Gyorgy Ligeti

Born: May 28, 1923, Tirnsemi, Hungary - Biography - Musical Examples - Works - Links - Twentieth Century Composer Index

In his own words....

"I am using only an idea from African notions of movement, not
the music itself. In Africa, cycles or periods of constantly equal
length are supported by a regular beat (which is usually danced,
not played). The individual beat can be divided into two, three
sometimes even four or five "elementary units" or fast pulses.
I employ neither the cyclic form nor the beats, but use rather
the elementary pulse as an underlying gridwork. I use this
principle in Désordre for accent shifting, which allows illusory
pattern deformations to emerge; the pianist plays a steady
rhythm, but the irregular distribution of accents leads to
seemingly chaotic configurations. Another fundamental
characteristic of African music was significant to me; the
simmultaneity of symmetry and asymmetry. The cycles are
always structured asymmetrically (e.g.,twelve pulses in 7+5),
although the beat, as conceived by the musician, proceeds in
even pulses."

Hungarian composer. Ligeti is best known for the use of thick clusters of sound in his music, especially his orchestral works.

György Ligeti studied at the Budapest Academy, where he began teaching in 1950. His early music followed in the style of Bartók and Kodály, often making use of folk songs. In 1956, as a result of the unrest that would lead to the Soviet invasion of Hungary, Ligeti fled to Vienna, and eventually settled in Hamburg. He worked in the electronic music studio at Cologne, and taught at the Darmstadt summer institute. He was a central figure in the European avant-garde, and began to develop his own individual approach to composition.

Ligeti's most famous composition is his Atmosphères (1961). In this work he combines instruments into clusters of rapidly moving parts (a texture he calls "micropolyphony"), which are perceived as masses of sound. These clusters slowly change, causing a gradual transformation of sound. The piece established an international reputation for him, and it brought him to the attention of the general population when Stanley Kubrick used it in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

In recent years, Ligeti has explored more tonal materials in his works, and in some pieces (for example, the Horn Trio of 1982) returned to his earlier, Bartók-influenced style.

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Musical Examples:

• Lux Aeterna
• Presto ruvido from Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet
• Atmospheres

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Works:

• Orchestral works, including Apparitions (1958–59), Atmosphères (1961), Lontano (1967), Piano Concerto (1985–88), and Violin Concerto (1990)
• Chamber works, including Chamber Concerto (1970) and Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (1982)
• Theater works, including Aventures (1962), Nouvelles aventures (1962–65), and Le grand macabre (1976)
• Choral works, including Lux aeterna (Eternal Light, 1966) and Magyar Etüdök (Hungarian Studies, 1983)
• Keyboard music, including Etudes for Piano (Book I, 1985; Book II, 1989–90

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Links:

• A Basic Biography
  This site, from the Classical Music Pages, provides a biographical essay taken from The Grove Concise Dictionary
  of Music.
• The György Ligeti Homepage
  A fascinating site hosted by the Philharmonia of London. Its purpose is to "illustrate the musical devices and metaphors used by Ligeti." These devices are explained, and illustrated with examples from Ligeti's music. Activities are suggested to allow you to explore the concept on your own. A warning: some of the sound files take a long time to load.
• The György Ligeti Homepage
  A fascinating site hosted by the Philharmonia of London. Its purpose is to "illustrate the musical devices and metaphors used by Ligeti." These devices are explained, and illustrated with examples from Ligeti's music. Activities are suggested to allow you to explore the concept on your own. A warning: some of the sound files take a long time to load.

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