamed up. and finally (mm. Berg and Expressionism. Ex. at least in certain variants. Ex.suggested by the twofold ethnic “colorations” in his music.108 Ex. 8 Concerto for Piano: close to jazz Ex. According to an early draft. and the sketches for the Violin Concerto contain references to recordings with Oscar Peterson. 8 cites an example from the Finale of the Piano Concerto. Ligeti was also interested in jazz. or the mixed timbre of “African-Romanian” he once had in mind. judging from a note in the sketches. Ex. such as the combination of “Burmese” and “Romanian” in the last of the passages just discussed. 9 one from the opening movement of the Violin Concerto. He owned a large collection of jazz recordings. 9 Concerto for Violin: close to jazz 61 . They are marked by pronounced rhythms and syncopated formations as well as by an instrumentation giving a preference to trumpet and trombone. the Finale of the Violin Concerto was to have consisted of a series of “Romanian-Caribbean” dances. Even more telling is the fact that there are jazz-like passages in both the Piano and the Violin Concerto. “Claire-obscure”. such as that of the schizophrenic poet and painter Adolf Wölfli and that of the Canadian composer Claude Vivier. Thus he once planned a piano etude for which he considered titles like “Twilight”. in fact. came into his mind while he was thinking about the passacaglia and its “glassy landscape. dance Cystoscope Catastrophe 62 .” In drafting some passages. finally.109 His associations extended even to early art: to van Eyck’s Gent Altar and Grünewald’s Isenheim Altar in Colmar. consists of visual impressions and allusions. one of Ligeti’s favorite books. that accompanied his creative process. 192). It is characteristic of Ligeti’s quasi universalistic thinking that one occasionally finds also names of little-known artists in the sketches. p. Ligeti. A separate category.The notes for the Violin Concerto likewise contain instructive references to works in literature and the visual arts. and to the many kinds of optical illusions identified with terms like moiré and zoom. The previously cited list of concepts that repeatedly crop up in his sketches conveys a vivid sense of Ligeti’s eminent synaesthetic bent: Universe/Space (Hungarian Ur) Clouds Crystals Water Cataclysm Weeping Lamenting Tumult Panic Rush Grid African masks Shamans. “Moiré. is particularly receptive to optical illusions such as the line patterns of a turning strobe disk. magicians/sorcerers Demons. 109). Lewis Carroll’s Through the LookingGlass. derived from diverse areas of nature and life. p. he visualized Seurat’s pointillist technique and the stairs in the graphics of Maurits Escher (see fig. who always had a fondness for picture puzzles. The con violenza section in the Finale he associated with Picasso’s famous painting “La danse” (see fig. “Irisation” and.” One cannot but be struck by the plenitude of extra-musical ideas and concepts. in which.1. neither noise nor tone. In his later works. I realized that what I was searching for ranged between noise and musical sound. whose clusters and enormously dense chromatic fields opened up new sonorities. The first work in which he was able to realize his until then merely abstract ideal of an iridescent sound was Atmosphères – an epochal composition. he did not write any rigorously constructed microtonal works. with my piece Atmosphères (1961). Though he sympathized and experimented with microtonality. viz. which before I had been able only to imagine. Instead.”111 One of the leading ideas that pervade Ligeti’s oeuvre is that of an “iridescent” sound.”110 As I look back. an exceptional work. Upon first hearing the very vivid. hyper-chromatically determined vocal waves in the “Kyrie”. I have always been in search of an alternative to the twelve-tone temperament.12 New Ways of Transcending the Tempered System “I have coined the word Sonorität: that is. it becomes clear to me that. Nearly all of the works he composed in the West are distinguished by a sonority sui generis that is hard to describe. Ligeti developed a new kind of twelve-tone method. Yet their sound quality differs fundamentally both from the Schönbergian dodecaphony and from serialism. after numerous attempts.: 63 . he found. an original way between microtonality and equal temperament. one automatically thinks in terms of an intensification of the microtonal practice in Byzantine chant. From then on he made many attempts to get away from the well-tempered system. one that is generated from within equal temperament. yet does not belong to it in terms of its sound. In his piano music. but something in between. Ligeti discovered a unique region of sound between tone and noise. owing to the large number of vocalists and the hyper-chromatic way of writing repeatedly dominant. When I first heard the iridescent sound. I believe. The idea originated. consciously or unconsciously. One of his declared aims was quasi-equidistance: a music that suggests the illusion of equidistance. chromaticism as used up. a meticulously correct intonation is neither possible nor desired. His endeavor was to leave both tonality and atonality behind. The listener often thinks he hears constantly changing twelve-tone fields and twelve-tone sounds. Ligeti achieves this novel dodecaphony by various means. With Atmosphères. Ligeti regarded the well-tempered tuning as worn out. One important stage within that development was marked by the Requiem. C taps out a rhythm Attempts to annul the equal temperament strike at the very “foundations” of music and hence have been undertaken by relatively few 20th-century composers. and the composer and instrument maker Harry Partch (1901-1973) is regarded in the United States as an apostle of “natural” tones. x by a combination of diverse six-tone rows (Entrelacs). fifth and sixth tones. Ferruccio Busoni enthused about a system of third tones. Galamb borong). 3-22. players’ seating arrangement At the xylophone. second. x finally. mm. first.x by a combination of diatonic and anhemitonic pentatonic scales (Dèsordre.112 Alois Hába composed with quarter. B subdivides it.113 64 . and fifth movement of the Concerto for Piano). by veiling the chromaticism (L’escalier du diable). x by coupling the two whole-tone scales (Concerto for Piano. A starts the theme. DG 4/5 Buganda/Africa: “Amadinda play”. 5th movement. which is based on pure triads with pure fifths and pure major thirds. and also about the yodeling of the Pygmies. about the polyphony of the Georgians. Yet he did not commit himself to any rigid system of “microtonality” (the term is now applicable to all twelve-tone non-tempered music115). we find the following note: “The piece should preferably be played on an instrument tuned in middle-tone temperament: the eight major thirds or minor sixths on which the music is based sound pure in this tuning. Of special fascination for Ligeti is the world of pure tuning. Manfred Stahnke may be right in saying that with Ligeti “microtonality” is deeply interwoven in his entire way of thinking. For the fifth movement of the Piano Concerto. To cite some examples.114 He was greatly interested in the mood of European and non-European music. however. which. a natural horn and natural trombone are prescribed here and there. he was tireless in playing me a harp recording with a seven-step equidistant scale. Ramifications (1968/69) is composed for string orchestra or else 12 solo string instruments. the score provides for occasional microtonal pitch deviations. which likewise knows only natural fifths and major natural thirds.In the decades since the ‘sixties.116 65 . Already in the Horn Trio and later in the Piano and the Violin Concerto. The ensemble is divided into two groups. they can maximally attain a quarter-tone variation. He had a special predilection for the natural seventh and the natural eleventh.” On June 1. in the music edition of the Passacaglia ungherese of 1978. even when he is writing in well-tempered mode. Caroline Kirchhoff performed the piece in Hamburg at first on a normally tuned harpsichord and then on a “middle-toned” one. For the second and third movement of the Second String Quartet. Ligeti took delight in heresies against the equal temperament. are not exactly determined. for natural tones and microtones. The recital on the latter instrument produced a far stronger impression. of which one has the ordinary tuning. he repeatedly used naturally pure intervals. His efforts aimed in a direction beyond both microtonality and equal temperament. which sound significantly lower than the corresponding well-tempered intervals (minus 14 and minus 49 cents respectively). whereas the other is tuned a quartertone higher. The resultant hoverings disclose new sonorities to the listener. 1993. he was constantly occupied with the question how to get away from it. Ligeti’s work with microtones and “microtonality” is many-facetted. He expressed enthusiasm about the music of the Chokwe. When I visited him once in 1993. According to his own statement. 1960. and horns and trombones also produce natural harmonics.” “My music is an elitist art. “Out-of-tune” instruments like the ocarina and the swanee whistles (piston flutes) mix with well-“tuned” harmonic spectrums. minor pitch deviations are prescribed here and there. I do not care about being easily understood. We need only think of the scandal that erupted at the first performance of Stravinsky’s Sacre du Printemps on May 13. From Ligeti’s folksong collection: Transylvanian wedding march with voice. For the woodwinds. It tells us something that at the 66 . 1913. The history of the New Music teaches that epochal works did not always easily prevail. Ligeti’s works have been amazingly successful. however.The Violin Concerto can be called a work of synthesis inasmuch as Ligeti here makes use of virtually every possibility of transcending the equal temperament: the soloist and the solo string players in the orchestra play both on natural and scordated instruments. It is a question of one’s education. but everyone can take part in it.”118 It is a truism that the new in art (as well as in science) often meets with a fierce initial rejection. violin and gordon 1. in Paris.”117 I believe one can listen to my music quite naively but also in a highly educated way.13 Backgrounds of Ligeti’s Popularity “In composing I do not think of a specific listener or circle of listeners. The access to it is really open. Ever since the sensational premiere of Apparitions on June 19. which is based on a short story by Arthur C. (The Blue Danube waltz). was shown already in 1966. Let us consider each of these. the unknown and inexplicable. Ligeti’s music is made to signalize danger.120 one can see why it would also draw attention to Ligeti’s music.. The original version of the film. menace. One might add that the film maker used the music without informing the composer. What accounts for the wide appeal of this music? In trying to explain Ligeti’s popularity. he finally decided to use music by four composers for his film: Johann Strauß Jr.. The friends of his music steadily increase in numbers worldwide. His compositions meet with favorable response not only from specialists but also from the broader public. How popular Ligeti had meanwhile become also emerges from the fact that in 1969 the widely read Radio and TV magazine Hör Zu commissioned a whole-page article on the “avant-garde professor. Kubrick used music of Ligeti’s again in subsequent films. Ligeti is one of the most successful composers of our time. After his sensational successes in the early ‘sixties. certain qualities of his music and.” Its author. The latter protested vehemently and also took legal measures but had to be content with a royalty of $ 3000. the enthusiastic audience forced a repeat performance of the piece. Today. and that the same thing happened at the Hamburg premiere of Aventures on April 4. one needs to consider several factors: external matters.119 Given the exceptional notice and wide distribution the movie received. 1963. finally. as the media began to take an interest in him. That is not a matter of course in an age in which the demanding New Music has largely lost contact with the larger community of the friends of music.premiere of Atmosphères in 1961 in Donaueschingen. Clarke and proclaims Clarke’s philosophy of space and the future. A contributing factor to his growing renown was no doubt the use of three of his compositions in Stanley Kubrick’s epochal film 2001: A Space Odyssey.g. After several attempts. Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Ligeti rapidly became known. Richard Strauss (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). Aram Khachaturian (the ballet suite Gayane) and Ligeti (Atmosphères. with the music of Richard Strauss and that of Ligeti being utilized for practically opposite connotations: whereas the opening bars of Zarathustra accompany the grandiose imagery of earth – moon – sun. psychological reasons. Kubrick had worked on his sci-fi film from 1965 to 1968. Aventures. Gerhard Ar67 . Kubrick had bestowed great care on the music tract of his cinematic opus and experimented a good deal. Requiem and Lux aeterna). e. noldi.121 The same issue of the journal included a phonograph disk from the series Hör Zu Black Label (SHZW 904 BL) with recordings of Atmosphères. I vividly remember a mildly surrealist film about Ligeti that appeared on Germany’s Second Program (ZDF) in the ‘seventies or ‘eighties. the allusions to traditional music and the spatial effects it evokes.122 Much of the fascination of his music is due to its sonority. that construction for him did not have the significance it has for Boulez or Xenakis. its associative power and. Regardless of the manner or technique of composition he employed. Space Odyssey: Music of Ligeti adapted to film More important than these external factors. adding. A friend once remarked to me that even if Ligeti were to set the telephone directory to music. the coherence of the result could hardly be doubted. lauded him as a composer who found his own way and did not become a mere Stockhausen epigone. All of Ligeti’s works are distinguished by their structural logic. The listener registers this coherence without being conscious of the inherent structural laws. its imaginativeness. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that television. too. Ligeti had an eminent sense of sound: Ulrich Dibelius justly called him a “Klangbildner” (sound molder). which undoubtedly favored the dissemination of Ligeti’s oeuvre.123 and Wolfgang Burde fittingly spoke of Ligeti’s conception of “sound. the result is always coherent music. not least. however.”124 The novel sonorities he opened up cast a 68 .space composition. Ligeti himself called his music “very constructed”. began to take an interest in this self-willed composer. Aventures and the Cello Concerto. which disclose themselves only to an in-depth analytic study of the scores. are certain qualities of the music itself: its coherence and sonority. Volumina. scordature. Such music can stimulate the imagination of the listener and can awaken associations and fantasies in him or her as well.magic spell over the listener. Friedrich Cerha published an article entitled “Why I admire my friend” in the Austrian journal Bühne. many listeners associate Atmosphères and other pieces with outer space. several concerts were given in Hamburg in observance of Ligeti’s 70th birthday. Ligeti replied “neither nor. wherefore associations of space or space travel were not absolutely excluded from the sphere of what could be associated. The title nevertheless did refer to the atmospheric. oscillating sound. he explained. since as “Bildungsmusik” (music of erudition) its full understanding presupposed a proper connoisseurship. Upon being asked whether he identified with that association. resides essentially in its associative power. however. microtonal deviations. At the same time. he sought to undermine the well-tempered system by employing. 69 . inter alia. of course. allusions to the great tradition play a major role in it. and Marion Diederichs-Lafite invited me to conduct a conversation with Ligeti for the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift. thinks outside the box and refuses to be confined to any single group. In his early works he frequently paid homage to his idea of a scintillating. and it negates tradition.” When he composed Atmosphères. as we have seen. Ever since Kubrick’s film. he had no thought of such a functional use – the piece was no film music. Ligeti remarked once that his music could also be heard without any knowledge of these associations. one must not forget certain psychological factors. Ligeti pointed out again and again that his music was not “puristic” but strongly “charged with associations” and repeatedly stated that with him the compositional process was accompanied by associations from many areas. who is independent and unorthodox.126 In considering Ligeti’s popularity. but that a listener who experienced it in its historical context would get more out of it. again. In May of 1993. “out-of-tune” instruments and natural overtones.127 And as a clinching indication of his popularity. Regrettably there are to date no statistics regarding associative effects of his music.125 Ligeti’s music is original and new with every fiber. iridescent. in his later works. and there is no question that such allusions build bridges toward the listener’s apperception. Many fans of his music revere him as an original artist. Many Hanseats were delighted to celebrate their elective Hamburger. His music is music for individualists. The special suggestiveness of his music. Both the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and the Hungarian journal Muzsika dedicated separate issues to him. certainly. Several CD firms. Atmosphères has attained the status of a classic of the New Music. Star pianists in many countries make it their ambition to play his horrendously difficult piano pieces. 2010. Manfred Stahnke. Manfred Trojahn and Udo Zimmermann – all congratulated their renowned colleague on his 70th birthday in the Hamburger Morgenpost. Dieter Schnebel. Whether it has grown since then is hard to say. have brought out complete recordings of his works.five noted composers – Lucian Berio. Ligeti’s extraordinary popularity did not cease with his death in 2006. A good many of his compositions. in any case. Le Grand Macabre. But others have become representative of modernity. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra presented Le Grand Macabre with great success at Lincoln Center. On May 27. 70 . has been performed in a number of European and American cities. are performed much more rarely now. And his anti-opera. 2 Part Two: Works . 72 . piano music. using Hindemith’s coinage.2. Ligeti was strongly impressed also by the music of Igor Stravinsky. rhythmic and harmonic formations in it. lieder.1 Composing in the Homeland “Certainly that First String Quartet already exhibits some of the characteristics of my later music. it includes three cantatas. There is an unmistakable endeavor to develop everything from only a few elements. some of whose works (like the Histoire du soldat) he had studied. two of the most representative works of the Hungarian period. is striking. whose extent we can gather from Ove Nordwall’s list of pieces written between 1944 and 1956. music for general use (rather than “for its own sake”). Works like the Divertimento. the Violin Concerto and the Second String Quartet made a deep impression on him. The first five 73 . Many of the compositions were written for school choir or orchestra – Ligeti later called them gebrauchsmusik. also exhibit Ligeti pursuing paths of his own. and whose Sacre du Printemps he once heard on the radio. Of the composers of the Second Viennese School. for reasons of cultural politics. he hardly knew anything – a few scores of Alban Berg excepted.”128 Ligeti undertook his first attempts at composition already at the age of fourteen. The more demanding ones could. he modeled himself more closely on him again. the rigor of construction here. ‘old-fashioned’: there are plainly still melodic. several folksong adaptations. Side by side with the traces of an intensive preoccupation with Béla Bartók. but the make-up as a whole is altogether different. Already the title of this eleven-piece collection from the years 1951 to 1953 thus gestures at a spirit of experimentation. chamber music and a few orchestral works. Oddly enough. the Musica ricercata for piano and the First String Quartet. Musica ricercata roughly means “recherché” music.129 Comprising no fewer than 74 titles. a strikingly large number of a cappella choruses. on the other hand. he said that at the age of 23 he showed greater independence from Bartók than later on. As with many of the pieces in Bartók’s Mikrokosmos. too. In both his Cluj and his Budapest phase. Ligeti admitted repeatedly that the great model of Bartók had shaped his early work. but he also indicated that there was a time when he made an effort to distance himself from Bartók and to find his own way.130 An artistically important event for the young Ligeti was his encounter with the music of Béla Bartók in the winter of 1941/42. as well as regular meter. he developed a restless compositional activity. not be performed and landed in the drawer. From 1947 on. Vivace. is an artfully and rigorously developed fugue on a theme by Girolamo Frescobaldi (the theme of the Ricercare cromatico post il Credo from the Fiori musicali of 1635) – a six-note theme. finally. 5. and No. a characteristic constellation of intervals that undergoes countless transformations. 4. That is true. a waltz. bears the subtitle Metamorphoses nocturnes – a technically as well as poetically suggestive name: the term “Metamorphoses” can be referred to the “leitmotif” of the work. and No. the scale of g-ab-b-c#-d-f). off-set by a half-tone. the abovementioned inventions on one or three notes from the Musica ricercata strike one as early anticipations of an idea that would achieve its magnificent full realization much later in the “Monument”. composed in 1953/54 in Budapest. is constructed with only four notes (c. a. which is always present but always in new transformations. Ligeti rather laconically remarked about it: “The basic intervallic idea. which Ligeti expanded to thirteen notes.” A close analysis of the score. No. 8 pays homage to Bartók’s folklorism and barbaro spirit (the characteristic expression mark is ruvido. 1 is an invention on a single note (the note a). No. the first of the Three Pieces for Two Pianos. in that the two major seconds appear in the most diverse variants and rhythms (as well as in peculiarly crossed-over and chromatically “filled-in” form) – even 74 . since he adapted six of the pieces (nos. with five or six notes (f#. 3. 2 one on three notes (e. 9) as bagatelles for wind quintet. 9. 7. is based on a six-note mode. at any rate. a rhythmically intricate piece bearing some Stravinskyan traits. capriccioso. in fact. No. g. 5.131 Ligeti seems to have thought highly of his Musica ricercata. No. e and g). bb and g# or a). of Ligeti’s interest in working with a limited tonal material (whether intervals or scales) fixed in advance – a trait of several of the late piano etudes. Béla Bartók in memoriam. No. for example. No. (That pastoral-like piece later became downright “popular”). 7 is an invention on the ostinato as well as on the Mixolydian mode on f. are preformed already in the early period. is an invention on the top-heavy (“Lombardic”) rhythm .a specialty of the great Hungarian. a strongly expressive Lamentoso. No. 1.pieces can be called inventions on a limited supply of tones. Specifically. rough). Several peculiarities of the later music. eb. 10. consists of two major seconds that follow each other. A close study of the Musica ricercata and the First String Quartet will make it clear that the roots of the unmistakable Ligeti style are to be found in the early work. Nr. obtains its unique character from the contrast between chromatically conceived and rhythmically accentuated passages and chains of thirds to be articulated gracioso. Ligeti’s String Quartet No. f# and g). 3. 11. and No. 6 is a study in the Mixolydian mode on a. reveals an extraordinary art of variation. For a closer phenomenological description of Ligeti’s music of the ‘sixties. Ex. 10 First String Quartet: metamorphoses of the basic intervallic idea The transformations that the “germ cell” of the quartet undergoes are at times so considerable that one has trouble recognizing the connection to the original form. Thus the ostinato-like portion of mm. the categories “soft” and “hard” music offer themselves. perfect fourths and even minor sixths. Both types appear al75 .change diastematically (in interval) in the course of the composition. 609-725 seems freecomposed. Ex. and that the 21-times-repeated pizzicato figure of the cello (ab-g-eb-f-e) is nothing but a chromatic variant of the germ cell. It takes a closer look to realize that it is designed purely chromatically (the first violin plays a chromatically ascending line defamiliarized by octaves and bizarre rhythms). 10 lists the most important metamorphoses. taking on the form of minor and major thirds. whose primary earmark is lightness. 69 ff. from elegy to mirth. 2. 210-238) can then again be classified as “soft” music. Vivace capriccioso (mm. however.2 Going beyond Serialism “Keeping to one and the same basic order led to incompatible structures. the unexpected tonal cadence (dominant – tonic) in mm 366/367 also belongs in this category. Ligeti’s Apparitions were first performed at the Festival of the International Society for New Music in Cologne. Accordingly. and its expression marks are ones like vigoroso.(mm. The astonishing fact. feroce and ruvido. is that a number of the musical types Ligeti constituted here can be discovered again in the later music. The new work differed drastically from what one was accustomed to hearing. its domain is the forte and fortissimo sphere. 1-68) can be labeled “soft” music. the “hard” music embodies partly the barbaro type and partly the type of “like a precision mechanism. is determined predominantly by melody and harmony and ranges between piano and pianissimo. Besides these two types. In fact.” It thrives on rhythm and rhythmic effects.”132 “I reacted to serial music exactly as I did to my own compositional procedures. The multiplicity of different characters in the string quartet extends from serenity to wildness. the second.) represents the “hard” type. that is. and one 76 . the “soft” music appears introverted. To this category one would have to assign the scherzo. at once negating and extending. espressivo and dolente. The premiere was a sensation: the world took notice. the verbal description of the composition. it was imposed ab extra upon the musical processes and remained psychologically ineffective. Both types appear side by side at the very beginning of the work: if the first section. The Adagio. By contrast. 239-521) and the waltz-like (mm.ready in the First String Quartet – albeit frequently in different guise. mesto (mm. even elegiac.”133 On June 19. A humorous effect. which form the brusquest contrasts imaginable. 1960. a third mode of expression is present in the First String Quartet. the formal dynamics of the single-movement work latently divided into numerous sections frequently results from the abrupt succession of “soft” and “hard” portions. 574-599) portions of the work. modifying. Allegro gracioso (mm. One could tell that the hitherto little-known Hungarian composer was about to discover a new universe of sound. The unity existed only on the level of the commentary. favors expression marks like dolce. 11). Ex. and here he experimented with electronic sound materials. They were fascinated by the idea that all parameters of a musical work of art could be fixed by series in advance. The nineteen-fifties were the years of serial music. Messiaen’s pupils Karel Goeyvaerts. in his view. the note durations and the dynamics.” It was wrong. Boulez: Determinations of the twelve-tone row (“Structure Ia”) 77 . the nature of the touch and the degrees of intensity are serially organized. He was profoundly impressed by the New Music he was getting to know. on the contrary. he gained experiences with electronic music. while a ten-member row dictates the touch (Ex. He exchanged ideas with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig and above all studied the scores of Pierre Boulez. and with every newly added serial constraint the “decision coefficient” grew and differentiated. Ligeti had been in the West for three-and-a.134 Herbert Eimert. Serialism had spread like a religious doctrine and had put many young composers into a state of euphoria. In the Cologne Studio.135 The pioneer of serialism was Olivier Messiaen. protested against the assumption that serial composition meant “total predetermination.realized that he could not be assigned to any of the tendencies of avant-garde music then paramount At the time of the premiere. Thus the three twelve-member rows on which Boulez based his composition Structure Ia determine both the pitches (“tone qualities”). Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen took up from there. Here he studied electro-acoustics and phonetics. for every new serial level brought “countless new possible connections into play”. in whose epochal piano piece Mode de valeurs et d’ intensités of 1949 not only the pitches but also the durations. which fascinated him not least for their similarity to phonemes. No less an authority than Ernst Krenek coined the aperçu that serialism had at last liberated the composer from the dictatorship of the idea. The very opposite was the case. to think that the margin of choice was reduced to zero. in 1957/58.half years. 11 P. namely the “motley. not with twelve-tone rows but with clusters. sensual feline world” of the Marteau sans maître. Finally he distanced himself in yet another respect from serialism.” By means of several examples. To begin with. In the second phase. he opined (not without some irony) that Boulez had to break out of the “ascetic. determination produces the unforeseeable. he annulled the law of the uniform organization of the parameters. The conclusions he drew for his own work from these findings are weighty ones and in the last analysis signify the questioning and even the nullification of the serial principles. intensity) have equal rights. Ligeti not only contributed a minute analysis of Boulez’ Structure Ia but also set forth a fundamental discussion of the process of serial composition. such as a logarithmic numerical row. argued that the individual elements in the structure of the composition did not all have to have the same relevance. we must first of all speak of three axioms to which the serialists referred: the doctrine that in the structure of the musical work of art all elements (pitch. choosing their particular arrangement and determining the subsequent operations. The first phase involved selecting the compositional elements. in order “to be woven automatically into structures on the basis of the relations chosen. neither the automatic nor the fortuitous can be brought about without decision and determination. 78 . elements and operations were thrown “quasi into a machine”. the confidence that the pseudomathematical logic of the construction would also guarantee the musical one. After a detailed study of many different scores. duration. He did not. and conversely. in principle. abandon the determination of the remaining parameters. almost compulsion-neurotic posture” he had assumed in composing the Structure. and showed convincingly that the pseudo-mathematical logic of the musical construction neither guaranteed musical coherence nor had any exact correlate in the structure of psychic perception. and he drew the conclusion that compositional decisions and automatisms presupposed each other: “the mutually affecting decisions inevitably lead to automatisms. Ligeti was able to show that irregular deviations from the strictly applied serialist principle occur in Boulez’ Structure Ia.In a widely noted essay.136 If we now look more closely at the rule of serial composition. He thought he could distinguish three “work phases”: Decision I – Automatism – Decision II. the consequent insistence that all the elements should be organized according to a uniform principle of order . in order to create something totally opposite. timbre. nevertheless. Thus in Apparitions (and also in Atmosphères) he worked. Ligeti called the truth claim of these axioms in question.” In conclusion. and finally. the rhythmic relations are organized differently than the dynamic ones in his work. Neither did he try any synthesis of electronic and instrumental music. That may explain why. trilogues and multi-vocal disputes. The earliest. which he had in 1957/58 at the Cologne Studio for Electronic Music. no. By then.”140 The genesis of Apparitions was protracted and is instructive in several respects. Significantly. whereas the longest values are to occur only once. many listeners thought the orchestra sound was manipulated electronically. Of the three electronic pieces he produced there. 192 a unit of three maximae (3 x 64 = 192).”138 Of primary importance for Ligeti’s development as a composer since his emigration are initially his experiences with electronic music. such as other composers strove for and realized. After that. Ernst Thomas called Apparitions a borderline case. the shortest of them is one sixteenth. here the shortest element is intended to recur 80 times. version of the work had the title Viziók (Visions) and probably dated from 1956 or even earlier. the longest a unit of eight whole notes. or an electronically produced audio tape had been played through a hidden speaker. it bears the title Artikulation139 and is conceived as an imaginary conversation in an artificial language: a sequence of monologues. inasmuch “as the instrumental timbre really verged already on the realm of electronic possibilities. only one was published. How much care he devoted to durational organization is evident from the drafts for Apparitions. at the latest. however. profit from his experiences with electronic music and reside in an area between the world of sound and that of noise. In another table. the first orchestral works he wrote after his emigration. Ligeti arranged the durations in Apparitions in such a way that brevity and length respectively are made the criterion of frequency: in other words. after their respective premieres. One of his tables lists no fewer than 192 durations.Whereas according to a serialist postulate the durational values of a row – regardless of whether very short or very long – should occur with equal frequency. Ligeti’s calculations there reveal that he sought to record all possible durations and ordered them in rows. the longest only once.137 2. What went on in the web-filled room transformed itself into tonal fantasies that became the starting material of compositions. Ligeti wrote no further electronic pieces. Apparitions and Atmosphères. dialogues. Ligeti had concrete ideas of a “static” music with “neutralized” sounds – albeit 79 . the shortest element recurs most frequently.1 being a thirty-second. no. which lists thirteen elements. do.3 Apparitions and the Dream of the Web “My memory of this dream of long ago had a certain influence on the music I wrote in the ‘fifties. unfortunately lost. 3 trumpets. piano and 46 string instruments. led me to the consequence of eliminating. for the time being. 3 clarinets. one after the other. to enable the conducting of the score. Looking back.143 This account applies doubtlessly also to Apparitions. According to Gianmario Borio. Ligeti apparently shook off the fetters of mensuration for the first time. which are so densely interwoven that socalled beats (Schwebungen) are produced. Apparitions can be called a prototypical piece inasmuch as the type of music it represents proved to be expandable. It consists of two movements and calls for a large orchestral apparatus composed of 3 flutes. and the leveling out of interval characters thus caused. is dated 1956 and bears the title Sötet és világos (Dark and light). however. Ligeti remarked about the compositional situation after his overcoming of serialism: The wornness of interval relations. harpsichord and celesta). conspicuous signal-like motifs. result from the nature of the clusters. 6 horns. the first trombone and the echo trumpet. which suggests the idea of a transition from darkness (low registers. this draft represents a “preliminary stage” of the first version.ideas he could not then realize technically: it was only the preoccupation with electronic music that enabled him to do so. of all harmony. now kept in the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel. the first trumpet.141 which. shrill colors). Each or its two parts has certain instrumental groups assigned to it. Ligeti himself traced the seemingly 80 . piano. I composed voice textures so dense that the individual intervals submerged in them and functioned no longer as intervals as such but only collectively as intervallic masses. all intervals as structuring elements. albeit with certain exceptions.142 Our concern here. Toward the end of the work. intone. 3 trombones. plus celesta. is with the final (second) version. was composed in Vienna and Cologne in 1957 and consists of three movements. scored for chamber orchestra (12 string soloists. that is. the first horn. that is. all of them stopped. the compositional techniques that Ligeti first tried out here could be developed further in later works (the Atmosphères and the Volumina). incidentally. dim colors) to light (high registers. A later draft. The associations with electronic music the piece evokes. harpsichord. Moreover. In this work. for example. 2 bassoons. I am referring to the technique of tonal expanses in the special variant of the cluster technique. harp. which is applied here in a highly original manner. harp. tuba. contrabassoon. an extensive percussion group. Another innovation: the bar-lines appearing in the score of Apparitions are not to be taken in terms of traditional meter but serve solely to synchronize the voices. in which the stationary sounds provide the background and the “attacking” sounds the foreground. Like the Bartók pizzicato. The impression of distance and proximity arises in listening. the so-called Bartók pizzicato (sffff). enters abruptly but seems far harder and more massive by comparison – small wonder when one considers the profusion of instruments: three piccolo flutes. xylophone. in m. The beginning of the first movement is characterized by mostly long-held. used the very terms “conditions”. and he felt he had to distinguish two basic types of musical material: delicate-sounding. ppp. pp. he. “events” and “transformations” he had employed in the telling of the dream. too. Two examples may serve to clarify what has been said.144 The more one delves into Apparitions the clearer it becomes that the work wants to be understood as a musical realization of the childhood dream about the gigantic web that Ligeti related. In trying to explain the structure of the work. causing a shock to the resounding web (and to the listener). stationary sounds confined to the piano sphere (mp. As typical of the formal development of the first movement he noted that the suddenly appearing – and for the most part also suddenly vanishing – compacter sound groups would attack the stationary sounds preceding them in each case and thereby would induce transformations. This event triggers a more farreaching transformation. explaining that by playing slightly off-key. as it were. as the multiply divided strings play a strong pizzicato. pppp). to begin with. abruptly and unexpectedly a fortissimo appears. 73. At the same time. softseeming cluster textures and firm sound groups or even singular “sound splinters”. Similar. 81 . which. but even much stronger effects result from another sffff sound in m. glockenspiel. 30. one should keep in mind. Then. this sound. and is followed by a general pause. Ligeti spoke figuratively of a tear in the sound structure. p. that the cluster technique in this work is absolutely obligatory: both of the basic types of musical material – the stationary sounds as well as the firmer sound groups – have the cluster texture in common. perforate the sounding web. The form of the piece could be defined as a twotiered process. illusory pattern transformations and tone colors were created that differed markedly from the timbres of the usual combinations of instruments. in fact. In trying to understand these ideas.electronic sound of Apparitions to the use of “motion timbre” (Bewegungsfarbe). the firmer sound groups tend toward accumulation and toward fortissimo. the two types are structured differently: while the stationary sounds are long-held and prefer the piano sphere. The sffff sound functions as an Archimedean point. 55. the “metallic explosion” (in Ligeti’s words) produced by the sffff sound initiates a major shift in tone location: whereas the music until then ranged mostly in the lower pitches. 377. In mm. 75-77. 2. celesta. In the process. 233. 34. harpsichord and piano. the high register predominates from thence forward. 13. 1st movement: form draft with Fibonacci numbers 82 . This sound event – meant as an “attack” and marking the peripety – brings about the decisive turn in the movement. 1. plus the pizzicato-playing strings all contribute to the production of the sound. harp. the second violins. It marks the place where the dark register is relieved by the bright one. 21. 144. 8.whip. 610 and 987. 89. When Ligeti conceived this movement. a very high-tuned small drum. where each number (starting with the third) is the sum of the previous two (see Facsimile 6). the violas and the cellos react to it with a “wild” eruption – an impetuous sound sequence that climbs to the highest region. 3. 5. who sought to demonstrate the golden section in the works of Béla Bartók.145 Significantly. the sketches include an early formal draft of the movement that is based on the so-called Fibonacci numbers 1. with the two parts of the movement corresponding in length approximately to the proportions of the golden section. FS 6 Apparitions. he was still under the impression of the theories of Ernö Lendvais. 44-55) a dense. the contrabassoon. There has been a great deal of guessing about the meaning of the hammer with which the bottles are to be smashed: evidently it is a suggestive 83 . The second section (mm. Ligeti’s experience with electronic music here makes a real difference. first trombone and the echo trumpet.146 This description certainly fits the first section of the Agitato. Ex abrupto start.” At the start of the final section (mm. Lots of bowing. Ligeti spoke of “internally vibrating” planes as well as of small figures that. The Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio applied solely to Apparitions. 25-37) stands in harsh contrast to the first. one might think it was conceived in an aleatory manner. three trumpets. To continue with our discussion of the work: if the static sounds of the Lento are lined up in blocks. nearly indistinct. Afterwards the brass players are to “strike the mouthpiece briefly and vigorously with the hand. Each string player plays as intensively as if he were a soloist. The expression mark reads: “Wild. flare up and vanish again. in the Agitato they are made to fan out considerably. confined to the piano sphere. as a fully composed ritardando.On June 8. signalizing the imminent end – which begins in the third to the last bar with sffff sounds. Verve more important than perfectly clean intonation. entangled. three trombones and the bass tuba are supposed to “knock against [the mouthpiece] with the tongue” without producing a tone. In reality. after the ceremony awarding him the honorary doctorate of Hamburg University. With extreme force. The originality of the keenly rhythmical expanse of noise it constitutes lies less in the addition of the percussion section than in the percussive treatment of the wind instruments. of which we have yet to speak in detail. He said he was not conscious of such a method of construction. and the extremely differentiated playing of the strings add to the effect. The dynamics. tremolo cluster of the flutes. Hearing it for the first time. the music is notated exactly down to the last quaver: a web of 46 string voices. Ligeti told me that in the United States scholarly treatises had been written about his music trying to demonstrate that several of his works were constructed in accordance with the law of the golden section. clarinets and second violins provides a background for motif fragments played by the first trumpet.” That the passage is constructed through and through. The musicians blowing the two bassoons. first horn. The third section (mm. to be sure. one realizes only once one has become aware that it is the earliest instance of the famous micropolyphony. 38-43) is structured altogether differently. with the increasingly slow vibrations. the six horns. 1988. 4 Atmosphères – a Secret Requiem? “After the completion of this piece [Apparitions].’ though this ‘background’ can no longer be called that. the diverse states of the musical material take over from each other.allusion to the crushing hammer strokes in the Finale of Mahler’s Tragic Symphony and again in the march from Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra. since a ‘foreground’ no longer exists. I resolved that in my next work I would eliminate the duality of clear individual figures and dense intertwining and let the musical form emerge solely from the tonal ‘background. on the one hand. whose internal movements and alterations determine the articulation of the form. “splinter(s)”. represented a disowning of every kind of dialectic within musical form.” 2. There are. or one turns almost imperceptibly into the other. “beetles”. As he disclosed to the Swedish publicist Göran Fant. on the dynamics. while one night. however. desperate and hungry he was roaming around in Budapest. the piece was conceived already in the early ’fifties. What is at issue now is a subtle fibrous web evenly filling the entire musical space. “magicians who give off a high. They also document that Ligeti associated sounds with visual ideas. I was far more interested in the possibilities of a differentiated intertwining and interweaving of sound than in the formation of musical ‘objects’: I therefore concentrated on tonal processes similar to those that form the ‘background’ in Apparitions.148 Ligeti worked intensively on Atmosphères between February and July of 1961. on instrumentation and on ways to play. goes back to a much earlier time.147 The sketches for Apparitions contain notations on the formal division. shrill tone” and others.” The compositional idea I tried to realize in Atmosphères signified. the overcoming of ‘structural’ thinking in composition – a mode of thinking that characterized the entire musical development of the last ten years – and on the other. Thus we encounter catchwords like “clouds” (referring to string sounds). “forest”. without the emergence of any causal connections within the formal progress. on the organization of pitches and durations.149 84 . The initial idea for it. in the form thus come into being. no longer any oppositional elements or reciprocal actions. A low passage in the double basses Ligeti links to notions of “tumult. nothing. While most of them are based on dense chromatic clusters – iridescent twelve-tone sounds are the norm – the individual sections differ greatly in their structure. Whereas in Apparitions tonal states are time and again disrupted and changed by unexpected sound events. there are major differences between the two. Atmosphères soon became one of the most famous works of the Hungarian composer. though it takes an attentive listener to realize that.”151 In actuality. the onetime fame of Apparitions paling as that of the new work rose and overshadowed the earlier one. during the nine minutes stretched to an eternity that the piece lasts. noting the performance length in a lump sum as “ca.After its sensational world premiere on October 22.152 They include specifications about both the durations and the texture of the various sections – specifications that indicate that the final form of the work largely coincides with the original conception. which constitute their specific particularity. Atmosphères and Apparitions are related to the extent that both pieces belong. It says something that today there are only three recordings of Apparitions. 9 minutes. Thus the durations planned for the sections in seconds were taken over without change into the autograph score: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 48” 29” 55” 37” 6” 23” 33” 14” 21” 18” 5” 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 8” 10” 26” 43” 16” 9” 12” 4” 7” 71” 19” 14 The sum total is thus 8 minutes and 34 seconds. 1961. all of which are individually structured.” 85 . happens. Ligeti dispensed with these detailed specifications. In terms of tonal type. In the printed score. according to Ligeti. changing constantly but only slowly and somehow inconspicuously – a peculiarity that betrayed a critic into the following obtuseness: “Everything is standing still. but nothing. comparable incidents hardly occur in Atmosphères.”150 Even so. which Salmenhaara has published. The composition is divided into 22 sections of different duration (the last section consists of silence). whereas Atmosphères is available on no fewer than eleven different CDs. to the structural type of the “nebular-indistinct. We can obtain major insights into the conception and the structure of the work from a study of the composer’s notes. The music proceeds continuously. a great deal happens in the course of the piece. 11th. finally. its narrowing in the 8th. The diagram provided by Erkki Salmenhaara154 (see DG 6) can convey a graphic impression of the modifications of the frequency band. 13th and 20th section (letters G. the sections differ considerably in terms of frequency band. wide-flung arc”. atmospheres. 12th. vibrating expanses and mosaic-like textures. shrouds of air”155 (see Diagram 7156). Andreas E. Beurmann and Schneider describe its course as follows: “a delicate swaying in. In sections 12. S) being particularly striking. Ligeti gave intensive consideration to the constitution of the individual tonal fields. DG 6 Atmosphères: 22 sections in time and texture There has been significant progress in sound analysis in the last twenty or so years. such expanses can be shaded in both timbre and dynamics. five areas of an extremely slow dynamic swelling and ebbing and then vanishing into nothingness. at letter C and H respectively). as the second section (letter A) shows. distinguishing between three basic types of such expanses: stationary planes or expanses (“liegende Flächen”). Ligeti himself had said of it that it was to be realized “like a single. 86 . J. are characterized by the dissolution of lines into individual components (Ligeti spoke of “Stückchen”. an arrival out of nothingness. Q and R). tremolos and swinglike figurations or by internal motions within a broadly differentiated texture (fourth and ninth section. bits). dynamics and also manner of playing. “Vibrating expanses” are shaped by trills. L.153 The term “liegende Flächen” means primarily unchanging clusters.Before beginning with the elaboration of the score. As already intimated. K. as new methods were developed and digital procedures made it possible to depict the sound shape of compositions with considerable precision. which impressively illustrates the total form of the work. The mosaic-like textures. timbre combination. 18 and 19 (letter K. stationary sounds – the first section presents a prototypical example of these – although. register. the score resembles a mosaic even visually. Beurmann and Albrecht Schneider produced an amplitude diagram of Atmosphères. with the individual sections fusing together. symbol of the title of this music. Similar plunges are frequent in the “Dies Irae” of the Requiem.DG 7 “Atmosphères”: amplitude diagram At a first listening. 8th section. 33-39). Atmosphères perplexes by its novelty. The “cystoscopic” sound image. The discoveries in compositional technique that Ligeti made here proved to be promising for the future. all the while developing them further. occurs for the first time in the seventh section of Atmosphères (mm. for which Ligeti had a penchant. The effect is indescribable. He had recourse to them repeatedly in his later works. sounds sharp and shrill. the music plunges into extreme depth. constituted by four piccolo flutes. This cluster field. letter G). four oboes. 87 . as eight double basses intone an eight-tone cluster in fourfold forte tutta la forza (mm. 40 ff. From this extreme height. It can be called a “classic” work of the New Music insofar as several specifics of the Ligetian music language appear here for the first time in full-blown form. four clarinets and four trumpets in extremely high register. A few examples may serve to illustrate the point. was killed in an accident on September 25. the remaining strings (14 first violins. 1960 in Johannesburg. mm. 76-79. The dedication prompted Harald Kaufmann. 79-84) represent the type of mosaic-like texture. and toward the end by trombone and tuba. According to a direction in the score. the brass players here are to “blow very softly” into their instruments “without producing a tone. four trombones and the tuba commences in four-fold piano and swells in quick crescendo to fourfold forte. His teacher Zoltán Kodály dedicated his Media vita in morte sumus for mixed chorus to him. the listener seems to hear a trembling on the surface of the sound. The brass field of the 14th section (mm. We already noted that the 18th and 19th section (mm. As peculiar as it is original. 44-53. letters P and Q). who had emigrated to England in 1935. 10 violas and 10 cellos) suddenly enter in fourfold piano (mm.158 Atmosphères is dedicated to the memory of Mátyás Seibers. As a result. and because of the many tremolos. the unusual sound image evoking associations with music of the spheres – a type Ligeti had a soft spot for in later years as well. Seibers (b. To be emphasized is the enormous differentiation in the playing techniques prescribed for the various string groups: at once with mute and without.” The noise effect here is thus composed in. Ligetyi felt obliged to Seibers. While the double basses are still holding the extremely low eight-note cluster.A favorite technique in Atmosphères is the overlapping of sound fields and sections. Supported initially by flute. 58-65. gettato and legato. four trumpets. the 56 strings play exclusively flageolet glissandi. letters H and I). 14 second violins. on the fingerboard and at the bridge. The use of the trumpets in extreme low register at this point is especially impressive – an ingenious timbre combination. A special sound effect is reserved for the penultimate (more properly the last) section (mm. who in 1962 broadcast a lecture about the piece on West German Radio Cologne. again. 1905). 88-102. in part because he had championed him and helped him at a time of indigence after the emigration. The highly complex 28-voice canon and the 20-voice mirror canon they perform provide an archetypal example of Ligeti’s celebrated micropolyphonic technique 157. clusters. The twelve-note cluster field constituted by the six horns. is the “wind episode” (17th section. letter M) deserves to be highlighted because in its compactness it forms the summit of the work in terms of volume. sul tasto and col legno. An immaterial quality clings to the flageolet clusters produced in this way. a Hungarian composer and writer about music. to engage in some 88 . letter T). South Africa. which Ligeti will use again in the “Dies Irae” to dramatize the word (Tuba mirum spargens) sonum. Erkki Salmenhaara adopted them. In his articles. The narrowing of the frequency band in mm. Ligeti in fact thought of the representation of a funeral mass within the material sphere. 2. 89 . “after which fear reigns no more”. he thought he could read as a conciliatory Lacrimosa.5 Micropolyphony “I called this type of composition micropolyphony because individual rhythmic processes in the polyphonic network dip below the line where they become blurred. The bunching of all the brasses seemed to him a sound image of the Tuba mirum.159 Kaufmann’s views attracted widespread attention among critics.162 Among the compositional methods Ligeti developed. the wondersounding trumpet. dona eis requiem. in a far distance. in the realm of the subliminal. The stationary cluster sound at the beginning reminded him of a distant murmuring of the Requiem aeternam. he thought.160 and Ove Nordwall spoke of “an instrumental paraphrase of the requiem mass. Since there is no room for traditional musical form phenomena. Supported by conversations with Ligeti. However. his micropolyphony is not only one of the most original but also the one most widely known. The texture is so dense that the individual voices are no longer perceptible as such and only the fabric as a whole is apprehensible as a superordinate form.” Starting from this premise. So it is all the more astonishing that neither the genesis nor the technical presuppositions of the procedure have been adequately explained to date.speculations. The place at which the chromatic cluster thins out into a diatonic one (69-74) he associated with the Agnus dei. the material texture must admit of associations that have points of contact with the associations according to the old requiem sequence. 53/54 made him think of the beginning of the Dies irae. He wanted it to be imagined that a requiem is in progress quasi in the cellar. did legitimate it as a commemorative composition. the peculiar restraint characterizing Atmosphères. And the “portal” of the narrowed frequency band. He replied that he did not think of any part of the funeral mass while conceiving the piece: Kaufmann’s correlations and associations were wholly subjective.161 I asked Ligeti what he thought about these surmises. he proposed the thesis that Atmosphères should be regarded as a secret requiem: “While composing the work. Kaufmann thought he could identify passages in the structure of the piece that refer to parts of the Latin mass for the dead. three and four voices. But whereas in the traditional canonic technique the voices as a rule enter successively. the micropolyphonic textures in Ligeti favor an extreme number of voices. prevents the canonic process from being recognized as such in the hearing. in the section headed wild (mm. Whereas the traditional canon prefers two. A mingled chromatic-diatonic ascending line furnishes the material for the canonic structuration of the violas.Ligeti repeatedly mentioned his micropolyphony. 2. Ligeti coined the term micropolyphony to hint at the listener’s inability to register the subtleties of the polyphonic texture. 1. 3. To put it more precisely: instead of the individual voices. violins. The 12 divided first. the rhythmic relations governing the basic melodic line remain the same in each of the imitating voices. likewise diatonically-chromatically ascending line underlies the web of the cellos. The basis of micropolyphony is the canonic manner of composing. which can at the same time clarify the differences from the traditional practice. they are for the most part radically altered in such a way that no voice is like any other in a rhythmic respect. Apart from a few exceptions. and a fourth tonal sequence is recognizable in the pitch organization of the 90 . on the other hand. a third. we get whole blocks – dense voice combinations that are all treated canonically. in Ligeti they enter at the same time (although a parallel example can be found in early music history as well: in the so-called mensuration or proportion canons of the 15th century. The earliest instance of the technique occurs in the second movement of Apparitions. This. but on four such sequences. one and the same diastematic (melodic/intervallic) line underlies the contrapuntal texture of the voices. The polyphonic procedure takes possession of every fiber of the extremely dense fabric and permeates the smallest detail. too. which are organized strictly according to the technical principles outlined above. The canonic structure. and 12 divided second. the violas. but he did so rather generally and by the way. is not based on a single sequence of notes. A closer study of Ligeti’s micropolyphonic structures reveals three peculiarities. that is to say. all the voices also start simultaneously). In Ligeti. In the traditional canon. 25-37) – a 46-voice texture of the strings. however. the canon technique being frequently linked in ingenious ways with the cluster technique. the cellos and the double basses add up to five groups of voices. the first and second violins are structured according to a chromatically descending line. All of the voices enter simultaneously on the note g. moreover. all the voices of the micropolyphonic web enter simultaneously. tenors and basses form five vocal groups of four voices each. the micropolyphony in Atmosphères is limited to a single section of the work. however. however. In point of rhythm. But how drastically it has been modified by Ligeti! Whereas Nono’s twelve-tone row is a so-called all-interval series (in 91 . Let us look more closely at the Christe theme. enter simultaneously (Ex.double basses. and 14 second. more unified. Sopranos. the Kyrie and the Christe theme. The parts that are worked strictly micropolyphonically here are the “Introitus” and especially the “Kyrie Eleison” – a movement offering perhaps the most impressive example of this novel technique. while the rhythmic proportions undergo significant modifications and are organized according to a different principle. The intervallic relations of the cantus-firmus-like melody are again identical in all the voices of the giant canon. more consistent and. 10 violas and 10 cellos) and is structured clearly as a canon and mirror canon. the violas and cellos array themselves into a 20-voice inverted mirror canon. beggars description. The micropolyphonic fabric here consists of 48 voices. the cellos play more slowly and the first violins faster (three and five counting units per half-measure). Suffice it to say that the strings play at three different speeds: if the recital of the second violins and violas observes a quasi normal tempo (four counting units per half-measure). violins. Its characteristic interval sequence echoes the twelve-tone row of Luigi Nono’s cantata Il canto sospeso (1956). The canonic process within the individual groups is strictly regimented insofar as the intervallic relations remain unchanged. The first of Ligeti’s works in which entire movements are structured according to the micropolyphonic method is the Requiem. It appears not in a single form but in numerous variants and metamorphoses. in a way. While the violins play a 28-voice strict canon. are treated not according to the strict principles of dodecaphonism but with remarkable freedom. in this case to mm. Likewise as in Apparitions. all of which are worked strictly canonically. As in Apparitions. but on all degrees of the chromatic scale. this “Kyrie” is a 20-voice double fugue. the mirror canon represents a faithful mirror image of the canon insofar as the sequence of the underlying melodic line proceeds in the exact opposite direction. but they do so not on the same note. (14 first. That is to say. no voice equals another. 44-53. mezzos. Looking only at the vocal parts. But the handling of the technique here is more artful. The complexity of the rhythmic organization. Both themes are based on twelve-tone rows. 12). altos. both underlying themes. which. Characteristically for the conception and the dense micropolyphonic structure of the movement. Ligeti’s view only apparently so. since in reality it consisted of “the interpolation of two minor seconds tending in opposite directions”163). the diverse forms that Ligeti’s characteristic “row” assumes prefer the minor second – apart from the fact that Ligeti’s “row” does not contain either a major second or a perfect fifth (Ex. 13). 12 Requiem: Simultaneousness of the Kyrie and Christe themes 92 . Ex. only at the fourth entrance does it appear in complete form. 13 Nono. consisting of only 9 or ten notes. Requiem with Christe entrances in the “Kyrie” As one can see. Ligeti time and again changes the position of individual notes. Ligeti. Besides.Ex. VII is an exact transposi93 . thereby unhesitatingly violating both the rules of the Schönbergian dodecaphonism and the principles of serialism. All-interval row. Ligeti’s row comes about gradually: it is incomplete at first. Ligeti stated that he was still profiting from his rigorous studies of counterpoint back in Budapest. and that in the Requiem he had anticipated something of the dramatic art he hoped to realize later on in his opera. je suis d’origine juive. Je ne suis pas catholique. In a 1988 conversation with Detlef Gojowy. above all. 2.”167 Ligeti’s assessment proved accurate. For that reason he regarded the Requiem “as a kind of dividing line between the hitherto pieces and the future ones. “in which no voice dominates but everything is in steady flux. he was in a state of euphoria: he had the feeling that he had created something significant. by the prolation canon of the 14th and 15th century. had been a model for him already in the Requiem. and XI reveals itself as the retrograde inversion of IX. de la fin du monde. and this for several reasons: the loftiness of its subject. Ligeti discussed some of his works at the Hamburg Music Academy. Alors. he called the work a turning point in his creative career: “a kind of summation” of his “hitherto mode of composing”. In February of 1989. mais je n‘ appartiens à aucune religion.”166 While Ligeti was working on the “Dies Irae” of his Requiem in December of 1964. 200 vocalists and a grand orchestra). When he was asked why of all things he had chosen to set the 94 .6 Language and Music in the Requiem “Oui. is the best I have composed thus far. he was convinced that the “Dies irae” was seminal for future compositions. like tumbling waves”. ca. and above all the Dies irae. especially Ockeghem. mon Requiem. IX is the inversion of VII. mes Requiems ne sont pas liturgiques. de la peur de la mort. the gigantic size of its instrumental apparatus (the score calls for two female soloists. the novelty of its sonorities and its staggering expressivity.tion of VI. In a letter to Ove Nordwall. He continued to speak enthusiastically about compositions like Ciconia’s Le ray au soleil – characteristically a three-voice proportion canon. The four-movement Requiem would become one of his most renowned works. To all appearances he was strongly impressed. and at the same time the exposition of something new. j’ ai pris le texte du Requiem pour son imagination de l’ angoisse. Having the idea in mind at the time of writing an opera. The development of Ligeti’s micropolyphonic technique was inspired in part by a study of Guillaume de Machaut and the old Netherlanders.”165 “I think – but of course I may be wrong – that the Requiem.164 Ockeghem’s polyphony. as the composer himself explained. He had decided on the text mainly for two reasons. Design.” He could certainly have included additional parts of the mass.169 Ever since Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge (Song of the Youths) – an epochal composition that premiered in Cologne in 1956 – several avant-garde-minded composers (among them Lucio Berio. but he did not do so because he regarded the music of the half-hour work as a “complete. though they developed it further by means of the counterpoint. just as he always felt drawn to the representations of hell by Peter Brueghel and Hieronymus Bosch. after which the Lacrimosa serves as an epilogue. Mauricio Kagel and Dieter Schnebel) took. to demolishing the syntactic structure of language and to using lan95 . Thomas of Celano’s celebrated sequence. The “Dies Irae”. self-contained construction. Ligeti threw out some interesting hints about the individual character of the movements.text of the Catholic funeral mass to music. the persecution of Catholics in Hungary after World War II had deeply shocked him: he had drafted a requiem already in 1953. which latter is textually part of the Sequence but forms a separate movement in the composition. For one thing. The apocalyptic quality of this poem of the 13th century. In the above-mentioned letter to Nordwall. – without chorus. the Kyrie. he had a special fondness for the Dies Irae. they differ as decisively as possible from each other. he replied that as a Jew and the son of an atheist he could not claim to have a particularly close relation to the Catholic Church. continued from the type of Volumina and Atmosphères. written merely for two soloists and orchestra – functioned as a sort of epilogue. represented a type related to the Allegro Appassionato of Aventures.” When Ligeti began with the composition of the Requiem. “very simple and tranquil. had fascinated him ever since his youth. The “Introitus” and the “Kyrie”. and each movement is governed by special principles of handling the language. The reasons for this limitation. His Requiem does not include the entire text of the funeral mass but is limited to the Introitus. as well as in terms of expression. The “Lacrimosa”. texture and character are entirely different. finally. though definitely going beyond it both technically and in terms of expression. the Dies Irae and the Lacrimosa. in their vocal works. on the other hand. Each has its own unmistakable physiognomy. For another. More than ten years were to pass before he was able to complete the projected oeuvre: he began to work on it in the summer of 1963 and did not complete the score until January of 1965. the so-called speech composition was in topical fashion. he thought. whose double stanzas he admired.”168 Of the Requiem’s four movements it can be said that structurally. are musical ones: “the Sequence forms the central part. since.and a twelve-voice women’s chorus. 96 . The Introitus expresses above all the pleas for eternal rest and eternal light. introduce the final section. which consists of micropolyphonically worked blocks. as well as for the prayers being heard and granted. At first only the basses. the eternal light to shine upon the dead. The sequence. owing to the extraordinarily dense musical structure. declaim in lowest register the words Domine […] exaudi orationem meam – the only words of the Introitus that the listener can really understand. each likewise divided into four groups. With his Aventures and Nouvelles aventures. Thus the extraordinarily dark timbre of the beginning gradually lightens up. nor morphemes but only phonemes in their works. divided into four groups. to be sure. 50/51.guage as purely phonetic material. join in. Certain words of the liturgical text. 14-16 and 45/46. Not yet satisfied. however: in mm. But although. intone in the lowest register. some composers went as far as to use neither texts. entering imperceptibly in mm. nor words. In doing so. owing to the dense structure. two solo basses. he succeeded in achieving a unique amalgamation of language and music. Ligeti himself made two important contributions to the genre of “phone (or phoneme) composition” (Lautkomposition). since he shaped the movement as a gradually brightening sequence ascending from the depth to the height. What is novel is the fact that the brightening of the sound is brought about not by the usual tone-painting means but by the disposition of the tonal material. There are two exceptions to this. since its text is dismembered neither phonetically nor semantically. Beginning in the lowest register. like Tibetan monks. Then the tenors and altos. His Requiem. listeners for the most part will not be able to understand the words – Ligeti probably assumed that they would be familiar with the text of the Latin funeral mass anyway – it is important to note that the composer took care to translate the emotional content of the text into musical terms and to some extent let himself be stimulated by the suggestive images of the funeral mass. different vowels are sung simultaneously. They deliberately dispensed with textual intelligibility and sought to partly strip language of its semantic function. Ligeti evidently let himself be guided musically by the idea of the lux perpetua. which is reserved to an eight. he treated in such a way that they were clearly understandable. The application of the micropolyphonic technique makes it inevitable that the text for the most part remains unintelligible. cannot be called “speech composition”. the music systematically “rises” higher and higher. A mezzo and a soprano solo. gradually conquers the middle pitch region and finally the high register. moreover. tending. maximally twelve-voiced in the “Introitus”. 84 and 88) conduct to ecstatic climaxes and then suddenly break off (“as if torn off”). both tonally and in terms of expressiveness. there are no real ruptures in the macro-texture. Spatial effects also result from the fact that the Kyrie theme is to be intoned at first pianissimo and espressivo. that of an uninterruptedly flowing polyphonic current of sound. It is no wonder that Kubrick used this music as a background for his cosmic film. at times even stood on its head. Never before has the supplication for mercy been given musical expression with such poignancy. One seems to hear myriads of trembling voices. Swelling and subsiding waves define the picture. Crescendos and diminuendos take constant turns. 97 . Although the crescendos at times (mm. Thus the chorus. Whereas the dynamics of the Introitus never leaves the piano sphere. The contrapuntal intertwining of the two theme complexes under the micropolyphonic banner leads to an excessive. The movement is likewise remarkable for its dynamics and its manner of performance generally. this order is frequently being departed from. which. Later on. though treated in the manner of a multi-voiced double fugue. 78. is increasingly endowed with chromatic features. the music here traverses every volume degree from fourfold piano to fourfold forte. the listener receives an impression of continuity. one could well say a kind of hyperchromaticism that constitutes an absolute non plus ultra. potentiated chromaticism. as the movement progresses.Compared with the “Introitus”. Ligeti pointed out that during his work on this movement Johann Sebastian Bach’s eight-voice motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing a New Song unto the Lord. The entire tonal range and tonal volume are enlisted. Finland. enter simultaneously at the start. and since the vocal groups enter successively thanks to the fugal technique.170 It needs to be stated emphatically that Ligeti’s “Kyrie Eleison” occupies a preeminent position in the history of requiem composition. Of all the movements of the Requiem. the Kyrie and the Christe theme. the Kyrie theme. the “Kyrie Eleison” is greatly intensified. the waves tumble over each other. to the colossal. Powerful effects issue from the two themes. BWV 225) had been in his mind as the concept of a great contrapuntal form. here thickens to twenty voices. since these breaks happen only in individual voice groups and never in all of them simultaneously: despite these local discontinuities. as it does. while the Christe theme is to be performed pppp non espressivo and in the background. If the Christe theme is distinguished by prominent intervals. the “Kyrie” attains to the greatest density and tonal fullness. In a lecture given in 1965 in Jyväskylä. Ex. These notations once again convey an impression of Ligeti’s synaesthetic endowment. Musical matters and technical terms are paralleled to psychic states. the opening notes of the first twelve entrances form a twelve-tone row that. there is a constructive reason for this. the Kyrie and the Christe theme enter synchronously). 1 7 13 bb a ab 60 61 d# f 18 23 25 29 33 40 44 45 b g f# c c# f d e 61 79 82 83 86 89 91 94 102 d g gb db c ab bb a b As one can readily see. “hysterical nervosity”. but it would be too complicated to describe that here. Of critical importance for any discussion of the movement are the sketches that Salmenhaara has published. 13. The connection to that row of the ten remaining entrance notes. on the other hand. psychologizing exegesis of Thomas of Celano’s famous poem. 1970. If we compile the notes of the altogether 22 entrances.” “panic”. dramatically 98 . transposed. p. inspiration to countless painters and musicians. There are 12 Kyrie and 11 Christe entrances (at the beginning of the movement. spatial perceptions and individual pictures. to Harald Kaufmann. Discontinuity.171 A closer study of the score indeed reveals fairly complicated relations. remains unclear. “hallucinations and entreaties” are particularly characteristic of Ligeti’s conception. dissociation and deep ruts caused by extreme contrasts are throughout inscribed in this composition. Taken together. we get the following succession: Mm. “blows [or “strokes”] and emptiness. the result is a melodic line that contains the twelve notes twice over and whose second half is [the] inversion of the first (except for the exchange of two notes in the second half). “terror and swarming”. If you write out these individual notes.A word still on pitch organization: in a letter of February 9. The key terms Fear”. 93). emotions. “persecution.172 The notes and key words of which they consist strike one at times like stage directions for an imaginary opera. agrees exactly with the tonal material of the ninth entrance of the Christe theme (cf. About the “Dies Irae” Ligeti wrote to Nordwall that it was “very dramatic and rich in contrasts” and should be sung with great verve and expressivity. The art of contrast. Ligeti made some important remarks about the sequence in which the Kyrie and Christe themes enter in the Requiem. they offer a “modern”. wide and narrow. The rather odd thing here is that the distant models Ligeti sought to orient himself by in the “Dies Irae” are evidently the Passion and sacred plays generally. large interval leaps and multiple fortes are indeed the stylistic characteristics of these choruses. And it is only fitting with this concept that especially dense. dies illa. Quando judex est venturus. Turba means tumult. swinging..” In the sketches. primarily for the stanzas: Dies irae. to use one of Ligeti’s own favorite expressions. The text is uttered in such a hurry that one cannot understand a single word. the distribution of individual syllables of a word over different voices. menacing. Solvet saeclum in favilla: Teste David cum Sibylla. takes hold of every dimension of compositional technique. The relation between language and music in the “Dies Irae” must be called an extremely complex one. ffff. people. 99 . which are set after the manner of the turbae. Ligeti reserved this manner of composition for those sections of the text that describe the general mood of the Last Judgment.e. Extreme contrasts between high and low. Any discussion of the movement should start from the fact that in the published drafts Ligeti distinguished between a “main layer”. loud and soft. finally by “splitting up”. wild exaggerated.heightened. choral singing and solo parts shape the physiognomy of the movement. Quantus tremor est futurus. crowd. One seems to be hearing a screaming multitude. The musical setting is again such that the text remains generally unintelligible – with all the more importance accruing to the occasional text fragments that are to be articulated clearly. light and dark.” Extremely brisk rhythms. slow and fast. to compositional style as well as to changes in tone coloration. It extends to the organization of pitches as well as to the durational level. mit größter Aufregung [with extreme agitation]. musically eventful passages are frequently followed by episodes of appalling “emptiness”. by excessive stretching out of individual words and syllables. i. by polytexture (simultaneous recital of different verses). Ligeti characterized this level with the catchwords “Choruses: turbae. homophony and polyphony. A close study of the score will in fact reveal several levels of style and expression. A first level is constituted by the choruses. Language is defamiliarized in numerous ways: by speaking hastily. whispers and shrieks. large leaps (possibly inexact). The expression mark at the beginning of the movement reads “Molto agitato. two “contrast layers” and individual “objects” within the structure of the composition. Juste judex ultionis.Cuncta stricte discussurus! Liber scriptus proferetur. Quidquid latet apparebit: Nil inultum remanebit. Unde mundus judicetur. Donum fac remissionis ante diem rationis. In quo totum continetur. “Hell” 100 . (Judex ergo cum se-)debit. Hieronymus Bosch. above all. “is to be recited with great force. spargens sonum” are to be recited molto vehemente and presto. even syllabically. oracular. Then the mezzo soprano enters sinistro and minaccioso with the “Tuba mirum”.”173 A third level in the “Dies Irae” consists of the lines that are to be articulated clearly: the “Mors stupebit et natura / cum resurget creatura” and the “Rex tremendae majestatis / qui salvandos salvas gratis. dramatic. Typical for them is. Hocket. who invite comparison with the soliloquists of the Baroque passion.” Shock-like effects follow one on the heels of the other over large stretches of the “Dies Irae. moreover.” Unexpected turns stun the listener and keep him in constant suspense. the sequence of. Large intervals. With stupebit follows the actual sotto voce. like a strongly breathed. “-rum. After a relatively brief but quite intense crescendo. the text being at first mercilessly “chopped up”: while the syllables “Tuba mi-” are held long. the section closes in fourfold forte. the remaining syllables. to begin with. a soprano and a mezzo. and what a degree of complexity does the treatment of the language attain to! The “Mors stupebit”. he pointed out that “the especially dark and baleful sound” at this point was due above all to four trumpets in lowest register – “a sound color combination never tried out before. hoarse outcry. mystical adheres to both of these passages.A second layer in the “Dies Irae” is represented by the two female soloists. little tone). in part. extremely high and extremely low notes. “The word Mors”. trombones and tuba on the contraB-flat and the contra-A (m. superimposed by the intonation of the verses “coget omnes ante thronum”. Ligeti. Ligeti notes in the score. ffff. which are either uttered very fast and in haste (noteworthy here is the expression mark con paura [with dread. horns. jumbled. Yet how differently are the two passages shaped. frequent climaxes presaging evil. In a letter to Harald Kaufmann. by the way. 11).” In spite of the voicelessness (breathed = much air. fearfully] in mm. the text is to be clearly understandable. 84 and 107) or else held strikingly long. 79. with the last syllable of the word creatura to be pronounced voce ordinario. The abrupt change of register creates the impression of the music being “chopped” – a device faintly reminiscent of the medieval hocket. is to be recited pianissimo (first syllable sffpp) and sotto voce in a whispering tone. The “Mors stupebit” is. did not miss the opportunity of dramatizing the word “sonum” musically by means of fanfarelike runs of the brasses (trumpets. and both have in common the syllabic declamation of the text by the chorus. but even in the pp the whispering is to remain very intense. trombones and tuba). Ligeti’s notes on this stylistic/expressive level in the drafts read: “Solo: agitated.” Something impersonal. Thus the very hurried “speaking” of the first turba chorus issues in a long-held sharply dissonant dyad of the bassoons. whose melody is distributed 101 . we come upon the muted part of the sketches: a relatively short passage of muted strings. The concluding “Lacrimosa”. Lacrimosa. quasi lontano (from afar) and “restrained. is scored only for the two soloists and for an orchestra reduced to chamber-music dimension. at the “recordare. Ligeti made the following notes for this movement: After the great tutti. A fourth level of style and expression. Bit by bit the volume then decreases.” With this passage. functioning as an epilogue. purification. Whereas the “salve me” begin in a fourfold piano and rises up to threefold forte. the firmer one’s impression grows that its unique drama results from the intensity of the contrasts and from the recurring alternation between the stylistic and expressive levels I have described. Possibly to be grouped according to timbres: low drums (or bass drum) trombones. the “Oro supplex” is to be recited ppp sempre. transition to a weak swinging (1-3. But with the last two syllables (“gratis”). The chorus falls silent. 102 . the chorus intones the word “Rex” “with full force” and “quasi shouting” in fourfold forte. two piccolos and a flute join “softly. The more attentively one listens to the movement. two soloists are by themselves again. a vacuum. then faint fl[ute]. Low. fons pietatis!” and the “Oro supplex et acclinis / cor contritum quasi crinis. is constituted by passages worked according to the polyphonic web technique. wide-spanned melodic lines. 1-2). / gere curam mei finis – two widely separated.” This sound image evokes “emptiness”. As a kind of counterpoint to this very differentiated scanning. the “Dies Irae” ends. muted part procession or chorale (episode). In his sketches. A close look at the score will reveal that many of these ideas were realized. cl[arinet] or something comparable) 2 solos.syllable by syllable over diverse voices – an impressive example of both polytexture and splitting up. the voice is to nearly fade away (whispering tone). prayer-like passages assigned to the twelvevoice women’s chorus. horns and tubas (W[agner]-tuba and cb [contrabass]-tuba). Later. finally. At the start. Thus the movement commences with a pedal point of three double basses on the low C-sharp. Dreamlike transformation of the complicated masses. the soprano soloist initially recites the “Quid sum miser” in an extremely “choppy” manner – as being in great terror – and then. calm. over an indifferent emptiness (initially without accompaniment. Even later (at letter F).” describes zigzag-like. The “Rex tremendae majestatis” follows a very different course. For the words “qui salvandos salvas” sotto voce poco a poco is prescribed. I am referring to the “salve me. Our discussion of the relation between language and music in the Requiem has shown that. the several clearly articulated text fragments – the words “Domine. moves entirely on the piano level. Bloch cited the requiem masses by Mozart. of death. Ligeti turned to other projects: in December of 1965. but shock and consternation. which had a profound understanding of Ends. Even so. Cherubini. anxiety and dismay. Lux aeterna of 1966 is again a corner-stone in my work. exaudi orationem meam” in the “Introitus” and the “Mors stupebit” and “Rex tremendae majestatis” in the “Dies Irae” – act like signals evoking associations of existential exigency. the far simpler relations of the “Lacrimosa” are particularly striking. Especially the communio of the funeral 103 . Ligeti shared a further piece of information that deserves our attention He indicated that there were considerable similarities between the “Dies Irae” of the Requiem and his opera Le Grand Macabre. The movement therefore. the mode of composing in ‘total chromaticism’ has been transcended. horror. man’s fear of the end being the subject of both works – except that in Le Grand Macabre the theme was treated in an ironic manner. the music is able to translate the gesture of the language and to communicate very suggestively diverse psychic states such as supplication.Compared with the “Kyrie” and the “Dies Irae”. which is dipped in delicate tints. not aesthetic pleasure.”175 “With this piece. he was able to complete the Nouvelles Aventures. Ligeti regarded the latter as an act of purification. 2.174 To support his thesis.7 Lux aeterna “Like Apparitions in 1958. judgment and prayer. the parts of the mass that he had not composed seem to have continued to occupy him. Berlioz and Verdi. Although for nearly two centuries the ecclesiastical text of death and damnation has no longer been believed by most people. the text is unintelligible. apart from some passages. In addition. Ernst Bloch said of the music of the great requiem settings that it procured. 1965). In the previously cited lecture at the Hamburg Music Academy. To this illustrious company one will be permitted to add also Ligeti’s Requiem. it continued to be alive in the music. Particularly characteristic of the conception is that fact that the litany-like duet of the soloists repeatedly issues in pure consonances: perfect fifths and perfect octaves. he noted.”176 After the completion of the Requiem in January of 1965 (the world premiere of this monumental work took place in Stockholm on March 14. Even so. in turn. In July and early August of 1966. canonic formations containing clusters develop. viewed harmonically. opening up a new harmonic dimension for his music. as a prototypical work. it becomes clear that. FS 7 Lux aeterna: Ligeti’s construction plan (first publication) In his introduction to the piece. Ligeti spoke of “harmonic” sound complexes and more or less chromatically “muddied” sound expanses and commented: One could compare this process to a stage set that at first is clear to sight in all its details.” Importantly. he regarded Lux aeterna. form clusters. along with canonically worked portions. after a long time. Listening to the piece. In this work he succeeded in overcoming the chromaticism and the counterpoint reigning in the “Kyrie eleison” of his Requiem and in once again. however. Lux aeterna represents not only a new but an important step in Ligeti’s compositional development. from which. When Clytus Gottwald made him an offer to write a piece for the Stuttgart Schola Cantorum. until finally the set itself has become invisible. An original technique of transformation is at work here: from complexly fashioned canonic parts. he did not hesitate long. also in view of Lontano. these so very different parts are not simply juxtaposed but flow into each other.mass and the idea of the “eternal light” expressed in it must have affected him.177 In studying the work. one obtains the impression that diffuse sound images alternate with harmonically smooth expanses: clustercontaining material morphs into consonance-like harmonies and vice versa. by and by stationary sounds crystallize out. there are homophonically conceived passages. Because of this innovation. which Ligeti called “stationary” sounds or “harmonies. he wrote the Lux aeterna for sixteen-voice a cappella chorus. which. and the contours of the set become indistinct. 104 . but then a mist arises. . we should note 105 . 37-41 Domine invocation of bass falsetto (quasi eco) Section II Mm. the mist having dissipated. 39-61 Complex of male voices Section III Mm. which here is published for the first time (Facsimile 7). is Ligeti’s construction plan. Lux aeterna has been discussed repeatedly. If we ask why he would resort to the most perfect consonance in a composition that has nothing in common with tonal music. Perhaps because it is one of Ligeti’s most popular pieces.then the fog dissolves. however. is that in three places (mm. 90-119 Female and male voices. at the end only alto voices Mm. each of which commences with a canon.179 Of fundamental relevance for any analysis. then from m. Formally. 1-37 Female voice complex mm. however. the beginning of the new canon and the “stationary” sound coincide. the piece actually divides into four parts. Upon close inspection. 61-90 Tutti. 87-92 second Domine invocation Section IV Mm. 61 ff. Visual ideas are thus likely to have played a role in the conception of this iridescent piece. At the start of the third part (exactly in the middle of the composition). Brightness and clouding are optical associations that will occur also to the listener. new contours emerge at first only in vague outlines. and 94 ff. until. The following rough formal division may facilitate a first orientation: Section I mm. to begin with. a new image appears178.) Ligeti uses octaves. 24-37 a1-a2 held by the sopranos and tenors: luceat mm. which is then followed by a “stationary” sound. 24 ff. 80 male voices only Mm. What is striking. the ten sections into which it is divided reveal themselves as marking the various tonal fields. 94-102 b1-b2 held by sopranos and tenors: luceat The stationary sounds deserve our special attention because they serve as formal piers that clarify the overall course of the work. the decisive factor for Ligeti was his poetico-musical conception: the vision of the changeable light. in two nearly identical halves.). held that the Lux aeterna. which consists of 119 bars. and of course for all the 106 . 94 ff. withdrawn. and the third-second sound f#1-a1b1 of the first part (m. 100). in terms of dogma and liturgy. between which numerous symmetries obtain.the high pitch of the tone in two of the places and its brightening quality: the word luceat is thereby underlined semantically. and that goes for the keyboard works as well as for the chamber music. Quasi-consonantal in effect in this environment are also the thirds-seconds sounds f#1-a1-b1 (m. 87.”182 Ligeti commanded a profound knowledge of the tonal and technical peculiarities of individual instruments. All of his instrumental works are suitable to the instruments used in both conception and execution. 94-102) and g1-bb1-c2 (m. 24 ff. not. indeed. an even higher exclamation corresponds in part II (mm. 37) recurs in the second. yet in terms of its text. “like all works aimed at autonomy”. to the highly pitched luceat in Part I (mm. b2-a2-f#2 (mm.181 In my view.”180 Hans Michael Beuerle. by contrast.). except transposed an octave higher (m. 61 divides the piece. 2. 37-41 and 87-92). 61).” “as a curtain that. Several things in this context are worth noting: the piece begins on the note f1 and closes on the dyad f/g. Ligeti’s very informative construction plan also helps us to realize that the suddenly entering tutti sound in m. was “affirmative”. in both parts a Domine invocation occurs in the form of a stationary sound (mm. Clytus Gottwald interpreted the work in light of Dieter Schnebel’s call for a “negative sacred music” demanded by our time.8 Continuum “As Maurits Escher sought the illusion of a non-existing perspective. as well as the related second-third sound e-g-a in m. It is indicative that the composition is kept throughout in the piano and pianissimo sphere. Opinions are divided on the meaning of the Lux aeterna. so I seek the illusion of unplayed rhythmic structures. and thought that the eternal light in the piece appeared as “vanishing. that of suffering. 37). from the first note (or notes) to the final sound. but for the most part shining rather dimly. opens the view to the true eternity. occasionally flashing up. without there being any question of an exact mirror-symmetric disposition. The quasi-stenographic notation of the canonic parts with the conspicuous arrow-like lines indicates the gradual formation of the clusters. The differentiation of the music is achieved not by dynamic means but by the spatial disposition of the sound and by the unique fluctuation of the harmony. The piece was initially conceived with four seconds for 48 = 3 x 16 strokes (thus 12 strokes per second) in mind. It is very likely that in settling on the definitive title Ligeti had this mathematical concept in mind: in the quoted letter to Nordwall he compares the plucking of the strings to “points” that fuse into lines. The remark not only is important for the recital but also provides insight into the conception and character of the piece. composed in January of 1968. The correct tempo will have been attained if the piece (without the final pause) takes less than four minutes. To be played very evenly without any articulation. In the printed edition. latent caesuras enable one to detect a division into four parts:185 107 . and Ligeti in fact initially thought of entitling the piece “Mechanismus” but then called it Continuum. but Ligeti wrote to Nordwall: “The sounding together of the strings (direction: key to be left depressed until the same finger is needed again) creates the impression of continuity. About his Continuum. he wrote to his friend Ove Nordwall in February that “technically” it was “invented entirely from the possibilities of the harpsichord” and was to be played on two manuals in the same position183. Both there and in the printed edition the orienting “bars” comprise 16 notes (strokes) each.” This direction was suppressed in the edition.”184 Ligeti’s calculations as to the length of play in the sketches are instructive. In a listener coming from traditional music and hearing the piece for the first time. In any event. Continuum has no rests or breaks. The sketches indeed include the note “like a precision mechanism”. The vertical dotted lines are not bar lines (there is no beat or meter) but only serve for orientation. Nevertheless.concertos. such as a line or a circle. A continuum in mathematics is a continuous geometric construct created by the connection of numerous points. Continuum might create the impression of a perpetuum mobile.” To attain that. the pianist must manage to play 14 strokes per second. Accordingly the duration of the piece was to be 4’32”. Ligeti writes about the piece: Prestissimo = extremely fast so that the individual notes are hardly perceptible any longer but fuse into a continuum. The sketch also has the note: “The legato comes about in that the keys remain depressed during the next notes and [are] let up only when necessary for the new [?] stroke. it represents the type of “mechanical” music. The definitive direction prescribes an even shorter recital length: “less than four minutes. in mm. As one can see. 15/16. In mm. a three-note figure (right) is combined with a four-note one (left). the same figure is played by both hands but in quasi canonic displacement (Ex. 17. There are passages where both hands concurrently play figures of two. 14). 15). 153-204 While the first two parts make a rather static impression in spite of the uninterrupted figuration.with a five-note one (Ex. 92-152 fourth part mm. 218-20. the left a two-note figure. but in a characteristically off-set manner. four. Beginning with Continuum. which are played on both manuals. the right hand plays a three-note. the notation is grid-like. 1-56 second part mm. a four.first part mm. three. In m. The principle according to which the piece is constructed is that of an ostinato repetition and gradual transformation of figures comprising from two to eight notes. the third part is dynamically agitated: the two hands begin in the middle position and move quasi chromatically in opposite directions. 108 . 57-91 third part mm. and in mm. For example. Ligeti distanced himself from his micropolyphony and its highly complex rhythmic structures and gives artistic expression to a different idea: that of a simple and uniform rhythm. 13/14.” Ex. in a number of places. 14 Continuum: Grid superimposition For a different example. threenote figures appear in both voices. six or eight notes. and others where figures of different length are counterpointed. five. and in fact Ligeti called the technique of the simultaneous combination of differently structured figures “Gitterüberlagerung” or “grid superimposition. The last part stays in the highest register and ends abruptly. Escher.186 M. detail: (re Ligeti’s aesthetics of the illusionary) 109 . with geometric and arithmetic divisions. nets. “Upstairs and downstairs”. grids – they resemble his way of working. but in terms of his ideas and their executions he is akin to me. C. But I found patterns of rhythmic illusion long before I ever knew Escher – already in my piece for a hundred metronomes or in Continuum (1968). As he sought the illusion of non-existing perspectives. so I seek the illusion of not-played rhythmic structures. 15 Continuum: Grid superimposition Ligeti professed an aesthetic of the illusionary: he had a soft spot for deceptions.Ex. My way of working with constructions that yet are not mathematics. both in visual art and in music. He prized the prints of Maurits Cornelis Escher above all on account of their optical deceptions. He once observed about this artist: Aesthetically. I do not even regard him as so great an artist. on the other hand. Like Lux aeterna. Zimmermann.”187 Thus the motion in mm.9 New Conceptions of the Concertante: Notes on the Cello Concerto “The entire construction of the music.” Even so he spoke of the undiminished “fascination” emanating “from the instrumentalist and his play.190 Bernd Alois Zimmermann articulated the view of many of his fellow composers when he wrote that in concert pieces of the ‘sixties there should be no longer any question of concertare. it would be no exaggeration to say. there are others that are oriented on serialism or sound composition (Klangkomposition). is shaped in a concertante manner. Even the tricky polyrhythmics and polymetrics of the Piano Etudes. densely structured clusters. which. Continuum is a key work for Ligeti’s compositional development. the impression of an “ideal” motion often makes itself felt. one will find numerous variants of the genre: next to concertos that revive Baroque practices and those that pay homage to Romantic or neoRomantic ideals. No less remarkable is the fact that. and not least from his instrument. he set great store by a clear understanding that the piece was not in keeping with the Romantic type of the symphonic concerto. Ligeti may have been quite surprised when he read Gerhard Kubik’s account of inherent tonal sequences and melodies in Central-Africa music. formed of the high crest notes g2 – g#2 – a2 – a#2 – b2 – c#3 flash up. Neither should the concerto character of the piece be 110 .”189 Looking over the repertoire of instrumental concerti composed in the 20th century. In a commentary. while the corresponding counter-motion in the bass suggests a melody formed of the low keel notes f – e – eb – d – c#. despite the extreme speed. 2. along with the real motion. are rudimentarily preformed already in the Continuum.188 since numerous such patterns are concealed in his own harpsichord piece. in Ligeti’s words. The direction he entered upon with this piece he continued to pursue in subsequent compositions for the piano.Continuum indeed yields impressive examples of acoustic deceptions.” In conceiving his cello concerto. had had “a stronger mutual pervasion of the former opponents” (soloist and orchestra) in mind. One illusionary effect is the manner in which motion. of any “contest of the soloist or soloists for the palm of virtuosity. for example in the second of the Three Pieces for Two Pianos of 1976. seems to pass over into stasis: in several places one seems to hear slowly changing. 125-149 lets the “ideal melody”.191 Ligeti wrote his much-played Cello Concerto between July and December of 1966 for Siegfried Palm. he. like two billowing motions that are alternately coincident with and displaced against each other. “results from the tonal superposition. to be sure. There is in fact nothing pompous and nothing conventionally affirmative about Ligeti’s Cello Concerto.” He thought it important to state that the concertante character permeated “the entire construction of the music. The piece is “poetic” music through and through. all but endlessly held note of the solo cello (its entrance is to be “inaudible”. On the soloist’s “whisper cadence”. beyond that. 1967. Some interjections in three.192 The premiere took place in Berlin on April 19. a player of less skill than Siegfried Palm would have to despair before such a parade of finger-technical. it also stands out in virtuoso voice-leading as concertante principal instrument. We see a man evidently performing trapeze acts of cello play without his efforts becoming really audible.193 This impression is apt to arise if one associates concerts with an expectation of a music of maximal bravura and occasional noisiness. with which the work closes. becomes the pedestal for a monument of the most cunning virtuosity.or even fourfold forte do occur in the second movement. Thus the work opens with an extremely soft. Ligeti remarked in the score (p. but they strike one as somehow exterritorial: the piano level dominates here as well. Both beginnings and conclusions of its two movements are altogether unusual. a murmuring. with the solo cello steadily serving as the foundation of the varying instrumental combinations. he defined the relation between soloist and orchestra as follows: Ever new instrumental groupings continue to reticulate the motions. Some of the attending critics wondered about the conspicuous disproportion between the enormous difficulty of the work and the acoustic result. intonational and dynamic artistry. In the first movement that sphere is practically never left. whisper-like music is the mark of the Cello Concerto.” However. Whispering. Yet his feats are built into the total sound in such a way as to stand out very little. Its domain is the piano and pianissimo sphere.interpreted “as though the solo cello and the orchestra were two separate units confronting each other in competition and contrast. although its unity with the orchestral happening remains always in effect. 48): “sempre prestissimo. Thus Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt opined: The solo cello. quasi perpetuum mobile (no 111 . “as if coming out of nothingness”). and it closes with a highly original “whisper cadence” that disappears back into nothingness. The music often conveys the impression of coming from far away. various pitches to be stopped on strings III and IV. independently also of the other instruments.194 The following passage from a letter to Ove Nordwall of February 7. A bisbigliando is explicitly prescribed twice for the harp: once in the first movement (mm. depending on the playing technique. the hornist. especially in the second movement. 18-20). he wrote. 37/38). 44-49). virtuosity is nowhere flaunted. tremolando. On p. whereas the remaining 26 sections formed the second. have a whispering effect. He added that the music of the first movement was akin to the Atmosphères-Volumina-Lux aeterna type. with the rhythm of the figures not having to be absolutely even but. such as the trombonist. Ligeti was influenced by Alban Berg. the figures are played independently of the meter and the bar limits. Ligeti tells Nordwall that the concerto was originally planned as a single movement and divided into 27 seamlessly merging sections. quasi flitting away. and once in the second (mm. And. the bassoonist. whereas in the 26 sections of the second movement he thought he could detect “instrumental” Aventures. as well as to the “Lacrimosa” from the Requiem. however. the form changed: one of the sections became independent and now formed the first. of course. but after their entrance. 112 . At the same time. All of the instrumentalists are treated like soloists – the cello soloist is only primus inter pares – and all have to contend with exorbitant technical difficulties.” Numerous passages in the second movement. but to be played tonelessly. the work’s chamber music-like character is prominent throughout. find traces of my preoccupation with Alban Berg (although the music itself has hardly anything to do with Berg. however. where virtuoso play is foregrounded. 1967. small rhythmic irregularities being permitted to occur. the score has the following remark: The entrances of the figures are metrically fixed.196 An outstanding trait of the Cello Concerto is its transparency. Cadence-like figurations are given not only to the cello soloist but also to other instrumentalists. slow movement. more than hitherto. the trumpeter and finally the double basssist (2nd movement. In composing. in which the instrumentalists execute sixteenths and thirty-seconds figurations pianissimo.” 195 In the same letter.slowing down to the end!). There are indications that in conceiving his whisper-like music. trilland flautando-like passages likewise contribute to the whispering effect. 32. clearly refers to that: “In the instrumentation you will. certainly it lacks any kind of pathos or romanticism […]. as fast as possible. who in the Allegro misterioso of his Lyric Suite of 1925/26 had created an archetype of this genre. mm. mechanically precise” ones (mm. these “wild” eruptions are followed by retarding sections that are “mechanically precise. the above-mentioned repeated alternation between “wild”. in the first movement. however (as in mm. 113 . the quasi-ethereal flageolet passage (mm. 28-33).197 and in the second movement. and the suggestive sound image of the vacuum (mm. 36 ff.” A listener interested in the specifics of Ligeti’s tonal language of the ‘sixties will discover several characteristics in the Cello Concerto. These. although everything is notated down to the last detail. to name only a few. 49-54). 50-66). extremely forceful stretches and indifferent.).54-63) of which we spoke earlier. include. Each time. 50-57 of the second movement). the abruptly entering five-octave unison of the strings (mm. 57-66). and that in some places the players seem to lose their self-control and to break out into playing “wild” (first in mm. and finally the prescribed “absolute silence” at the end. 1-8 and 28-30). the technique of the strongly interferential mobile clusters (mm. the “cystoscopic” accumulation of dissonances in a high register (mm.A further important aspect of the work’s conception is that most of the virtuoso and capriccioso passages seem like improvisations. that is. more and more ramified and interwoven with each other. they add up to a selfcontained. which then unfolds in the direction of increasing complexity. The following remarks take it into account but are primarily the results of analysis. 1976. yet the forming processes are not static or open. unmistakable expression. these three pieces. the givens of the piano and of the hands are incorporated into the music. There are correspondences. I propose the terms unfolding form or motion form for this sort of forms: specific types of motion are steadily transformed. which bear suggestive titles.10 On the Three Pieces for Two Pianos “The three pieces are connected. All three begin with the exposition of a relatively simple musical idea. however.”198 Among Ligeti’s compositions. they were premiered in Cologne on May 15. in the construction of the individual pieces. the Three Pieces for Two Pianos stand out in terms of both bulk and weight. They are not genuine developmental forms. the procedure of modifying microstructures and motion types so slowly that the impression of continuity is created in the listener. if loosely joined whole. which was repeatedly reprinted. the pieces have very little to do with the traditional piano music – only in the third piece are there some allusions to Schumannesque and Brahmsian Romanticism). as in Scarlatti. are as different as imaginable in character. and the formal construction is self-contained. The composer furnished them with an introduction. there are relations. a motive-thematic conception is altogether lacking. either: they have a clear direction. analogies and commonalities between them: each one represents a manifestation of that original formal idea for which Ligeti proposed the terms “Entfaltungsform” or “Bewegungsform” (unfolding or motion form).” “The playing is done exclusively on the keys. Like the Continuum. The idea is connected with the “weaving technique” so immensely characteristic of Ligeti’s music. too. 114 . are invented out of the “spirit” of the instrument: Ligeti utilizes several tonal possibilities resulting from the interplay of two pianos. At the same time. Each is based on its own structural idea. Written between February and April of 1976 for the Brothers Kontarsky. Schumann. Chopin (this solely from a pianistic point of view: stylistically. The three pieces. and each harbors a specific. quasi formal rhymes.2. The piece evokes a spatial illusion as well as the impression of hammering. p and pp. He had also. but always in such a way that one can follow the “wandering” of the ff). p. In 1972 Ligeti became acquainted with the music of the American “minimalists” Steve Reich and Terry Riley. These dynamic levels are fixed. mp. In close succession and abruptly. but for the listener all the ff’s appear as one layer. all the way to the “hindmost” pp layer. too). Besides the dynamic differentiation.” In his introduction. there are neither crescendos nor diminuendos. which is repeated thirteen times at regular intervals. the music appears as if it were three-dimensional. He recognized analogies in it to his own earlier pieces (especially Continuum) and reacted by deliberately working with elements of minimalist music in his Clocks and Clouds of 1973. there are only two levels of volume: ff and f. pp. The first piano begins with an octave sound. which is repeated in diverse rhythms and is then expanded to a three-note cell. f. At the start of the piece. the rhythmic one likewise plays a prominent role. utilized the technique of key blocking developed by KarlErik Welin and Henning Siedentopf and further developed it into “mobile key blocking”: “one hand depresses the keys soundlessly and in changing se115 . the second in sixeighth time and the cells are constantly rhythmicized in new ways. but as it progresses. etc. all f’s as a second layer (lying quasi behind it). other levels or layers are added: mf.. Thus “Monument” resembles a study in martellato.About the first piece (”Monument”) Ligeti stated that the “principal technical task” in it was the differentiation of the dynamic values. It is followed by a two-note cell. The points of contact with the two composers are even more obvious in the second of the Three Pieces for Two Pianos. the pianists play ff. Ligeti stated that he here melded techniques developed by Reich and Riley with his own procedures of the “grid superimposition” and the “oversaturated” canon. he said. which bears the self-ironic title “Self-portrait with Reich and Riley (and Chopin is in it. is linked to two specific recurrent pitches (these pitches then change in time. Since the first pianist plays in four-fourth. In a precise realization of the dynamic differentiation. so that at length constantly changing six-tone fields are presented by the two pianos. The second piano enters later and “imitates” what the first is playing on different degrees. in ever changing permutation. and the different layers are simultaneously present: the ff. etc. like a hologram standing in an imaginary space. for example. the same goes for the f. building and growing. This spatial illusion lends a stationary. immobile character (= Monument) to the music. mp. the result is the most intricate polyrhythm imaginable. The constructive idea of the third. the play then morphing into one in phase displacement. If we connect these indications with the results of our analysis. thereby producing novel rhythmic configurations.” 116 . while referring to the grid superimposition as a technique characteristic of himself. 35 (1939). In the second part of the triple “Portrait” (“spirited. which produce the impression of pulsation. How are we to take the title? In his introduction. piece is the gradual expansion of the pitch range: both pieces begin in the middle region and “then grow in the direction of the high and low registers. the other hand plays both on the sounding and on the momentarily blocked keys. The appearance of the notation is grid-like. but successively. In the first. energetic”). which is marked Presto: as fast and evenly as possible. gradually transformed. at first in descending direction. The rhythm of this part is capricious. The sense of allusion follows from the type of motion and the aura of the eminently pianistic.” Of fundamental relevance to the construction are figures of between two and thirteen notes. which are repeated several times and gradually transformed. Ligeti used this technique of the “grid superimposition” also in the harpsichord piece Continuum and in the pizzicato movement of the Second String Quartet. The fourth part is mostly marked by a uniform triplet motion in unison and in pp. Each figure complex is distinguished by simple. scintillation and oscillation. The part of the second piano has the marking Quasi eco. The first 30 bars are to be recited piano and a tempo. with occasional sudden brief bursts of fast fff play.. the second and third part as homages to Reich and Riley respectively and the fourth part as an allusion to the famous presto of Chopin’s Sonata in B minor op. both pianists play quasi arpeggioed tone figures.quence. i.e. is clearly divided into four part. In the third piece (In gently flowing motion). which are repeated several times. in imitation. we will realize that the first part of the piece is conceived by Ligeti as a selfportrait. But the “superimposition” of the figures in both pianos results in complex. Ligeti places his techniques of phase displacement and pattern repetition in direct relation to Reich and to Riley. Then the motion waxes into an accelerando and a crescendo that swells to a five-fold forte. later in contrary motion. superimposed upon each other and played in phase displacement. irregular rhythmic entities. the pianists simultaneously play similar but differently structured figures. as of the first. the phase displacement technique is applied: the pianists play the same figures. Longerheld notes form cantabile melodies in the upper voices (an allusion to Schumannesque and Brahmsian Romanticism). At the start of the third part (impetuoso). the pianists take turns playing the same or similar figures. The piece. A brief canon (cantabile) appears at the end as a counterpoint to the figures. regular pulses. Some authorities have placed it in the vicinity of the theater of the absurd. The musical texture was not to be symphonic: the musico-dramatic conception is to be worlds away from the region of Wagner-Strauss-Berg. I wanted to get away from the operatic ideal of the 19th century as well as from the anti-opera of the recent past. wholly crazy: the novelty of this kind of music theater was to manifest itself. by the music. Action. to Falstaff. at times coarse. characters should be brought to life by the music. not in the externalities of the production. Ligeti had the idea in mind of writing a piece for the Stockholm Opera. terse. comic-like musical and dramatic action: characters and stage situations should be direct. 2. of the carnival and suburbs theater. The Grand Macabre is more nearly in the tradition of the medieval dance of death. the third concludes with a chorale. the imaginary country of his childhood. however. drastic. non-psychological and stunning – the contrary of the literary opera. one that is composed as an eight-part mirror canon and dies away into pianissimo. one should not hesitate to call it in fact a key work. situation. not even the tradition of avantgardism. Already Ghelderode’s play was close to Jarry’s Ubu Roi: it was the immediately grabbing/gripping effect of Jarry’s manner that I tried to realize in music. In 1969. Atmosphères and the Requiem.11 Mad World Theater: Le Grand Macabre “I held on to the idea of a hyper-colorful. something Göran Gentele. Considering that the opera opens an access to his intellectual-spiritual world. Ligeti at first thought of some kind of opera with the title “Kilviria”.”199 “Music and language of my opera are direct. is that in spite of all its absurdities and all its “crazinesses”. he draft117 .201 A decisive factor for any interpretation. of the mystery play and the Punch and Judy show. nonpsychological. had asked him for. but in the interior of the music. stage events and music should be dangerously bizarre. to the Barber. Closer to Poppea. to his entire thinking and his conception of art. Ever since 1965.But whereas the motion in the first piece (as well as in the second) “oozes away” into nothingness. wholly exaggerated. yet different.”200 Along with Apparitions. general manager of the Stockholm Opera. the opera conveys a whole series of messages that can be more or less precisely formulated. not really linked to any tradition. the opera Le Grand Macabre is a central work of Ligeti’s creative middle period. babyish Prince Go-Go. however.”204 A first libretto version that Meschke presented already by the end of March 1973 was not yet concentrated enough for Ligeti. Astramadors has to sweep the floor. “This play”. but dropped the plan when. until it had the shape that satisfied him. but still sensuous. making countless major changes in Meschke’s text in the process. one ruled over by the gluttonous. the stage designer Aliute Meczies late in 1972 remembered Michel de Ghelderode’s La Balade du Grand Macabre of 1934. do not at all differ in their outlook. 1977. at the Royal Opera of Stockholm. altogether exaggeratedly terrifying and yet not really dangerous Last Judgment. yet happily thriving world of booze and whoredom of the imaginary ‘Breughelland’”. All the more efficient is the reign of terror perpetrated in the house of the court astrologer by his dreadful wife Mescalina. wash the dishes. darn the socks. a play about the imminent end of the world and man’s creaturely fear of death. Here is Ligeti’s own synopsis of the plot: The action of the opera takes place in the totally run-down yet happygo-lucky thriving principality of Breughelland. who. which Ligeti then versified and improved rhythmically. he remarked later. His ideas now circled about another subject. the last page of the score was finished in clean copy.205 It is impossible to discuss either the genre and character of the opera or the composer’s intentions without having the action clearly in mind. like a puppet play. “some tragic-comic. Ligeti’s collaborator. the White and the Black. he started on the composition in December of the same year.” In searching for such a subject. the broken. that the ironic pathos of Ghelderode’s language was poorly suited to being set to music and thus asked Michael Meschke. non-psychological. The premiere of the opera took place on April 12. the stage director and manager of the Stockholm Marionette Theater.ed a mythological libretto on the Oedipus story. 1978. the leaders of the two mutually hostile parties. to write a libretto in the manner of Alfred Jarry: “very terse. Death as a hero who in reality is perhaps only a petty juggler and charlatan. in July of 1972. very direct. and hardly has any 118 . The prince is tyrannized by his two corrupt ministers. however. The work took two-and-a-half years to complete: by the end of April. Thus the business of the state is conducted in a thoroughly muddled fashion.202 After reading the Balade. So Meschke produced a second version in the summer. Ligeti was instantly electrified. he heard of Gentele’s lethal accident in Sardinia.203 He instantly realized. After some preparatory sketching in the summer of 1974. “was as if made for my musical-dramatic conceptions: an apocalypse that then does not really take place. and his mission only empty phrases.time for his real occupation of star-gazing. In their intoxication. a dark. sure of victory. Everybody is still alive. He swiftly calculates the collision course of the celestial body and realizes that the comet will devastate our planet still today. the Breughellanders think they are already in heaven. But if he was only an arrogant charlatan. and Earth equals the Kingdom of Heaven: the Last Judgment has taken place. a sinister. the Grand Macabre. When. the Grand Macabre. In darkly magnificent pomp. he enters the princely palace and there. demagogic figure with an unshakable sense of mission. then life goes on as usual: Everybody dies someday. then Death is now dead. exactly at midnight. but not today. with the aid of the comet. but it gradually becomes apparent that in heaven everything happens exactly as it does on earth. shady. But he gets caught up in the vortex of the all-too mundane life of the Breughellanders and is inebriated so thoroughly by the court astrologer and his boon companion Piet-vom-Fass [of the Vat] that by the time midnight rings out he is so drunk that the lofty gesture with which he announces the end of the world falls totally flat. only Nekrotzar. he spots a comet that is rushing toward Earth. false Messiah. not right away. dies of grief at having missed his hallowed aim. come to Breughelland to wipe out. He claims to be Death himself. The main actor of the opera is Nekrotzar. If he was indeed Death. the entire population. he does reach for his telescope. eternal life has thus set in. regimented by Mescalina. proclaims his apocalyptic threats.206 “Le Grand Macabre”: Amando 119 . and therewith the world as a whole. here. the false Messiah? – (Stockholm. The opera was designed as a kind of hugely magnified bar form. too. he said. great crescendo. followed by the entrance of Piet-vom-Faß and later of Nekrotzar. a juggler. Second scene: another idyll. although this time malicious. While the first three scenes were comparable to stollen. one needed to proceed from its overall form. To get to know the work better. between Mescalina and her Astradamors. 1978) In a conversation with Hermann Sabbe. crowned by the arrival of Nekrotzar accompanied 120 . All three stollen had in common that they issue in progressively surpassing crescendos. First scene: idyll between the two lovers Amado and Amanda. the much shorter fourth scene functioned as abgesang.Le Grand Macabre – Nekrotzar: death. Ligeti provided some pointers for a deeper understanding of the work. Its principle. of the mystery play and the Punch-and-Judy show. Ligeti derived impulses both from literature (Franz Kafka. too. False Latin. that owes much to pop art and. A number of vulgar turns of phrase in Ligeti’s piece. out-of-context quotations. Alfred Jarry and Boris Vian). the gluttonous and babyish Prince Go-Go. was a strangely iridescent ambiguity. an idyll leading to the most dramatic of the crescendos. making fun of serious things. distortions and 121 .207 On the surface. the wellknown stage play Ubu roi (King Ubu) of the French writer Alfred Jarry (18731907). by ridiculing. was the defeat of fear through defamiliarization or alienation (Verfremdung) – fear being the fear of death and of the end generally. pseudo-quotations. Verfremdung is indeed one of the leading principles of the work. to be sure. who succeeds in usurping the Polish throne and to tyrannize the population with his selfish tax policy. First performed in Paris in 1886. Third scene: again idyll (or a variant of the idyll) in the throne room of Breughelland. is no tragicomedy in the ordinary sense. and greatly esteemed. were actually tragic at their deeper level. as Ligeti said. bears some resemblance to the primitive. forms the epilogue. gormandizing and power-obsessed Père Ubu. The fourth scene. were sponsored by corresponding turns in Jarry’s play. now accompanied by Piet and Astradamors. It is therefore all the more peculiar that he nearly always argued in a psychologizing manner when he talked of Le Grand Macabre.by Piet-vom-Faß. in the tradition of the medieval Dance of Death. A propos of Jarry in particular. the opera exhibits some tragicomic aspects. false rhymes. this time between the prince and his ministers. perhaps annoying to some viewers at first hearing.209 The ruler of Ligeti’s Breughelland. Fritz von HerzmanovskyOrlando. Fear could be overcome only by caricature. the entrance of Nekrotzar. The basic theme of the opera. Even the “stupid” texts. much more concentrated than in Ghelderode.208 Le Grand Macabre. In conceiving the work. but also the fear of human civilization being destroyed by atomic death. Ligeti was no real friend of psychoanalysis. is. and is regarded as a forerunner of the Theater of the Absurd. if anything. Ligeti said. and from the English pop art of Peter Blake. the comical deadly serious. Everything was constantly ambiguous: the serious was humorous. he thought. but a work that cannot be reduced to any cliché – an opera sui generis. was praised by Dadaists and Surrealists. Ligeti knew. It was very important to keep an ironic distance to things. cowardly. the play burlesques tyranny and the greed for power. as well as of the carnival and suburbs theater. from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Accordingly. travestying. Of special significance are his borrowings from the Apocalypse of St. he succumbs to intoxication and cannot carry out his work of annihilation – the fearful end of the world fails to occur. Ligeti. and naturally also about the musical setting. to begin with. During his third entrance. the grotesque and extreme irony are the most prominent earmarks of Le Grand Macabre. During the summer of 1974. a specific variant of the relation between the sexes is drastically burlesqued. the sado-masochistic altercation between Astramadors and Mescalina. Nekrotzar paraphrases the Dies Irae and misquotes from the Book of Revelations. In the second scene. coarse. like us?” 122 . at the latest. is included in the ironic process. He made so many changes in the original. as a kind of Cockaigne. Though certainly outfitted with numerous daemonic traits in the definitive version of the play. The third scene travesties the (totalitarian) state and the political system. the corrupt functionaries of the state and their fiscal policy. Ligeti began to worry about a definitive shape of the text. as is clear from his earliest notes. The bizarre. the court astrologer Astramadors poses the question in the concluding scene: “Was he Death. or perhaps only a mortal. Wellknown musical quotations are verfremdet by diverse changes. Love is reduced to the purely sexual: in Meschke’s libretto the lovers originally bore the “drastic” names Clitoria and Spermando. everything shows in distorted perspective. about stylistic details. everything is askew. that the final text differs substantially both from Ghelderode’s Balade and from Meschke’s libretto. John. too. Michael Meschke had completed the second version of the libretto on August 10. parodying. below). In the first scene. Meschke’s typescript contains numerous entries and marginal comments in Ligeti’s handwriting that permit inferences about the process of the play’s gestation (see Facsimiles 8 and 9.transmogrifications are the order of the day in it. Well-known things are twisted out of shape in ironic refraction. the only figure in the opera that really dies is Nekrotzar himself. the love relationship between Amando and Amanda is ironized. with the crude. the infantile potentate. The music frequently takes on the function of ironizing. 1973. Mescalina stands for the bestial side of man and for human cruelty. where roast chickens fly through the air and rivers flow with wine. from the Dies Irae and from Goethe’s Faust. vulgar and obscene approaching the nauseous. Nothing is in sync. frequently during the act of composing. the ludicrous.210 Death. burlesquing. imagined the imaginary Breughelland. Crazily enough. a “broken world” that knows no worries. bird chirping. bossa nova. codetermination. Heidegger jargon…” 123 .FS 8 Scene 3: “…tam tam. FS 9 Ligeti’s insertions into the stage directions of M. Amando and Amanda expound their idea of eternity in these terms: 124 . whether eternal life has already commenced or death still impends. The question remains open whether the Breughellanders are in heaven or on earth. Meschke’s libretto Nearly everything remains up in the air in the final scene: pure illusionism reigns at the end. After Nekrotzar has proclaimed his “evangel” that “all who are born are to die!” he orders Piet to bring him his paraphernalia from the grave. time stands quite still. If one does that. he had a colorful. even to Jacques Offenbach. to Bizet’s Carmen. An opera singer. since Meschke designed the scene between Prince Go-Go and his two ministers as a sequence of “accelerations. Richard Strauss and Alban Berg and rather closer to the Romance tradition of Monteverdi. The notion of a stretta in the manner of Rossini may well have fascinated Ligeti from the start.” But there are also allusions to the rhythm of the anvils in Wagner’s Rheingold in Ligeti’s notes. hahahaha! Nekrotzar: Yes! Actor. His musico-dramatic conception should be altogether remote from the German tradition of Richard Wagner. Thereupon Nekrotzar asks in Meschke’s version: Well? Who am I On the eternal world theater? Ligeti thought the passage needed to be elaborated and gave it the following form: Nekrotzar: Well? What do you say to that? Tell me. “altogether exaggerated” and “quite mad” music in mind that should be indebted to no tradition. “dangerously bizarre”. From the start. hahahaha! Actor – on the stage Of the great world theater! The emphatic reference to the “great world theater” at this point is especially noteworthy. Verdi and Rossini. In considering the genesis of the opera. Le Grand Macabre differs from German music drama also insofar as the texture of the music is not “symphonic” and lacks an elaborate system of leitmo125 . as well as to the stormy scene between Brünnhilde and Waltaute in Götterdämmerung. Besides eternity there then is nil. it is important to know that Ligeti developed concrete musical ideas concurrently with his work on the textbook.For the best that there can be Is to make love exhaustively. The earliest notes for the composition in fact include numerous references to Rossini and sporadic ones to Verdi’s Falstaff and Otello. Among Ligeti’s numerous interventions in Meschke’s text. who am I? Piet: Hm…an actor. The obedient Piet hands him the scythe and the trumpet and drapes a wrap that is studded with little bells around his shoulders. one deserves special mention. ich muss dich lassen” [O world. though it is a mere “allusion” rather than a quotation [Ex. At midnight dark Thou’lt die! (The tune of this “chorale”. which is altogether absent in Meschke. a chorus of “spirits” behind the stage intones – at first in a two-voiced version and a little later again in a four-voiced one – the following “chorale”: Doom is already nigh: Thou art in misery For Death comes certainly! Beware and hark. offered plenty of opportunities for cross-references – opportunities Ligeti knew how to use. Yet Ligeti did not want to do without leitmotiv-like linkages altogether.tifs. I have to leave you]. the theme common to the first three scenes. 16 “O Welt. for example. Toward the end of the first scene. Le Grand Macabre. piano score 56/57 (above) 126 . ich muss Dich lassen” (top). scene 1. Ex. upon Nekrotzar’s threat to mow the good and the bad down indiscriminately. 16)]). unmistakably echoes the Protestant chorale “O Welt. The approaching apocalypse. At the beginning of the grandiose entry (no. and lots of brasses. behind the stage. intones ffff always forzato the lines: Alas. sounds three times (nos. 17 Apocalyptic trumpet signal Then. the trumpets and the trombone blare out. in the third scene. o Prince. too. 17). 495 and 518). it exhibits the dodecaphonic form reproduced below (Ex. There is. first in a two-voiced version (no. with the two last notes repeating the first two. signal and alarm whistles. Ex. after the grand entrance of Nekrotzar and his words “For now is come the great day of wrath!” another (mixed) backstage chorus. five times at the door into the hall during Nekrotzar’s entrance – always in a different variant. A leitmotiv function can also be ascribed to the apocalyptic music given to Nekrotzar. 475) and then in a four-voiced one (no. in unison and five-fold forte. sirens. The music of the “heavenly trombones”. which in the first scene sounds three times. and woe! See our dreadful throe! We’re in distress.Then. diverse swanee. the signal of the bass trumpet. In order to give the music a woodcut-like character. 470). 457). during the intonation of the “spirit chorale” and then again. The mad world in which the action of Le Grand Macabre takes place can only be mirrored by an equally crazy tonal realm. 489. Ligeti deliber127 . Ligeti accordingly avails himself of an “abnormal” set of instruments. in the third scene. to begin with. the first two times following upon Nekrotzar’s apocalyptic proclamations. now representing the people of Breughelland. often played in extreme registers. a longer fanfare (no. warned of duress: Thy aid and comfort show! This renewed chorale-like intonation clearly recalls the earlier “spirit chorale” in scene 1 and connects thematically to it: what was prophesied in the first scene has now come to pass. which will be intoned twice more later on. The bass trumpet is only one of the many unusual instruments the score calls for: harmonica. 481). toward the end of the entry parade. Ligeti commented: “The denaturalized. but by twelve automobile horns. blissfully unaware. which is instrumented for six doorbells! In line with the crazy world of sound. “represent the lyrical elements: especially in the singing of the transfigured lovers Amando and Amanda. as a glance at the list of characters will show: Dramatis personae Chief of the Secret Political Police (Gepopo) [cf.vom-Fass Nekrotzar Astradamors Ruffiack [“ruffian”] Schobiack [“scoundrel”] Schabernack [“prankster”] White Minister Black Minister Coloratura soprano High soprano Soprano Mezzo soprano (trouser role) Boy soprano or high countertenor Dramatic mezzo soprano High buffo tenor Character baritone (demonic role) Bass Baritone Baritone Baritone Speaking part Speaking part The distribution of vocal types is often logical. The explanation may lie in the fact that in the palace scene in Ghelderode’s play a whistling. sleep together. in Nekrotzar’s tomb.”211 The prelude to the first scene is modeled on Monteverdi’s Toccata but is played. piebald 128 . not by trumpets. stiff sound of the car horns. it may seem odd that the role of the chief of the secret police should of all things be assigned to a coloratura soprano and that Ligeti endowed it with traits of a trilling. choking. a kind of malfunctioning brass section. clarinets and trombones. right through the supposed end of the world. By contrast.ately dispensed with the usual large string ensemble. “Gestapo”!] Venus Amanda Amando Prince Go-Go Mescalina Piet. fat and gluttonous Prince Go-Go should be cast as a high countertenor makes immediate sense. mixed with woodwinds and horns”. That the childish. he wrote.” No less “crazy” is the prelude to the third scene. signalizes the broken world of Breughelland. “15 solo strings. Ligeti evidently also set great store by casting the figures of the opera with the most diverse vocal types. chirping songbird. who. Within Ligeti’s oeuvre. Nekrotzar’s vocal part is distinguished above all by large.” In Ghelderode. is throughout lyrical in nature. The sense of his being a juggler. . the cultivation of certain contrapuntal forms. The aforementioned signal of the apocalyptic bass trumpet serves as his personal leitmotif. thin as a rail” and has “deep-set. 129 . As a stage direction tells us. His entrances or his words are frequently underscored by very deep double bass and/or contrabassoon. Nekrotzar. piercing eyes. as an important stage direction has it. he should appear larger than human. his body a skeleton. I am referring to the “artificial folklore”. zigzag-like interval leaps. Costume and make-up should. .212 A closer look at the musical treatment of the various character types reveals characteristic stylistic levels and idioms. This should occur in a surprising.”213 In Ligeti’s opera. 274-275). Nekrotzar enters very suddenly. he imagined Amando and Amanda as “a young. the sense of “Death” should predominate. as well as the simultaneous use of different tempo levels. inasmuch as he first developed a procedure here that would become virulent in his later work. Le Grand Macabre marks an important stage also in compositional technique. costumed as Death. Since at the end of the opera it turns out that Nekrotzar is in fact Death itself. trick-like. as if from a Botticelli painting. one is to get the discordant impression that Nekrotzar could be Death or perhaps only a charlatan pretending to be Death. the Great Macabre. Ligeti had in mind an idiom close to that of the 14th-century composer Johannes Ciconia. wholly dumbfounding manner. In working out their love duets. such as the passacaglia and the mirror canon. Their voices prefer narrow intervals and over long stretches are set parallel (at times even in thirds!) – a musical emblem of total harmony. very beautiful pair of lovers. he is given a more demonic appearance. To cite only a few representative examples: the music of the two lovers. . a “false Messiah” is to play only a subliminal part. trombone and tuba tones. (nos. At no. At the end of scene 2. such tones conglomerate into clusters sounding as brutal as they are massive. He is. who seem in a perpetual trance. also include something ambiguous and threadbare. Nekrotzar is very tall and gaunt.bird appears to transmit messages and reports from the chief of the security police to the prince and his two ministers. His head can be a skull. 38. however. is “endlessly tall. Nosferatu’s sudden rise from his coffin in Murnau’s film can serve as a model. The door to the burial chamber bursts open and Nekrotzar steps out of the vault. was a 130 . he said. 18 Le Grand Macabre. he had conceived “a bizarre.Ex. The result. which combined dissimilar constituents in a certain way. non-existent folklore”. Bulgarian rhythms and others. Ligeti explained. scene 3: artificial folklore How are we to interpret the peculiar term “artificial folklore”? In devising the part of the Chief of the Secret Police in the third scene. including Brazilian samba and Andalusian flamenco elements. The music accordingly undergoes quick changes in character as well. by the use of “exotic” instruments such as temple blocks.” First he had made a rhythmic sketch. and what establishes the work’s thematic coherence? Basically one can say that the music is throughout fitted to the scenic events and supplies a background for the stage action. which is supposed to be performed “like a crazy Baroque aria” (no. To test whether Astradamors is really dead.214 The passage in the third scene to which Ligeti alludes (nos. It is frequently gestural. 78/79). The music reacts ironically with novel sighing figures (no.strangely “artificial folklore. 169). bongos and castanets. and by its leggiero. Her singing (agitato erotico) is accompanied by the harpsichord and the organ (nos. conga. Ligeti could not pass up the opportunity to suggest the canter of Nekrotzar and Piet at the end of scene 1 (at no. then had fitted the text to the music or else written a text at the same time so that it corresponded to the music. 395-401) is distinguished by an asymmetrical meter (11/8 = 4 + 4 + 3). he noted – “all but brutal contrasts” – played an important role in the dramatic action as well as in the music. 18). has many illustrative traits. To give some examples: after Mescalina has floored her husband with a karate chop. too. In an interview. Again. A little later (no. she is afraid for a moment of having killed him and begins to lament. and also tends toward self-contained forms. which often pop up in isolation from each other.  ♪ – a deliberate allusion to the noise-like music of the anvils in Wagner’s Rheingold. Ligeti brought up the significance of contrasts in Le Grand Macabre. Thus a two-voiced run tutta la forza in the first scene at no. One is tempted to speak of musical comics or cartoons. by folkloristically tinged melody. The question then arises. she then lures a gigantic hairy spider from the corner and holds it under his nose. and later on. 104-106) with a tone-painting ostinato rhythm ♪. scherzando or capriccioso character (Ex. The result is a motley series of contrasting images. Astradamors’ inarticulate shrieks evolve into a highly virtuoso vocal passage. often forms tonal images. underscores his peremptory gestures (nos. separated by general pauses. who until then has lain in the burial chamber. 158/159). The second scene – the sadomasochistic altercation between the court astrologer and his domineering wife – is marked by rapid changes in the scenic situation. 1690-162). Contrasts. Theatrical gestures are almost always in correspondence with musical ones. however: what holds the music together. 38 illustrates the abrupt jumping up of Nekrotzar. Mescalina and Astradamors begin a 131 . 152-155). Schubert’s Grätzer Galopp.“grotesque and shameless dance”. note for note. comments ironically upon them. Piet and Astradamors react cynically. the harpsichord a dance-like tune in E major and 2/4 time. it may seem strange that Ligeti here and there refers back to historic forms and techniques. 187-190). remaining always in the background. the scene is sung sotto voce. highly charged contradiction between the vivid action and the music running along as if behind an insulation glass.” Despite the vehement happening. gradually accelerate their parts and end at different times (Ex. and the organ a different dance-like tune in F major and in 3/4 time. pseudo-quotations and allusions that are heard simultaneously with the bourrée at this point are likewise meant ironically. Even later. the grandiose entrance of Nekrotzar in the third scene has the shape of an ostinato. Toward the end of the scene. Ligeti here loosely quotes JeanPhilippe Rameau’s La Poule and then. The music for the copulation scene between Mescalina and Astradamors in scene 2 is written as a bourrée perpetuelle. four different tunes play at the same time – much as in the famous dance scene in Don Giovanni. In scene two. when Mescalina orders Astradamors to go to his telescope and peer at the stars. the music accompanying his dying is constructed as a mirror canon. The diverse quotations. Yet we cannot speak of a real discrepancy – for one thing because even in these cases there is either an astonishing congruence or a deliberate contrast between stage event and musical form. follows the scene lustfully. Nekrotzar enacts a “violent” love scene with Mescalina. The chaos is complete when the three instruments. Whereas Venus. the E piano plays the Schubert gallop in G major and in 2/4 time. because the traditional techniques are so much refined and developed that something entirely new is created. 132 . In light of the fact that the music of Le Grand Macabre nestles against the scenic incidents or else. 19). as the stage direction has it. The phenomenon of a peculiar refraction of light (“It seems to me…as if the spectral rays of the twilight are undergoing a red shift”) is illustrated by “cystoscopic” tone clusters. and for another. Along with the “atonal” bourrée music of the orchestra. a “beautiful” and ethereal music commences (no. there should be “a grotesque. and at the conclusion of the opera we hear a passacaglia. which begin in the tempo of the orchestra. regarding it “like a sports event. as it were. There is thus an ironic contrast between the rather brutal action and the eminently graceful music of the bourrée.” According to an important stage direction. 2nd scene: a kind of collage The music accompanying Nekrotzar’s entrance parade is undoubtedly one of the grand moments of the opera. 19 Le Grand Macabre.Ex. In terms of compositional technique. it realizes a whole slew of new and original ideas: it unites the concept of the ostinato with the ideas of the collage sonore and the simultaneity of different tempo 133 . the score has the following stage direction: 134 .  = 80. the piccolo clarinet a capricious melody and the piccolo flute a tune that is marked leggiero.  = 138 and  = ca. In Ligeti’s entrance music. the bassoon a tune alla danza. At no. that of the piccolo clarinet in 3/4 time and that of the piccolo flute in 4/4 time. Meter and tempo of the four melodies differ: the melody of the violin is in 2/4 time.” The totality of the entrance music makes a rather ambivalent impression.levels. 457. and so on. The basis of the music is a four-beat rhythmic period that recurs. This is deliberate and fully corresponds to the scenic situation. that of the bassoon in 6/8 time. the pitches of the ostinato bass (the rhythmic period consists of 13 notes) are organized according to a twelve-tone row. 20 Rhythmic allusion to Beethoven Importantly. a piccolo clarinet and a piccolo flute. 23 times. That means that each of the first twelve periods starts with a different note: the second period with the second note of the row. it does not provide an exact picture of the polymetric process coming about. Its character wavers between solemnity and jollity. 192.” A note in the score reads: “The representation of the various independent levels is only proximate. and the metronome markings are  = 60. 20) Ex. a violin. which in the first twelve periods thus recurs thirteen times. entering one after the other. a bassoon. the third with the third note. ostinato-like. From that one can already see that Ligeti here first realized ideas that he had had in mind for some time: the ideas of the collage sonore and of “poly-tempos. Its rhythm is borrowed from the celebrated bass theme of the Eroica’s finale – a portentous allusion that makes fun of Nekrotzar’s pompous heroics (Ex. play four melodies that contrast as harshly as conceivable with each other. It is constitutive for the ostinato technique that a persistently repeated bass theme is accompanied by ever new melodies. The violin plays a ragtime two-step. now boisterous. at the latest. Nekrotzar wields the scythe and “blows” the trumpet ad lib. we realize that the ragtime music of the violin is a deliberate allusion to Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat and that the solo violin is to sound like a devil’s fiddle.. the four musicians (picc. bssoon and vl.) appear in costume. Eb-clar. Their bearing is now solemn.Here begins the magnificent entrance of Nekrotzar plus entourage (roughly at the drum or bass trumpet signal). the remaining retinue (ad lib. Ex 21 Nekrotzar’s entrance: collage sonore and poly-tempo 135 . 460) (Ex. 21). dancers) are wearing medieval carnival masks (devils masks). Well suited to the ambivalent character of the music are also the cha-cha sounds that become clearly audible at the climax (no. Nekrotzar is riding on Piet.. From this direction. 565 ff. The last. he calls for his scythe. The heading refers primarily to the confused chatter of Nekrotzar. while the falling one “sinks” lower and lower. In a visionary pose. the horns and trombone sound misterioso slowly falling 136 . 597). Learning from Piet that it is a few seconds before midnight and suddenly recovering his senses. we know. The vision of global annihilation clearly forms the climax of the opera. are bibulous – Piet-vom-Faß is a wine taster by profession. The Breughellanders. varying and paraphrasing it and now titling it Galimathias (blather. but above all emptiness and nonentity. For the inebriation scene that immediately follows upon the scene of drinking Ligeti uses the music of the bourrée perpetuelle from the second scene. the totally plastered Nekrotzar does remember his mission and asks what time it is. emptiness And the great … Nil! And I saw and I see: The cruel midnight. an ever expanding vacuum stretches between the two tonal trains – a sound image that vividly emblematizes the arrest of time. After the celestial trombones have sounded a final time at nos. No less impressive than the entrance music is the “cosmic” music Ligeti wrote for the conclusion of the third and the beginning of the fourth scene.. he now proclaims the end of the world: Now time stands still. who starts to sputter about his past deeds of annihilation. … it is no more. Shortly after Nekrotzar’s “In the name of the Almighty I dash to pieces now the world” (at no. whereupon Prince Go-Go and Astradamors carry him to a rocking-horse and mount him upon it. scenically as well as musically. A whole series of highly expressive tone columns form a tonal field initially located in the middle and low region and slowly opening on both sides of the tonal space in such a way that the rising sound train gradually attains the highest register. After the apocalyptic threats uttered by Nekrotzar in scene 3. … For what there is is eternity. palaver).The motif of intoxication plays a prominent role in Le Grand Macabre. the very last midnight strikes! … In the name of the Almighty I dash to pieces now the world! This entire section is styled as melodrama. Piet and Astradamors get drunk and seduce even the Great Macabre into tippling. his trumpet and his horse. In that way. Suggestive tonal planes of the orchestra underscore Nekrotzar’s apocalyptic proclamations. Twelve automobile horns recall the listener to the reality of Breughelland. According to a marginal note in Meschke’s libretto. collapses. thinks he is floating toward paradise. a rapid reduction of the spatial volume – the music plunges into the abyss. swelling sounds and. Nekrotzar becomes the center of a final grotesque scene. becoming one with the ground. in which Nekrotzar embraced Mescalina brutally and finally bit her in the neck like a vampire. She reaches him. … about. … comes about. continues to dwindle and finally vanishes. Now wanting to die. At that moment.” The action is meant as revenge for the violent sex episode in the second scene. Mescalina leaps from the vault like a fury. rushes toward him and wildly chases him. The orchestral interlude at this point is surely among Ligeti’s most brilliant inspirations. The curtain falls slowly. Piet and Astramadors are floating free in space: they dream of being in Heaven. Harmonica. contracts to a kind of ball. black music” in mind from the start for this interlude. almost artificial music: a mirror canon for strings.” For this process of dying. then begins to shrink. A backstage boys’ choir sings “Consummatum est!” on the note of a pseudo-Gregorian intonation. and Nekrotzar falls off the rockinghorse. With the entrance of the three thugs Ruffiack. Nekrotzar sings the words “yes. In a weirdly lurid light. who speaks of “metamorphosis”. dream-like light. Ligeti had “dark. becomes smaller and smaller.chorale-like triads that sound oddly consonant. it could be described both as a cluster composition and as an invention on the tritone. the unreal character of the scene vanishes. Piet thinks he already hears the harps. horn and organ tones add a somewhat saccharine note to the music. The ethereal background of the “music of the spheres” in this scene is produced by flageolet harmonies of the cluster-like disposed strings. According to a stage direction. Later the Grand Macabre dies in fact like a vampire. whereupon he utters a “frightful”. Technically. he staggers toward the burial chamber.” The light goes out. it grows completely dark. toward the end. inarticulate “shriek of fear. it comes about. after the sun has risen slowly. related to each other like im137 . with striking tremolos. Unreal.” Astramadors. It begins with two voices. Ligeti wrote an artful. Lines like Astramadors’ aperçu “I’m growing wings!” are also meant as ironic allusions to the concluding scene of Goethe’s Faust Part II. at the latest. deep. holds him fast and is about to plunge a spear into his breast. the darkness becomes complete. The fourth and last scene commences with a phantasmagoria: “Dense fog. Schobiak and Schabernack. “The sun stands in full splendor above the horizon. he stands motionless for a while. 669. a piece that has also little in common with the much-discussed Theater of the Absurd. an anti-anti-opera. Yet what became of this anti-opera plan was. clasped in each other’s arms. Thereupon Amanda and Amando step from the burial chamber. the strings play pianissimo. At no. in the final analysis. Mauricio Kagel’s anti-opera Staatstheater premiered in Hamburg – a work that critically dismantles the traditional operatic genre and takes the experimental trend to its limits. “And this oddly consonantal music. Astradamors and Piet deliver a kind of funeral oration on him. For while Ligeti’s work. well. At the end. triads of every kind occur. Piet asks them: Hello.” Astonished. a life of pure pleasure is in truth deeply wretched. 666).age and its mirror image. in double negation. in contrast to the Theater of the Absurd. then it’s here … Till then live well in mirth and cheer! The passacaglia for this final scene is a stunt of consonant music. which. the entire cast sings: Do not fear death. “Although grossly disheveled. namely Le Grand Macabre. After Nekrotzar’s evanishment. nay! It comes sometime.” Le Grand Macabre holds a special position within contemporary musical theater. In 1971.” as Ligeti interpreted the piece. by no means dispenses with “rational devices and discursive 138 . Its eight-bar theme consists entirely of major and minor sixths. treats of the absurdity of human existence. more complicated chords are rare. a long diminuendo commences. to be sure. eight-part and finally ten-part. And when it comes. “is in some way very solemn and sad. and for a time he thought of likewise writing an antiopera. closes with a morendo al niente. when the vocalists enter. they are of a wondrous gracefulness. but not today. in accordance with the scenic happenings. At the start (no. and then gradually becomes four-part. it is based on a quite “logically” progressing action and. A life altogether without fear. with the basic two-part scaffolding remaining unchanged. are put together in such a way that the passacaglia is everything but tonal. six-part. children … Aren’t you aware that the end of the world is here? The lovers protest to have no fear of death: for them there is “only here and now!” That slogan then becomes the watchword for everybody. They are blinded by the sunlight and at first are oblivious of their surroundings. The consonant “building-blocks”. very tender and espressivo. Later. Ligeti avowed to have received a strong impression from this work. good people. From the start.” Major changes were also made in the instrumentation. One of Meschke’s guiding ideas in developing the libretto had been the intention to shock. Besides. who were originally speaking roles. 139 . which consumed a number of manuscripts. The new version. a fire broke out in his Vienna apartment. in which the spoken text was substantially abridged. he decided to reassign them to the contrabassoon and the double basses. Here. Ligeti explained the reasons for the drastic revision. After 1988. is sung nearly throughout. the score of Le Grand Macabre was spared by the conflagration. he said. Major changes were also made in the fourth scene. Ligeti thought the proportion of sung and spoken text to be unbalanced. “not from prudishness”. The reworking of the score was not an easy matter: Ligeti’s style had greatly changed in the intervening twenty years. In a conversation. to “épater le bourgeois. which mixes the comical with the tragic.”215 Le Grand Macabre. In the first version. One of the most massive interventions is the transformation of the two ministers. Their comical entrance at the start of the third scene is hilariously shaped as a fast waltz. an opera sui generis.thought. into comic vocal parts. his decision to systematically revise the work in this respect became firm. but rather “from dignity. A number of passages in the first version came to seem over-instrumented to Ligeti. From December 1995 to August 1996. They were softened in part by Ligeti. the silly with the demonic. He wanted to make the sound more transparent. A revised version of Le Grand Macabre was premiered on July 28. the whole had to be freshly assembled. 1997 in Salzburg. however. Thus he got in the habit of progressively trimming the spoken dialogue from production to production – the piece was staged more than twenty times over the years. Since the low pedal-point notes are hard to produce on the trombone. Spoken text occurs in relatively few places.” That explains many rather uncouth textual passages in the first version. as Michael Meschke originally had a play with music in mind. he worked intensively on this revision. In August of 1996. Miraculously. Here he also benefitted from the experiences he had gained from diverse productions of the work. the portion of spoken text was considerable. and speech song is assigned to others. which in the first version divided into several smaller numbers. yet he wanted to preserve the original manner. Ligeti feeling that it had ended too abruptly in its original version. the concluding passacaglia was substantially expanded. is grotesque musical theater – cracked world theater. The spoken word was reduced to a minimum. we stand at the threshold of fundamentally new regions of art. including my music. there were stimuli he had gained from the area of computer music that had now become virulent. Here he was introduced to the realm of computer music by John M. What interested Ligeti in this area was the projection of sound into space. the believed he might experience a decisive turning-point in contemporary art and music – one that gave him a great deal of trouble. People who were close to him and knew his usually admirable productivity began to speak of a creative crisis. but today. Chowning. For another. the transformations of sound color (timbre). and from fractal geometry. In addition. but the repercussions for music will not be long in coming. The starts he made into composing a piano concerto did not lead to any satisfactory results. At the moment. Ligeti resided at Stanford University. 140 . when Benôit Mandelbrot for the first time pulled the ‘apple manikins’ from his high-speed printer in 1980.”216 “For now. Ligeti’s compositional productivity stalled. Upon his return to Europe. While searching for a new direction. During the period until 1982. 1980 “I would say the year 1980 was a major turning-point for music and art. take the road to the then rapidly spreading post-modernism. Le Grand Macabre strikes one as far more operatic than the first version. the Great Composing Machine is still utopian. the control of pitch and time and. the precise construction of tonal systems. he ceaselessly propagated the new medium. 2. For one thing. From January to July of 1974. but also the illusionary and lofty qualities seem to take effect more strongly than in the old version. There were several reasons for this situation. was first reached by experimental mathematics. he did not succeed in completing any new work. The ambivalence and dubiousness.12 The Turning Point ca. He would not.218 who worked at the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. not least. I think. from the study of Central-African music. and could not.”217 After the completion of Le Grand Macabre. But neither did he feel that he belonged any longer to the avant-garde. This threshold.In the new version. in the second half of the ‘eighties. that applies above all to the visual arts. Ligeti twice needed prolonged hospital treatments. especially the viewing of fractal images. he received impulses from the American composer Conlon Nancarrow. In 1980/81, he then became familiar with Conlon Nancarrow’s music for mechanical pianos. Here what fascinated him, besides the technical perfection, was especially the concurrence of several tempo levels – a compositional possibility that had occupied him already earlier.219 In the fall of 1982, the Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra drew Ligeti’s attention to recordings of instrumental and vocal music of the Banda Linda, a tribe active in the Central African Republic.220 After repeatedly listening to the recordings, Ligeti was stunned by the complexity of this both polyphonic and polyrhythmic music (see the graphic representations, p. 64). Later he also had opportunities to hear other recordings of sub-Saharan music, especially music of the Pygmies and the Gbaya.221 In the spring of 1984, he met the ethnomusicologist Simha Arom in Jerusalem, who had made the recordings of the Banda linda music. Arom showed him his transcriptions of Central-African music and explained its melodic and rhythmic structures to him. Ligeti quickly noticed a remarkable discrepancy between the formal structure of this music and its internal nature: the unchanging repetition of periods of equal length contrasted sharply, he thought, with the highly complex inner structure of these periods, which were notable for their superimposition of diverse rhythmic patterns.222 Arom’s essays, his further recordings, and above all his voluminous book Polyphonies et polyrhythmies instrumentales d’Afrique centrale acquired a fundamental importance for Ligeti. Once Ligeti’s interest for sub-Saharan music had been aroused, he sought to expand his knowledge of the subject. In 1986, he read the book Musik in Afrika, edited by Arthur Simon and published in 1983 and was particularly taken with the contributions by Gerhard Kubik, especially his disquisitions about xylophone music (amadinda) in the ancient kingdom of Buganda and about “inherent patterns.” By “inherent patterns” Kubik meant “audible, structured tone patterns that stand out from the total picture of a musical process as if from a picture-puzzle.” Emerging only in the act of perception they are “not played as such by the musicians but nevertheless are compositionally provided for in most cases.”223 Considering Ligeti’s lively interest in the illusionary, Kubik’s theory was bound to fascinate him. Ligeti was strongly fascinated also by pictures of fractal shapes, which he saw for the first time in 1983. The following year, the biochemist Manfred Eigen presented him with a catalogue of the exhibition Morphologie komplexer Grenzen (complex liomits) of the Bremen research group headed by Heinz-Otto Peitgen and Peter H. Richter – a volume containing highly impressive illustra141 tions. In 1986, he became acquainted with Peitgen and Richter’s book The Beauty of Fractals,224 which increased his already potent enthusiasm for the subject (see the fig. below). Computer fractal image of increasing resolution (see Ligeti, “Computer and Composition”, below) Fractal geometry is a branch of mathematics established in the 1960’s by Benoît Mandelbrot.225 In contrast to Euclidian geometry, which analyzes relatively simple figures such as circle, triangle, square, etc., fractal geometry concerns itself with the morphology of the “amorphous.” It endeavors to describe the irregular and splintered forms of nature, starting from the realization that clouds are not spherical, mountains not conical, coastal lines not circular. “Bark is not smooth”, Mandelbrot says, “and lightning does not force its way in a straight line.” To describe these irregular forms adequately, Mandelbrot coined the term fractal, derived from the Latin adjective fractus = broken. The most useful fractals, he thought, encompassed the fortuitous in its regularities as well as its irregularities. 142 With the aid of a computer experiment, Mandelbrot, in 1980, obtained the famous Mandelbrot set, sometimes called “apple manikin”, whose chief aspect is its self-similarity: up to infinite magnification, parts of a figure display always the same structure as the parent figure. Now Ligeti, as we know, always took a lively interest in the results of the latest branches of mathematics, as well as in computer composition. Yet he saw little sense in a direct transfer of mathematical principles to the realm of composition. As much attention as he paid to the ideas, methods and results of Gottfried Michael Koenig,226 Iannis Xenakis227 and Klarenz Barlow, he confessed to have reservations about algorithmic composition. What seemed particularly problematic to him was the tendency to put the main emphasis in composition on the method and to regard the result as secondary. In his view, what matters is less the production of the artifact than the work of art “as value in itself.”228 He expressed similar misgivings about the naïve transfer of computergenerated images to music – an experiment made by several composers in Western Europe and the United States. He argued that such computer pictures were spatial structures that could not simply be converted to temporal analogues. His object was to find musical analogies to fractal images without a computer and without mathematics. In the fourth movement of his Piano Concerto, for example, there were melodic sources, he explained, that are built into an iterated, that is to say, feed-back system. “The music starts very thinly, with isolated figures; it gradually thickens in that the figures are multiplied with themselves.”229 “Only the imagination has to be kindled”: with this turn of phrase Ligeti expressed his conviction that impulses alone do not suffice for the creative act, but that they have to be fertilized. His Piano Etudes, his Piano Concerto and his Violin Concerto demonstrate impressively that he was able to convert the impulses he had received from various directions creatively. In his essay, “Computer and Composition”, he spoke graphically of an “ignition effect”, which the interaction of the rhythmic worlds of Nancarrow and the music of sub-Saharan Africa, the computer impulse from Stanford and the fractal images had had on his latest creations.230 Undoubtedly, the occupation with Central-African music was one of the artistically most fecund experiences in Ligeti’s life – an experience that left deep traces in his oeuvre. He owed to this music an inspiration as rich as the one Pablo Picasso had derived for his art from African masks (see fig., p. 192). It enabled Ligeti to supply his music with new, unworn rhythmic energies and to develop highly ingenious polyrhythmic techniques. 143 On October 23, 1986, I attended the world premiere of the three-movement version of the Piano Concerto in Graz. Profoundly impressed by the novelty of the work, I gained the conviction that with it Ligeti had entered a new phase of his creative career. “You will understand the work better”, Ligeti told me when I spoke with him about it, “once you have examined the Piano Etudes more closely.” He was right, as it turned out. 2.13 Épater l’Avant-garde: Retrospective and Forward-Looking Elements in the Horn Trio “This is not a personal crisis, but, I believe, a crisis of my entire generation: the generation that in Darmstadt and in Cologne in the second half of the ‘fifties developed something new, something original. Gradually we are becoming endangered by academicism. And since I am an anti-academic, I want personally to fight against this danger within myself – that is, not to continue to compose in the old avant-garde clichés, but also not to lapse into a back-to-earlier-styles. Especially in the last few years, I have been trying to find an answer for myself personally – a music that is not a rumination of the past, not even of the avant-garde past.”231 “I have in mind a strongly affective, contrapuntally and metrically very complex music, labyrinthine in its ramifications, with melodic figures audible through it, but without any ‘back-to’ gesture, not tonal, but not atonal, either. I don’t have a name yet to designate this compositional direction, and I am not looking for one, either. What I have in mind is a spiritualized, strongly condensed art form. I am trying, beyond every kind of modernity, to recreate in music something of today’s sense of life.”232 No matter from what direction one approaches the Horn Trio of 1982, the unvarying impression is that one has to do with a key work. If one looks at it from the vantage point of the sensational “experimental” works of the ‘sixties or else from that of the Second String Quartet, it each time exhibits a different physiognomy: Ligeti seems to be using an entirely different musical language. It is therefore no wonder that many listeners at the premiere in Bergedorf on August 7, 1982, were wholly taken by surprise. To Sabine Tomzig, the critic of the Hamburger Abendblatt, the composition appeared “more melodic, more perspicuous than earlier works, and with all its formally impressive constructivity, surprisingly inspired by feeling”;233 and Ute Schalz-Laurenze, of the 144 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, referred to diverse links to tradition, “both in forms and in the contrasting expressive characters.”234 The truth is that, along with numerous retrospective traits, the Horn Trio exhibits an astonishing amount of originality. It is among the works that point to the future and represents a turning-point in Ligeti’s compositional work. Let us first try to pinpoint the “retrospective” aspect of the piece. The quaternary of the movements is only seemingly a symptom of tradition. The work was originally conceived in five movements: the slow fourth movement was to be followed by a virtuoso finale. More important than the fourmovement design are the characters of the movements, which give rise to associations with past music: an introductory movement of a tender character (Andantino con tenerezza), a dance-like second one (Vivacissimo molto ritmico), a march-like third (Alla Marcia) and a lament finale. One feels reminded, on the one hand, of Beethoven’s chamber music and, on the other, of the symphonic tradition of Late Romanticism, of Mahler and Tchaikovsky. “Retrospective” is, secondly, the formal design of the movements. The first and third movements, to one’s surprise, are constructed according to the all-toofamiliar A-B-A’ schema (with a varied recapitulation); the second movements has the markings of an ostinato, and the finale suggests the scaffolding of a passacaglia. About the musical language of his Horn Trio, Ligeti, in an interview with Monika Lichtenfeld, thought that it was “different” from that of his earlier works: the melodic lines were “developed far more strongly as independent shapes.”235 And to Ulrich Dibelius he said on July 15, 1983: “My music should become much more melodic, in a kind of non-diatonic diatonicism.”236 The subterraneous strands that connect the Horn Trio with the tradition light up in a flash when one looks more closely at some facets of the musical substance, that is, some of the idiomatic turns, from which a part of the melody in the two outer movements springs. Of special significance in this respect are, on the one hand, the horn fifth model and, on the other, the lamenting chromaticism. The most distinguished historical example of the horn fifth model occurs, of course, in Beethoven’s E-flat major sonata Les Adieux op 81a (Ex. 22). Ex. 22: Beethoven, “Les Adieux” op. 81a 145 but uses the model in a significant transformation. “A melodic-harmonic germ”. and the concluding lament of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.” When he spoke with Ulrich Dibelius about the movement in 1983. minor sixth (c-ab) in descending succession. in the Finale. 49-52. he had been impressed rather by the Romanian dirges. Ligeti treats it in a new. moreover. 273-276) and third (mm. for all his love of the lament bass. 65/66 and 66/67. one must not forget the lamenting chromaticism of the concluding passacaglia. the so-called Bocet. which he calls a “skewed variant” (schiefe Variante). The skewed variant of the horn fifth model that sets the character of the opening movement recurs reminiscence-like in the second (mm. he said. though often similar in both style and expression. the horn picks up the signal-like motifs from the first movement. he remarked to Denys Bouliane that.238 he referred to historical models: the Lament Bass and madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi. he wrote in a commentary for the premiere – “major third (g-b). In the recapitulation of the Alla Marcia movement. including several times toward the end. 23 “Horn Trio”: Skewed variant of he horn fifths It is symptomatic for Ligeti’s delight in variation that the model appears in a further transformation at the beginning of the Lament finale (Ex. tritone (eb-a). metrically complex polyphonic structures”237 (Ex. They were. 24).239 One last retrospective element in the Trio is its marked cyclical conception. here always on the piano). very imaginative way so as to create a very moving “dirge. Ex. Several years later. a ‘skewed’ variant of the ‘horn fifth’ – is developed in all four movements into transparent. 146 . 24 Lament finale – additional transformation of the horn fifth In speaking of retrospective traits in the Horn Trio. Ex. in characteristic variants.Ligeti unequivocally refers to that work. as well as repeatedly. There are conspicuous links between the four movements. structured somewhat differently than the [Romanian improvisational folksong type] Hora lunga. 23). the serialists also were anxious to create new forms and concerned about the “open work of art. with the third call being answered by an echo-like passage of the now stopped horn. While the outer parts are each composed of four clearly delimited periods. he protested in the conversation with Monika Lichtenfeld. To these innovations we will now give our special attention. the shorter B part consists of three periods. The manner in which the end of the B part coincides with the beginning of the recapitulation is extraordinarily artful.” They criticized the fact that Schönberg had based his dodecaphonic works on such traditional forms as the sonata and the rondo. and it is precisely at this point that we en147 . he said. the old questionand-answer game. Thus one can understand that Ligeti’s turning to melody and to elementary musical forms was bound to stun adherents of the erstwhile Avant-Garde. there is something echo-like about the interjections of the leading horn in the a tempo passages. was by no means a retrospective glance at the late 19th century. The symmetry of the A-B-A’ design (the recapitulation is strongly varied. which is realized in a completely new. We must not. What he had in mind. was the “Épater l’avant-garde”. interpret Ligeti’s stylistic reorientation in the early ‘eighties as being regressive. however. Most conspicuous in the Andantino con tenerezza is the regularity of the overall formal structure. A mark of the movement is the echo technique. Each of the four periods in the outer parts bears the imprint of four signal-like horn calls.240 To understand these statements fully.241 If one studies the Horn Trio in detail. above all rhythmically) extends also to the pronounced period formation – something new in Ligeti. The part of the violin. A matter apart is the threefold change in tempo in the B part: three times a Piú mosso ( = 112) alternates with a section a tempo ( = 110).” The mainspring in creating the work.How are we to interpret these symptoms? In an interview Ligeti gave eleven years after the completion of the Horn Trio. However. poetic manner. as he had dared to write A-B-A forms and melodies – which was chalked up against him as treason. one has to remember that. one can observe embryonic compositional innovations that Ligeti was to develop fully in subsequent works. flautando. even as “a piece in opposition to the established norms of the avant-garde. Decidedly echoic passages are absent from this part. in their striving for a total renewal of musical language. is similar in structure: the echoic passages are to be bowed sul tasto [over the fingerboard]. though quite independent in substance. he called the work a “provocatively ‘conservative’ piece”. to begin with. in diverse variants. inspired by diverse kinds of folk music of non-existent ethnicities. that was to undergo major modifications. The movement is. two twelve-tone rows are decisive. ascending figures of eighths. to be sure. Ligeti’s commentary for the premiere states: The second movement is a very fast. similar to the hemiolas in Schumann and Chopin. If one focuses on the treatment of this rhythmic ostinato. 226-248 the figure with c. 3 + 3 + 2. moreover. so that in listening one will most likely not perceive the individual executions 148 . 249-262 with g) 270-272 : General pause 273-294 : Coda (with the horn fifth model of the first movement) For the melodic structure of the Vivacissimo.counter rudiments of a poly-temporality – an idea that would fascinate Ligeti later on: the violin and the horn here play in a different tempo ( = 100) than the piano ( = 112). as though Hungary. almost without interruption. be called a study in polymetrics. Incidentally. an invention on the ostinato. 191-224 with a#) 226-269 : A’ part (mm. due to the distribution of the basic pulse of eight beats into 3 + 2 + 3. as the sketches make unmistakably clear. played. 169-79 the figure with d. Ligeti originally planned to base the finale of the trio on both a polymetric and a “polytemporal” structure. The movement exhibits a complex hemiolic formation. and at times are also combined in dyads and chords or clusters. The second movement (Vivacissimo molto ritmico) can. etc. 1-10 : Introduction 11-144 : A part (the ostinato figure beginning on c sounds unchanged initially 92 times and then 39 times) 145-225 : B part (mm. The following meters and metronomic notations were provisionally assigned to the three instruments: violin 5/4  = 75. mm. Romania and the entire Balkans were situated somewhere between Africa and the Caribbean. piano 4/4  = 60 – a plan. the result is a very rich polymetric structure. polymetric dance. the following division of the movement becomes visible and audible: Mm. horn 3/2  = 40. The notes of which they consist are constantly given different rhythms and accents. Since different distributions always sound simultaneously in the three instruments. mm. whose character of a perpetuum mobile is a predominantly diatonic. bearing as it does. the Talea and the Color.Oberon – evidently an allusion to Shakespeare’s Midsummer-Night’s Dream. tender and melancholy music” in mind. by the violin. intoned initially in mm. to be sure.” The first row (f c d e f# a# c# d# g a b g#). sharply rhythmic. 75 ff. make for a strong contrast to the evenly flowing. It may sound paradoxical. “Alla Marcia”: isorhythmic period This rhythmic model recurs ten times unchanged in the piano part. sparkling. is taken over by the left hand of the pianist in mm.The march-like parts are also more interesting in terms of compositional technique. Ex. 25). the expression marks “dashing. How complex the construction is. The first two movements of the Horn Trio form the greatest contrast imaginable to each other. strikes one as quasi impish. 27 ff.of the rows as “variants. mellow and consonantseeming middle part (Piú mosso). the Vivacissimo to the fabulous goblin of the comedy? The third movement of the Horn Trio. dance-like. 15 ff. one begins to realize once one takes the violin part into ac149 . light. floating”. very energetically intoned. all of which have the same rhythmic structure (Ex. 226 ff. The parts are each 30 measures in length and are divided into ten isorhythmic periods (taleae). Would it be too much to say that the Andantino refers to the King of the Elves (whose instrument is the magic horn). 25 3rd movement. invariably makes the same impression on the listener: its outer parts. If in conceiving the Andantino con tenerezza Ligeti had the idea “of a far distant. and sounding both hard and dissonant (cross-grained). played by the right hand of the pianist. at the beginning of the recapitulation. Alla Marcia. homophonic. is heard in mm. and later in mm. The earliest sketches for the Horn Trio (dated December 1981) tellingly include the catch words Jekel (Hungarian for symbol) Puck . The other row (e d f# f db eb bb c g b a g#). inasmuch as in them Ligeti tries out two procedures that will become virulent in his later music: the procedures of isorhythmy and of metric displacement. though each time implemented with different sounds. the Vivacissimo molto ritmico. but one can comprehend the construction of the march-like parts more easily if one calls to mind the technical principles of the isorhythmical motets of the 14th and 15th century. 77 on) evokes a sense of vacuum: while long-held. black) (mm. in the form of a passacaglia. gigantic drum lingers in the pedal tones of the horn. lowest pedal tones are played by the horn. This intensification leads to the transformation of the piano into a percussion instrument. The result is an ingenious canon. the horn-fifth germ also echoes as a reminiscence in the piano and the violin. greatly confusing to the listener – that. may explain the impression of contrariness the music evokes. of isorhythm and metric displacement developed here occur repeatedly again in later works. 11 on.” Its part is dislocated at first by one sixteenth. but from m. 52-76). And Ligeti will have recourse to the type of the lamento movement in both his sixth Etude and in the Piano as well as the Violin Concerto. The composition of the Horn Trio was commissioned by Hamburg’s Hauni Works. schwarz (with extreme wildness. The expression marks are telling: mit äußerster Wildheit. 72). and at m. the concluding movement is a chromatic variant of the previous ones. The more closely one studies the Horn Trio. pain and resignation been sung out so undisguisedly. with the piano here and there being treated as a percussion instrument. 17) by two.the photo of a landscape that has meanwhile gone up in nothingness. with a glance at Johannes Brahms. 23 by three sixteenths.count. of the ostinato. until the sequence of five chords is completely dissolved. while descending chromatic melodic formations are the lianas that increasingly grow through the scaffolding. the violin begins to “limp. The echo of this imaginary. A five-bar harmonic model – a variant of the horn fifth germ – provides the scaffolding. The emotional climax of the work is the Lament-Adagio – a movement of which Josef Häusler rightly remarked that nowhere else in Ligeti has grief. The movement commences pianissimo and closes moriendo a niente.242 Here is Ligeti’s own commentary on the finale: Whereas the first three movements are mainly diatonic. the cantilenas of the violin are located in the highest registers. The conclusion (from m. but is oddly defamiliarized . Piano and violin initially “march” in lockstep. A very gradually occurring dramatic intensification in the growth of the “weeping and lamenting” melodic lianas provides the basis of this formal process. too. the more distinctly emerge the traits that point to the future. The techniques of polymetrics. The “dramatic intensification” referred to by the composer takes the form of a tremendous crescendo poco a poco (mm. the great son of the Hanseatic city 150 . polytemporality. then (at m. 71-73) and quasi tamburo (drum) (m. in construction and expression. There are. 2. clearly refers not to any structural aspects of the compositions. however. visionary verses alternate with agonized eruptions. Idyllic. Ligeti also proved to be skillful in abridging the poems. say. The dominant theme is the solitude of the homeless. I do not know whether Hölderlin ever saw the Alexanderschlacht. its wilful syntax and its partly abstract content – certainly not to a dearth of musical qualities: its pronounced sonority is rightly celebrated. Since the ‘seventies the interest in Hölderlin has become more intense again. which may explain Ligeti’s turn toward him. whom winter and age await. Central to them is the contrast between illusion and truth. but to the imagery of the poems. 151 . Goethe’s. its grandiose scenery of cloud formations with the sun’s rays breaking through them. In the “Abendphantasie. neither quotations from nor influences by Brahmsian music in my piece – my trio was written in the late twentieth century and is. and not only to me. His choice of the poems on which he based the Drei Phantasien he dedicated to Eric Ericson is. But for the ‘composing’ I actually chose the poetic fragments because of their wonderful imagery and their emotional aura. the high demands it makes on the reader. which are put together with remarkable rigor. whose Horn Trio floats in the musical heaven as the incomparable instance of this genre of chamber music.In the previously cited commentary. In “Hälfte des Lebens” (Midlife) he dropped two lines.14 Notes on the Hölderlin Fantasies “Why I picked Hölderlin: he is a favorite poet. Ligeti wrote: I dedicated by Horn Trio as an homage to Johannes Brahms. between appearance and reality. That is owing to its elevated diction. a most felicitous one.” an association with Altdorfer’s Alexanderschlacht [Battle of Alexander at Issus]. deleting portions that speak less to us today. Phantasien. And the overall title of the choruses. to say it at the outset.”243 Friedrich Hölderlin’s richly reflective lyricism has not nearly been set to music as often as. The three poems fit as well together as if they constituted a cycle. also played a role: that may be an altogether arbitrary association of mine. music of our time. […] Some phrases I have treated in a ‘madrigalesque’ manner. Mörike’s or Eichendorff’s. for example the wind onomatopoeia in “Hälfte des Lebens” [Midlife]. “Wenn aus der Ferne” (When from afar) and “Abendphantasie” he shortened by about one half. between a happy past and a painful present. or grounded in. translated into musical forms. wild roses and graceful swans. Such a juxtaposition. 3.”244 In the Phantasien. are written for 16-voice. according to Ligeti’s own statement. By contrast. on the other hand. Having thus the same cast as Ligeti’s Lux aeterna.The Three Fantasies. Although in the Phantasien Ligeti remains faithful to micropolyphony – a basic principle of his work – he treats it in a new. as well as more clearly perceptible. will yield more differences than likenesses. In the first and third of the Phantasien. In Lux aeterna. as it were. In the three choruses. one thus has to speak of new conceptions. The chief idea of Lux aeterna. the second gives expression to the fear of winter. individual voices or else more chordal formations. Ligeti seeks to do justice to the changing images of the poems. on the other hand. 4 tenors and 4 basses). however. composed in 1982. Micropolyphony is. 4 altos. mixed. which function as transitional notes. He also makes use of additional techniques. the weathervanes shriek in the storm 152 . linear dimension is more prominent in the Phantasien. which become gradually dim and then clear up again. Altogether. the voice-leading is for the most part strictly canonic: chordal passages occur only exceptionally. The structural diversity reveals itself as a mirror image of the contrasting expressive color values. canonic and chordal parts are evenly balanced. The fundamental differences to Lux aeterna can be grouped into four points: 1. As paradoxical as it may sound. The technique of canonic interweaving creates novel “harmonies”. Even more symptomatic is the preferential leading of the voices in contrasting blocks: strictly canonic voice combinations often overlap with differently structured ones. which drives the already solitary speaker into total isolation: “The walls stand speechless and cold. 4. was “the idea. they suggest a comparison with the earlier work of 1966. coupled with. The musical structure of the Phatasien is substantially more complex than that of Lux aeterna. The first stanza conjures up the idyllic image of a lake landscape with yellow pears. unaccompanied chorus (4 sopraos. Ligeti is not content with the chromatic possibilities of the tempered scale. Hölderlin’s poem “Hälfte des Lebens” is composed of two antithetical stanzas. A listener who does not have a score in hand will hardly notice the canonic texture of the voices. but frequently also takes in quarter tones. of the ‘eternal light’. original manner. micropolyphony in Lux aeterna serves the formation of expanses of sound and the transformational technique. 2. the horizontal. those were such lovely days.” “Wenn aus der Ferne” tells the story of a tender love that ends in separation. The concluding words “klirren die Fahnen” (clatter the vanes) are set homophonically again. but very intense agogic (accelerando) and dynamic (crescendo) heightening. however. Only the twelfth (penultimate) stanza brings the painful admission: “Ah. The form of the composition is eminently polyphonic: the piece receives its characteristic physiognomy from multi-voiced canonic structures and the counterpoint of the vocal blocks described. That explains why the passage “es waren schöne Tage” (mm. the basses burst out “Weh’ mir!” (Woe is me!) in triple forte (tutta la forza). in mm.blast. which describes an “unfolding or moving form. in Lontano). to be ingenious rhythmic and intervallic variants of an urmodel. At only one point (mm. the outburst “Ach. which Ligeti emphasizes quasi with tone-painting or onomatopoeia and treats almost in concertante fashion: on both syllables of the word “Winde” he erects an eight-voice canon twenty bars in length (mm. more. does Ligeti set quasi dramatic accents. at whose climax the tenors and. The first eleven stanzas revel in memories of a happy past. The basic mood of the composition. 29-48). One exception is the phrase “im Winde” (in the wind). Then.” The motif starts on the small a-sharp and rises like an ascending vortex in dynamic crescendo higher and higher until all of the women’s voices reach the two-line c. 13-16. 49 ff. Ligeti’s method occasionally reminds of the old contrapuntal motet. there follows a brief. Most of the lines in the second stanza are then strictly chordal in multiple forte. But mournful twilight followed thereafter. Typically for Ligeti. woe is me. as we do. as Ex. Within the Three Fantasies. 46-48). upon closer inspection. 26 will illustrate. wehe mir”. corresponding to that of the poem..” The setting takes this antithesis into account. in which it was customary to base every line of the text on a separate “theme” and to treat it canonically. but in exact pitch. of Ligeti’s predilection for the idea of music from afar (e. turn out. is soft. 153 . The idyllic picture of the beginning is portrayed in downright impressionistic soft focus (dolcissino. one bar later. later espressivo and caloroso). which at first sight seem so independent.g.” Knowing.) after the “wehe mir” sounds almost like a recapitulation. with the two final cords to be recited “like two shrieks. when the canonically led women’s voices tell of the kiss-drunk swans. the “themes”. it artfully makes explicit the drama only implied in the poem. this second one (Andante con tenerezza) represents the slow movement. one can well imagine that the poem would appeal to him largely because of its first line. poetic images are transmuted into musical ones.Ex. the magic flees. 154 . Compositional technique. Complex and dense structure. Several expression marks correspond to the image content. “Wenn aus der Ferne”: a core in five themes The poem “Abendphantasie” owes its title to the dream that spring might blossom in the evening sky. to be sure. are given emphasis by diverse means. age. as if chased by such foolish asking. youth. darkness falls. such as dark. The word “purpurne” (purple) receives a concertante treatment similar to that of the words “im Winde” in the first fantasy. Individual words.” The chorus closes. “Common” sounds are at times replaced by falsetto ones. 4-11. as ever. dynamics. and lonely under the heavens.” In setting this text Ligeti followed every suggestion of the poem. agogic. rich tonal imagination and subtle textual interpretation beyond all doubt make these three Hölderlin settings rank high within Ligeti’s overall vocal oeuvre. Chordal and canonical passages frequently take turns. 40-42). 26 Second Fantasy. preferred pitch level. the agogic is subject to drastic changes. expression – everything is engaged in the service of interpreting the text. As in the first fantasy. am I. and in the canonical ones Ligeti is fond of letting each voice enter a half-tone higher (mm. Lines and single words are interpreted according to their semantics. morendo in a low bass region. Thus the recitation of the strongly alliterative lines “und möge droben in Licht und Luft zerrinnen mir Lieb und Leid!” (and may up there dissolve in light and air both love and pain) is to be “dancelike effusive. and the wish that in the golden world of the purple clouds love and sorrow might dissolve into light and air for the tortured speaker. But once gain the wishful thinking proves to be illusory: “But. cheerful. 155 . besides their originality and expressivity. the Southeast European folk music generally.”246 In seeking to account for the enormous popularity of Ligeti’s piano etudes. The piano etudes of Frédéric Chopin. they reflect.15 Construction and Imagination: Principles of the Piano Etudes “My ideal of piano music – and probably the ideal of all pianists – is embodied in Chopin. The distinguishing mark of this genuine piano music is that the musical structures seem to emerge immediately from the keys and the position of the ten fingers. plus ethnic cultures like folklore from Latin America. which Bartók has used in the Mikrokosmos. e. to be precise. one has to consider that. especially that of the 19th century. Scarlatti.2. my great love for the piano music of Schumann and Chopin and the concept of the hemiola – not only 3 x 2 and 2 x 3 but diverse other asymmetric hemiolic formations – with the so-called Bulgarian rhythms. and not Debussy-like either. piano music is my main area. and my knowledge of salsa from the Caribbean and samba from Brazil playing a role as well.”245 “In the piano etudes.g.” “In reality. Liszt. What exactly is their position in the history of the piano etude? If we trace the evolution of the genre in the 19th and 20th century. the tradition of the genre. but also in much of the earlier piano music. too. that is to say. The entire sphere of Schumann-Chopin. are not developed abstractly but are derived quite sensuously from depressing the keys. we are confronted mainly with two different conceptions. written between 1985 and 1994. perhaps more clearly than his other works. For the piano etudes. Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann are conspicuous for their concertante style and their demanding musical content. the sound worlds of Debussy and Ravel played a major role […] although my piano etudes are not at all Chopinesque or Lisztean. They do not just serve the 156 . genuinely African ethnic music and Nancarrow – all that has somehow been amalgamated and formed into something entirely different. there are things that are based on the European tradition. Schumann. Yet you will find in the piano etudes neither folkloristic material nor really Chopin-Schumann-Brahmsian 19th century. the solution of a certain compositional problem. polymetric. to be discussed below. The synaesthetic relations so typical of Ligeti’s music obtain here as well. Ligeti disclosed to me that the two volumes of etudes were designed cyclically. In many others. the sketches contain references to Chopin’s opus 10. evidently because the designation appeared rather narrow to him. the final one was to conclude with a radiant section. Considering the enormous technical demands they make on the player. Ligeti works with note material fixed in advance. can be described as inventions on a specific interval – the fifth. as it were. The titles allude to musical and poetic themes as well as to technical concepts. By contrast. the second or the seventh. In January of 1993.perfecting of pianistic skill but have musical value per se. the etude represents a challenge to the discipline and the ability of the composer – the challenge of bringing a maximum of art to bear on more or less limited tone material. he said. It is in this sense that we have to understand the Douze Études of Claude Debussy and a number of the pieces in Béla Barók’s Mikrokosmos. After various rearrangements. a kind of paradisiacal vision. they regarded the etude as an “exercise” for themselves. Liszt’s “Campanella” etude and Debussy’s “Pagodes”). Thus defined. which ended on a plunge into the abyss. mainly tone-systematic. Each etude represents. “Vertige” and “Joie” appear in the left margin on the first page of the facsimile clean copy of the Études pour piano. polyrhythmic ones. Some etudes. Interestingly enough.247 “Désordre” is the definitive title of the first 157 . it makes sense to describe them as a kind of Gradus ad Parnassum for master pianists. For some time he thought of calling the pieces Études polymétriques or polyrythmiques. At the same time.. Except for the tenth etude (“Der Zauberlehrling” – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). belong in this category as well. the titles “Désordre. however. Ligeti’s etudes are to be viewed against this background.g. all of them bear French titles – a homage to the renowned Liszt and Debussy tradition (significantly. a number of 20th century composers were bent on dealing with both pianistic and compositional problems. they constitute a kind of compendium of Ligeti’s more recent compositional techniques. Olivier Messiaen’s Quatre Études de Rythme. he realized this conception. but he abandoned the idea. While the sixth etude “Automne à Varsovie”) was a somber piece. with contrary conclusions. all of which are conceived as inventions on individual intervals – e. besides others. which center on diverse rhythmic problems. in which they sought to set up a certain compositional problem and to solve it adequately. In other words. like the second and the eighth. The listener perceives this combination as a suspension of the equal temperament.d . eighths. then of two and later of three eighths (Ex. In musicological terms.g# . 27 “First Etude for Piano”: rhythmic canon 158 . certainly circumscribes the poetic and emotional climate of the last etude. At the beginning – for three bars – both hands play the same rhythm: 3/8 plus 5/8. 27).c#). however. “Joie”.a# . But already in the fourth measure. Ligeti began work on the First Etude in November of 1984. The figuration of the right hand counts seven. even Pulsation irregulière. The asymmetrical rhythmic division of 5/8 (= 3 + 2) + 7/8 (= 3 + 4) was to have served originally as the model for this pulsation. The result is a rhythmic canon between the two voices: at first at an interval of one eighth. the tonal system of the etude can be defined as a combination of the seven-note diatonic scale (b . however. that of the left eight.f . His notes in the sketches reveal a great deal about the original conception of the piece. The definitive version of the etude. “Vertige” that of the ninth. The disorder and chaos suggested by the definitive title result from the immensely complex rhythmic conditions.g – a) and the (anhemitonic) pentatonic one (d# . Ex.e . the voices diverge.etude. Of primary importance are the headings En blanc et noir and Pulsation. and gave his piece the title Désordre. En blanc et noir refers to the piano keyboard and means that the right hand of the pianist is to play on the white keys and the left on the black ones.f# . The term Pulsation indicates that Ligeti started with the idea of a continuously pulsating music. is distinguished by an enormous polyrhythmic complexity and differs fundamentally from this relatively simple rhythmic order. Thus one can understand why Ligeti eventually dropped the title Pulsation.c . Here. while the right 159 . who organizes the entire tonal universe according to the principle of the fifth. 7th period = 41 eighths. the periods become shorter: 4th period = 80 eighths. The climax of the etude is an sfff in m.93 eighths. 12th period = 112 eighths. This opening of the pitch range goes hand in hand with the noted tonal heightening. 8th period = 39 eighths. The construction of the piece is based from the first to the last note on the fifth interval. At the same time. The final version exhibits far more complex relations. a rhythmic heightening commences. each time a half-tone higher. and in the seventh period a dynamic one (crescendo from single to triple forte). so that the fourteen theme repetitions traverse exactly two octaves. As a sketch that extends to only a few measures indicates. A “remnant” of the original conception survives. though no longer as strongly. insofar as in the first nine bars.The melody set in octaves in the right hand forms the “theme” of the etude. What is especially admirable here is the inventiveness of the composer. The first three periods are of the same length. exhibits a quasi stereometric shape. associations with extra-European music crop up. without for one moment lapsing into monotony. shorter development starts at m. 9th period = 37 eighths. Like many of Ligeti’s pieces. 98. 10th period = 29 eighths. too. too. where the music fades away. 13th period = 112 eighths. The tonal expanse with which the piece commences is located in the middle region of the diapason and then gradually opens in both directions: while the right hand occupies the tonal realm up to the extreme height. 5th and 6th period = 42 eighths each. The piece gains its élan from its highly differentiated polyrhythmic organization. In the fourth period.The immediately following second part proceeds at the forte level without dynamic modification and comprises three periods of approximately equal length and a fourth shorter one: 11th period = 113 eighths. however. Ligeti originally thought of superimposing the meters 6/7 and 7/8. 108 and 109 eighths.248 A more detailed analysis of the resulting fourteen periods will yield instructive observations about design and structure of the piece. Désordre. can be called an invention on the fifth. Only in the last two bars. which Ligeti no doubt had in mind. 98. the articulation of the sequences of fifths in the left hand suggests a latent 7/8 meter. the left take possession of the lower region down to the lowest depth. Whenever one listens to Désordre. 14th period =. the hands drift apart. A second. which is sequenced fourteen times. numbering 109. Cordes vides. The Second Etude. they move parallel. as the sketches contain references to the heterophony of the Banda Linda and to gamelan music. 29-32. This acceleration of the rhythmic momentum. Ex. however. namely. triplet eighths in the other 21-23 triplet eighths in one hand. 1-11 eighths in both hands 12-21 eighths in one hand. triplet sixteenths in the other 29-32 eighths. as it were. as the following outline will show: mm. triplet eighths and triplet sixteenths in the left hand. in two strands. after which the rhythmic current issues into a fully composed ritardando. “motifs” consisting of 6 + 6 + 4 + 9 + 5 + 6 + 4 + 6 + 7 + 7 + 4 + 8 eighths (Ex.hand prefers a variety of groupings. 28 “Second Etude for Piano”: polyrhythm Another essential aspect of the piece’s rhythmic complexity is the gradual rhythmic acceleration that commences in m. is not uniform but proceeds. 12 and reaches its climax in mm. cascade-like figurations of thirty-seconds in the right 32-38 fully composed ritardando 160 . triplet sixteenths in the other 24 triplet sixteenths in both hands 25-29 sixteenths in one hand. 28). recurring in 208 of the altogether 212 bars. The result is frequent short rests and hence an irregular. is an invention on a specific pianistic technique. The Fourth Etude. the latter of eleven – but also from the artfulness. which. at the end of the piece. since certain keys are blocked. again the unstopped strings of the violin and viola – significant allusions creating a subliminal connection to the Horn Trio. with which the latter is treated. as well as the number of voices. An unchanging figure. though similar to each other. runs throughout the piece. The tension of this Etude results not only from the differing lengths of the ostinato figures and the horn fifth models– the former consist of eight eighths. meaning essentially “open strings”. 29). appears in ever new variants. a reference to the tuning of the violin and the viola. In the above-mentioned sketch. The variations in the model involve both the diastematic (intervallic) and the rhythmic component. The middle section – Poco meno presto (ma presto assai. and all of which are developed from a distorted horn fifth model (Ex. 11-14 is actually alluded to in dotted eighths (dotted eighths do not occur anywhere else in the etude).The piece contains also some poetic references that are worth noting. Touches bloquées. which in mm.f# . Then. later (mm. for the most part chromatically rising and falling eighths figures. as though as a reminiscence. are never alike.d . the Third Etude. capricious rhythm. is actually a study of the ostinato. we hear a seemingly distant horn-like signal (cantabile. Thus it resounds in a two-voice version at the beginning. the silent depressing and holding of certain keys. it bears the title Quintes and in brackets the heading Cordes vides. which frequently remind of trumpet and horn signals. intricate.a# b and metered in the Bulgarian-rhythm of 3 + 2 + 3 eighths. that of the “mobile key blocking”. It is dominated by shorter figures of two to five notes that are separated by caesuras and are to be performed in unison with isolated characteristic grating seconds (Reibesekunden). What makes this figuration unusual is that certain notes in it.g# . suggestively entitled Fanfare. Moreover. quasi un corno da lontano) and immediately thereafter. It undergoes countless metamorphoses. 63 ff) in a three-voice. This ostinato is dotted by “fanfares” – fanfare-like “melodic phrases” (as Ligeti calls them in the facsimile autograph). The basis of the first section of this tripartite etude consists of diverse long.249 that is. impetuoso) – stands in starkest imaginable contrast to the outer parts.e . consisting of the notes c . the technique of the mobile key blockage is altogether absent. are not sounded.f . and following that 161 . which Henning Siedentopf developed. which accounts for the enormous charm of this music. which are fully written out. And it seems telling in this connection that Ligeti originally thought of supplying the first and fourth notes of the ostinato figure with such seconds. 123). in m. as he did. reduced to five or seven eighths (mm. Bartoque. that is. 75 ff. 116 and 202). the other. 116 ff. “farther off” (m. 29 “Fourth Etude for Piano”: ostinato plus horn fifths Of special importance in this Etude is the illusion of spatial perspective..). 188 ff. They sound from afar (da lontano. to be sure. 130) and very close (mm. exhibits Bartokisms. vascillating. 130 shows the beginning of the discarded sketch. the fanfare-like motifs come to the fore. Ex. 146 ff. “closer” (m. in which a particularly striking aspect is that 162 . in addition it also gets furnished with “prefixes” and addenda. then. respectively) and then again enlarged to 14 and 20 eighths (mm. 88.(mm. At the very beginning of the etude. two related ideas are notated in an early draft: one is headed Fanfares. Ligeti’s sketches for the Fourth Etude and his first complete autograph of the composition enable us to realize that from the start he connected the idea of a homage à Bartók with the conception of the Fanfares. the ostinato always remains in the background. another two-voice version enters. from which one hears the fanfare motifs. Ex. we find the note: “Dynamic balance: always emphasize the melodic phrases. Since the ostinato remains mostly in the “background”. Interestingly enough. the model is both diminished and augmented. mm. which extends between multiple piano and multiple forte. As for rhythmic changes.) in a monophonic one. and mm.” The distance. between entitling the piece Fanfares or Bartoque pour fêter Bartók. 187-201) – spatial illusions evoked largely by the dynamic. does not remain constant but varies. an accumulation of those Reibesekunden so characteristic of Bartók’s “savage” style. that built a kind of bridge between Chopin and jazz. besides “almost Stravinsky. It is also notable in this connection that one repeatedly encounters jazzy triads-with-sixte-ajoutée (m. left hand. which is to be recited con eleganza. the fifth etude. As for the rhythmic organization of the etude. 30). the first. he said.the fanfare motifs in the right hand are embedded in a 7/8 meter. first sixteenths). with swing. 30 Sketch for the “Fourth Etude for Piano”: proximity to Bartók In a conversation Ligeti had with Denys Bouliane in 1987. Ex. naming as representatives of the two types Désordre. 163 . con tenerezza. A painstaking study of the harmonics of Arc-en-ciel will certainly find that it is frequently based on a layering of thirds. 31). with the stylistic world of a sentimental kind of jazz fond of seventh chords of every stripe.and Webern-like” objective pieces also very “emotional” ones. the first number of whose Etudes opus 10 seems to have been in the composer’s mind in conceiving his own etude. m. in contrast to the octal rhythm of the ostinato (Ex. 21 right hand. 11. and Arc-en-ciel. While the right hand orients itself on the 3/4 meter. sempre legato and molto espressivo. the left hand goes with a 6/8 beat (Ex. dolce. A close look at the piece indeed reveals an affinity. m. and on the other. 19 first eighths. first sixteenths.250 The observation appears plausible in light of the fact that this Andante molto rubato is an extraordinarily sensitive and expressive piece rich in mellow sounds. on the one hand. though one could not speak of any kind of inherent regularity. he thought that his new composition contained. the latter a piece. one might be tempted to call the piece a study of the hemiola. with Chopin. Ex. This. 9/10 and 17/18 suggest a 3/8 meter. 31 “Fifth Etude for Piano”: hemiolas This simple proportion. but with a difference. however. makes the piece appear somehow arc-like. 3/4.presents an outstanding example of how Ligeti departs form his own rules and creates complicated relations by means of countless irregularities. Several suddenly broken-off crescendos determine the musical scene in both the first and the second half. 11/12. The spatial shape is no less instructive. In the Old Testament. attains the greatest fullness of sound in the middle and concludes in the higher register. forms no more than the frame of a composition that attains a high degree of complexity – and not only in a rhythmic respect. 9:1-17). occurs exactly in the middle. Arc-en-ciel. an aesthetic image and a symbol. The piece begins piano as a relatively narrow tonal band in the higher register. as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. Among 20 th-century 164 . the music quasi vanishing into the highest height. quintuplets and sextuplets in the right hand and above all syncopated formations. the tendency of the second half is mostly retrograde. including triplets. in mm. a triple forte. which in mm. The rainbow is at once a natural phenomenon. Whereas each new crescendo in the first half exceeds the preceding one in intensity. too. then gradually captures the entire tonal space.e. i. The dynamic climax of the 23-bar piece.. it serves as the sign of God’s covenant with man (Gen. The volume relations likewise reveal a systematic disposition. The theme. Of prime importance is a very fast pulsating movement of sixteenths. After repeated intonation in the descant. In a conversation with Detlef Gojowy. which is modified time and again. Automne à Varsovie can be compared to a fugue insofar as the theme is treated in an imaginatively polyphonic manner. 55-61). 62 ff. and. About Automne à Varsovie we have Ligeti’s own detailed comments. Olivier Messiaen had a special predilection for the image of the seven-colored bow: Arc-en-ciel is a title that occurs repeatedly in his works. 13-15) and later by one of the middle voices (mm. he called it both “a lament piece” and a fugue253 .252 in which he hinted that he regarded the piece as the most important. two. for example. the theme is then taken over by the bass (mm. the composition is written in one. three and even four voices. Closer analysis reveals that it applies a whole series of original technical ideas. against which the lament theme is set off. and the Sixth Etude here under discussion is labeled “great lament” (nagy lamento) in the drafts.a rather terse commentary that supplies only a first aid in orientation. at the beginning of the second part (mm. along with Désordre. the distance between the individual notes of the melody measures five pulses. Yet the etude differs fundamentally from the traditional fugue insofar as the lament theme is transformed melodically as well as rhythmically – not to mention that the thematic entrances do not occur at certain intervals fixed in advance. Lament themes play a surprisingly large role in Ligeti’s later work. 18-20). each half numbering 61 bars. Such expanses are formed at the beginning by the tonal background. When the theme reappears in the middle voice 165 . Owing to the great speed of the basic pulse – the expression mark reads Presto cantabile. The division of the piece is conspicuously symmetrical. consists primarily of descending half. a kind of overarching tonal foreground.composers. Except for the tonal fields and some mixtures (parallel chords). that is to say. among the etudes of the first volume.and whole-tone intervals. molto ritmico e flessibile  = 144 – the tonal fields generated will mostly be perceived as tonal expanses by the listener.251 The question whether the rainbow image in Ligeti has a symbolic connotation beyond its aesthetic fascination must remain open. which are frequently furnished with a sforzato mark. The sorrowful character of the music is unmistakable – not surprisingly the sketches contain the characterizing notes dolente and molto dolente. Laments occur in the Horn Trio as well as in the Piano and the Violin Concerto. but occasionally also exhibits ascending intervals.). At the outset. the lament theme follows a fivepulse rhythm. mostly in octaves or note repetitions – a motion that only in the middle stops out for a few bars (mm. In a commentary to the Seventh Etude of 1988/89. he seems to hear a slower and a faster melody. has a political connotation. Ligeti superimposes up to four different tempos. it is diminished to a three-pulse schema. whose degrees comprise ca. the lament theme undergoes every conceivable treatment. Galamb borong.(mm. In the course of the etude. was meant to evoke an imaginary gamelan-like music “at home on an island not found on any map. he continues. darling or sweetheart – “but that one is irrelevant to the character of the music: what matters is solely the verbal sound of the title. the diminutions and augmentations are based not on half or double note values but mostly on prime number proportions such as 11 : 7. “the title will also have an altogether different meaning” – Galamb in Hungarian means as much as dove. as the composer himself pointed out. Kondortombol being the name of a fantasy island. e. gets diminished and augmented. Since the listener will not be able to perceive the 5 : 3 ratio precisely. 99 ff. the theme in the alto the five. an equidistant pentatonic scale.” “For those who understand Hungarian”. the rejected titles Étude de Varsovie and Automne de Varsovie indicate that the piece refers to the critical situation in Poland in the early ‘eighties. 18-20). who choked off liberal impulses. 7 : 5 and 5 : 3. It appears in its original form and in contrary motion. the sixth etude. forbade the free labor union Solidarność and imposed a state of war on the country. Characteristically. As we know. 166 .. it helps to remember Ligti’s penchant for the imaginary – especially when one learns that he had originally planned to give the etude the subtitle Les gongs de l’ île Kondortombol. 240 cents each. The result is something new and original: the illusion of multiple tempo levels – something one could also call “polytempics” or polytemporality. 1985 and dedicated to Ligeti’s Polish friends. On the basis of this principle. More plainly than the final title Automne a Varsovie. Claude Debussy did in his piece “Pagodes” from the Estampes (1903). The inverted theme in the tenor range has the seven-pulse rhythm. the tone system according to which many Indonesian gamelan orchestras are tuned is the Javanese slendro. Ligeti remarked that its title.. for example.pulse and the theme in the descant the four-pulse rhythm.255 European composers of the late 19th and early 20th century who wrote for piano had to translate the slendro of necessity into the tempered pentatonic scale – as. In mm. Conceived on July 11.”254 To understand these explanations. The lament and the “plunge into the abyss” at the end remind us of the dark phase of Polish history under Jaruzelski. we encounter the ratio 7 : 5 : 4.g. the music sounds consonantal or quasi-consonantal. but not the five-tone one (as in the Javanese slendro). paraphrasing and tempo-supporting instruments.db and the left hand in the whole-tone region e d . The usual tuning of the piano permits twelve-tone and six-tone equidistance. Thus the right hand plays exclusively in the whole-tone region b .a . Of special importance are the metallophones.Gamelan-Bonang (re the Seventh Etude: Galamb borong) Ligeti based his seventh etude not on pentatonic scales but on an original combination of the two possible whole-tone scales.c .eb .ab . which present the core melody.g . but has not been performed before Galamb borong. then instruments that perform a counter-melody. A listener who receives Galamb borong against the background of the Indonesian music of Java and Bali will discover numerous gamelan-like features in the piece. But I now have invented another kind of slendro-like tone system.bb . but also not whole-tone: it is covertly present in the usual tempered tuning of the piano. which is neither chromatic nor diatonic. and finally phrasing.f . Paradoxically. whose intervals can not be found in the well-tempered tuning. The noted ethnomusicologist Jaap Kunst classifies the instruments of the gamelan orchestra according to their functions into five groups: the bearers of the core melody. the 167 .gb. although all twelve ones are omnipresent in this piece and are often made to sound simultaneously by the pedal. Ligeti explained this as follows: The music itself is composed in an oblique equidistant tonal system. In a commentary.g. 8) or d2 / e2 / a2.. however. 19). The music has a metallically hard character. English) word. and long-held gong-like sounds in the bass region. he provided the following explanation: In contrast to the 7th etude. It is based on two differently rhythmic patterns. Other intervals are occasionally in evidence as well. Like the second.258 In this respect. three layers can be distinguished in the sound structure of Galamb borong: melodic lines. the tone character of the eighth is “metallically hard. which at times take on the character of a core melody. to assume that the etude is exclusively constructed of fifths. f2 / c3 / g3 (m. Fény sounds like fém and means light: fém to a Hungarian speaker is brighter. con vigore. empty fifths predominate in the piece. stronger-sounding than Metall. which recur repeatedly and suggest comparisons with medieval isorhythmic periods. The scrollwork is executed by one of the two hands or by both hands. which assume tasks of phrasing. as it were (m. Thus Ligeti in some respects throws a bridge from Bali to Africa. dominated harmonically by the fifth but also by other harmonics. here it is employed as a simultaneous one. and the so-called panerusan.” (The expression mark is Vivace risoluto. the fantasy island Kondortombol lies somewhere in between on his imaginary map.256 In a similar way. but it has an emotionally more intense aura than the German (French.gongs. which sounds altogether mellow.257 As noted. They often combine into tetrachords and every so often also show up as trichords in the form of three double fifths. Fém is the Hungarian word for metal. luxuriant interlacing scrollwork in the form of an uninterrupted motion of sixteenths. a compressed double fifth. whose regular pulsation also reminds of Central-African music. e. more radiant. the Hungarian word in the title of the 8th etude is relevant in terms not only of sound but also of meaning. the second etude is worked more rigorously and puristically. But whereas it was used there as a melodic interval. There are also notable differences in character between the two pieces: in contrast to the second etude. which execute finely spun figurations. The complexity of the composition results primarily from its polyrhythmic structure. they either stand out from the scrollwork or they are produced by the accentuated crest notes of the figurations. Where168 . As for the melodic lines. It would be a mistake. the Eighth Etude is an invention on the fifth.) Ligeti at first thought of giving the etude the simple title Quintes but then decided on the heading Fém. which brings on a powerful crescendo from triple piano to fourfold forte. and the fact that his creative work is not only conditioned by poetry but also frequently embedded in biological contexts. What has been said above can be specified by looking at the first five measures as follows. our perception keeps alternating between the runs as motion and their interference as a static image. creates a chaotic pattern. The listener’s impression confirms it: main part and coda of the piece are related to each other like present and recollection. is reduced to nine bars. 49-57. Fém closes with a longish coda (mm. The basic idea of the etude. 1-12. As in a puzzle picture [Vexierbild]. The basic. Two essential aspects of Ligeti’s aesthetics are illustrated by the Ninth Etude. was “a constant slipping and collapsing”. their combination.”259 In technical terms. 13-24. with the corresponding musical images being perpetuated. becoming softer and slower (diminuendo and rallentando). While the chromatic runs are regular within themselves. so that there is an interference of wave motions: the individual waves overlap and break. Phase displacements result in appealing combinations. the music sounds from afar (da lontano). Vertige. 58-76). Ligeti stated. and he added: “the temporal process is frozen. The tonal background of the piece is formed by a continuously flowing motion of eighths in several voices. Vertige can above all be called a study of chromaticism and the perpetuum mobile. Every twelve bars (each bar numbers 12 eighths) the ends of the periods coincide. the next one begins.as the talea of the right hand consists of 18 eighths (3 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 18). because of the constantly changing intervals between entrances. chromatically descending line comprises six169 . Before one such run is complete. Thu the idea of quasi vertiginous states is transmuted into music in this piece. descending chromatic scales form the basis of the piece. 25-36. Although the tempo remains the same. The fifth cycle. the left hand comprises 16 (4 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 4 = 16). until it expires altogether. The energy and verve that distinguishes the main part is replaced by a striking pallor and faintness. the collapsing becomes a state. which has very much the character of a music in slow motion. In Ligeti’s own words: Technically speaking. resulting in a division of the main part into five cycles: mm. the motifs and fifths of the main part now appear pianissimo. The tone image seems unreal. rhythmically augmented and in diverse rearrangements and modifications. 36-48. with particular vividness: his conception of music as “frozen time”. 10. three. dissolved dominant ninth. creating a sense of falling ever lower down – though the direction of these me170 . They radically differ in structure from the chromatically descending lines. as they do.and four-voice combinations resulting from the overlapping of the lines “wander” through the entire tonal space: from the lowest depth to the extreme height. Before yet that run reaches its end. 7. Further seven eighths onward. 33). 8. It gets shifted.fourth) and slower (3. from the one-line b to the small ab. they often sound like defamiliarized. In line with the poetic theme. and the two-. Another important element in the construction of the piece. after another seven eighths. fifths and fourths. As one can see. the structure of the interferential waves is not regular but downright chaotic. 4. one cannot help marveling at the high degree of complexity attained in the handling of the chromatic line model. that is. the bass steps get increasingly larger (minor second .tritone . however. eleventh and thirteenth chords and mark the points of collapse (Ex. as well as chains of thirds. 32 “Ninth Etude for Piano”: interference of wave motions Upon a detailed analysis of the piece. the second waves sets in and. 9 eighths). containing.major third .minor third . the game starts over again. seven and five eighths (Ex. is the melodic phrases that now and then supervene upon the perpetuum mobile. but now the intervals between the entrances of the individual waves measure five. 32). a third wave follows. greater note values. after eight eighths. transposed and altered diastematically in various ways. Ex.teen notes. the perpetuum mobile takes on a flickering character in the highest register. the Tenth Etude. 1-37. 33 “Ninth Etude for Piano”: points of collapse Although the continuous motion of eighths never stops. others do not.lodic phrases. 38-65) are held to a regular meter (4 + 4 + 4 or 4 + 3 + 2 + 3 eighths). in m. which also appear in higher ranges. 171 . a new “train” commences. some proceed in a regular rhythm. Ex. is not always falling. If the first two sections (mm. 66-97) exhibits asymmetrical accents. 83. the third section (mm. and the fourth section (mm. into which it is latently divided. Then. Begun in Hamburg in July/August of 1994 and completed in Vienna. a crescendo in contrary motion commences: while the left hand comes climbing up. Of the four sections. Accordingly. producing a great dynamic and agogic heightening. the characteristic expression marks read prestissimo. has a special place in the dramaturgy of the second cycle inasmuch as it represents the scherzo. staccatissimo. which throughout has traits of a toccata and has an “airy” character. leggierissimo. After both hands have for eight measures played unison figures in the two extreme reaches of the instrument. At the end of the first part. the piece clearly exhibits a division into two parts of 82 and 59 bars respectively. which bears the suggestive title Der Zauberlehrling (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). the right hand descends until finally the distance between the two hands is minimal. 97118). and the player is to make an effort to attain the speed of the Continuum. begins regularly but closes quasi in chaos. but at times also rising. resembles a perpetuum mobile. The piece. who stewed a good deal about what title to give to his piece. also considered the terms Engrenage (Interlocking). although Ligeti told me that he thought of Goethe’s poem only after he had already begun work on the piece: briefly he had considered giving the etude the title Métamorphose. but also to the respective frequency of the preferred intervals: while thirds and sixths pile up in the right hand. Formally. but also of a marvelous complementarity. seems appropriate to the hovering character of the piece and its questioning open-endedness. as the piece in fact suggests plaiting. 54-91) resemble each 172 . Entrelacs (Plaiting). This manner of organizing the tonal supply is not new in Ligeti: we remember it both from Désordre and from Galamb borong. Inevitably one recalls the events that Goethe describes in his famous ballad of the same title. 1-30. and character. This is owing not only to the difference in register and melodic line. After Ligeti’s ideas about the texture and the character of the twelfth etude had taken concrete form. he contemplated five possible titles: Bandage. the basic idea of the Eleventh Etude – its definitive title was En suspens (see Facsimile 10) – is the contrariness and at the same time complementarity of the two hands. major seconds and major ninths. the left hand exhibits with striking frequency. the other plays only the black ones. inasmuch as the right hand adheres throughout to a 6/4 meter. After prolonged pondering. It is thus instructive to know that Ligeti. Croisement (Crossing) and Miroirs (Mirrors). however. accounting for the acrid sound of the left-hand part. perfect fourths. the composition clearly reveals a division into three parts of the schema A-B-A’. Playing both hands together will evoke a sense. If one plays the two hands one after the other. while the left one follows a quaternary one (4 x 3/8). While the two outer parts (mm. which differ in form in every respect – that of tone system. meter. Roseau (Reed). As paradoxical as it may seem at first. The definitive title of the etude.Two things are especially noteworthy here: the increasing density of the structure and the rapid discharge at the end. The difference in sound between the two hands is substantial: the right hand sounds much mellower than the left. one may indeed get the impression as though the contour of the right hand was curved more inward and that of the left hand more to the outside. not only of great pliancy and suppleness. he finally settled on Entrelacs (Facsimile 11). Souplesse (Suppleness) and Convexe-Concave. A close look at the etude confirms that the final title is indeed the most fitting. at least at the beginning. While one hand contents itself with the white keys. The etude is also polymetric. 49-54). the left hand sticks closely to the plaiting pattern. Entrelacs is one of the most rigorously worked etudes. half notes every 13 pulses r. h. The piece is based on an uninterruptedly pulsating motion of sixteenths. in rilievo) in what seems to be a free rhythm. with each “bar” comprising twelve sixteenths.gb . each hand here. as in Ligeti’s music generally. In the third part...a .b..f . From m. quarter notes every 7 pulses and eighth notes every four or five pulses. (N. the accentuated tones are given half-notes. As in Galamb borong. 3546. Later on. The middle part is a good deal more complex than the first one. in this etude. If one looks closely at the first part.B. quarter notes every 7 pulses r. 47 on.ab . the left hand to the row c .. In mm. At the beginning. the right hand performs a cantabile melody (cantabile. By contrast. which points back to the cantabile section of the middle part. h. too.eb . a quasi hierarchical system can be discerned. The most interesting perspectives on the etude. h.g . except for the four. Ligeti is again working with prime numbers here. In terms of the tonal system. every 17 pulses l. h. too. This shows that.db . eighths and finally even sixteenths are accentuated as well. eighth notes every 4 pulses r. 30-54) contrasts with them in both theme and motif. h. Every 13 pulses in the 173 .) The accentuation of certain pulses according to certain rules results in plaiting patterns and intricate polyrhythms. the system of the plaiting pattern of the first part is partly continued. such that accentuated half notes are heard every 17 pulses.e . sixteenth notes every 3 pulses l. 64-71 form an exterritorial enclave in the right hand. Here is an outline of the plaiting patterns of the first part. quarter-notes. h. partly modified. is confined to a six-tone row – the right hand on the notes d . however. we hear an accentuated half note here. the following regularities can be observed. Mm. In the third part the hands exchange their tonal supplies. open with regard to its rhythmic organization. To each relation of the note values corresponds a mathematical one. every five pulses an eighth note (only in mm. every 5 pulses l. the plaiting pattern reigns also over the right hand: every 13 pulses. In addition. every 11 pulses l.other. 47/48) and every three pulses an accentuated sixteenth (mm. however.bb. h. the middle section (mm. the bars serve the purpose of synchronization and orientation and should not be regarded in terms of the traditional beat and accent metric. they obey the seven-pulse principle.c1 .f . The etude concludes on a chord of perfect fifths: Eb . Invited to Santa Monica by the Getty Foundation.right hand and every 17 pulses in the left. 1970) In 1993. he witnessed the California winter of a century in early February: floods. as he told me in conversation. At the time he was deeply immersed in the imaginary world of Shakespeare’s Tempest: Prospero’s magic island fascinated him. 174 . For the start. half notes are accentuated. Accentuated eighth notes in both hands appear in a rhythm of three or four pulses. he departed for the United States. sounds and sweet airs” kept coming to his mind. Thus the intended paradisiacal vision turned into L’escalier du diable. György Ligeti at the piano in his Hamburg apartment (ca. Shortly after this conversation. marked sixteenth notes in the left hand underlie the three-pulse principle. a totally black piece that received the final number 13. The grand piano was to sound like a whole orchestra. Ligeti pondered extensively over the concluding piece of the second cycle. he had in mind a bright. mudslides and much human misery that appalled him. Finally.g1. and Caliban’s line “The isle is full of noises. radiant piece as a contrast to Automne à Varsovie – something analogous to Debussy’s L’ isle joyeuse. If quarter notes occur in the left hand.Bb . Columna infinita (infinite pillar) after a sculpture by the renowned Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) – a pillar 35 meters high that stands in a town in the Carpathian Mountains in Southern Romania. tamtams” in mm. On September 27. 9095 on the degrees f3 . even piú pianissimo. rhythmically intricate inventions on the chromatically ascending scale. 1993. most of the “inventions” begin pianissimo. 87/88 (bb . was a “tonal” piece based on the note c.e2. Moreover. This etude. 76-95) and the eighth (mm. 137/138 corresponds to the direction wild ringing of bells in mm. 87/88. He wanted to call it. in the low register and gradually rise to multiple forte. As soon as a climax is reached. 175 . however. The note “like bells. with certain correspondences between the fourth (mm. Both have toward their end the expression mark minaccioso e maestoso. When I got to see the finished composition a while later. He was then working intensively on the etude that was to be the concluding piece of the second cycle and was later given the number 14 (see Facsimile 12). gongs.In this piece. Ligeti set himself the task of working principally with chromaticism but disguising that ingeniously by means of various tricks.260 Although there are no clear caesuras. Characteristically. and a new ascent begins immediately. 142-145 on the degrees g2 . 145-148 (on the low notes eb .” As in a nightmare. traditional concepts like both tonality and atonality are bound to fail altogether. he said. In an interview. It is true that that low c at the beginning of the piece is emphasized so heavily that one might think a tonal center was being established. he added. a latent division into eight sections is recognizable. The piece presents itself as a series of homophonic and polyphonic. and five times in mm. I realized that that remark had been an ironic exaggeration. Ligeti spoke of the vain endeavor to get to the top and remarked he could have entitled this “dark menacing piece” also “Sisyphus. one always slides back: one would like to get somewhere – but one never arrives. No less striking is the fact that these intonations are framed by bell-ringing on the tritone (diabolus in musica): five times in mm. 127-160) section being particularly conspicuous. the etude also closes with the five-line c being struck frequently. as it were. I visited Ligeti again in his Hamburg apartment.e) and seven times in mm.d3. In view of the etude’s complexity. plunges into the abyss.a) – obvious evocations of the demonic. and both require tutta la forza of the player. the music. and in both a bell-like thirds motif is repeated several times: twelve times in mm. Facsimile 10 “11th Piano Etude”. En suspens: draft of the first page 176 . Entrelacs: draft of the first page 177 .Facsimile 11 “12th Piano Etude”. draft 178 .Facsimile 12 “14th Piano Etude” Columna infinita – first page. sedate part in quarter notes (Andante con espressione. because the rhythm – half notes in No. the missing note ab sounds only once near the end. eighths in Nos. The second part (Allegro con brio. The Fifteenth Etude (White on white) is a strictly diatonic work. in the detail as well as in the whole. mild sounds. 17 and 18 – is wholly uniform. Pour Irina. 16). But to the ear they are hardly perceptible. they are wholly or partly subject to the canon technique. 179 . it starts right away with a triple forte (sempre con tutta la forza). move apart and finally wind up in the high register. Out of Breath – is worked almost to the end as a strict canon in eighth notes and at a temporal distance of one eighth. Looking at the notation one can easily recognize the canonic parts. rubato. The process of a relentless turning up of the screw. The sixteenth etude. It moves at first in eighth notes and finally (Molto vivace) in sixteenths. at an interval of two eighths. it is the least dynamically differentiated: very loud from beginning to end. The piece ranges over the entire tonal expanse: both hands initially play in the middle region but then. sempre legato) gradually intensifies agogically. The first. is the trademark of the etude. The Seventeenth Etude – À bout de souffle. Its first part (Andante con tenerezza). The entire piano region is conspicuously excluded. on the other hand.Columna infinita evokes an impression of enormous robustness and monumentality. The last etude. Except for the second of these (No. excels by its wonderful canon and by mellow. molto legato) is based on a hexatonic system (db–eb–f–gb– bb–c–db). which here is in the service of an extreme virtuosity that demands the utmost of the pianist. is likewise a strict canon. Even more striking is the fact that the massive expanses of sound in both hands – they relate to each other like cresting waves – form constantly rising contours. in the Allegro vivace. composed throughout of half notes and strictly three-voiced. is bipartite in design as well. The reference is to Irina Karaeva. the wife of the noted pianist Piere Aimard. Canon. 15-18) were composed between 1995 and 2001. 15. the second part. yet does not sound tonal. Of all the piano etudes. and who played his etudes with bravura. who was part of Ligeti’s immediate circle of friends. by its brio and rhythmic vitality. even that volume is to be exceeded. The final four piano etudes (Nos. which is played almost entirely on the white keys. The remaining expression marks signify that from the middle onward. There are more drafts for the Piano Concerto than for any other work: jottings on diverse slips and strips of paper. I now present my aesthetic creed: my independence both of the criteria of the handed-down avant-garde and of those of the modish post-modernism. however. numerous full pages covered with verbal notations. The earliest sketches for the work date from the summer of 1980. FS 13 Piano Concerto. Presto luminoso – notations 180 . which in the sketches varies between four and seven.16 “Quasi-Equidistance” and Polyrhythm: Coordinates of the Piano Concerto “In the Piano Concerto I developed new conceptions of harmony and rhythm. he made several starts. Initially he seems to have been indecisive about the exact number of movements. and a whole stack of music leaves and sheets. Looking closely at the sketches. in which the sequence was to be determined by the twofold contrast principle of fast-slow and hard-soft (Hungarian kemény and puha). At least nine different beginnings were rejected. Between 1980 and 1985. Fairly soon.2. the plan of a fivemovement structure appears to have become stabilized. one gets a sense of the enormous mental labor Ligeti invested in this work. They vividly document the fact that Ligeti reflected intensively about every aspect of the projected work. It was only after the completion of the first several piano etudes in 1984 and 1985 that his plans for the Piano Concerto began to take definitive form. and the last two movements were not composed until 1987.”261 Among the works that occupied Ligeti for several years is the Piano Concerto written for the American conductor Mario di Bonaventura. but these never got beyond diverse beginnings.” “In the Piano Concerto. But it was only in 1986 that Ligeti was able to complete the first three movements. in Stravinsky’s Sacre du printemps the polymetrics. dance like the Caribbean salsa and Brazilian samba. What interested him in Liszt’s Années de pélerinage and his Dante Sonata was the piano technique. But the imaginary ethnological music landscape he had in mind was located somewhere between Africa. Stravinsky and Shostakovich). folk music of Southeastern Europe. Even so his notations in the sketches help us to realize that in conceiving the work he incorporated impressions from diverse areas (see Facsimile 13 and 14). The stimuli were numerous: works of occidental art music (especially Liszt. in Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony the “cystoscopic” accumulation of dissonances. the Balkans and the Caribbean. and finally Paul Klee. African polyphony. Conlon Nancarrow and Oscar Peterson. FS 14 Ligeti’s jottings for the Piano Concerto 181 .Ligeti’s Piano Concerto is a work of the greatest originality. Paul Cézanne and Constantin Brancusi. he proclaimed. As we have noted. Along with quasi-equidistance. And indeed. Ligeti found a model for his idea of quasi-equidistance in Javanese. His declared ideal became that of a quasi-equidistance: the music should suggest the illusion of equidistance. the Javanese sléndro is a five-degree. polyrhythmics proves a dominant principle of the Piano Concerto. Instead. the wealth of interrelations in this work discloses itself only after several hearings. the other on the black. In the Piano Concerto. It had been his endeavor. In an effort to elucidate these implications. by the coupling of diatonic and pentatonic scales. second and fifth). exceptimg only the Ramifikations of 1968/69. he does not seem to have written any rigorously constructed microtonal works in the strict sense of the term. to get away from both chromaticism and equal temperament. to leave tonality as well as atonality behind. Melanesian and African music – musical cultures he had felt drawn to for a long time. Neither is the Piano Concerto such a work. he found. which will affect the listener as much as they will confuse him.Ligeti called the Piano Concerto his most complex score and the least transparent to the ear. the subtle instrumentation. after some experimentation. The polymetric and polyrhythmical techniques Ligeti had developed in the Piano Etudes are here pushed to the limits of the possible. The listener perceives this combination as a suspension of temperament. In three of the work’s five movements (the first. Ligeti referred to the talea concept of late medieval music. by the combination of two wholetone scales and by other means. It is generated within equal temperament. yet does not belong to it in terms of its sound. Both the piano part and the string part at the begin182 . He could not bring himself to retune the piano accordingly. Its enormous complexity manifests itself in every technical dimension. the tonal supply is derived wholly or in part from the combination of diatonicism and tonic (anhemitonic) pentatonics. meter and rhythm. in the intricate polyphony. Though he sympathized and experimented with microtonality. and above all in its harmony. In visual terms. with intervals of 240 cents each – though the instruments of the gamelan orchestra are not precisely tuned – while the pélog is a seven-degree tonal system with non-equidistant intervals. the idea of quasi-equidistance is implemented in diverse ways: by the introduction of new. not equidistant intervallic modi. one hand of the pianist plays on the white keys. The special appeal of the music of he first movement (Vivace molto ritmico e preciso) resides above all in its polyrhythmical imbroglios. a new original way between microtonality and equal temperament. roughly equidistant scale. with the sound becoming increasingly thinner. recurrent rhythmic periods that are divided asymmetrically. 30. The opening two sections of the piano part. 36 and 33 measures. 13 and 6 units. The simultaneity of the periods of different length and different rhythmic patterns results in a tricky polyrhythm (Ex. the movement clearly divides into four sections of 30. begins in the middle register but 183 . Ex. Of these. 1st movement: unequal isorhythmic periods Upon closer analysis.ning of the concerto. are based on firm. the first is structured rigorously according to the two talea-like periods described. The period of the strings playing pizzicato (notated in 4/4 time). lighter and more ethereal. equally long and measuring 30 bars each. too. The first commences in the middle register and gradually invades the upper one up to extreme height. The other three sections are based on different rhythmic patterns. The second train. seem like two trains of sound that move in contrary directions. on the other hand. 35 Piano Concerto. the second ten times. 35). The period of the piano part (notated in 12/8 time) measures 2 ½ bars and consists of 30 pulses divided into groups of 11. comprises 3 measures and consists of 24 pulses grouped in units of 13 and 11 pulses. with the first period recurring altogether twelve times. he explained. then evolves toward the depth, with the sound growing more massive, voluminous and booming. The two trains demonstrate in a particularly concrete way how time can unfold in space, or, to put it differently, how time becomes space. Another observation in this connection: while the piano part in the first movement is frequently in the foreground of the musical space, it is by no means always so. Often in the course of the movement it recedes to the middle level and even into the background. In all four sections, highly expressive lines of individual brasses, e.g. the horn or the trombone, and of the strings come up to the sound level of the piano. The listener perceives these lines now as foreground voices and now as background ones. A prominent leggiero theme of the piccolo flute also comes to the fore in the third section (mm. 71-80) and later in the fourth one as well (Ex. 36). Ex. 36 Piano Concerto, 1st movement: Leggiero theme of the piccolo flute György Ligeti’s music suggests closeness and distance, depth and height, breadth and narrowness. It therefore requires a spatial, or as it were “perspectival listening.” 184 If the first movement impresses the listener by its enormously dense polyphony and nearly boundless rhythmic energy, the second (Lento e deserto) surprises him by a maximum of expressivity (Facsimile 15). It also differs considerably in terms of tonal system, as it is based predominantly on a nine-tone modus consisting of identically structured trichords (Ex.37). Ex. 37 2nd movement: nine-tone mode FS 15 Piano Concerto, Lento – beginning of the 2nd movement, score draft This mode, supplemented from time to time by the three missing notes (f, a, and db), is transposed to various degrees and determines, besides the melody, largely also the harmonics of the movement. The tension of the latter describes the following arc. A pedal point on the note f, held for 28 measures in the double basses, suggests solitude. Over this foundation, expressive “sighing figures” sound in the winds, which evoke a sense of lamentation (mm. 131).262 The plaintiveness is reinforced by strange timbres and rarely used instruments, as well as by the way of playing: the piccolo flute plays in an extremely low register, the bassoon, conversely, in an extremely high one; swanee whistle (lotus flute) and alto ocarina join in; in many instances, portamento 185 is prescribed. After this preliminary section, the piano, in mm. 32-40, intones a “theme” that will play a major role in the rest of the movement. The peculiar sound effect of this passage results from the combination of the extreme sound registers (Ex 38).263 Ex. 38 2nd movement, Lento e deserto: Theme in mixtures (parallel chords) Immediately thereafter, (mm. 42-59), the “theme” is picked up fortissimo by the piccolo flute, the oboe and the clarinet and treated canonically in accordance with the “micropolyphonic” technique. This peculiar imitational treatment produces strident dissonances – the labeling stridente in the score is no exaggeration (Ex. 39). Ex. 39 2nd movement, Lento e deserto: micropolyphony Major events in this movement furthermore include the siren glissando followed by an alarm whistle in mm. 58-61. Both act as pungent signals connoting alarm, war, terror and brutal authority. After the siren glissando, the dy186 namic, tonal and emotional climax of the Lento is reached on the tritone e-bb (m. 60). Departing from the rule of the nine-tone mode, the piano now enters with the combination of diatonicity (white keys) and tonal (anhemitonic) pentatonics (black keys). The runs of parallel fifths that the right hand of the pianist here plays on the white keys in the highest register are supported by mixtures on the black keys in the left hand, with the same tones at times occurring two octaves lower and shifted by a half-tone (Ex. 40). The damned-up tension is prolonged (mm. 60-79). The final strains of the movement with the chromonica (chromatic harmonica) sounds are melancholically nostalgic. Ex. 40 2nd movement, Lento e deserto: runs of fifths, damned-up tension Ligeti’s music, when it is determined primarily by the rhythmic element, has always had an affinity with pulsation – to all appearances even at a time before he had begun to occupy himself with exotic music. But it can hardly be denied that the idea of pulsation is brought to bear more pronouncedly in his more recent works, those postdating that preoccupation. It underlies the first Piano Etude, the head movement of the Piano Concerto, and extended stretches in the third and fourth movement of the latter, with the pulsation being mostly irregular, that is, the accents being distributed asymmetrically. The affinity with exotic music of the third movement (Vivace cantabile) is most obvious in the preference for pulsation and in the way in which the bongos and the xylophone are treated. The piano part, which is clearly dominant in this movement, resembles a perpetuum mobile and in some places a string of pearls in its uniform figuration of sixteenths. An asymmetrical distribution of 187 accents and the intonation of individually rhythmicized melodic voices produce a complex polyrhythmical structure. Ligeti, with his soft spot for the illusionary, called the movement “the most authoritative example to date of illusionary rhythm and illusionary melody.” No less notable in this Vivace cantabile, however, is its peculiar union of agility and lyricism. The movement borrows its melodic substance largely from the Lento e deserto. A characteristic of the movement’s physiognomy is the tonal background at the beginning. While one hand of the pianist executes a continuous figuration in sixteenths, the other adheres to an ostinato pulsating minor thirds motif in dotted eighths. After the latter has been taken over by the flute, the right hand of the pianist plays a dirge-like melody, whose notes as a rule follow each other in a rhythm of seven pulses. Structure and progress of the movement are so complex that it would require a very long treatise to describe them with a measure of precision. There are, besides, numerous indications to suggest that the Vivace cantabile incorporates ideas developed originally for a movement to have been called Corrente. It was to be “quiet”: (halk), “soft” (puha) and “flitting” (suhanó) and vanish into nothingness – traits that apply in part also to the Vivace cantabile. Close occupation with the Piano Concerto also make clear that the work is indebted to the idea of recursiveness. Certainly the three middle movements exhibit significant motivic-thematic linkages. The motivic figures of the Lento are picked up and further developed in the two succeeding movements. Ligeti spoke rather incidentally about the recursive structure of the fourth movement and also mentioned that its motivic formations resembled earlier motivic figures “without any formation being ever repeated exactly” (Ex. 41). In contrast to the third movement, which leaves the listener with an impression of undisturbed continuity, the fourth (Allegro risoluto) is distinguished to a marked degree by discontinuity. The few motivic elements from which it is developed – Ligeti called them “kaleidoscopic particles” – are borrowed in part from the two preceding movements and are initially presented as quasi unrelated to each other. Of special importance, however, is a new, signal- or fanfare-like motif, which will undergo numerous metamorphoses. As the movement progresses, moreover, its elements begin to rotate: the structure becomes ever denser. Ligeti illustrated the process by comparing it to a vortex; he also stated that in conceiving this movement in particular he was stimulated by pictures of fractal formations. No less revealing is the fact that he regarded the Allegro risoluto as the central movement of the concerto. In the sketches he called it a variant of the Lento e deserto. One will realize that there 188 46. Ex. The music is rich in startling moments: isolated brutal strokes of the small 189 .are important subterraneous relations between these two movements if one attends to the motivic connections between them and notes the peculiar fact that only these movements feature the whip and the whistle. as it does an atmosphere of menace: one feels reminded of Arnold Schönberg’s heartstirring cantata Ein Überlebender aus Warschau (A Survivor from Warsaw) op. 41 Piano Concerto: motivic-thematic linkages in the middle movements The emotional climate of the movement is unique. spreading. A long crescendo of the piano (the suggestive expression mark reads sempre crescendo – tutta la forza con parossima estremo – ancora più feroce) leads to the climax in mm. 141 ff. The portentous key words hajsza (chase). though all twelve tones were present. FS 16 Notes on the 4th movement. Ligeti had a luminous sound in mind from the start: the earliest notations repeatedly include the catchwords “radiant (ragyogás) and “luster” . Ligeti said of this movement that it had the mark of a persistent “consonance”. the big drum and the whip assault one’s ears and shock the listener.drum. Allegro risoluto: cues of war memories? For the finale (Presto luminoso). In accordance with these notations.villogás).: the big drum comes in with strokes whose volume decreases step by step from fff all the way to pppp.“sparkle” (csillogás . This impression results largely from the use of a 190 . as well as once the code “hyper-Dur” (hyper-major). gewalttätig (violent) and panik found in the notes to this movement (Facsimile 16) suggest that this Allegro risoluto reflects traumatic experiences of the war or post-war period. the Basque drum. Speaking concretely. The “tonal system” on which the piano part is based in the first section (mm.a – b).eb . ma “jazzy.f . 5th movement: whole-tone scales in right and left hand In the second section (mm. 23-46). 41-46). however.bb). Both chromaticism and whole-tone character seem suspended (Ex. hardly darken the altogether bright impression the sound of the Presto creates.whole-tone scale. the left hand the other (db . which dominates in the first and the last section. Ex. brutale. and shortly before the end Ligeti places a dramatic accent: the brasses are to play minaccioso. The unmistakable character of luminosity in this movement is due not only to the tone system on which it is based but above all also to the instrumentation with its bright timbres. 191 . 42 Piano Concerto. For moments we also hear shrill sounds in the woodwinds (mm.e – gb .ab . the whole-tone scale is replaced by the combination of diatonicism and pentatonics recalled from the first movement. the right hand plays one scale (c .” These passing shadows.g . 42). 3-22) combines the two whole-tone scales.d . Both bring into focus reflections of many years. “Three Dancers”: inspiration of a passage in the Violin Concerto 192 . I always endeavor to amalgamate these external impulses with my inner image and ideas. Picasso. a recorder and swanee whistles. But so that some-thing new and complex results. Maurits Escher’s puzzle pictures with non-tempered tuning systems. both violin and viola with scordatura and instruments with inexact pitches like ocarinas. in both Ligeti succeeded in fashioning a unique synthesis of the heterogeneous. besides the ‘normal’ orchestral instruments. I looked for imprecise intonation and a ‘muddy’ sound.2.”264 Both the Piano and the Violin Concerto occupy a special place in Ligeti’s oeuvre: for one thing because of their enormous complexity. in the Violin Concerto he embarked on new ways of overcoming the well-tempered system. If he had tried to get away from temperament already in the Piano Concerto. P.17 The Violin Concerto “Many layers of conscious and unconscious influences are combined into an organic homogeneous whole: African music with fractal geometry. I also indicated where I wanted a natural horn and natural trombone or where the woodwinds were to play minute pitch deviations. Conlon Nancarrow’s polyrhythmic music with the music of the ars subtilior.” “In the orchestra of the Violin Concerto I included. and for another because these works incorporate an astonishing plenitude of ideas. he had the idea of letting the soloist play on two instruments. one with natural tuning and one with scordatura.In November of 1988. two violist and two cellists). Ligeti disclosed to me that he was planning a violin concerto. From the start. he wanted the same arrangement for the string soloists in the orchestra (two violinists. FS 17 Violin Concerto: notes for the third movement 193 . the revised. an energetic. 1992. “metallic” one (energikus fémes). In the extant outlines. Ligeti wavered for some time about the number and sequence of movements. Two years later. differentiating them into fast and slow ones and pondering the inclusion of two scherzos. five-movement version premiered in Cologne. the other “Romanianpolymodal. on November 8. the number varies from three to eight. evolved in two stages: the premiere of the three-movement version took place in Cologne on November 3. Like the Piano Concerto.FS 18 Violin Concerto: notes for the Finale A study of the voluminous sketches makes possible a nearly airtight reconstruction of the work’s genesis. too. a lament and a passacaglia. One of the numerous outlines fixes the basic character of the movements as follows: 194 . the Violin Concerto. as late as March of 1990.” His ideas frequently revolved about a flowing movement (Fluidum). he still toyed with the idea of making the work one of seven or eight movements. one muted and chromatic. 1990. a Passacaclia and the Presto fluido. Vivacissimo diatonicus Ligeti with Saschko Gawriloff at a concert rehearsal (1990) The first version of the Violin Concerto consisted of the following movements: a Vivace luminoso. céleste – tragique – parody 4. tetel265 5. But Ligeti was greatly dissatisfied with the original head movement and altogether recomposed it. fluid 2. Passacaglia: lento appassionato polyphonic 3. elegant gbaya pizz. resolute 3. A mere 195 .1. Vivace luminoso 2. Andante staticus. microtonalis 5. Presto cromaticus 4. galimathias Another outline differentiates the movements in terms of tonal system: 1. it will be seen that the piece is constructed quite rigorously. It is likewise remarkable that the tonal background is formed by expanses of flageolet-playing in the strings. whereas he regarded the complete version as a masterpiece – “a masterpiece. that the soloist throughout the entire movement does not get to play a single cantilena but preludes from beginning to end. Appearing in diverse variants. if the flageolet notes do not always fully intone. it crops up “like a fanfare” in the scordated violins. and that the peculiar appeal of the music results from the strong contrast between the improvisational element and the precise rhythmic shapes. The work has undoubtedly gained a great deal from these major changes. The Aria stood in second place. as the glassy. whose five movements are so different in structure and content as hardly any other composition in contemporary music. however. the figure plays a major role in the course of the movement: in mm. it resounds in the scordated violins and here and there in the scordated violas. 56. Tension is added to the composition by an intricate rhythmic figure consisting of 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 2 eighths. One has to agree with Saschko Gawriloff. they should not be replaced by artificial flageolets.glance at the score of the rejected composition suffices to realize that it was substantially more impenetrable than the subsequently composed movement. Two additional movements were written for the definitive. It is striking. In m. 34-40) is presented by the woodwinds playing in mixtures (parallel chords) and supported by the pizzicato-playing strings. and the ‘not-always-secure intonation’ produces the impression of fragility and hazard. to begin with.”266 If one hears the first movement of the Violin Concerto (Praeludium: Vivace luminoso) for the first time. An NB in the score sets forth the following instruction: Regarding the natural flageolet tones of both the solo violin and the strings in the orchestra (except for the double bass): during the entire 1st movement. five-movement version: the Aria-Hocket-Chorale and the Finale. while the Passacaglia was shifted to fourth place. to whom the concerto was dedicated. shimmering character of the movement is based on the natural flageolets. and in mm. one may get the impression of constant improvisation. 45-49 and 51/52. Upon studying the score. 196 . 57/58 in the trumpet and the trombone. which initially (mm. when he describes the first (fragmentary) version as an “orchestral work between symphony and rhapsody with obligatory solo violin”. however. and one is surprised to discover that. the more one will be astounded by the imagination and the art with which the theme is treated. the second is the most perspicuous and the one most strongly indebted to tradition. A closer look at the composition will indeed yield some historicizing traits. as a note in the sketches has it.269 is no less new and no less original than that of the other movements. 34 ff. In the final version. which Ligeti himself.) 66-70 like section III (~ mm. Ligeti was thinking of an aria con variazioni. the various sections frequently 197 . the design of the movement is recapitulative: Mm. the marimba episode267 seems Far-Eastern and the rhythmically accentuated passages evoke African music. 1-13 Introduction. the movement is divided into several strophes. Traditional compositional techniques like the cantus firmus and the hocket are worked in new ways. In drafting the first version. Chorale appears retrospective. simplicity and cantabile character. based on open strings and natural flageolets 14-33 marimbaphone episode (new timbre) 34-40 molto ritmico: exposition of the precise rhythmic figure in the wood winds and the pizzicato-playing strings 40-58 a kind of development 58-65 like the beginning (~ mm. referred to as “his” contribution to postmodernism. like early Baroque arias. Even the title Aria. and one feels reminded of the music of the Baroque and the Middle Ages. in conversation. There can be no doubt that the music of this movement. Hocket. The more deeply one penetrates into its structure. and the complexity of the fabric in many places hardly falls short of the intricacies of the other movements. 1 ff. Thus the modally conceived theme of the Aria268 – borrowed from the third of Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet – recalls Baroque models in its diatonicity.The following formal outline will show that despite all of its rhapsodic freedom. Of all the movements of the Violin Concerto.) 70-80 epilogue: come un pianto A major conceptual characteristic of the movement is the changing “ethnic” coloration of the music: while the solo part sounds throughout gypsylikeRomanian. the multiply divided violins play a simultaneous hocket quasi chitarra. 43). support from the first viola. for another. conclusion dying away. trumpets and trombones). the counterpoint of the solo violin in 4/4 time and the faster tempo ( = 152). The trombone recites a counter-voice. What stands out is for one thing the mixture-type harmonization and instrumentation of the chorale with ocarinas and. 28. as the following outline will show. from m. likewise in pound notes. Strophe 5 (mm. 180-192): Maestoso misterioso pp (horns. 65. Strophe 6 (mm. Ligeti derived impulses for its treatment both from Machaut (Hoquetus David) and medieval polyphony and from Central African music. the solo violin is accompanied by two horns played like natural horns. from m. Interlude (mm. a counter-voice in the trombone. been fascinated by the vocal and instrumen198 . as previously noted. contrapuntally and chorale-like. it is easy to recognize that the theme undergoes six very imaginative variations. Even so. 74-85): Chorale I: the freely diminished theme fortissimo. The two chorale variations (strophe 3 and 6) are no less artful in their workmanship. while the flutes and the high strings in mixtures play two hocket-like mutually complementary contrapuntal voices in smaller notes (Ex. ocarinas and swanee whistles. the use of the hocket technique. Strophe 1 (mm.merge into each other: clear caesuras are not always detectable. two different hocket-like voices in the flutes and in the high strings playing in mixtures. 43-74): canonic treatment of the theme – canon between flute and solo violin on the fifth scale degree. He had. Roughly in the center of the movement (4th strophe) Ligeti placed his most ambitiously worked contrapuntal passage. Strophe 2 (mm. Strophe 3 (mm. 192-235): Theme in the solo violin (da lontano: semplice e malinconico). 84-129): Faster tempo ( = 152) and highly contrapuntal fabric: the theme as cantus firmus in the trumpet. Here the theme is intoned as cantus firmus in pound notes. 157-181): Chorale II (molto solenne): the theme harmonized in mixtures in the flutes. 1-43): theme intoned by the solo violin alone. Strophe 4 (mm. 129-157): A two-layer structure: the Aria theme in the horns in 3/4 time (tempo primo  = 114). Strophe 7 (mm. It is subtly altered and treated canonically. harmonized by the ocarinas in mixtures (parallel chords). which accompanies an initiation rite.tal music of the Banda Linda ever since he first encountered recordings of it in 1982. which are adapted to the notes of the tonal (anhemitonic) pentatonic scale.270 Ex. the hocket technique consists in the interweaving and overlapping of differently structured rhythmic figures. In the famous horn music of this African tribe. violins) 199 . 43 Violin Concerto. trombone). 2nd movement: cantus firmus (trumpet. hocket (flutes. Ligeti jotted down in the sketches. where. They are composed canonically in such a way that an extremely dense texture of chromatically moving voices results. later increasingly louder. The more suggestive expression mark in the score reads: Precipitoso: come un cataclismo – “precipitous: like a waterfall. “is not to be extended. An altogether different physiognomy is exhibited by the third movement (Presto fluido). dies away again with the “melancholy” solo violin and the equally “malinconico” alto flute. the score says. the score states at m.” The movement is prescribed to last only two minutes. In m. too. This texture provides the background for a long. 19. 26. whose basic characteristic is fluidity. in a kind of free recapitulation. gradually rises up to solemnity (solenne). everything flows. the trumpet and the trombone enter in consonant sixths with a new melody. A climax is reached in m. and with it the melody. that is. which at first comprise fifteen notes and then get progressively longer (16. The chromatic passages of the strings. With a scordated. appears to refer to this movement. 20. seeming a first to come from far away. 21. The music begins softly and gradually grows more intense. 18. the flute and the clarinets increases to such a degree that the solo violin can no longer assert itself but is covered up by the orchestra. the solo violin picks up the melody with which it started con violenza and in fourfold forte. an alla danza motif in the flute and then the clarinet. flowering melody of the solo violin – a melody whose dodecaphonic structure one hardly notices upon first hearing. chromatically descending passages. disappears for a stretch of ten bars (mm. at first as a mere murmur. and in m. etc. A flowing motion pervades the entire movement: the multiply divided strings play. in m. 45. A fluid crescendo of the violins. whose import is the Heraclitean panta rhei. 36. 50. “This duration”. whereupon the flowing music plunges chromatically and very loudly from high to low. it takes its leave of the orchestra. “Its sound disappears as if into a thicket”. The phrase “Heraklit-Forma”. for only thus the tempo is correct. respectively. adding the graphic indication of a slanting plane. 17.” The fast tempo is required in order to convey the sense of flux. 70. barely audible note (“like a distant flare-up”). 200 . 58. from beginning to end. “The end caves in”. a cantabile melody of the first horn. Little by little additional salient melodic figures join in: in m.Highly contrapuntal construction and poetic-imaginative conception need not exclude each other here: the movement begins “lonely” and low with the solo violin. louder. 60-70): only the flowing motion remains audible in the strings and woodwinds. which occurs once in the sketches.). 24 notes. a molto capriccioso phrase of the clarinets. and after a misterioso interlude. 39 and m. get progressively closer. presents an image of both order and chaos. In accordance with the nature of the passacaglia.perfect fifth . the original two-voiced structure condens201 . At the same time. this theme is much-repeated. The passacaglia theme.The fourth movement. Ex. regularity and seeming randomness. a passacaglia marked Lento appassionato. The whole is designed in such a way that a rising chromatic line. runs. with few exceptions. is two-voiced and extends to six bars (Ex. the lower voice moves mostly in contrary motion.perfect fourth .minor seventh. 44). The following intervals constitute the “scaffolding”: minor second . beginning with the note c1 and ending on the note f4. relatively simple in its structure. A close study of the score will show that the music increasingly departs from the regularity of the beginning as the movement progresses. through the entire piece. 4th movement: theme of the passacaglia While the upper voice consistently rises chromatically. but never in the original form: each repetition occurs in a transposed form.minor third .perfect fourth . 44 Concerto for Violin. Here is an outline: Mm.b2 (cello) .a1 (muted trumpet) 13-18 : bb1 . 43-46.e (oboe) 36-39 : f3 .d2 (horn) 19-24 : eb2 (trumpet) e2 .db1 .f4 (piccolo fl. any attempt to recognize the underlying compositional principles will be in vain: chaos reigns to both ear and eye.a2 .gb1 . the oboe.g2 (2nd violin) 40-45 : ab2 . In two places (mm.es progressively. intone a syncopated figure that is 202 . 36/37 and 41/42.a3 .a2 .c2 .ab2 (trumpet) 56-64 : impenetrable (chaotic) structure 65-74 : f3 . the bassoon and the trombone. which persists for 25 measures in the pianissimo sphere.d4 . 1-24). In mm.b2 (piccolo clarinet) 30-35 : c3 .ab3 . Thereafter. ethereal. with long-held. It is characteristic of the course of the movement and the music’s poetic conception that this “glassy dream landscape” is progressively threatened and finally destroyed.c3 (clarinet) 46-51 : db3 .f2 .g3 .db3 . there are feroce interjections by the violas and the double basses. swanee whistle) 75-84 : c4 . accompanied by a Basque drum.e1 (piccolo clarinet) : f1 . 1-6 7-12 : c1 .g1 . In mm.gb2 .bb2 .gb3 (piccolo clarinet) gb2 .bb2 .b3 (recorder. and soprano ocarina) 85-102 : impenetrable (chaotic) structure A unique sound effect marks the beginning of the movement.e4 . and the solo violin coming in unforgettably with long notes in the highest frequencies (m.d1 .e2 (double bass) 52-55 : f3 (flute) gb2 (piccolo clarinet) g2 . The theme’s two-voiced scaffolding remains unchanged only during its first four expositions (mm.d3 .b1 .eb4 .eb3 . imperceptibly changing harmonies determining the musical image.bb3 .gb3/f#3 .ab1 . Ligeti had the association of a “glassy dream landscape” and also thought of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass.eb2 .eb1 . in first conceiving the movement. One can well see why.db4 . 6).db2 . fragile. 56-64 and 85-102).g2 (oboe) 25-29 : ab2 . The music strikes the listener initially as unreal.d3 (flute) . deviations and irregularities multiply. In contrast to the three middle movements. Appassionato: agitato molto.” In mm. a rhapsodic tendency. 75/76. In mm. From m. 45 Concerto for Violin. reminding of Ligeti’s “cystoscopy” model. That is followed in the score by one of Ligeti’s favorite directions: “stop suddenly. has. 88-98. choppy” and even “coarse. rising up to extreme passion (appassionato). 96-98. no unified structural principle is perceptible here. lead to a regular explosion (ff on the great drum) in mm.to be played “very rhythmical. 79 on. 45). Its character changes with surprising frequency 203 . shrill dissonances are produced by the wind instruments. like the opening movement. 4th movement: the “glassy landscape” is destroyed The finale. the initially bated music starts to grow in excitement. the solo violin and nearly all the strings take over the feroce interjection. as if torn off” (Ex. which. Ex. The music rather presents itself as a sequence of variegated pictures. 94-101): postlude 204 . flute and clarinet) and in the solo violin. The following grouping of the movement is suggested by the conspicuous changes in character. 65-81): lamenting melody now in the solo violin (after the manner of a free recapitulation). 28. 93): free cadenza x 10th section (mm. high notes of woodwinds and solo violin. con violenza: Bartókian double stops on the solo violin (reference to Picasso’s La danse in the sketches) x 5th section (mm. trombone. piccolo clarinet. 51-64): “unison signal” (in the sketches: “gigantic shofar”) x 7th section: (mm. 44-51): contrasting sound quality created by a grazioso-leggiero melody of the piccolo clarinet x 6th section (mm.– in agreement with the telling catchwords tohuwabohu (chaos. x 1st section (mm. the section ends with seven drum strokes x 4th section (mm. then piccolo flute. 12-26): renewed start of the lamenting melody in the woodwinds (initially flute. 81-92): transition to the cadenza x 9th section: (m. 1-1): lamenting melody in he woodwinds (piccolo flute and oboe). progressive condensation of the “fissured” movement x 3rd section (mm. 26-34): fresh sound image (use of xylophone and whip). which enters feroce in m. hurly-burly) and galimathias (confused chatter) in the sketches. with contrasting interjections by the solo violin x 2nd section (mm. clarinet. later duet with the alto flute x 8th section (mm. 45-44): bizzarro. dominance now by bassoon. pithy “unison signal” (like a “gigantic shofar”) of the 6th section. with alternating arco and left-hand pizzicato in absolutely mad virtuosity. etc. functioning quasi as a recapitulation. 4 ff. (“with terror. Ligeti explained to me. and the immensely terse. one has to listen to it over and over. which Ligeti associated with Picasso’s La danse (Ex. One can hardly imagine a stronger contrast than that between the 4th section con violenza. 192). The motifs of the solo violin’s highly excited early interjections in mm. 12 and 13.As the outline shows. as per arrangement between the soloist and the conductor. the solo violin falls abruptly silent. The 7th section then picks up the lamenting melody of the beginning. The brief postlude has the effect of an acrobatic gesture. The cadenza has no real conclusion. “It is the reaction of the orchestra (clapping. hadarás). feroce”) are derived from this melodic material and are described as follows in the sketches: “Violin solo: chromatic stutters [plural] with shreds of the lament. the bassoon and the trombone respectively come forward with motifs articulated amazingly fast (leggiero capriccioso) like rapid speech – in the sketches one repeatedly encounters the note “sputtering” (Hung. the first two sections consist mainly of lamenting melody. To gain a sense of the contrastive wealth in this movement. p. quasi shrieking. It is to be always hectic (a continuation of the appassionato agitato molto) but may use melodic materials from all five movements ad lib.’ splitsecond. 205 . Toward the end it should be prestissimo. This interruption is to happen ‘quasi extempore.) to the soloist’s performance”. The cadenza has the following somewhat lengthy note attached to it in the score: The cadenza can last one to two minutes. while the soloist is playing in high positions (on the 1st string) in maximal tempo. it is to be suddenly interrupted by the orchestra (at R).” From m. At the entrance of the high wood block. 46 and fig. the 5th section with its grazioso-leggiero melody played by the piccolo clarinet in the highest register (taken over from the rejected original head movement). Picasso.Concerto for Violin. La danse. 5th movement: Con violenza of the solo violin (cf. below) 206 . The following table presents the tones of the harmonic series together with their deviations from the pitches of the tempered system:271 The work was originally designed to be in six movements. The score. Ligeti did not hesitate to comply with both wishes. later. which refer either to compositional techniques (hocket. capriccio. The results are iridescent. The movements have in part multiple headings. requesting that the premiere take place in Hamburg and that the title reflect a connection with the Hanseatic city. who already years before had asked the composer for a horn concerto. prescribes no fewer than four natural horns. did indeed take place in Hamburg. canon) or to traditional genres (prelude. moreover. mixture. The major innovation in the horn concerto is its sound. 2001. the soloist was the prominent hornist Marie Louise Neunecker. hymn). resulting from an original combination of the system of natural tones (the “harmonic series”) and the well-tempered system. The world premiere. A listener puzzled by the use of five horns should consider the exceptional tonal amalgamation of these instruments. 207 . hovering sounds.2. Ligeti. gave the new work the title Hamburgisches Konzert. Thus the soloist plays partly on a natural horn and partly on a valve horn.18 The Horn Concerto Ligeti composed this work in 1998 and 1999. The work is written for a chamber orchestra comprising instruments of diverse genres (among other things two basset horns). all of which sound the tones of the harmonic series. the great master of the musical miniature. moreover. The conspicuous brevity of the movements is owing to the strenuousness of playing the horns. though perhaps also to Ligeti’s manifest sympathy with Anton Webern. The Hamburg “Zeit Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius” commissioned it. in analogy to the Brandenburgische Konzerte of Johann Sebastian Bach. chorale. Ligeti added a seventh. on January 20. aria. aksak. The second movement. Aksak. Only six measures before the end (at letter C). Dance (mm. beginning pp and ending in a fourfold pppp morendo. Ligeti took a vivid interest in the polyphonic music of the 14 th century and especially in the so-called hocket – a technique made famous above all by 208 . while the short melodic segments of the hocket are given to the woodwinds. Ligeti’s signals. “Signals. meaning “irregular”. 1-11). is combined with the hocket technique. It is followed by a remarkable concluding sound. 2+2+3. we hear a sudden explosion: a stringendo in triple forte moving upward from below and bearing the note “wie verrückt” (like crazy). The history of horn music obviously began with signals serving for communication in war and in the chase. however. is divided into three sections. the aksak rhythm. In contrast to its three headings (“Aria. The third movement is unusual. (mm. denotes a fast rhythmic system that is based on a matrix consisting of a juxtaposition of binary and ternary quantities. entitled prelude and bearing the expression mark Adagio espressivo. a soft cluster. The “Dance” is distinguished by dense polyphony. have nothing in common with the traditional fourths and fifths intervals but are shaped by modern diastematics. in that bongos. for which Ligeti had a predilection. While the first part consists of an aria (mm. in accordance with the three headings: Signals (mm. 16-32).273 In his late Hamburg years. In the second part. its formal division is bipartite. Hocket”). while bongos and strings accompany it. although the first three signals are conspicuously answered by regular echoes. the second represents a coupling of aksak and hocket. Dance. 2+3+3. 1-7).272 In the Aria. This matrix underlies the so-called Bulgarian rhythm as well as the Greek kalamatianos. Chorale”.The first movement. begins with cluster-like pianissimo sounds in half-notes and does not exceed the mezzo forte range. such as 2+2. strings and marimbaphone provide the rhythmic foundation. The Turkish term aksak. 12-33). The final section is indeed chorale-like in its strict use of four voices but is divided not into four-beat lines but into phrases of different lengths. 8-15) and Chorale (mm. the melody is given to the solo horn. The Italian word capriccio.Guillaume de Machaut. rather than capra. one pausing while the other sounds. 66-137). In a commentary. entitled “Capriccio”. Ligeti’s sixth movement. facetious character. the xylophone and the strings. Ligeti confronted the type of “spectral music” that flourished in Paris since 1970. The fourth. 29-41). Mixture (mm. mostly in a rapid tempo. The fourth movement is headed “Solo. refers to the sequencing of parallel chords. Ligeti pointed out that the inharmonic spectra had not been made use of to date. head. In the fifth movement. thus opens with motifs notable for their leaping fifths. Intermezzo. The very cantabile solo of the concertante horn is followed secondly by a Vivo feroce in asymmetric rhythms and triple or quadruple forte – the kind of “wild” music Ligeti was often fond of. Intermezzo (mm. In this technique. highly virtuoso section (prestissimo) is constructed as a canon and is reserved to the woodwinds. it may have become colored by its phonetic similarity to the latter. a technique that has been known since the organ music of the Middle Ages. and whose principal representative was Gérard Grisey. Canon” and is accordingly constructed in four sections: Solo (mm. goat. two voices alternate with single or short groups of notes. but was also used by Debussy (La cathédrale engloutie) and Ravel (Bolero). in occidental music and visual art denotes a work of whimsical. “Spectra”. 1-28). Mixture. mood or whim. an animal known for its “capricious” leaping behavior. Though etymologically derived from Latin caput.274 How complex the structure of this piece is one will realize only upon considering that the solo-playing valve horn produces exclusively well-tempered tones. Interestingly enough. 30-65) and Canon (mm. There are two kinds of spectra: the harmonic and the inharmonic. ”Mixture”. While the harmonic are grounded on the harmonic series. as we have noted before. playful. as popularly thought. while the five hornists pause. noises form the basis of the inharmonic. 209 . Self-critical as he was. 11 on. The Ligeti accent remains unmistakable throughout. from m. Ligeti must have felt at some point that the Capriccio was not well suited as a finale and therefore composed a seventh movement.The piece is bipartite. The horns are to be muted. The marks rigoroso (m. The first part (mm. 11) and trotzig. The rhythm regularly follows a pattern of half + dotted half notes. the “Hymn”. 210 . provide hints for the recital of the solo horn. and the melody of the soloist is to be recited initially dolcissimo and dolente and later cantabile espr. The expression mark here reads Andante maestoso e misterioso. Of most of the Horn Concerto’s movement it can be said that they fuse contrasting musical characters in such a way that one is hardly conscious of any ruptures or discontinuities. crescendo poco a poco up to a triple forte. The second part (mm. defiant or obstinate (m. the strings to be bowed between bridge and tailpiece. 1-24) makes a rather robust impression. It is held throughout to a pianissimo. 25-50) presents a strong contrast. 16). The piece begins pianissimo and concludes. Among the most important ones must be reckoned the Second Viennese School around Schönberg from 1908 with its advance into atonality and dodecaphony. there is a dichotomy between modernist and postmodern (or Avant-garde and Postmodernism). the coloration and sense of life of the late 20th century. Whereas the term avant-garde cannot be called imprecise. and passing existence. Not only artists – writers. Other thinkers. The term avant-garde. Gianmario Borio names as constants of the concept – besides the feeling. not only in science and technology but also in art.”275 “I think both Avant-garde and Postmodernism have become obsolete. But I nevertheless believe in a modern art independent of any ideology. corresponding to the intellectual situation. It will come as no surprise that the dispute yielded no consensus. fundamental questions.Afterword: Beyond Avantgarde and Postmodernism “In today’s musical composition. painters and musicians – weighed in but so did philosophers and sociologists. In 1980. Modernism and Postmodernism. I regard myself to be outside either one. 211 . which favored serialism. a “passepartout concept” according to Umberto Eco. borrowed from military nomenclature. as well as in the other arts. of group solidarity – an “experimental groping about” and a utopian élan for the unknown. and the Darmstadt Circle around 1960.278 which is used with both a positive and a negative connotation. as it did. diametrically opposed positions and varying definitions. whose task it is to advance into unfamiliar territory. by contrast. refers to the vanguard of a militant troop. conceive of Postmodernism as a reactionary counter-position to Modernism. architects. To Jean-François Lyotard279 and Wolfgang Welsch. European music history of the 20th century knows of several avant-garde movements.277 An additional key aspect of all avant-garde movements beyond that is an unconditional belief in progress. the concept of postmodernism is a rather iridescent one. I am no adherent to the Avant-garde – was never a dogmatic advocate of any orientation. involving. Although I once loosely belonged to the Darmstadt Circle.280 Postmodernism is by no means an “anti-modernism” but the intellectual heir of Modernism: it fulfilled what the latter postulated.”276 Numerous art-theoretical discussions in the late 20th century circled about the relations between Avant-garde. Ligeti. No less decisively Ligeti rejected musical Postmodernism in its various shades and hues. Bruno Maderna. such as the turn of the century. was to erect a counterculture. micropolyphony. I do not have to talk about that in detail. “presupposed that we took over certain rules. He insisted that the Avant-garde had become “conformist” and “obsolete” and regarded Postmodernism as not in accordance with the times. “This solidarity. who together with Pierre Boulez. Ligeti remarked.”281 Literary critics like Leslie Fiedler. The chief aim of the group. who swore by innovativeness. and I observe similar tendencies in some of he younger composers. Ligeti repeatedly expressed severe misgivings about both Avant-garde and Postmodernism. Henri Pousseur. and the like. 1983. Avant-garde art had outlived itself. Luigi Nono. thought it questionable to continue composing after the old Avant-gardist methods – cluster technique. Luciano Berio. he joined the circle around Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig.282 By his own admission. Morever. Soon after arriving in Cologne. certain stylistic features and kinds of behavior.”283 In the following decades. because both the social and the technological situation had changed. or else to give up the project of Modernism as lost. have lauded Postmodernism for having closed the rift between the artist and the public. but also to a set of musical gestures stemming from earlier times. it is generally known. whose art was not understood either by the officials or by the public.284 212 . in turn. And he hastened to add that he was critically opposed to the Neo-Romantic and Neo-Expressionist trends.Jürgen Habermas. On May 18. He elaborated by stating that he still wanted to write “a rigorously constructive music” and that it was essential for him to maintain distance to himself. however”. who regards Modernism as a project of enlightenment. A key motive for distancing himself from the contemporary Avant-garde was his conviction that the social utopians connected with it had become irrelevant at least since the descent of the Iron Curtain. Ligeti had belonged “more or less loosely” to the Avant-garde during the late ‘fifties’. “an all-too direct expression” seemed “taboo” to him. he delivered the following statement in Stuttgart: I see in several of my contemporaries a total turning back – not only to tonality. however fractured. thought that now as ever minds are divided “as to whether to continue to hold fast to the intentions of the Enlightenment. Mauricio Kagel and Franco Evangelisti represented the musical Avant-garde of the time. was an act that presupposed the human genius. partly as a result of that. “What happened to our dreams?” he asked. 1993. In his later years. on May 28. 213 . to a radical revision. The works he created since 1982 document his independence of the norms both of the traditional Avantgarde and of modish Postmodernism. Some of his own works. Ligeti made the highest demands on himself. In his youth. He reflected about the musical situation of the present and sought for a way out of the dilemma of Avant-garde vs.Ten years later. he was firmly convinced. who utter sighs of relief: “Enough of this Modernism already. 2006. Thus he subjected his surrealistic stage work. because I reject the restoration of an art that is agreeable and that reaches a great mass of people. Today one has to make an art that contains what is relevant today.285 Ligeti critically confronted many of the artistic directions of our time. As an eminently critical spirit. and it represents the Modern even when it alleges to be bound by tradition. it belongs to Modernism. he declared in an interview in the noted German weekly Die Zeit: I am against postmodernism in all the arts. It signifies the restoration of a sensibility that was pertinent in the 19th century. Of Ligeti’s multifaceted oeuvre it can be said in conclusion that its traits are unique and unmistakable and that it resists pigeon-holing in any of the fashionable variants of the New Music. he had admired the experimental spirit. György Ligeti died in Vienna on June 12. did not withstand his sharp critical judgment in the long run. very pessimistic. Ligeti confessed to be fascinated by computer science and artificial intelligence and expected substantial new impulses for his work from informatics. too.” I regard this as a lie as much as I do the endeavor to continue the Avant-garde. lamented the decline of quality in production and the cult of mediocrity. Le Grand Macabre. But he never hesitated to add that he did not consider leaving the act of composition to the computer: composing. He was already ill then and. Located beyond both Avant-garde and Postmodernism. He prognosticated the end of culture. his colleagues and his pupils. But we are not living at the end of the 19th century. My last extensive conversation with him took place in September of 1999 in Hamburg. Postmodernism. currents like Surrealism and Dadaism. 214 . 3 Part Three: Appendix . . 1 Abbreviations DG diagramm Ex. measure/s ÖMZ Österreichische Musikzeitschrift MGG Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel.3./mm. example FS facsimile m. 1949-1986) NZfM Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 217 . 1986).” Musik-Konzepte. p.” in Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik XIII (Ferienkurse ’72) (Mainz. Geburtstag (Mainz. 16 Ibid. Die Juden in Hamburg 1590 bis 1990 (Hamburg. “Neue Musik in Ungarn. 1964). “Mein Judentum. Wörner.’ György Ligeti antwortet Lutz Lesle. in Hamburg. Cf. 10 Towards an Intellectual Physiognomy “Stilisierte Emotion. November 9. 18 Monika Lichtenfeld. ed. 1993. 11 György Ligeti Edition 2. in Carl Dahlhaus. Peter Petersen. ed. Ligeti. 19 Ove Nordwall. 8 Ursula Stürzbecher. 51-104.” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 145 (1984).3.. Werk + Wollen 1950-1962 (Kontrapunkte. 43. 5-8..” op. 1046 f. 3 Ibid. 42-46. 54 f.” Musik Texte 28/29 (March 1989). 8-11. pp. special issue. ich war ein utopischer Sozialist. 3 22 Armin Sandig. 57. 6 Ligeti. 12 Ligeti. 37-52.” Musica 28 (1974). “Gespräch mit György Ligeti. May 27. 7 Ligeti.11. “Musikalische Erinnerungen aus Kindheit und Jugend. 1974). 17 Ligeti. 19.” Musik Texte 28/29 (March 1989). Karlheinz Stockhausen. 85-102. György Ligeti. 60.2 Notes Part One: Personality and Fundamental Aspects of the Work Biographical Sketch 1 Ligeti in a conversation with Ursula Günther and the author. vol. 1973). Track 4. “Aspekte der Webernschen Kompositionstechnik. 197 f. December 28. p. 54-60. 1989. p. 39. cit. 21 Nordwall.’ György Ligeti in Conversation with Reinhard Oehlschlägel. 15 218 . 14 “‘Meine Musik ist elitäre Kunst. 39. 5 “‘Ja. 52-62. Sony Classical 01-062305-10 SK 62305. 1963).. 9 Karl H. 299-310. Werkstattgespräche mit Komponisten (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 910) (Munich. 1991). Ludwig Strecker zum 90. 2 Ligeti in a radio interview with Gerhard Uhlig. 196-207. 1971). 1973). 13 Ligeti. 251 f. 96. in the brochure for the Ligeti Exhibition at North German Radio. 20 Kindlers Literatur Lexikon. Festschrift für einen Verleger. “Apropos Musik und Politik. “Juden im Musikleben Hamburgs”. 1988. 93. György Ligeti im Gespräch mit Denys Bouliane. Eine Monographie (Mainz. 6) (Rodenkirchen/Rhein. Anton Webern II (November 1984). 4 Ligeti. 1973). Questions of Identity György Ligeti in Hans Jürgen Schulze. in Arno Herzig.” Melos 16 (1949). November 14. “Viele Pläne aber wenig Zeit” (letter to Ove Nordwall. Melos 32 (1965). 3 (Munich.. Mein Judentum (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag Sachbuch 10632) (Munich. n. ed. p. 2002). Synthesis. 1993) 13 f. György Ligeti. 11 (Laaber. 29 Burde. 165-169. in Was ist musikalische Bildung? (Musikalische Zeitfragen 14) (Kassel. a stained-glass church window inspires me with a sequence of chords and timbres. 43.Jazz. 1984). London.” Quoted from Aloyse Michaely. 138. 41 Ibid.” Die Reihe 5 (Vienna. (Mainz. 1977). 191. 19-25. 39 Musikalische Zeitfragen 14 (1984). Notizen zu graphischen Notaten Ligetis.. 136. 42-47. Ligeti. 36 Ibid. p. “Tanz. Wandlungen. 2:114 f. 10. 2 vol. György Ligeti im Gespräch.und Marschidiome im Musiktheater Hans Werner Henzes. 1987). 37 Hans Werner Henze. 42 Olivier Messiaen: 38 “Every impression turns into music for me. 22 f.. 13). 1988). Southwest Radio Baden-Baden. 24 Denys Bouliane.” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 154 (Jan 1993). 35 Ibid. p. Jean-Claude Risset. 1959). “Zustände. ed. Die Musik Olivier Messiaens. July. Ligeti. “In meiner Musik gibt es keine Weltanschauung. Ereignisse. Gespräch mit György Ligeti. in Für Ligeti. 135 f. 50 ff. 70. “Im Banne des imaginären Reichs ‘Kilviria’. 231-243 and 245-258. 137. “Music from Machines: Perceptual Fusion & Auditory Perspective – for Ligeti”. 30 Metaphors. 1991). Gespräche mit Célestin Deliège und Hans Mayer (Stuttgart. 34 Nordwall. Basel. 1968.” Melos 34 (1967).” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 149 (May. p. 26 “Meine Stellung als Komponist heute. 885-890. 27 Gesammelte Schriften. Zurich. Ligeti. “Elektronische und instrumentale Musik. 31 Werner Klüppelholz in Conversation with György Ligeti. 219 . 888. 25 Ligeti. Die Referate des Ligeti-Kongresses Hamburg 1988 (Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft. New York. Perception. Burde. “Geronnene Zeit und Narration. Quoted from Nordwall. Paradoxes”.. Eine Monographie (Zurich. 70. A photograph of stalagmites and stalactites suggests a melody to me.165. 1984). 33 Pierre Boulez. 1:262. Zur Konkretisierung des Stilbegriffs ‘musica impura’. 40 Interview with Josef Häusler. Chowning. 7386. Cf. Untersuchungen zum Gesamtschaffen (Hamburger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft.” Das Orchester 36 (1988). “Computer. 41. 32 Karlheinz Stockhausen. 23 A “Non-Puristic” Music Lutz Lesle. 22. Monika Lichtenfeld. 138. 66-75.Wolfgang Burde. Allusions and Synaesthesias Ligeti. “Apropos Musik und Politik” (see n. Peter Petersen.” Musiktheorie 10:1 (!995). Musik und Politik. special issue) (Hamburg. Wille und Zufall. Schriften und Gespräche 1955-1984 (Munich.” in Gesammelte Schriften. 28 John M. vol. Tokyo. 133. When he was five. Das musikalische Material und seine Behandlung in den Werken “Apparitions”. February 22. erläutert am Beispiele des Orchestestücks ‘Lontano’ (1967)”. ed. manometers. 12 f. 59 Quoted from Salmenhaara. 1963). p. 1989). Ligeti stated that his strong interest in the mechanical had been awakened by an early literary experience.” “Aventures” und “Requiem” von György Ligeti (Regensburg. he said. 220 . 177188. 45 Albert Wellek. 7296. 87 and 90. Only an “associative” listening is in keeping with music thus constituted. 50 Nordwall. “Atmosphères. 286-308. 1967. Grundriß der systematischen Musikwissenschaft (Frankfurt a.: S. Adorno. Empirische Untersuchungen zur Wahrnehmung von Geräuschstrukturen (Schriftenreihe zur Musik. It had impressed him as a child that this woman lived in an isolated house that was full of clockworks. 61 Quoted from Nordwall.. 166ff. Material und didaktischeInformation (Mainz.M. 9-23. vol. Ästhetische Theorie (Gesammelte Schriften. Musikpsychologie und Musikästhetik. 49 See Claudia Bullerjahn. 48. 23) (Hamburg. ed.” Melos 38 (1971). 46 Erkki Salmenhaara. “Assoziationen für Kenner? Zu Ligetis außermusikalischen Anspielungen.” in Dieter Zimmerschied. 54 “Fragen und Antworten von mir selbst.. Clearly the titles were meant to direct the listener’s imagination in a certain direction as well. Perspektiven Neuer Musik.g. Ligeti. 43 44 Innovativeness: Aspects of Compositional Technique Quoted from Nordwall. 1970). 165. 144. See Karl-Josef Müller. 138. 103. 53 Theodor W. 510. Fischer. 7) (Frankfurt a. vol. 165. hygrometers and all kinds of machinery. 1976). 1974)). 76. 26). 52 Motion Types. 128. he had been given a book by Gyula Krudy to read. Lontano für großes Orchester (1967. a book that had fascinated him. 126 f. Zeitschrift für Musikpädagogik 51 (Sept. Ivan Vojtech (Gesammelte Schriften 1) (Frankfurt a. 51 As is well known.” in Stil und Gedanke. Melos 34 (1967).M. 60 Arnold Schönberg. quoted from Nordwall. Tonal Gestures and Expressive Characters 63 In a conversation with Herman Sabbe (Interface 8 [1979]. numerous “Impressionist” pieces bearing certain titles (e. 1984). 56 Melos 34 (1967).Nordwall. 58 These rules were published by Salmenhaara (139-141). He could clearly remember a novel whose heroine was the widow of a meteorologist..M. 57 Melos 38 (1971). 62 Peter Niklas Wilson. 141. 1969). 509-516. Aufsätze zur Musik. professor of physics and mechanical engineer. “György Ligeti (1923). 55 Sie the list of phones attached to the score. Debussy’s “Estampes” and “Images”) were inspired by visual impressions. 47 Ligeti to Ove Nordwall. 48 Nordwall. “Komposition mit zwölf Tönen. 19) (Vienna. Ligeti told me on May 22.M. 1957). 22 (Schriften 2. 240-244. Personalstil – Avantgardismus – Popularität (Studien zur Wertungsforschung. 239. the first two words of the note read “endloser Markt” (endless market). Graz.” Salmenhaara often translates incorrectly. “Clocky Clouds and Cloudy Clocks – Europäisches Erbe in beschmutzter Zeitlupe.” in Otto Kolleritsch. 10..” Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik. 80 Hans-Joachim Erwe. ed. 187 f. commentary on Vertige (1990). with reference to Salmenhaara’s book. Philosophie der neuen Musik (Frankfurt a. “Form in der Neuen Musik. 1988. Adorno. “Über gestische Musik. This brief article was written in 1937/38. 134-144. 54 f.” Zeitschrift für Musikpädagogik 37 (Nov 1986). 1987). 2nd ed.M.: Suhrkamp.12. 78 Theodor W..” in Werke. 3-11.-J. p.). Herman Sabbe. vol 10 (Mainz.. 833 f. Zur Philosophie der Musik (Frankfurt a. Anton Webern II (1984). 1966. as something achieved to begin with. 125. 1990). 76 Bernd Alois Zimmermann. p. vol. 1) (Frankfurt a.. Quoted from Nordwall. Pt.. 70 Ligeti uses the term Ausdruckscharaktere. vol. J. 85 In Salmenhaara. comments: “The special meaning of the line is that what is spatially at rest. 66 Melos 41 (1974). Die Musikdramen (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. 1986). Musik und bildende Kunst. 11-14. is placed above the temporal step and even wants to accelerate the latter by slowing it in the act of finding” (transl. 1988. vol. ed. “Interview mit György Ligeti. Von der Tonmalerei zur Klangskulptur (Laaber. 6 (Kassel. 77 Cf. as Orientations by Martin Cooper (Cambridge. Große kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe. 1974). 23-35. 81 Richard Wagner. 11 ff. Mass. 1952). Transl. 1978). 427. 8. Adorno. p. 1993). 1966). 38. 329-331. 1974). 71 221 . 75 See Helga de la Motte-Haber. 83 Pierre Boulez. reprinted in the program of the 1994 Gütersloh Ligeti Festival. 84 Salmenhaara. m. himself in his performance instructions/expression marks for Aventures. “Art: Impressionismu. 64 65 Time and Space. Imaginary Space Ligeti.” in MGG. also “place” and “market place.Ligeti to Ove Nordwall. “spatiality” though. expressive characters. col. 39 ff. Intervall und Zeit. Points de repère. in program booklet of 1990 Gütersloh Ligeti Festival.. 124 f.M. György Ligeti. 86 Ligeti. 74 Ligeti. 1962. August 11.. Hans Albrecht. 76. 69 Ligeti to Bo Wallner. Feb 2. 42. that in sketches for the Requiem he often used the Hungarian word tér. ed. Nattiez (Paris 1985). Christof Bittner (Mainz. which means “space”. Versuch über Wagner (Frankfurt a. 68 Theodor W. 1056. Quoted from Nordwall. 82 Ernst Bloch. 73 Ibid. Essais. April 17.M. 67 Bertolt Brecht. special issue. 79 Musik-Konzepte. 6095) (Munich. in a different context. 427-432. commentary on the Piano Concerto. Aufsätze und Schriften zum Werk. 178. 1958). 72 Nordwall. 108 The rejected head movement of the Violin Concerto had a similar dance-like theme: alla danza – capriccioso. p. 89.” 101 Klaus Kropfinger. 87 88 New Sound Images – New Semantemes. as a grazioso version. ed. 187. 10.Gaston Bachelard. 222-232. 1972). 128. pp. 108. “Über Klangverästelungen und die Formbewegung. 93 Nordwall. 98 Nordwall. special issue. Musik-Konzepte. 95 Booklet accompanying the record album WER 60095. 90 Hartmuth Kinzler. Zwischen Tradition und Fortschritt. A Universalist Concept of Art and Music MusikTexte 28/29 (March. 96 Diversity of Inspirational Sources. Das Zitat in der Musik der Gegenwwart – mit Ausblicken auf bildende Kunst und Literatur (Hamburg. 27. Über das musikalische Geschichtsbewußtsein (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt. 56-59.” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 145 (1984). 103 Salmenhaara. 55.” in Kolleritsch. Vacuum and Music of the Spheres 92 See my Musik als Botschaft (Wiesbaden. p. Ligeti. “Allusion – Illusion. 106 For details. 143. transl. 1973. “Ligeti und die Tradition. vol. 97 Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 10 (1966). 107 MusikTexte 28/29 (March. 87. during the genesis of the Cello Concerto. 57. 148. 100 In his thoughtful article. Herman Sabbe summarizes Ligeti’s relation to tradition with the words: “he does not quote but assimilates. 1971). 5-7. 8. p. 91 Ivanka Stoianova. mm. 13-16. Gespräche zwischen György Ligeti und Clytus Gottwalt. 89 Salmenhaara. 1989).” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 154 (Jan 1993).” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 135 (1974). Anton Webern II (1984). 131. Ligeti und die Tradition. 1977). 99 Clemens Kühn. “Gespräch mit György Ligeti. Ligeti. 109 More about this in the chapter on the Violin Concerto. Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (Frankfurt. 131-142.” in Rudolf Stephan. 7-11. A “Double-Bottomed” Relation to Tradition Monika Lichtenfeld.” in Kolleritsch. 102 Walter Benjamin. Maren Jolas (Boston. 8-11. 94 In 1966. 22.. 226 f. see Nordwall. “Vorausblick in neue Vergangenheit. 38-41 and. 105 222 . 13) (Mainz. 1989). 75-105. 108. Überlegungen anläßlich Continuum. 288-01. Ligeti became ill and had to be hospitalized. “Cystoscopy”. 168. The Poetics of Space. 1964. mm. 104 “Gustav Mahler und die musikalische Utopie. ” in booklet attached to record album WER 60095 (Mainz. 355. 131 Zsigmond Szathmáry. p. 349-363. 122 Musikalische Zeitfragen 14. 54-56. Die Referate des Ligeti-Kongresses Hamburg 1988 (Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft. Ibid. 10 f.” ibid. 132 133 223 . 123 Ulrich Dibelius. p. 23-25. Aufsätze zur Musik (Vienna. 113 Harry Partch. 190-197. 116 Ibid. 120 Peter W. in supplement to record album WER 60095 (Mainz.” in Für György Ligeti. 112 Ferruccio Busoni. Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst. Vienna. 68. 213220. October 1992. 29-33. 188-201. Going beyond Serialism “Fragen und Antworten von mir selbst.” in Gütersloh ’90 Hommage à György Ligeti. Munich.New Ways of Transcending the Tempered System 110 Nordwall. 5-14. 111 Ligeti on the Violin Concerto. 264. Beifall und Pfiffe für den Komponisten György Ligeti. 69. “Die Orgelwerke von György Ligeti. Stanley Kubrick (Munich. 245. 1st ed. 11) (Laaber. H. p. “Umgang mit Tönen. 1984). “Vom Verfall des Einfalls” (1959). 1949). Ernst Krenek.” in Kolleritsch. 121 Gerhard Arnoldi. Part Two: Works Composing in the Homeland 128 Commentary on the First String Quartet. Ligeti. Jansen. December 6. 1974). 49. 512. Backgrounds of Ligeti’s Popularity 117 Musica 28 (1974). 1969. With annotations by Arnold Schönberg and an afterword by H. 110. 1991). Zur Musik von György Ligeti.. 5-8. No. 1979. Hamburg. Im Zweifelsfalle. 95. 15. “Konsequenzen eines Klangbildners. 30..” Hör Zu. (New York. 130 MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989). 219 f. 118 Musikalische Zeitfragen 14 (1984). 247-284. 1984). “Flüstern aus der Sackgasse. 115 Manfred Stahnke.” Melos 38 (1971). reprinted in Gütersloh ’94: Musikfest für György Ligeti. 119 Hansjörg Pauli. 49 (1994). its Roots and its Fulfillment. p. 41. 129 Nordwall. “Über den Begriff ‘Mikrotonalität’. “Kommentierte Filmographie. 114 “György Ligeti über eigene Werke: Ein Gespräch mit Detlef Gojowy aus dem Jahre 1988. abgeleitet aus dem Werk György Ligetis.. 66 f. (1984). Zurich. 127 Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 48 (1993). 1984). in Krenek. 1984).” in Reihe Film 18. Empirische Untersuchungen.M. vol. Stuckenschmidt (Frankfurt a. 510 134 Cf. Ligeti. 40. Conversation with Louise Duchesneau. 126 Musikalische Zeitfragen 14 (1984). 106-134. Genesis of a Music. 297. An Account of a Creative Work. 2nd ed. pp. 124 Burde. 125 Peter Niklas Wilson. 140. Beurmann & Albrecht Schneider. great tone clusters through addition. op. 137 This table was published by Gianmario Borio in his Musikalische Avantgarde um 1960. Musikalische Avantgarde. Dynamik. 165. Entwurf einer Theorie der informellen Musik (Laaber. 30-32. 318. Roman numerals = structural divisions according to Sigrid Schneider. 155 Andreas E.. 136 György Ligeti. 220226. Entscheidung und Automatik in der Structure Ia”. Günter Kleinen und Dieter Salbert. p. 147 See my Gustav Mahler. Apparitions and the Dream of the Web 138 “Zustände. 169-178 (Alban Berg.” 224 . 23-37.” in Weg und Werk. Theoretische Grundlagen. 49. small tone clusters through subtraction and 5. 142 See the discussion by Salmenhaara. Arabic numerals = sound fields according to Ligeti and Salmenhaara. “IGNM in Köln: Die ‘Avantgarde’ trat hervor. Schriften und Briefe. Atmosphères – a Secret Requiem? 148 Ligeti about Atmosphères. Akustische Untersuchungen an Ligetis Atmosophères. “Musik und Technik. 8. Ereignisse. 177-179. 5-12. Mauricio Kagel distinguishes five cluster types: 1. movable tone clusters. Kompositionsgeschichtliche Zusammenhänge.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991). “Von der Entscheidungsfreihait des Komponisten. 154 Salmenhaara. quoted from Salmenhaara. Eigene Erfahrungen und subjektive Betrachtungen. 1985). 1993). 11.” Melos 34 (1967). Zurich.135 Herbert Eimert. transl. 143 “Fragen und Antworten von mir selbst. n. flageolet tone clusters.” Die Reihe 5 (1959). 3. Anschläge. vol. 1992). 67 f. 91137 146 Nordwall. Übergänge. 176-183. 123. Musiklernprogramme (Laaber. 86. Klang. 1979). p. “Ton-Cluster. 47. p. fixed tone clusters. Music als Autobiographie (Wiesbaden. 150 Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 3 (1991) 357. 149 According to Salmenhaara. 224. “Struktur. 151 Quoted from Nordwall. cit. Wandlungen. 317. 40. Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch (Peter Lang. Artikulation. London. 153 In his essay.” Musik und Bildung 7 (1975). p.” in Günther Batel. 1958). 1957). 3: Die Symphonien (Wiesbaden. 1987). “Pierre Boulez. 156 Circled letters = Ligeti’s own reference letters. 142-151. and Alban Berg. 506-510. diagram p. Computermusik.. 24. 38-63. 152 Salmenhaara. 157 For a detailed discussion. Paris. Die Reihe 4 (Vienna. eds. 139 Ligeti. Leipzig.” in Die Reihe 3 (Vienna. 9-35. 140 Ernst Thomas. 9.” Melos 27 (1960). “Zwischen Statik und Dynamik. Eine Hörpartitur von Rainer Wehinger (Mainz.” Melos 38 (1971). 1957).und Harmonienwelt Bartóks. “Einführung in die Formen. 311-334. compiled by Bence Szabolcsi (Budapest and Leipzig. Music as Autobiography. 67. 144 Ligeti. 141 Borio. 145 Ernö Lendvai. 2014). 2. see the next chapter on “Micropolyphony. 4. Zur formalen Analyse von Ligetis ‘Atmosphères’. Sieben Versuche zur neueren Vokalmusik (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt. 161 Nordwall. Das Prinzip Hoffnung. 14) (Mainz. 17. 1959). Analytische Aufsätze über Sprache und Musik (Vienna. Ligeti. 183 Nordwall. “Sprachkomposition bei Ligeti: ‘Lux aeterna’. Musica 25 (1971). Musikleben and Ästhetik (Hofheim. see the chapter “New Sound Images – New Semantemes. Wilfried Gruhn. 92 f. 252. ed. Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 24 (1969). above). “Strukturen im Strukturlosen. 114 f. Von innen und außen . 391-398. 162 163 Language and Music in the Requiem Herman Sabbe. 158 159 Micropolyphony “Musik und Technik” (n. “Lux aeterna. reprinted in Kaufmann. Gruhn. above).” Interface 8 (1979). 11-34.” Melos 31 (1964). 59-69. 279-281. Von innen und außen. 165 166 Lux aeterna 175 Stürzbecher. “Auf dem Weg zu Lux aeterna. 889.” in Rudolf Stephan. pp. 82 f. 195. 51. 167 Ibid. “György Ligeti – Illusions et Allusions. “Viele Pläne aber wenig Zeit”. 3 (Frankfurt a. 160 Salmenhaara. “Textvertonung und Spachkomposition bei György Ligeti. Ein Beitrag zur Kompositionstechnik György Ligetis”.” Musica 25 (1971). 181 Hans Michael Beuerle. 205. 178 Ligeti. Über Musik und Sprache. 1878. 200. 24. Schriften über Musik. Werkstattgespräche mit Komponisten (see n. pp. 8. “Wandlungen der musikalischen Form.und Lautkomposition. 6. 80-88. “Nochmals Ligetis ‘Lux aeterna. 102. vol. 179 Paul Op de Coul. 354 f. Spurlinien. Studien zur Vokalkomposition seit 1956 (Herrenberg. 174 Ernst Bloch. 17. 169 See Werner Klüppelholz. Sprache als Musik. 1969). p..’ Eine Entgegnung auf Clytus Gottwalds Analyse.” 83.” Musik und Bildung 7 (1975). 251. 173 Kaufmann.” Die Reihe 7 (1960). 172 Salmenhaara. 78. vol. 12-17. Aspekte des Verhältnisses von Musik.M. 1993). 176 Nordwall. Berlin.For details. 170 According to Salmenhaara. 164 Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991).: Suhrkamp. 187 f. 151.” Harald Kaufmann. 107117. Nebst einigen Randbemerkungen zu den Begriffen Sprach. 1976). 1292 f. 182 Das Orchester 36 (1988). 171 Harald Kaufmann. 177 On 1/11/1993. 168 “Auf dem Weg zu Lux aeterna”. Munich. 180 Clytus Gottwald. Ligeti told me that Lontano was basically simply a “parody” (contrafactum) of Lux aterna. 225 . 1974). 511-519. Musiksprache – Sprachmusik – Textvertonung. Sprache und Text (Schriftenreihe zur Musikpädagogik) (Frankfurt. Melos 32 (1965). 184 185 New Conceptions of the Concertante: Notes on the Cello Concerto Nordwall. Musik in Afrika (Berlin. 189 Commentary on the Cello Concerto. 186 Das Orchester 36 (1988). 9-13. Untersuchungen zur Kompositionstechnik. Theater (Die Ballade from großen Makabren and other plays). 91-93. 118-149 and 150-205. 1985). “Le Grand Macabre. see the chapter on “New Sound Images – New Semantemes. 204 “Das Komische ist todernst … Le Grand Macabre … Abbilder der heutigen Welt. 194 See my Alban Berg. 21 f. 22. 201 Wulf Konold. 202 Michel de Ghelderode.” in Program book for the Hamburg production 1978. 1-52. 203 Melos/NZfM 4 (1978). views the first movement of the Cello Concerto under the aspect of “aesthetic causality” and elaborates on its difference from the first movement of Apparitions. Das Cellokonzert von Beethoven bis Ligeti: Ästhetische und kompositionsgeschichtliche Wandlungen einer musikalischen Gattung (Frankfurt a. 229.Ibid. proposes a division into five parts: mm. György Ligeti im Gespräch mit Jochem Wolff.” 197 For details.M.” Musik und Bildung 5 (1973). 196 Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz. Alban Berg. Gerhard Kubik. 16) (Vienna. 97-104. pp. 227-237 195 Nordwall. “Die Amadinda-Musik von Buganda. “Ligetis Le Grand Macabre – absurdes Welttheater auf der Opernbühne”. 84. “Serielle Technik und barocker Geist in Ligetis Cembalo-Stück ‘Continuum’. 92. The second movement he regards as a “composition with patterns.. p.” Ligeti himself preferred to define the form of this movement as “a succession of episodes. in Otto Kolleritsch. 136-153.” Melos/Neue Zeitschrift für Musik [NZfM] 4 (1978). pp. 198 Mad Word Theater: Le Grand Macabre 199 Ligeti. Uve Urban.” in Arthur Simon. in Supplement to the record album WERGO (1984). 148 ff. 889. 48-50. “Zwei Studien über das Cello-Konzert von Ligeti. ed. 139-165. 63-70. Oper heute. 48. 1992). vol.. 200 Ligeti. 226 . “Zur Entstehung der Oper ‘Le Grand Macabre’. Musik als Autobiographie.. 258-268. 193 Quoted from Loesch. 569 f. Berlin-Spandau. 87-117. 53-86. ed. 92. 1963). Music as Autobiography. 190 See Heinz von Loesch. from the French By Fritz Monfort (Neuwied am Rhein.. Graz. 89. transl. 99. quoted from the program book of the 42nd Summer Music Festival Hitzacker 1987. 192 Supplement to record album WERGO (1984). 191 Bernd Alois Zummermann Interval und Zeit. 1983). 92. Formen der Wirklichkeit im zeitgenössischen Musiktheater (Studien zur Wertungsforschung. pp.” Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 36 (1981).” 187 188 On the Three Pieces for Two Pianos Ligeti’s introduction to the Three Pieces for Two Pianos.” Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie 6 (1975). 1978). OCORA 558524 (1974). Vienna (January 20. 57. Aufführungspraxis und Kompositionstechniken der Hofmusik der Buganda. 23-162. 1986). 231-258. WERGO 6170 (Mainz 1991) represents the version he ultimately preferred. 208 Program book for the Hamburg production 1978. 1991). 1980 MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989). 212 Ghelderode.” Philips 6586016 (1973). Theater. 1994) and other venues. 48 f. 148-152 and 344. 41-44. Saarbrücken (May 3. 570.205 It was followed by productions in Hamburg (October 15.” in Kolleritsch.” Philips 6586-032 (1976). 1973). 12. New York. 1979). 27. Musique Gbaya.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991). Vincent Dehoux. 225 Benoît Mandelbrot. African polyphony and polyrhythm (Cambridge. See on this also Kubik’s “Theorie.’ Zur Anwendung von Computern in der Komposition. The Theater of the Absurd. 1976). Ligeti (1987). 213 Ibid. “Amadinda-Musik in Buganda und Kognitive Grundlagen afrikanischer Musik. 10. 3 f. Die Gestalt des Ubu im Werk Alfred Jarrys (Cologne. 36 and 43. 211 Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 36 (1981). pp. The text included in the booklet to the CD. 224 Heinz-Otto Peitgen und Peter H. Collection UNESCO. 1981). 50 209 Elke Krumm. 210 The present discussion of Le Grand Macabre is based on the study particello of the opera produced by Friedrich Wanek (B. 1978). 569. Chowning. 219 At a “chamber concert” on October 17. 1991). ed. London (September 29. rev. Nuremberg (February 2. Aka Pygmy Music. Berlin. 13. xvii. 6. Ein Leitfaden zur Komposition in einer ostafrkanischen Musikkultur. (Woodstock. Collection UNESCO “Musical Sources.” in Arthur Simon. 22 f. Paris (March 23. “Musical Sources. Collection “Musée de l’Homme. Mainz. Chants à penser. “Ligeti und die elektronische Musik. 220 Simha Arom. Richter. Bologna (May 5. Eight of Nancarrow’s Studies were played on that occasion – the numbers 3a. 226 Gottfried Michael König. 1988. Die fraktale Geometrie der Natur (Basel. See also Musik-Konzepte 66 – Gottfried Michael König (October 1989). 1979). Boston. Musiques Banda. 206 Osterreichische Musikzeitschrift 36 (1981). 7. 216 217 227 . Schott’s Sons. 221 Simha Arom.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991). 1980). Ligeti introduced the work of Conlon Nancarrow in the presence of the Mexican artist. 215 Martin Esslin. 218 John M. 11-18. p. Heidelberg. 223 Gerhard Kubik. 1978. Ligeti “‘… nur die Phantasie muß gezündet werden. 207 Interface 8 (1979).” MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989). 214 Program book for the Hamburg production. in Hamburg.” Vogue LD 765 (1971). Musik in Afrika (1983). Arom. The Beauty of Fractals (Berlin. 222 Thus Ligeti in his preface to the English edition of Simha Arom. 1991). “Music from Machines: Perceptual Fusion & Auditory Perspective – for Ligeti. Banda Polyphonies. 24. Ligeti made numerous changes and cuts in the libretto of his opera over the years. The Turning Point ca.. 1983. facsimile edition ED 7428. 234 Ute Schalz-Laurenze. 232 Ligeti. 245 246 228 . Subjecktive Betrachtungen. pp. Épater l’Avant-garde: Retrospective and Forward-Looking Elements in the Horn Trio 231 “‘Musik mit schlecht gebundener Krawatte. 241 Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 145 (1984). (Mainz. Geburtstag am 28. 60. 248 Denys Bouliane. Konstruktion als chiffrierte Information. 57. quoted from the program book of The Witten Festival for New Chamber Music 1988. 242 Josef Häusler. “Ligetis Horntrio. Geburtstag (Berlin. 8. Bartlett. “Computer und Komposition. 1987). 83. work commentary on Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin.” Melos 46 (1984). 73-84. 27. 143-146. 74 f.” record album WER 60100 (Mainz.” quoted from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung by Ken W. 1989). 1986).” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 142 (1981). Zeitschrift für Musikpädagogik 37 (1986). printed in the program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1990. Illusion – über einige Werke von György Liget.’ György Ligeti im Gespräch mit Monika Lichtenfeld. 249 Henning Siedentopf. Zur Musik von Iannis Xenakis”. “Trompe-l’Oreille. p.” MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989). Musik-Konzepte 54/55. 378. 254 Commentary on the Études pour piano – deuxième livre. 19 f. “Klagelandschaft. 235 Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 145 (1984). 45.” Das Orchester 30 (1982). Die Musik Olivier Messiaens. 12 f. 19. Éudes pour piano – premier livre. 228 MusikTexte 28/29 (March. 233 Sabine Tomzig. 237 Work commentary on the Horn Trio.227 Rudolf Frisius. Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 24 (1969). 239 MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989). 10. Construction and Imagination: Principles of the Piano Etudes Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991). 253 Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991). p. 17-19. pp. “Imaginäre Bewegung. 836 f. Iannis Xenakis (Munich. 229 Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 149 (May 1988). 59 f. “Neue Wege der Klaviertechnik. p. 240 Die Zeit. 1986). 252 Work commentary on the Études pour piano – premier livre. 250 MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989). 1983). 236 Ulrich Dibelius. Allusion. August 2. 1993. printed in the program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1990. 44-61.” in Tiefenstruktur. György Ligeti – 60. Musik. 238 Melos 46 (1984). p. 247 Ligeti. 471.” Melos 40 (1973). 359. p. Notes on the Hölderlin Fantasies 243 244 Ligeti to the author. Festschrift Fritz Winckel zum 80. Mai 1983 (Mainz. 251 Aloyse Michaely. 14. 10. 57. György Ligetis ‘Études pour piano’. 91-160. 230 Ligeti. 53. quoted from the program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1990. Baukunst. pp. 22-30. 3. 362. 1987). “Weltpremiere in Bergedorf: Ligeti wird gefühlvoll. May 28. gb2 . to whose English edition Ligeti contributed an informative preface. printed in the program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1994. Einführung in die Musikwissenschaft (Heidelberg.” in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart VI (Kassel.c/c# . 18. Simha Arom. introduction to the Piano Concerto (dated February 20. 268 It is based partly on the Lydian and partly on the Mixolydian mode: g . article “Javanische Musik.” Revue de Musicologie 33. 260 Lutz Lesle. 20. 20. 270 See the transcriptions of a number of recordings in the book by Simha Arom citd above.bb2 . 262 The “Lacrimosa” from the Requiem begins similarly.b . 1993). 1993. 266 Saschko Gawriloff.” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 154 (Jan. nos. 37. 25. in Program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1994. György Ligetis Klavieretüden Nr. October 1992). 11-48. 16-18. 269 Oral communication to the author on Jan 11.f#1 a#1 . p. “Seesturm. see above all John Pierce.g. 272 Aria and hocket are forms Ligeti tried out already in the Violin Concerto. 261 The Violin Concerto 264 Ligeti on the Violin Concerto (Hamburg. Oxford: Spectrum. 55-61. Jaap Kunst.b . György Ligeti im Gespräch nach seiner Amerikareis. pp. “Le rythme Aksak. p. 265 Pizz. p. 255 256 “Quasi-Equidistance” and Polyrhythm: Coordinates of the Piano Concerto Ligeti. 11-14.eb3 .c3 .” Cahiers de musiques traditionelles 17 (2004).) = pizzicato movement. 258 Peter Niklas Wilson has drawn attention to the fact that in m. 784-788.bb . 784.c1 . 273 Cf. pp. 23-25. 274 The Ligeti Project.f2 .c#2 . “L’aksak. 1957). mm. 267 The nine-tone scale on which the marimba episode is based goes g . Chaos. Teufelsleiter. 263 Ligeti tried out this sound effect already in “Automne à Varsovie” (Etude No. 259 Program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1990. Tetel (Hungar. 99 ff. Jahrhunderts (Melos 51 [1992)]). 1788-1791. 7 und 8. cols.Heinrich Husmann. “Ein Meisterwerk von Ligeti.” in Klaviermusik des 20. p. The Horn Concerto 271 On the natural-tone row. Klang. Musik mit den Ohren der Physik (Heidelberg. 1988). “Interkulturelle Fantasien. p. 71. 257 Program book of the Gütersloh Ligeti Festival 1990.e1 . 229 . 6).a .f/f# . 1991). 71-108. 68 (left hand) the fifths are “compressed” into tritones.” Das Orchester 41 (1993).ab3. 1958). 99 and 100 (Dec 1951). Constantin Brailoiu. Principes et typologie. p. Berlin.f3 . Marginalien zur Entstehung des Violinkonzerts.d e . 63-84. 284 Monika Lichtenfeld. p. 282 Leslie Fiedler. p. Musikalische Avantgarde. 279 Jean-François Lyotard. 1988).” in Wolfgang Welsch. ed. 75. 281 Jürgen Habermas. 57..” Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 49 (1994). 278 Umberto Eco. 177-192. 8. May 28.. p. 280 Wolfgng Welsch. “Gespräch mit György Ligeti. 184. 3rd ed. p. “Postmoderne” oder der Kampf um die Zukunft (Frankfurt a. 5-8. 57.” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 145 (1984). 1993. Eckehard Roelck im Gespräch mit György Ligeti. Schlüsseltexte der Postmoderne-Diskussion (Weinheim. Rapport sur la savoir (Paris. ed. “Postmoderne. (Weinheim. 7.Afterword: Beyond Avant-garde and Postmodernism Lutz Lesle. 275 György Ligeti with Pierre-Laurant Aimard (photographed by Altug Ünlü) 230 . 1991). 1979). 9. 285 Die Zeit. 1993. “Postmodernismus.” Die Zeit no. 1988). 277 Gianmario Borio. May 28. Gespräch mit György Ligeti”.M. “Cross the Border – Close the Gap. Wege aus der Moderne.” quoted from Wolfgang Welsch. 75-78. was ich will. Wege aus der Moderne. 22. Ironie und Vergnügen. 283 “Laß mich tun. 890. Das Orchester 36 (1988). Unsere postmoderne Moderne. 276 “Wohin orientiert sich die Musik? György Ligeti im Gespräch mit Constantin Floros.. 8-11. “In meiner Musik gibt es keine Weltanschauung. ed. 14.” in Peter Kemper. p. “Die Moderne – ein unvollendetes Projekt. p.” in Welsch. La condition postmoderne. x Glissandi.Eine kollektive Komposition (August 1961). 2. Of the three “work catalogs” he put together. Vienna 1974 x Volumina for Organ (November 1961 until January 1962. 3 (November 1957 until January 1958). Stockholm 1968 x Fragment for chamber orchestra (October 1961. but abandoned x Artikulation. electronic Music (May until August 1957). Publishing House Peters. realization started by Ligeti. Revision April/May 1966). electronic Music (January until March 1958). Mainz 1970 x Apparitions for Orchestra (1958/59). due to the composer’s flight from Hungary in December of 1956. March 1962 in Munich. Premiere 3-25-1958 in Cologne. Catalog No.3 Register of Works A systematic compilation of György Ligeti’s early works is hampered by the fact that. „Hörpartitur" by Rainer Wehinger. covering the period between 1944 and 1956. 1962 in Bremen. „The Future of Music“ x Trois bagatelles.3. Revision 1964). Premiere 23. Vienna 1964 x Atmosphères for large orchestra without percussion (February until July 1961). Ligeti-dokument. The following register catalogs all of Ligeti’s works since 1957. Vienna 1963 x Die Zukunft der Musik . the first comprises Ligeti’s juvenile efforts (1938-1943) and his student compositions (1942-1948). Premiere June 19. Reproduction of the Manuskript in: Ove Nordwall. Premiere 26. 1960 in Cologne. Premiere May 4. a number of works are lost or missing. of which only sixteen appeared in print in Hungary at the time. Publishing House: Universal Edition. lists no fewer than 74 scores. Premiere 10-22-1961 in Donaueschingen. Frankfurt 1967 231 . September 1962 in Wiesbaden. Publishing House: Universal Edition. (1-track. “musikalisches Zeremoniell” for one pianist (August 1961). realized at WDR Cologne) x Pièce electronique Nr. Publishing House: Universal Edition. We owe the first scholarly recording of the early work to Ove Nordwall. Mainz 1970 x Continuum for Cembalo (January 1968).x Poème Symphonique. Premiere October 1968 in Basel. J968). Mainz 1971 x Zehn Stücke für Bläserquintett (August until December 1968). 1967 in Berlin. Premiere November 13. Action in 14 Pictures. Mainz 1970 232 . 2 (March until July. Publishing House: Peters. Premiere 3-14-1965 in Stockholm. Publishing House: Peters. Revision 1963). Premiere 10-19-1966 in Stuttgart. Frankfurt 1964 x Requiem for solo soprano and mezzo-soprano. Premiere May 26. Frankfurt 1967 x Lux aeterna for sixteen-part mixt choir a cappella (July/August 1966). 1: “Harmonies” for Organ (Juli 1967). 1969 in Malmö. Premiere April 19. Premiere November 2. Publishing House: Schott. Frankfurt 1966) x Nouvelles Aventures for three singers and seven instrumentalists (1962 until December 1965). Publishing House: Peters. phonetic text by Ligeti (January / February 1966). Frankfurt 1966 x Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures. Frankfurt 1967 x Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (July until Dezember 1966). Premiere 4-4-1963 in Hamburg. October 1967 in Hamburg. Premiere January 20. Premiere 14. two mixed choirs and orchestra (Spring 1963 until January 1965. “musical ceremony” for 100 Metronomes (November 1962). Publishing House: Peters. 1966 in Stuttgart. 1966 in Hamburg. Frankfurt 1969 x Lontano for large Orchestra (May 1967) Premiere 10-22-1967 in Donaueschingen. Publishing House: Peters. Publishing House: Schott. 1963 x Aventures for three singers and seven instrumentalists (May until December 1962. Publishing House: Peters. Premiere December 14. Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1969 x Etude Nr. Publishing House: Schott. Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1970 x String Quartet Nr. 1969 in Baden-Baden. 1976 in Cologne. Mainz 1973 x Double Concerto for flute. phonetic text by Ligeti. Publishing House: Schott. Selbstportrait. Premiere September 16. Mainz 1974 x Clocks and Clouds for twelve-part female choir and orchestra. 1970 in Berlin. Publishing House: Schott. 1975 in San Francisco. Mainz 1969 x Kammerkonzert for 13 Instrumentalists (1969/1970). Premiere October 1969 im Stift Seckau / Steiermark. 1973 in Graz. Mainz 1970 x Etude Nr. revised 1996). Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1977 x Le Grand Macabre. Mainz 1976 x Rondeau. Premiere (twelve strings) 4-231969 in Berlin. Mainz 1977 x San Francisco Polyphony for orchestra (1973/1974) Premiere January 8. Mainz 1977 x Monument. Premiere December 10. Bewegung. Publishing House: Schott. Libretto by Michael Meschke and György Ligeti after La Balade du Grand Macabre by Michel de Ghelderode (1974-1977. One-Man-Theater for an actor and tapes (1976). Publishing House: Schott. Three pieces for two pianos. Premiere 26. February 1977 in Stuttgart. 1971 in Nurnberg. Publishing House: Schott. Publishing House: Schott. trumpet in C and chamber ensemble (1991) or Orchestra (1992). Mainz 1992/1994 233 . 2: „Coulée” for Organ (July 1969). 1972 in Berlin. Premiere April 14. Publishing House: Schott. Publishing House: Schott. Premiere May 15. Mainz 1978 x Mysteries of the Macabre for trumpet and piano (1988) or coloratura soprano.x Ramifications for string orchestra or twelve solo strings (December 1968 until March 1969). opera in two acts. Premiere October. Publishing House: Schott. 1978 in Stockholm. oboe and orchestra (1972). Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1974 x Melodien for Orchestra (1971). Premiere October 15. Publishing House: Schott. Publishing House: Schott. Publishing House: Schott. Premiere: Movements 1-3 October 23. 1988 in Vienna. Premiere May 20. Premiere February 5. Chaconne for Cembalo (1978). second version. madrigal 5 10-28-1989 in London. Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1979 x Passacaglia ungherese for Cembalo (1978). Etude 4 & 5 11-1-1985 in Hamburg. Mainz 1986 x Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1985-1987). 1979 in Lund (Sweden). Mainz 1979 x Trio for Violin. 1984 until Summer 1985). Suite for Orchestra (1991). 5-181983 in Stuttgart. 1986 in Graz.x Macabre Collage. five movements (1992). Publishing House: Schott. 1983 in Stockholm.und 16-part mixed choir a cappella (1983). 6 1124-1985 in Warschau. Mainz 1983 x Magyar Etüdök after Sandor Weöres for 8-. first version. texts by William Brighty Rands and Lewis Carroll (1988/1989). Premiere September 26. Premiere August 7. Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1983 x Etudes pour piano – deuxieme livre (1988 until 1994). Mainz 1992 x Sonate for Viola solo (1991-94). Publishing House: Schott. Publishing House: Schott. Etudes 2. Publishing House: Schott. Premiere 11-3-1990 in Cologne. Premiere: Etude 1 4-15-1986 in Bratislava. 1994 in Gütersloh. three movements (1990). Premiere April 23. Etude 3 11-17-1983 in Metz. Publishing House: Schott. Premiere: Etude 1 & 2. movements 4 & 5 February 29. Publishing House: Schott. Premiere 10-8-1992 in Cologne. Mainz 1983 x Etudes pour piano .premier livre (Nov. Publishing House: Schott. Mainz 1984 x Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin für sixteen-part mixed choir a cappella (1982). Mainz 1992 x Hungarian Rock. Mainz 234 . 3. 1978 in Cologne. Mainz 1986 x Nonsense Madrigals for six-part choir a cappella. Horn and piano (1982). 1982 in Hamburg-Bergedorf. Premiere: Madrigal 1-4 9-25-1988 in Berlin. 12. Mainz 1989 und 1993 x Concerto for Violin and Orchester. four natural horns and Chamber Orchestra (1998/99. dobbal. Drums. Publishing House: Schott. Fiddles) for mezzo-soprano and percussion (2000) after Sándor Weöres x Etudes pour piano – troisième livre (1995-2001). revised 2003). 2001 in Hamburg. nádihegedüvel (With Pipes.x Hamburg Concerto for solo horn. Mainz 235 . Publishing House: Schott. Premiere January 20. Mainz x Sippal. ” Die Reihe 5 (Vienna. commentaries on his works. which are grouped into five categories: Ligeti’s own writings. accounts of premieres. “Form in der Neuen Musik.” in: Carl Dahlhaus. Ereignisse. Munich. Wandlungen. ed. 1978. and secondary literature.3.” ÖMZ 36 (1981): 569f.. published as a supplement to the Ligeti issue of the Hungarian periodical Muzsika (June 1993) includes no fewer than 426 titles. Mein Judentum.” Melos/NZfM 4 (1978): 9193 “Le Grand Macabre. 1986. Festschrift für einen Verleger.” ÖMZ 24 (1969): 80-89 “Fragen und Antworten von mir selbst. 1958): 38-63 “Zur Klaviersonate III von Boulez.” Darmstädter Beitrage zur Neuen Musik XIII (Mainz. 1959): 38-40 “Wandlungen der musikalischen Form. Geburtstag. fifty years. 51-104 236 .” Darmstädter Beitrage zur Neuen Musik X (Mainz 1966): 23-35 “Zustände. Munich. aber wenig Zeit. plus some items that are missing in Halász’s meritorious Bibliográfia.” in: Melos 16 (January 1949): 5-8 “ Pierre Boulez. Writings of Ligeti “Neue Musik in Ungarn. the secondary literature about him has also increased voluminously. Berlin/Stuttgart.” Melos 34 (1967): 165-169 “Auf dem Weg zu ‘Lux aeterna’.” Melos 32 (1965): 251 f. interviews.. 1983.” Melos 38 (1971): 509-516 “Apropos Musik und Politik. 1973): 42-46 “Musikalische Erinnerungen aus Kindheit und Jugend. The bibliography below does not claim to be complete: it lists mainly the titles cited in this book.” in: Hans Jörgen Schultz.” Die Reihe 7 (Vienna. ed. As a result. 196-207 “Zur Entstehung der Oper ‘Le Grand Macabre’.” Die Reihe 4 (Vienna.4 Selected Bibliography The interest in Ligeti and his music has steadily grown during the last forty. 54-60 “Mein Judentum. The authoritative bibliography by Péter Halász. Ludwig Strecker zum 90. Sonderband Anton Webern II. Mainz 1973. 1960): 5-17 “Viele Pläne. Aspekte der Webernschen Kompositionstechnik. Entscheidung und Automatik in der Structure 1a. 2nd ed. in: Musik-Konzepte. nur die Phantasie muss gezündet werden.“Musik und Technik. 2003 György Ligeti/Gerhard Neuweiler: Motorische Intelligenz. “Konvention und Abweichung.” NZfM 149 (May. Program of the Güterslohe Ligeti Festival 1990 and 1994 Gesammelte Schriften. Monika Lichtenfeld. György Ligeti im Gespräch. Geburtstag am 20. unausgewogene Gedanken über Musik.” Zeitschrift für Musikpädagogik 11 (November 1986): 3 -11 GOTTWALD. Eigene Erfahrungen und subjektive Betrachtungen. György Ligeti im Gespräch.” NZfM 135 (1974): 7-11. 288-291 237 .” in: Tiefenstruktur.” ÖMZ 46 (1991): 34-39 “Rhapsodische. Reinhard Meyer-Kalkus. Subjektive Betrachtungen. Festschrift Fritz Winckel zum 80. besonders über meine eigenen Kompositionen.” in: Gunther Batel. in: Supplement to record album WER 60095. Program of the 42nd Summer Music Festival Hitzacker 1987.. Kompositionsgeschichtliche Zusammenhänge. Die ‘Dissonanz’ in Mozarts Streichquartett CDur KV 465. Clytus “Gustav Mahler und die musikalische Utopie. Berlin. 2 vols. Musik. Berlin.” MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989): 52-62 ERWE.” NZfM 154 (1993): 20-29 Kommentare über seine Werke. Gespräche zwischen György Ligeti und Clytus Gottwald. Juni 1987. ed. Musiklernprogramme. 1988): 19-25 “Stilisierte Emotion. Denys “Geronnene Zeit und Narration..” Vienna. Musik und Naturwissenschaft. Computermusik. Laaber. 1987 22-30 “. eds.” MusikTexte 28 / 29 (March 1989): 3f. Zur Anwendung van Computern in der Komposition.. Mainz 1984. Gunter Kleinen and Dieter Salbert. Hans Joachim “Interview mit György Ligeti. 1987. 2007 Discussions with Ligeti BOULIANE. Theoretische Grundlagen. 9-35 “Computer und Komposition. Basel/Mainz 2007 “Träumen Sie in Farbe? György Ligeti im Gespräch mit Eckhard Roelke. Baukunst. ed. 66-75 LESLE. Herman “György Ligeti. György .” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (Laaber 1991): 349-363 LIGETI. Constantin “Wohin orientiert sich die Musik?” ÖMZ 49 (1994): 5-8 OEHLSCHLÄGEL.” Das Orchester 41 (1993): 784-788 LICHTENFELD. Werner “György Ligeti. Mathias “Musik zwischen Konstruktion und Emotion.” Musica 28 (1974): 39 f.” NZfM 142 (1981): 471-473 “Gespräch mit György Ligeti. Monika “György Ligeti gibt Auskunft.HANSEN. Melos 37 (1970): 496-507 KLUPPELHOLZ. Ein Gespräch mit Detlef Gojowy aus dem Jahre 1988. György . Lehrgebäude.” NZfM 145 (1984): 8-11 LIGETI. Lerke von “‘Ich glaube nicht an große Ideen.” in: Was ist musikalische Bildung? (Musikalische Zeitfragen 14) Kassel.” Musik und Gesellschaft 34 (1984): 472-477 HÄUSLER. “In meiner Musik gibt es keine Weltanschauung. ich war utopischer Sozialist’.” Das Orchester 36 (1988): 885-890 “Seesturm. Teufelsleiter. Lutz “‘Meine Musik ist elitäre Kunst’. Detlef “György Ligeti über eigene Werke.” MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989): 85-104 SAALFELD. Chaos. Josef “nterview mit György Ligeti.” Musica 26 (1972): 48-50 “Musik mit schlecht gebundener Krawatte. György Ligeti im Gespräch nach seiner Amerikareise.” Interface 8 (1979): 11-34 238 . 1984. Illusions et Allusions.FLOROS. Reinhard “‘Ja.GOJOWY. Dogmen …’” NZfM 154 (1993): 32-36 SABBE. Theodor W. 1973. vol.M. 1985 239 . 1958 BLUMENRÖDER. Ursula “György Ligeti. 1993 BOULEZ. 1978. Munich. Pierre Wille und Zufall. H. Mass. Entwurf einer Theorie der informellen Musik (Freiburger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft. Gespräche mit Celestin Deliège und Hans Mayer. Essais. XXXII). Collected Writings. Frankfurt a. Laaber. Carl ed.” ÖMZ 39 (1984): 510-514 WOLFF. Cambridge.” in: Werkstattgespräche mit Komponisten (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 910). vol. Frankfurt a.. 1986 (orig. Christoph von Die Grundlegung der Musik Karlheinz Stockhausens (Beihefte zum Archiv für Musikwissenschaft. Ferruccio Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst.M.. György Ligeti im Gespräch. Philosophie der neuen Musik. Gianmario Musikalische Avantgarde um 1960. transl. 1974 DAHLHAUS. Mainz. Points de repère. 1993 BORIO. Le Grand Macabre – Abbilder unserer heutigen Welt. Program of the Hamburg premiere of Le Grand Macabre on October 15. Die Musik der fünfziger Jahre: Versuch einer Revision (Publications of the Institut für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt 26). Stuttgart/Zurich. London 1983 WIESMANN. Martin Cooper. 1). With annotations by Arnold Schönberg and am afterword by H.” in: Peter Dannenberg / Jochem Wolff. Sigrid “‘The island is full of noise’. 37-52 VÁRNAI. Joseph / SAMUEL. Peter / HÄUSLER. Jochem “Das Komische ist todernst . Paris.. Stuttgart. Jean-Jacques Nattiez. 1977 Orientations. Claude Ligeti in Conversation.STÜRZBECHER. ed. 48-50 About New Music ADORNO. 1985) BUSONI... Stuckenschmidt. Eulenburg.. Frankfurt a. Analytische Aufsätze über Sprache und Musik. Frankfurt a. Harald Spurlinien.: Peter Lang. Frankfurt a. Ernst Im Zweifelsfalle. 1978 HENZE.DANUSER.M.: Peter Lang. 1988 LOESCH. vol. Kenneth Chalmers. 1984 KAUFMANN. Constantin Humanism. Music as Autobiography. 1969 Von innen und außen. Hermann Die Musik des 20.M. Aufsätze zur Musik. transl. 1992 240 .. Hans Werner Musik und Politik. Munich. Eine Biographie. Jahrhunderts (Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft. New Ears for New Music. 1984 FLOROS. Werner Grünzweig and Gottfried Krieger. Schriften und Gespräche 1955-1984. 1993 KLÜPPELHOLZ. Sprache und Text (Schriftenreihe zur Musikpädagogik). Ästhetische und kompositionsgeschichtliche Wandlungen einer musikalischen Gattung. 1984 KURTZ.M. 7). Michael Stockhausen.M. Hofheim.M. Kassel. Schriften über Musik. Vienna./Berlin/Munich. Wilfried Musiksprache – Sprachmusik – Textvertonung. Werner Sprache als Musik. 2013 Alban Berg. Studien zur Vokalkomposition seit 1956. With a preface by Jens Brockmeier. 2012. 2014 GRUHN. Aspekte des Verhältnisses von Musik. Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch. Frankfurt a. transl. Love and Music. ed. Frankfurt a. trasnl. Laaber. Herrenberg. Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch. 1976 KRENEK. Musikleben und Ästhetik. Heinz von Das Cellokonzert von Beethoven bis Ligeti. Vienna/Munich/Zurich.: Peter Lang. Ed. 69. 54/55. 1990 Musik-Konzepte: No. 1949. Munich. vol. 1987 No. 6 vols. Untersuchungen zum Gesamtschaffen (Hamburger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft. Mainz. wie die Zeit verging . 1987 MOTTE-HABER. Henri Pousseur. Munich. Hamburg.. 1974 STOCKHAUSEN. 1st ed... Rudolf ed. 19. Munich.: Fischer. its roots and its fulfillments. Mainz.” in: Rudolf Stephan ed.MICHAELY.. Laaber. Karlheinz Stockhausen . Gottfried Michael Koenig. Die Musik der sechziger Jahre. Karlheinz Texte zur Musik.M. 1990 PARTCH. Ein politischer Musiker. Ernst Krenek. Zwölf Vorlesungen. 1995 SCHÖNBERG. Ivan Vojtech. Mainz. special issue). 1989 No. Aloyse Die Musik Olivier Messiaens. New York. 1979 PETERSEN. 1976 SIEGELE. Harry Genesis of a Music: An account of a creative work. Peter Hans Werner Henze.. Werke der Jahre 1984-1993 (Kölner Schriften zur Neuen Musik. Munich.. 4). Cologne: Du Mont. 1981 Nos. Munich.. 66. 1984 Nos. Von der Tonmalerei zur Klangskulptur. 1972. 1972 Über Musik und Sprache (Publications of the Institut für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt 14). Frankfurt a. 2nd ed. 1988 Hans Werner Henze. Mainz. Aufsätze zur Musik. 1963-1989 241 . Iannis Xenakis. Arnold Stil und Gedanke. 39/40. 9-25 STEPHAN. Die Musik der sechziger Jahre (Publications of the Institut für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt 12). Ed. Helga de la Musik und bildende Kunst. (Gesammelte Schriften 1). Ulrich “Entwurf einer Musikgeschichte der sechziger Jahre. Hamburg: Argument-Verlag. to date. and the Absolute.” Ars lyrica. Jerome The Making of Kubrick’s 2001. Season 1991/92. No. ‘von unten’ gesehen. Exotisme. ed. Darmstädter Beitrage zur Neuen Musik. 1963 Zimmermann.” Musica 25 (1971): 279-281 242 . Ernst.” 2003. 6). Hamburg. Hans Michael “Nochmals: Ligetis ‘Lux aeterna. htttp://bader-ligeti-factal-dimensions BALAZS.” in: Leipziger Opernblätter. Rodenkirchen/Rhein.at/artikel/die-deutungshoheit BADER.’ Eine Entgegnung auf Clytus Gottwalds Analyse.. Istvan “Weltuntergang. Aldeshot. 23). Peter Niklas Empirische Untersuchungen zur Wahrnehmung von Geräuschstrukturen (Schriften zur Musik. Werk+Wollen 1950-1962 (Kontrapunkte. Karl H. ed. 1974 Writings about Ligeti AGEL. 21 (2012): 1-39 (the best study to these works) Ligeti’s Laments: Nostalgia. Christof Bitter. 1970 ANONYMUS “Die Deutungshoheit.datum. 1958ff. vol. Mainz. Bernd Alois Intervall und Zeit. Aufsätze und Schriften zum Werk. Seiten der Zeit. 2011 BEUERLE. WILSON.” in: Datum. Karlheinz Stockhausen. ‘Der Große Makabre’ – György Ligetis Beitrag zum Musiktheater unserer Zeit. Rolf “Berechnung fraktaler Strukturen in den Etüden für Klavier von György Ligeti. 2: 15-22 BAUER. http://www. Mainz.THOMAS. vol. 1984 WÖRNER. Amy “Singing Wolves and Dreaming Apples: The Cosmopolitan Imagination in Ligeti’s Weöres Songs. New York: New American Library. Bernd Die späte Chormusik von György Ligeti. Ulrich “Ligetis Horntrio.” Zeitschrift für Musikpädagogik. Albrecht “Struktur. György Ligeti. Boydell Press. György Ligetis ‘Etudes pour piano. Andreas E. Dynamik. Zurich.” in: Program of the Hamburg Premiere of Le Grand Macabre. Zur Musik von György Ligeti. eds. erläutert am Beispiel des Orchesterstücks ‘Lontano’ (1967). 11 (1991): 311-334 BOULIANE.’” MusikTexte 28/29 (March 1989): 73-84 BULLERJAHN. 2011 ENGLBRECHT. Denys “Imaginäre Bewegung.’ Notizen zu graphischen Notaten György Ligetis. Wolfgang. 1994 DUCHESNAU.. Mainz.” in: Supplement to record album WER 60095. Claudia “Assoziationen für Kenner? Zu Ligetis außermusikalischen Anspielungen.BEURMANN. Eine Monographie in Essays. Mainz. Wolfgang “Im Banne des imaginären Reichs ‘Kilviria.” Melos 46 (1984): 44-61 “Konsequenzen eines Klangbildners. 1984. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. 1993 DADELSEN. Dargestellt an György Ligetis Orchesterstück ‘Lontano’.” Musik und Bildung 7 (1975): 502-506 “An der Kette gerasselt.” NZfM 154 (January 1993): 42-47 György Ligeti. Entstehung und Charakteristik eines musikalischen Stils. Eine Monographie. Hans-Christian von Hat Distanz Relevanz? Über Kompositionstechnik und ihre musikdidaktischen Folgen. Klang. 51 (September 1989): 9-23 BURDE. No.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft. 5-14 György Ligeti. Of Foreign Lands and Strange Sounds. and MARX. 1978: 44-47 DIBELIUS. Louise. 2001 243 . and SCHNEIDER. Akustische Untersuchungen an Ligetis Atmospheres. Le Grand Macabre. ” Nutida Musik 32:2 (1988/89): 21-25 “Laudatio für György Ligeti.” NZfM 154 (January 1993): 16-18 244 .” Musik & Ästhetik 17:68 (October. Hamburg. “Ligetis Le Grand Macabre. ibid. M. Klassiker der Moderne. Marginalien zur Entstehung des Violinkonzerts. 231-233. 2013): 24-31 GAWRILOFF. Swedish in: Nutida Musik 24:3 (1980/81): 8 f. eds.” Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie 9 (1978): 35-50 FLOROS. English in: Nutida Musik. Prinzipielles über sein Schaffen. Für György Ligeti.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991): 335-348 Floros.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991): 11-19 “Versuch über Ligetis jüngste Werke.: Hamburgische Biographie. Personenlexikon.ENGELBRECHT. Göttingen. “Ligetis Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin (1982).” NZfM 149 (May 1988): 25-29 “György Ligetis pianokonsert. 2010. Hans-Joachim und Petersen. Saschko “Ein Meisterwerk von Ligeti. 11) (1991) “György Ligeti. Die Referate des Ligeti-Kongresses Hamburg 1988 (Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft.” NZfM 146 (1985): 1820. Christiane Aspekte der Sprach. Swedish in: Nutida Musik 26:1 (1982/83): 14-16.” in: Program of the 42nd Summer Music Festival Hitzacker 1987: 14-18..” Musik und Bildung 10 (1978): 484-488. vol. Reinhard “György Ligeti: Monument – Selbstportrait – Bewegung (3 Stücke für 2 Klaviere). Von der Absurdität der menschlichen Existenz. eds. Swedish in: Nutida Musik 24:3 (1980/81): 3-7 “Ligetis Drei Stücke für zwei Klaviere (1976).und Lautkomposition in den Vokalwerken György Ligetis unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von „Lux aeterna“ und „Clocks and Clouds“.: 18-20 “Hommage à György Ligeti. Constantin “György Ligeti. Constantin. in: Franklin Kopitzsch and Dirk Bietzke. A. Peter. Marx.” MUSIKforum 6 (October-December 2008): 34-37 Biographical Sketch of Ligeti. thesis. 1993 (typescript) FEBEL. A. ed. Harald “Strukturen im Strukturlosen.. Studien zur Sprachkomposition und Ästhetik der Avantgarde. 1985. thesis Hamburg.” in: Otto Kolleritsch ed. vol. 16). Vienna/Graz. ed. Ligeti (1987).’” Melos 31 (1964): 391-398. Ein Beitrag zur Kompositionstechnik György Ligetis. 11-18 KOLLERITSCH. Personalstil – Avantgardismus – Popularität (Studien zur Wertungsforschung. Frankfurt 2001 (the best study to these works with extensive bibliography) KAUFMANN. 1992 (typescript) KAKAVELAKIS. Torsten Zur Rhythmik der “Etudes pour piano – Premier livre” von György Ligeti. Clytus “Lux aeterna. Überlegungen anläßlich Continuum. Gottfried Michael “Ligeti und die elektronische Musik. Spurlinien.” Musica 25 (1971): 12-17 GRIFFITHS. reprinted in: Kaufmann. 107-117 KINZLER. Paul György Ligeti (The Contemporary Composers). Oper heute. 75-105 KOENIG. 1987 KONOLD. ed. Über György Ligetis ‘Atmosphères. M.. 1983 GRUHN.GOTTWALD. Otto. Konstantinos György Ligetis “Aventures” und “Nouvelles aventures”. Wulf “Ligetis Le Grand Macabre – absurdes Welttheater auf der Opernbühne.” in: Otto Kolleritsch. vol.. György Ligeti. Wienna/Graz.. Ligeti (1987). 1969. Formen der Wirklichkeit im zeitgenössischen Musiktheater (Studien zur Wertungsforschung. Peter Lang. 136153 245 .” Musik und Bildung 7 (1975): 511-519 HISS. London. Vienna. Hartmuth “Allusion – Illusion. 19). Wilfried “Textvertonung und Sprachkomposition bei György Ligeti.” in: Otto Kolleritsch. Marina György Ligeti: Style.” in: Dieter Zimmerschied. 286-308 NORDWALL.. Mainz. Mainz.” Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 11 (1991): 289-309 RESTAGNO.. Berlin: Verlag Ernst Kuhn. 134-144 246 . 1974. Mainz. Torino. Material und didaktische Information.. Paul “Sprechkomposition bei Ligeti: ‘Lux aeterna’. Ligeti. 1985 SABBE. Peter “Bartók – Lutoslawski – Ligeti. ed. Ideas. 1987 “Clocky Clouds and Cloudy Clocks – Europäisches Erbe in beschmutzter Zeitlupe. 1974.” in: Rudolf Stephan ed.. Mainz. 14). Ligeti. Enzo. Vienna/Graz.KROPFINGER. 1971 OP DE COUL. Über das musikalische Geschichtsbewusstsein (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt. Zwischen Tradition und Fortschritt. Munich. 13). vol. Eine Monographie. Klaus “Ligeti und die Tradition. Poetics (studia slavica musicologica. ed. Sammy Vom Gedanken zur Tat. Elisabeth / Teicher. 2002 MÜLLER. Lontano für großes Orchester (1967). 1987. 59-69 PETERSEN. 29). 1973. Perspektiven Neuer Musik. Frankfurt a.. 1993 LOBANOVA. Karl-Josef “György Ligeti (1923). vol.” in: Rudolf Stephan. ed. Über Musik und Sprache (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt. Einige Bemerkungen zu ihrer Kompositionstechnik unter dem Aspekt der Tonhöhe.” in: Otto Kolleritsch. Herman György Ligeti. Vera/Brainin. 131-142 LIGETI. Zur Psychoanalyse des Antisemitismus. Ove György Ligeti. Nebst einigen Randbemerkungen zu den Begriffen Sprach. ed.M.. Studien zur kompositorischen Phänomenologie (Musik-Konzepte 53).und Lautkomposition. vol. 1987. Vienna/Graz. Erkki Das musikalische Material und seine Behandlung in den Werken “Apparitions”. Michael Ligeti’s Stylistic Crisis. Ivanka “Über Klangverästelungen und über die Form-Bewegung. M.” in: Otto Kolleritsch ed. 213-220 247 . Zsigmond “Die Orgelwerke von György Ligeti..” in: NZfM 154 (January. Peter von György Ligetis Oper “Le Grand Macabre” – Erste Fassung: Entstehung und Deutung. 2010 SEHERR-THOSS.“Vorausblick in neue Vergangenheit. Ligeti und die Tradition. Die Musik der sechziger Jahre. Hamburg. thesis. Hommage a György Ligeti. XIX). 29-33 STAMPA.. Music of the Imagination. ed. Richard György Ligeti. Ligeti. Mainz. 1987. Anmerkungen zur Cluster-Komposition. Rudolf “György Ligeti: Konzert für Violoncello und Orchester.” in: Otto Kolleritsch. 2003 STEPHAN. Von der Imagination bis zur Realisation. London: Faber and Faber. 1993): 5-7 SALMENHAARA. 117-127 STOIANOVA. 222-232 SZATHMARY. 1972. 1969 SCHULTZ. vol.A.. Wolfgang-Andreas “Zwei Studien über das Cello-Konzert von Ligeti. Hamburg 1998 STAHNKE. Benedikt György Ligetis Requiem.” in: Gütersloh '90. Ligeti.” in: Stephan ed. “Aventures” und “Requiem” von György Ligeti (Forschungsbeiträge zur Musikwissenschaft. Manfred “Über den Begriff ‘Mikrotonalität’. Transformation in His Musical Style 1974-1985. Lanham: Scarecrow. Regensburg. “Atmospheres”. abgeleitet aus dem Werk György Ligetis.” Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie 6 (1975): 97-104 SEARBY. 1991 (typescript) STEINITZ. Vienna/Graz. 153-174 248 . Stephen Andrew “For György Ligeti on His 80th Birthday: Ligeti. Vienna/Graz. György Ligetis Klavieretüden Nr. Untersuchungen zur Kompositionstechnik.” in: The World of Music 45: 2 (2003): 83-94 TOOP. Zum Problem von György Ligetis Avantgarde-Konzeption”. Ligeti. Martin “‘Die ich rief. Lonfon: Phaidon.. Africa and Polyrhythm. 1999 URBAN.” Musik und Bildung 5 (1973): 63-70 WILSON. Melos 51 (1992): 63-84 ZENCK. Jahrhunderts.” in: Klaviermusik des 20. Peter Niklas “Interkulturelle Fantasien. Richard György Ligeti.TAYLOR. in: Otto Kolleritsch ed. 1987. 7 und 8. die Geister/Werd ich nun nicht los’. Uve “Serielle Technik und barocker Geist in Ligetis Cembalo-Stück ‘Continuum’. 157. 77. 219. 223. 224. Manfred 141 Eimert. 78. George 58 Englbrecht. 163. Anton 30. 45 Brueghel. 46. 129 Clarke. Ludwig van 56. 29. Andreas 86. Ulrich 68. Claude 19. 221. 246 Bauer. 163. 100. W. 60. 226 Berio. 58. 227. 121 Botticelli. 73. John 26 Carroll. 60. 224 Enescu. 95.5 Index of names A Adorno. 117. 163 Chowning. 55. Ernst 103. 31. 112. 97. 114. Gerhard 68. 224. 222 Benn. 58. 151 Arnoldi. 35 Duchesneau. Klarenz 143 Bartók. 45. 223 Dufay. 12. Marion 69 Dieth. Paul 23. Hans-Christian von 14. 81. 44. 220. Ernest 2. 162. Guillaume 59 E Eco. 41. 148. Albrecht 30. 224. 212 Berlioz. Gianmario 80. 45. 59. 239 Bosch. 30. 157. Thomas von 95. 19. 243 Bizet. Peter 95 Burde. 73. 209. 211. Hieronymus 23. 237. Th. 228. 11. 227 Ciconia. 2. Wolfgang 68. 243 Diederichs-Lafite. 17. Bertolt 41 Britten. 26. 37. Arthur C. 55. 230. 67 D Dadelsen. 234 Celano. 46. 29. 34. 202. Alban 11. 156. 207 Bachelard. 151 Brancusi. John 140. 146. 224 Beuerle. Georges 125 Blake. 17. 13. 156. 230 Eichendorff. 20. 55. 145.3. Umberto 211. 166. Joseph von 151 Eigen. 181 Chopin. 116. Béla 10. 41. 236. Johann Sebastian 1. Ferruccio 64. 82. Hans 21 B Bach. Gottfried 18 Berg. 69 Cézanne. 223 Arom. 223. 220 Dibelius. 77. 57. 224. 243 Debussy. 45. 240 Benjamin. Gaston 48 Barlow. 212. 228. 219. Denys 59. 58. 98 Cerha. Simha 141. E. 125. 33. Bernd 243 Ericson. Lewis 20. 243 Busoni. 226. Hector 27. 74. 243 Brahms. Constantin 181 Brecht. 223. 84. 242 Beurmann. 145. Peter 121 Bloch. Mario di 180 Borio. 239 Altdorfer. 60. 221. 219. Louise 1. Walter 56. Benjamin 17 Bruckner. 55. 115. Frédéric 29. Friedrich 13. 95. Johannes 94. Luciano 70. 229 Arp. 239 Bouliane. 221. 225. 103 Bernhardt-Kabisch. Hans Michael 106. 239 C Cage. 156. Herbert 12. 68. 134. 27. Pierre 13. Sandro 129 Boulez. 62. 45. 174. Amy 242 Beethoven. 225 Bonaventura. Johannes 150. 13. 219. Eric 151 249 . 45. 11 Fiedler. Charles 57 J Janco. 226. 225. 118 Gesualdo. Detlef 94. Carlo 57. 109. 106. 37. Jürgen 212. Michel de 117. Fritz von 20. Harald 88. 62. Leslie 212. 22. Marcel 21 Jarry. 212. 45. 222. 240 Kropfinger. 224 Karbusicky. 118. 73 Hitler. Jan van 62 Hölderlin. 212. 219. 227 Kubrick. 223. Paul 23. Hans-Klaus 28 K Kadosa. 143. 154. 240. Maurits Cornelis 22. Wojciech 166 Jungheinrich. 233 Goethe. 225. Pál 11 Kafka. Ernst 77. 192 Evangelisti. Saschko 195. Josef 30. 28. Göran 84 Farkas. 121. 219. 69. Richard 21 F Fant. 21. Girolamo 74 G Gawriloff. Franz 20. 234 Honegger. Hans Werner 17. 228. 241 Heraklit. Edvard 10 Grünewald. 40. 222. 165. 181 Koblenz. Babette 14 Kodály. 230 Handel. 152. 228. Mauricio 95. Ernö 224 . Bernhard 114 Krenek. Gottfried Michael 13. 89. 150. 172 Goeyvaerts. Gyula 20. 238 Hausmann. Arthur 17 Huelsenbeck. 227. 62 H Hába. 196. 244 Gentele. 77. 97. Aloys 114 Kontarsky. Vladimir 45 Kaufmann. Alfred 20. Clytus 104. 128. Gerhard 110. Joseph 57 Henze. Aram 67 Kinzler. Friedrich 20. Franco 212 Eyck. 138. 240. Alois 64 Habermas. 226. Adolf 17 250 I Ives. 141. Paul 17. 118. 229. 221. Georg Friedrich 17 Häusler. Raoul 21 Haydn. 151. Karel 77 Gojowy. Helmut 17 Lendvai. 245 Kontarsky. 59 Ghelderode. 121 Jaruzelski. 245 Grieg. John 30 Khachaturian. Zoltán 11. 129. 88 Koenig. 223. 137. 220 Kubik. 122. Ferenc 10.Escher. 101. Caroline 65 Klee. Klaus 56. 22. 245 Keats. 121 Kagel. 237. 245 Kirchhoff. 223 L Lachenmann. 230 Frescobaldi. Mathis 30. 121 Hindemith. Hartmuth 49. 246 Krudy. Ephesius 200 Herzmanovsky-Orlando. Stanley 67. 238 Gottwald. 151. 98. Wolfgang von 20. 106. 122. Göran 117. 116 Richter. 45. 238 Ligeti. 247 Sander. 41. 125. 89. Reinhard 9. 111 Partch. Peter H. 225. 84. 103 Müller-Siemens. 143. 218. 142. 115. Luigi 13. Pablo 28 Neuweiler. Ove 20. Siegfried 110. 145. 246 Salmenhaara. Heinz-Otto 141. 157. Bruno 13. 192. 98. 122. 220. 181. 132 Ravel. 49. 140. Guillaume de 94. 212 Prokofiev. 147. 206 Piranesi. 209 Reich. 94. 21. 57. 20 Meczies. Hermann 41. 181 Picabia. Vera 2 Liszt. 89. 86. Jean-Philippe 55. 141. Modest 10 Paganini. Gabor 10 Ligeti. 137. Domenico 114. 95. 30. Robert 18 Mussorgsky. 223. 225. 106 251 . 95. Giovanni Battista 30. 91. 126. Monika 145. 246 O Ockeghem. 124. 37. 165. Felix 58 Meschke. Gerhard 237 Nicolescu. 205. Jean-François 211. 224. 142. Joan 22. 231. 227 Riley. 112. 233 Messiaen. 156. 58. 204. 142. Michael 51. Eduard 151 Mozart. 128. 118. 227 Peterson. 192. 218. 85. Jacques 125 M P Machaut. Alexander 9. 93. 227 Mann. Pablo 62. 55. 57. 98. 222. Niccolò 58 Palm. 116 Rossini. 23 Monteverdi. 73. 230. 181 Lyotard. 156 Schalz-Laurenze. 51. 241 Peitgen. 230 221. Detlef 14 Murnau. 10 Ligeti. Ute 144. Claudio 125. 227 Neruda. 143. 238 Offenbach. 223. 220. Benôit 140. 198. 224. 222. 209 Maderna. 30. 220. 156. 225. Terry 29. Henry 146 N S Nancarrow. Erkki 29. R Rameau. 219. 33. 56. 156. Franz 27. 237 Mandelbrot. 107. Arno 18 Schnebel. 120. 143. 222. Gioacchino 125 Sabbe. 212 Mahler. Friedrich 129 Musil. 226. 146 Mörike. Harry 64. 77. 224. 29. 58 Proust. Dieter 70. Thomas 18. Conlon 14. Maurice 33. Gustav 29. 221. Johannes 94 Oehlschlägel.Lichtenfeld. 17. Francis 21 Picasso. 228 Schmidt. Aliute 118 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. 222. 238. Wolfgang Amadeus 57. 58. Steve 29. Marcel 21 Purcell. 157. 219 Miró. 222. 55. 212 Nordwall. 139. Stefan 14 Nono. 221. 218. Olivier 12. Karl 41 Pousseur. 115. Sergej 57. Henri 13. Heike 29 Scarlatti. 32 Popper. 141. Oscar 61. 228 Trojahn. 223 Szymanowski. Ivanka 50. 148. 125 Stravinsky. Karl-Erik 115 Welsch. 13. Wolfgang 211. William 149. 242 X Xenakis. Johann 67 Strauss. 219. Henning 115. 26. Bo 42. 68. 227 Somogy. 45. 95. Udo 70 . 247 Stalin. 60. 55. 68. Tristan 21 U Ünlü. 103. Sandor 16. 224. 57. Arnold 12. Ernst 79. 221 Wagner. Manfred 2. 47. Manfred 70 Tzara. 223. 20. 21 Scriabin. 163. 131. Alexander 33 Searby. 46. 242 Zimmermann. 235 Wörner. Karlheinz 12. 13. 221. Hans Heinz 111. 45. 35 Weöres. 174 Shostakovich. 110. 41. 247 Schumann. 60. 27. 228 Sierra. 57. 228 Z Zimmermann. Ilona 9 Stahnke. Georges 62 Shakespeare. 156 Schweinitz. 218. Sabine 144. 241 Schubert. 48. 220. 218. 224 Tomek. 51. 221. 117. 55. Wolfgang-Andreas 14. Robert 114. 163. 132 Schultz. Richard 27. 22. 14 Schwitters. 57. 45. Roberto 141 Simon. 222. F. Franz 14. Richard 19. 230 V Verdi.Schneider. Otto 12 Tomzig. 121 Vivier. Hans Jörgen 236 Schultz. 240. Sandor 11 Vian. 55. 211. 59. 13. 236 Welin. 19. 242 Stoianova. 66. 143. 39. 58. 241. 70. 239. Kurt 20. 14. 223. 37. Peter Ilitsch 145 Thomas. Claude 62 W Wagner. 125 Veress. Wolfgang von 2. 65. 19. 19. 86. Mátyás 88 Seurat. 226. Iannis 57. Michael 247 Seibers. 218. 14. Dimitri 19. 77. Joseph 17 Stockhausen. 161. 226. Karl H. 60. 181 Siedentopf. Igor 11. Giuseppe 10. 13. 207. 22. 135. 212. 247 Strauß. Anton 12. 125. 222. Arthur 141. 37. 17. 230 Wendt. 117. 67. Karol 58 252 T Tchaikovsky. 147. Wieland 46 Wallner. 58. Bernd Alois 44. 181 Stuckenschmidt. Albrecht 2. 243 Schönberg. 189. 221 Webern. 30. 234. H. 73. Boris 20. Altug 2.