Phivos-Angelos Kollias
Survey of György Ligeti’s Compositional Techniques from 1960 to 1970, with specific reference to the ‘Cello Concerto’
Anglia Polytechnic University - Cambridge
2 May 2003
Introduction ...................................................... 2
The Impact of Serial Music ............................................................................................................ 3 Tradition – Experimentation .......................................................................................................... 4
Cello Concerto .................................................. 6
Historical Context ...........................................................................................................................6 Overall Form ................................................................................................................................... 7 Static music ..................................................................................................................................... 8
First movement ............................................... 10
Static Character – features of Modulating timbre ....................................................................... 10 Visual associations ........................................................................................................................12 Intervals and clusters as the structural basis ...............................................................................13 Ligeti’s Signals .............................................................................................................................. 14 Structural analysis of the first movement .....................................................................................15 Symmetry ....................................................................................................................................... 18
Second Movement ........................................... 18
Cells Technique .............................................................................................................................18 Micropolyphony ............................................................................................................................ 21 Lux Aeterna (Graph 2) ..................................................................................................................22 ‘Meccanico’ style ...........................................................................................................................23 Net-Structures ............................................................................................................................... 28 Like a highly precise mechanism ..................................................................................................30 The Soloist’s Character .................................................................................................................32
Conclusion ...................................................... 33 Notes ............................................................... 36
2
Introduction
This survey is f ocussing in to Lig eti’s sty le a nd m ore particula rly in the period between 1960 and 1970, through the
Cello Concerto. The aim is not the com plete
analysis of this work, n either the c ategorisation of all of his techniques. An
aim like that would be
completely unrealistic, as someone can find for only a technique of Ligeti m any studies of big length, covering just in a sm all extend the technique, yet in some depth. The purpose is rather to identify some of the techniques used in this piece and to do some general observations about them. The form of the survey is following the Cello Concerto, analysing some passages of it (almost with the order of their appearanc e in tim e) and in paralle l is dem onstrating some of Ligeti’s m ost important features . Here som eone can fi nd the techniques of composing used the period between 1960 and 1970: Construction of the music based on the registeral aspect. Visual connection with an imaginary space. Static character, in opposition with gesticulating character. Mechanical character: ‘meccanico’ style and ‘net-structures’. Traces of tradition in combination with innovatory features. The ‘Ligeti signals’ as junctures of form.
Before starting the m ain survey of Ligeti’s techniques, som e general inform ation has to be stated about what lead to what we know as ‘Ligeti style’.
3
The Impact of Serial Music György Ligeti, living in Hungary under Soviet control, was cut off almost completely from the new m usical ideas –apart from so me very indirect inform ation that were spreading . As he imm igrated to Western Europe, he faced for the firs t time the fully developed serialism . Com ing from a di fferent t raditional background, instead of joining the serialists’ forces and following the new trends, he becomes sceptical about it. He discusses as problem atic the idea of the unified plan, where all musical factors (pitch, duration, tim bre and dynam ics) had to b e fitted in. From the m oment that th e basic order, in a serial com position, had been ch osen, every single part was deriving automatically from it. Thus, the co mposer of serialistic work did not have to take any further decisions, as they would be predeterm ined. Their features were identifiable in spoken des cription of som eone’s com position, but not recognisab le through th e listening of it: ‘it was clapped on the musical events from the outside, and had no direct impact on our minds’. 1 According to Ligeti, as
the sound result had been
downgraded almost to the state of being a by-product, the intervals have started losing importance and structu ral pe rmeability. Theref ore, he sug gests tha t s tructures of different te xtures c an appear a t th e sam e time in a th ick result, reg ardless of th e chosen intervals. In addition, it was becom ing even m ore difficult for a serialist to attain variety.2 He had detected that the audible structure was not demarcated from the intervals but rather from ‘the relations of destiny, distribution of register and various displacements in the building up and breaking down of the vertical complexes’.
3
Conclusively, Ligeti do es not find any neces sity of the serial m ethods followed, as they do not have any direct control on the sound result:
In working out a notional
4
compositional structure, the decisive factor is the extend to which it can make its effect directly on the sensory level of musical perception’.4 Someone should not think that what Lige ti learned from serial music was what not to do. His opinions about serialism , as stated he re, show as if he was in full opposition with it. On the contrary, som e of his principals arise directly from serialistic thinking. More predominately are ‘the principle of selection and systemization of elements and procedures’ and the ‘principle of consistency’. 5 However, the fundamental difference of perception was that the principles would
be used strictly onl y in th e areas that
would be musically relevant. Ligeti’s style is the result of his reaction to serialism and to his earlier music. Ligeti states: ‘the structure of a piece of music is relevant only when it is consistent, not merely within the piece itself, but also within the overall historical context of musical construction.’ 6 He does not suggest comprom ising someone’s ideas with the trends of his time. On the contrary, som eone’s ideas have to form in a way the m usic of their period giving reason for their exis
tence in the tr adition of the existing
structures.
Tradition – Experimentation Ligeti’s relevance with tr adition is notorious. He was considered am ong the radical circles of Darm stadt and Cologne trad
itionally orientated, while in the less
experimental years after the 50s and 60s, he was considered as a radical. It would be a m istake if we had to iden tify him as a follower of the t radition or a rejecter of it. He describes with his own words ambivalent his attitude to tradition: ‘Denying tradition by creating something new and yet at the same time allowing tradition to shine through indirectly through allusion: that is essential for me.’
5
He further adds: ‘I somewhere harbour the need, when I cut myself off from tradition so radically, to maintain secretly an umbilical cord, like an astronaut who is bound to the satellite, although he moves about freely in space.’
6
Cello Concerto Ligeti’ s Cello Concerto composed in 1966, was commissioned from the radio station Sender Freies Berlin and was dedicated to the cellist Siegfried Palm, the soloist of the first performance. During the period of 1950s to m
id-60s, th ere was a tension of escape from
the
Western tradition to new ways of expression. As generally a concerto s uggests direct connections with the traditional form of the Baroque era, the leading composers of the Cologne and Dar mstadt were fleeing from anything that was referring to it, except some Italian composers 7. Although, from m iddle sixties and after, the m
ovement again st
anything of the past becom es less tentative and in addition, a new generati on of great soloists has been formed. This could be the right time for Ligeti to compose his concerto. Ligeti may come to the realiza tion of a Cello Concerto, which however, it is proved to have anti-conce rto ch aracter. Th ere is a f eeling of alien ation f rom the tr aditional concerto w here the soloist h as los t his usual function as the
leading instrum ent.
Nevertheless, there is still a sense of being the protagonist. Another antithetic feature with the traditional concerto is that there is not any sense of a discussion between the solo instrument and the orches tra. The individual parts have
7
great independency instead of being a so suggest a ‘bartókian’ concerto treatm
lid body – som ething that would rather
ent of the orchestra. Th ere is neither any
connection with the traditional concerto form. On the contrary, he keeps reinforcing th e feeling of alienati on by introducing some traces of concerto with the opposite character: Instead of an im pressive first entry, th e cellist introduces th e composition extremely quietly (it starts with an ex
aggeratedly dynam ic m arking of pppppppp). ‘As if
emerging from nothingness’ playing an unchanging E, it is possible to be heard just after a crescendo, while the addition of som e strings makes it lose its individuality as a solo instrument. The idea of a virtuoso that is almost soundless is part of the ‘Ligetiirony’8. This also comes in opposition with the most compositions of the same period, where the musicians were asked to play l oud. In the end of the first m ovement, a duet with the do uble bass r eveals f or a while th e solo cello’s leading ch aracter. Even though, the latter turns up to have more important character, as the movement finishes with the do uble bass s mall cadence. Perhaps, the only cle arly identif iable so loist’s part is the final cadence, where the solo cello is suddenly left alone. However, even in this part, from the na me ‘Whisper Cadenza’ it declares its ironic intentions. The cello is asked playing very fast figurations, yet unvoiced!
Overall Form Cello concerto is constituted from two movements. This fact comes in opposition with the period that it was written but for the co
mposer’s style as well. T he m ost of his
works have just one m ovement as well as the most of the works of the sam
e era.
Although, in every case for mal structure and developm ent exists within the ‘only-
8
movement-work’. It derives from
the Avant-gard e ideology (m ainly prom oted by
Stockhausen), suggesting single-movement works, uniting diverging ideas in a unique formal process. Nevertheless, it was originally planned
as one-m ovement com position containing
twenty-seven episodes, sim ilarly to his earlier work, Aventures (1962). As the f irst episode turned to be bigger, it was finall y separated, becoming the first move ment of the work. The second movement includes the rest of the episodes, where quite distinct musical states are conn ected or so metimes overlaid with each o ther. You cannot discern the individual episodes; it is like a landscape that changes continuously in someone’s dream9. As a rule, the changes from one musical state to another happen suddenly, unexpectedly. Ligeti nam es this kind of for m ‘split’, ‘interlocked’ or other times ‘dynamic, restless, fragmented’. The first move ment sounds very different
from the second: it is very slowly
developed, alm ost motionless, whereas in the second one statem ent ‘cuts’ the other one or is immerging from it.
Static music Rhythm and harm ony for Ligeti is one of the aspects of m usic that had been ‘worn out’. In the f irst p eriod of his m ature ca reer a s a com poser, in com positions like Apparitions (1958-59) and Atmosphères (1961), he neutralises both harm ony and rhythm. By cancelling any pulsation feeling, he achieves the static effect of Rhythm ’s nonexistence. Bar lin es are being used just fo r practical purposes, in order to keep the performers in coordination.
9
By using all th e chromatic notes at the sa me time in huge twelve-tone blocks, filling big parts of the regis teral sp ace, h e is cancelling chrom atic m usic. The harm onic feeling is lost and a kind of refined ‘noise’ is replacing it. The result is an im penetrable texture, wh ere no individual part s are distinguishable although this texture is constituted from
m any diffe rent in strumental parts.
Consequently, in addition his is cancelling the aspect of Melody. Despite the f act that th ere is the se nse of stasis , motion always exis ts within it. He describes his music of this character as ‘static’ or ‘situational’
It is music that gives the impression that it could stream on continuously, as if it had no beginning and no end; what
we hear is actually
a s ection of
something that has eternally begun and that will continue to sound forever’.10 Up to the com
position of his Requiem
’s (1963-65) first two m
ovements, this
neutrality of harm ony and rhythm still exis ts. In the last movem ent of the Requiem, and later works like Lux Aeterna (1966)
and Lontano (1967), he is thinning the
textures and instead of going back to
harmonic treatm ent, is using his new
discoveries. Now, although intervals are di stinguishable and a lthough they are not functioning in a harm onic context, they ha ve very significant structure - som ething that will be discussed later. Notably, as with the aspect neutrality) , the sam
of Harm ony in Ligeti’s mu sic (the cancellation of
e happened with
the aspects of Rhythm
and Melody:
In his Second String Quartet (1971), he is abandoning rhythmic neutrality – there is a sense of pulsation although not periodic. In Melodien (1971) is abandoning m elodic neutrality – the individual parts are more clearly identifiable, giving way for m elodic
10
lines. Even so, in any case he does not retu rn in the us e of the traditional aspects of music that he had neutralised before.
First movement Static Character – features of Modulating timbre The Cello Concerto’s first movement has the same static character with compositions like Lux Aeterna, discussed above, as it is written the same period11. The sound of the solo cello ‘as if emerging from nothingness,’ gives this f eeling of something that has ‘ no beginning’ or that ‘has eternally begun’. It see ms like it was sounding forever and the com poser had just pointed it out, so mewhere in the sound spectrum, m aking us notice it. T
he single note of the introdu ction are joinin g
successively other instru ments of the orches tra. Yet, there is no variatio n of pitch, as each new entry is p laying exactly the sam e E 412 that the solois t has introdu ced. Rhythm has been elim inated by making ever y part of the im aginary bar equal: The possibility of an event to begin on the b eat, offbeat, on the second note of a triplet grouping or on any other point of tim e is th e same. In addition, the instrum ents have been asked to m ake their entries inaudible ( imperceptible entry), and when they stop playing, they are asked to die away very gradually (a
morendo that is leading to
niente). This E 4 stays still for one and a half m inute. However, within this motionless ‘situation’ there is a ki
nd of developm ent going on. Th
e leading role of the
development for this sm all subsection is given to the aspect of tim bre (tone-colour) and intensity (dynamics). A very particular effect is created of a gradually modulating pitch. The composer describes it as ‘a floating pitch, a slow deviation’. Ligeti is doing a visual association to describe this motion inside the motionlessness:
11
I would think here of a surface of water in which an image is reflected; then this surface of water is gradually disturbed, and the image disappears, but very, very gradually. Subsequently the water calms down again, and we see a different image.13 The introductive, almost inaudible sound of the solo cello (b.1) is slowly replaced - or transformed - to the richer sound of violins and violas (b.7). The cellos join them and the double bass follows as the sound becom es louder towards mf (b.10 and 11). Up to this point, the strings are using a typical
Ligeti technique, modulating the tim bre of
the string instruments, alternating slowly the point where the bow touch es the string: over the fingerboard ( sul tasto), ordinary way ( ordinario) and near the bridge ( sul ponticello) techniques and even on the bridge.14 The solo cello reappears alone with a harmonic E 4 (in ppp), jumping out of the orchestra’
s rich colora tion (b. 12-13)
denuding the sound (timbre and in tensity). The flutes are added and a harm onic from the double basses follows in s mall dynam ic levels (around ppp - b.13). The three instruments’ colour is replaced from the tremolando of the violins v iolas and cello s (b.14) and the 2 nd clarinet enters (b.15). Finally, the soloist is lef t alone with the 2 nd clarinets (b.16) before the 1st clarinet introduces an expansion of register with a trill. The f irst bars of
the f irst m ovement ref er to com positions of the past, like
Atmosphères. In these compositions, as huge chromatic clusters are filling major parts of the register, the attention is focus on the timbre and dynamics, which obtain m ajor importance for the structure of the pi
ece. The significant difference between
Atmosphères and this passage is that the former is using big clusters whereas the latter is using just one note.
12
Visual associations Ligeti always does m etaphors connecting hi s m usic with m any kinds of visual associations. He states that h
is m usic is not abst ract and i t evokes associations ,
‘associations of colours, optical effects and forms’15. He also states that experiences which come from sight and hearing are re
lated in a g reat exten t and tha t th e
associations he speaks of are not only personal but are generally felt.
This synaesthetic16 phenomenon is happening to everyone of us in a smaller or greater extend. According to our own experience of the past, trying to recall an audible event, several tim es it is connected with a visu al one. By listening to a sound, our brain produces an i mage trying to refer to a relevant experience of the past, like trying to reproduce it as a whole. The same can happ en with any com bination of the five senses. For instance, wh en we are th inking of a meal, our brain is recalling the visual memory that we had in m ind, but al so the sm ell and the taste of it and even in som e cases po tentially re lating it with an other sensual experience, comm only irrelevant. The brain is trying to represent the real event triggering all the senses, which were taking pa rt in this ev entual experience of the past. Depending which of our senses were consciously taking part during the realisation of an event, this of our senses will be re-triggered in the memory of it. Synaesthesia is not something new in the history of music. There are num erous wellknown composers that they were synaes
thetic persons or
had som e kind of
synaesthetic phenomenon, like Ligeti. Scriabbin had precisely connected each note with a colour. In his ‘Prometheus: Poem of Fire’ he is using a keyboard instrum ent named ‘colour organ’, according to the key it is pushed, each time a colour is projected on a screen. Messiæn also talks about h is
13
explicit associations of chords or tim bres with colour s. T he li st can include m any others, like Liszt and Rim
sky-Korsakov. A part from
musicians, painters (like
Kandinsky) and poets (like Baudelaire) asso ciate their m edium with other kind of senses. Maybe, the most significant association that Ligeti does is the description of his music as if it was from material, constructed in space. No confusion m ust be done with the use of the term ‘space’ literally by other composers, where in their music the sound is manipulated in the perform ing space. Ligeti’s reference to space is im aginary: Time suggests the horizontal factor of space and regi ster the vertical one. In this sense, the composer is able to ‘traverse the structure of the music as if it were present all at once’.17
Intervals and clusters as the structural basis Formal development of Ligeti’s compositions is not based in any conventional forms– Ligeti always says that he avoids ‘ready- made’ forms.18 In addition, he does not use any periodic structure neither any m
otivic or them atic developm ent. The usual
thematic-motivic im portance f or the developm ent of m usic has been alm ost totally abandoned, with the intervals be ing the structural basis. More specifically, the for mal structure is m ainly defined from the sp atial span of the s ound, the expansion and restriction of the music vertically, in terms of register.
Harmony with the traditional m eaning does not exist. Its function has changed (if it can be still called harmony) just to provi interval or even a chord) in conjuncti
de variance: ‘Pure’ sounds (a pitch, an
on with dense blocks (non-harmony), as an
alternative to the effect of tension and resolution of tonal music. Is better to say
14
in general, all traditional oppositions of tonal music (t ension-resolution, dissonance consonance, dom inant-tonic) have been replaced in Ligeti’s m usic wi th ‘mistiness’ and ‘clearing up’.19 Schultz is describing it as part of the
‘Aesthetics of
Indistinctness’20 (something that the composer agrees).
In the place of a subject, he suggests, there are many other ways to start a work. Thus, he is replacing the use of motifs with pure intervals as the basis of construction - or in cases like the cello co
ncerto, on ly one note. In com positions of this period , he
introduces a sim ple sound (pitch or interval ), in which gradually other intervals are added. The construction becom es more ‘ blurred’, lead ing to a poten tial ris e of tension.
For instance, in Continuum for solo harpsichord (1968), a G - Bb interval is introduced (above C4). Gradually other notes are added creating this misty result: F (div. 10), Ab (div. 15), A (div. 18), Cb5 (div. 18), and so on. Some other compositions starting with the same treatment are: the Requiem (starting with F#2 - G2), Lux Aeterna (starting with F4), Second String Quartet (G#4).
Ligeti’s Signals Another use of intervals, directly relevant with the use mentioned above, is taking place in specific points of the formal structure: Simple intervals are marking ‘junctures of form’ and with their ‘purity and clarity’ are used like points of rest. 21. These intervals are what he calls ‘signals’. His most widely used interval as a signal is the octave (Lux Aeterna – before b.37 / Second String Quartet – b.72/ Cello Concerto – b.36). It is important to note here that this interval had been abandoned from the serialist as being against their aesthetical
15
rules. He simply does not have any concern of avoiding the octave, as he does not aim to attain neither tonal nor atonal character. His signals ‘are not based on theoretical considerations or dogmas’22.
Structural analysis of the first movement The analysis that follows is princip ally based on the aspects d iscussed above, as they are the determinative factors of form for the first movement (Graph 1):23 For approximately the first one and a half minute (just about seventeen bars 24) of the first m ovement, the spatial span is restricted only to E
4,
and the atten tion is m ainly
focused on tim bre modulation (a more precise description has been stated above). In the end of b.17, a trill played by the 1
st
clarinets broadens the width to a se mitone25
(E4 - F4) which stays so limited for the half amount of time of the E 4 sub-section (nine bars). The strings are introducing a D4 G426 block, filled chromatically (b.25). An A4 is being added from the flutes and bassoons, two bars later (b.28) and 1st clarinet plays A4. This block (D 4 - A4) stays ‘still’, apart from some internal changes of timbre until b.33, where this ‘ blurring’ slowly ‘clears up’ to a com plex of notes: D 4 - E 4 - F# 4 A4 - A 4 played exclus ively by win d instrum ents. This works like a cadence for the end of first section. For the first tim
e th e flow of the music stops, the continuity
breaks, in order for this complex to be replaced by a set of B across six octaves (B1 –
B6) this tim e played just by strin g instrum ents. This ‘Ligeti signal’ of octaves is marking the beginning of the second sectio n of the first m ovement. The spatial range is spread now to five octaves. A new devel opment starts again: Slowly, the feeling of
16
the clear octaves it becomes more misty, as an octave interval (B3 -B4) is added (b.40) and a second one (C#
4
- C# 5) two bars later (b .42). The sp ace becomes even m ore
blurred near the middle when C 5 is added (b.43) followed by D 5 (b.44) and D# 5 (b.45) forming the block B
4
- D# 5. Harp is announcing the change of the fi
eld that will
follow playing successively C#, C, C over four octaves (C 1 – C 4, a ‘Ligeti signa l’ of octaves, b.46) while the block B 4 - D# 5 starts resolving (from the centre to its edges , the notes stop with the following order: C#
5,
D5, C5, D# 5, B4 – b.46 - 49). The m usic
starts to be polarized be tween high and low register. From b.48 to b.54 Ligeti is exposing three different events taking place at the same time, clearly distinguished by the big amount of space among them. The block B 6 – D 7 is gradually set up (from the bottom to the top) from b.46 to b.48 27. Remarkably, it is almost the same block that is still r esolving, two octaves lower ( B4 - D# 5 / B 6 – D 7), like announcing a point of reference, or potentially like the var iation of a motive. At the sam e time, a little bit lower, D6 is introduced by the trumpets. This D6 leads later to the block D6– F6 (b.51 – again formed from the top to the bo ttom28). Before th is event has taken p lace, on the bottom of this large registeral space, the double ba sses introduce A 1 and B 1 replacing the trombone’s B1. This event as well as the soloist’s mounting towards the ceiling (b.54) is overlapped from the two othe r events’ extrem ely oppositional crescendo (b.53 - 54).The harp is signaling for one m
ore tim e the change of structure with a
wide but not very dense com plex (D –Eb – Fb – G# ). The double basses and the solo cello reappears, as the orchestra has stopped abruptly ‘as if torn off’. A very still coda follows with the m usic existing only on the highest and lowest register
‘so that an
almost infinite space opens up between the two registers’29. His in tention ‘was to create the impression of a vast soap-bubble that may burst at any moment.’ A unison
17
of the trombones and double basses, which can be interpreted as an octave in the same point, is declaring the end as the solo ce llo disappears. The doubl e bass, with a short cadence in one pitch, as if a variation of the very beginning’s gradual appearance of one pitch, gradually disappears. Summarizing the above analysis, the first movement can be separated in the following smaller sections, according to the decisive factors that are being mentioned. First Section 1. b.1 – b.17 – Constant E4 (timbre’s development) 2. b.17 – b.26 – Expansion to E4 – F4 (timbre’s development) 3. b.26 – b.36 – Block’s appearance and development (expansion, resolution to a complex. Second Section - The only cut of the continuity in the whole movement. 4. b.36 – b.46 Bplayed in six octaves (‘signal’) sounds for the entire part – Formation of block B4 - D#5 in the middle register. Octaves in the the harp as a juncture of form. 5. b.47 – b.54 Boctaves stopping. Block B4 - D#5 resolves. Block B6 – D7 and D6– F6 are being developed. Orientation to high and low registers. Complex from the harp. 6. b.55 – b.64 (or b.77) Coda – Sounding only extremely low and high pitches, expanding in opposite directions. Ligeti is using in many compositions of his this principal used in the beggining
18
Symmetry There are some facts that declare the existence of symmetrical traces. In the first section, E4 is the only pitch sounding all the time. Even though, in the whole second section it does not sound at all, in the fourth sub-section it still has major structural character, as it is the vertical symmetrical axis of B1 – B6. If we note down the axis of symmetry all over the first section we find out: E4 for the first part (b.1 – b.17), then between E4 - F4 (b.17 – b.26), and staying the same when the block D4 G4 is formed (b.26 – b.28), moving to F4 (another quartertone higher) when the block widens to D4 A4 (b.28 – b.36). Another obvious clue of symm etry is the block that is form ed in b.45 B 4 - D# 5. This block symmetr ically r esolves f rom its cen tral pitch to its ed ges, (se e ab ove analys is for more details). In additi on, when the second section be gins, horizontally (the tim e translated in space) an axis of symmetry appears.
Second Movement Cells Technique The second’s movement beginning is defined again from the registeral configuration. The first movement’s material is long notes forming dense clusters. Couples of
19
oscillating intervals are used as cells30 in order to ‘fill’ the registeral span. Three woodwinds’ parts have the main role in the first episode of the movement: The flute, the 1st and the 2nd Clarinets. Three cells are introduced (just above C4): D - G/ D - F / E- G which in combination create the two clusters D- D - E
and F- G - G or the block D4 – G4 with E4 missing. Each one of these three instruments in the first three bars (b.1-3) introduces a cell (2nd cl. D - G / fl. D - F / 1 st cl. E- G) very slowly that is not easy yet to recognise them as independent units. S lowly and aperiodi cally, interrup ted by sm all rests, with a gradual acceleration, though not rhythmical (b.1-6) these three instruments announce all of th e cells, each cell on ce. Finally, in bar 6, each ins trument sticks in to one cell (notably, Flute D - G, 1st clarinet E- G, 2nd clarinet D – F) repeating it constantly and a dense tex ture has bee n constructed. Before this m oment, until the be ginning of bar 6, the cell are also pas sing from t he rest of the wind instrum ents (apart from the French horn) and the lowest strings (violo ncellos and double bass es). Consequently, there is a continuous modification of timbre. This techniq ue can be com pared with th at used in th e ve ry beginning of the Concerto. This time there is not a f loating pitch but there is a floating texture indeed. Again, there is no variation in re gister neithe r in pitch m aterial. The variation comes again from the ‘floating’ timbre but the difference this time is in the dis tribution of no tes (as rhyth mical neutrality is achieved). In addition, there is again a kind of static feeling.
20
In bar seven, the cells have been establis
hed as they oscillate unin terrupted in a
continually accelerating ‘web’ (see belo w for more details about Lig
eti’s cobweb
technique). French horn is introducing two new tones, unbroken this tim e, which are just above and below the two blocks: C
sounds for a while, and it changes to A
broadening the span a sem itone (D 4 - A 4). T he solo cello gets a very im
,
portant
function for the following three bars with where its alm ost soloistic line is only using notes that have not been sounded before: It introduces the p itch A, widening e ven more the span (D 4 - A 4) while the cells are passing to the violas, 1 st and 2 nd violins / b.8) and changes for a little to B 3 (b.9 / The trombones A fades away with the end of this bar). It then keeps A4, to change after to E4 and B 3, ending up to A
4
again (b.10). W ith the additio n of E and B all of the
twelve notes have been e xposed, although not in the range that were expected. The development was lead ing towards a com plete filling of a cluster, registeral filling, which changed to pitch class filling31.
The construction finally disappear
s, leaving the solo -cello’s A
4
the only pitch
sounding from the previous event (b.11). A new construction is going to be formed: The four-notes cluster C 2 -E2 is made in the lo w register from two trills f unctioning like cells: C 2 - D 2 (double basses) and D 2 - E 2 (bass clarinet). In the en d of the bar, the two trills are replaced by D 2 - E 2 and D2 - E2 (1st and 2 nd violins). In conjunction
21
with the harp and trom bone the cluster has been widen to C
2
-E 2 and stays lik e that
until the ad dition of an other blo ck for med in the sam e wa y (b.13): F 5-A5 from t he constantly repeated G 5- A 5 (1st violin) and F 5-G5 (2nd violin). The two clusters and the trombone cover the pitch class range of C – A . As it is expected, another dyad of instruments with the ne w cluster A 5-C6 comes to f it on the top of the violin’s clus ter (b.14): Flutes B 5-C5 and 1st clarinet’s A5-B5. Although, the entire chromatic spectrum is exposed the construction continues with two more dyads of instruments: Trombone and double bass are perform ing E 1 and E 1 respectively (b.14) – the first non-cell structure added, instead of that,
they are articulating in tremolando. The
music has been spread from E1 to C6. Finally, in the end of the same bar, bass clarinet
and viola are adding another four-note cluster: G3-A3 and A3-B3 respectively.
Micropolyphony Ligeti is alw ays creating his textures through part-writing, although som eone can not tell if he listens to Ligeti’s music for the first time. A very typical characteristic of his music is what he calls ‘Micropolyphony’. This term is used to describe music which is polyphonic although the individual
voices are not distinguishable. The result is a
22
dense texture that even if it prim
arily sounds immobile, it re ally has a lot of
movement inside itself. Thus, the music exists in two different levels: 1. The internal structure, almost inaudible 2. The audible form deriving from the internal movement
Before going further with this m atter, a distinction has to be m ade between the terms ‘voice’ and ‘part’ having to do with polyphonic
m usic. Part is used to describe a
horizontal collection of notes performed by one instrumental or vocal group. Voice is a recogn isable m elodic line in ge neral. Th is two aspects are ve ry u seful for th e understanding of Ligeti’s version of polyphony in general: Lux Aeterna (Graph 2)
In the Cello Concerto no ‘ micropolyphonic’ passages exist. Therefore, a short demonstration of the beginning of Lux Aeterna is provided:
In Lux Aeterna, it is clear that the aspects of stasis and m
icropolyphony govern the
whole composition. The diagram is showing in the first two and a half minutes of the work (b.1 - 37), the audible form . Ligeti has separated the indi vidual voice-groups, assigning four different parts to each group. Looking at the score, each one of the individual pa
rts m ay seem to have a rich
melodic line. A kind of canon is going around the voices, which m ore flexible as the traditional o ne. Each pa rt is alm ost sim ilar with the one that is im
itating but not
identical. Listening to it, the result is a m ass of sound, a heavy texture that does not seem to go anywhere, as if no development is taking place. There is a lot of information going on
23
in th e sco re, yet the sou nd resu lt is as stat ic as shown in the diagram . Just constant long-lasting pitches are audible all the time. What Ligeti has achieved in works like Atmosphères, where big chrom atic blocks are filling all the space, is used in a much more restricted way here. Nonetheless, neither in this thinn ed texture it is not possib le to di scern the individual voices. The timbres are very sim ilar and the li nes that they perform are very tide knit creating a sounding mass. Additionally, in order to keep a pitch sounding, not to break the continuity, before one voice stops performing it, another one takes it.
The spatial developm ent starts from a con stant F 4 and it is very sim ilar to that of the Cello Concerto’s first movem ent. Slowly, pitches ar e added creating a dense texture. Nevertheless, it is less dense than the cello concerto and more static. In both passages, there are the same points of rest, ‘Ligeti signal’ of octave. Interestingly, the way that it appears here is different: A 4 sound for the biggest part of this passage although it is hidden am ong other pitches. Interval A
4
–A
5
appears from bar 24, although it is
mixed with other intervals, cr eating a blurred result. Gradually, the music starts to b e restricted as the following pitches disappear: D4, F# 4 (b.32), F 4, B4, (b.34), G4 (b.35). Finally, A4 – A5 is revealed in bar 35
‘Meccanico’ style ‘I have always been fascinated by m achines that do not work properly; in general, by the external worl d of technology and autom ation which engenders, and puts people at the mercy of bureaucracies. T ransposed
24
in to music, the ticking of malfunctioning machinery occurs in many of my works’32
The m eccanico sty le can be defined as a
passage where each ins trument of the
ensemble is keep repeating in very shor t duration, just one sound or pitch, exposing a simple rhythm ical pattern. In som e cases, each instrum ent’s rhythm ic passage can have different point of depart ure. Neither additive process is taking place at any tim e, nor any alteration of the ostinati.
Ligeti justifies the very pr imitive idea of this style in the existence of a Krudy’s
33
character in a volume of short stories that he read as a five-year-old boy. In this story, the main character is a wom an living alone in a house full of clocks, ticking away all the time. As the nam e suggests, it is m usic inspired from machines and particularly fr om machines that does not f unction properly. Th is music is aga in in a way immobile b ut it has a sense of pulse, in opposition with
the characteristic static style (like
Lux
Aeterna and Cello Concerto’s first m ovement). Although the result is som ething unclear, as the instruments play in short dur ation, it is possible to identify sounds that start and sto p even if it is f or short tim e each. But the kin d of stillness This kind of texture’s tre atment reve als an abso lutely sta tic inter nal s tructure. Co mparing this technique w ith static textures m ade up from micr opolyphony, they bo th have the direct and indirect level. In the case of micropolyphony, as stated above, there is the inaudible, internal m ovement (indirect) a nd the immobile audible result (direct). In the case of static m eccanico, the internal m ovement is static (indirect) whereas the sound result is an everlasting slow transformation of texture (direct).
25
‘Machine-like’ passag es are like a m achine not only qualititatively (i.e. how they sounds) but technically as well: Once the individual ostinati have been chosen and the point of departure has been se t, there is no change in the individual instruments, apart from the emerging patterns’ rhythm ic variation of the whole texture. T he moment of departure of a passage o f this k ind, each m usician becomes a very precise cog wheel of a machine put in motion, working at the same time with the rest of the gears, in the speed that is set to be.
The f irst manif estation of Ligeti’s m achine like m usic and his sole
exclusiv ely
‘meccanico’ type com position with the ironic title ‘Poème symphonic’ for 100 m etronomes (1962) (see Appendix for m
ore details concerning this
composition). Im agine 100 m etronomes ticking all together f or the period of tim e that their m echanism will be un wined. In the beginnin g, the sum of one hundred rhythm s create a very solid texture with no sense of any kind of
pulsa tion. Just a co
lourless
continuum. The clockwork metronomes has a spring that gives them a specific period of working. The metronomes that have been set faster consequently will finish ticking faster. The result is after several minutes the sound to become clearer and clearer and some non periodic rhythm ic patterns to em erge. One m ore time we f ind the Ligeti’s principle of ‘blurring’ and ‘clearing up’. This piece is m ore a happening or a joke than an artistic attem pt. Nevertheless, Th e most significant about ‘Poème Symphonique’ is th at it is a poin t of ref erence f or Ligeti’s meccanico technique.
26
Other passages constructed by th e ‘m eccanico’ principal can be found in Nouvelles Aventures (1962-65, ‘Les Horloges Démoniaques’), Second String Quartet ( 1968, third movement – marked ‘Come un meccanismo di precisione’), Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet (1968, fifth piece) and C
hamber Con certo (196 9-70, third move ment –
marked ‘Movimento preciso e meccanico’).
One of the twenty-six episodes o f the ‘Cello Concerto’s’ second movem ent is a ‘machine-like’ passag e. Marked as ‘m echanisch - präzis’ (m echanical - precise), which inte rrupts a ‘ gesticulating’ ffff passage of the strings instrum
ents. This
mechanical episode is b roken up th ree tim es and each tim e it s tart with a kind of variation of the same idea. On the second quaver of the 57th bar, the thick texture of the strings breaks off and the wind instruments with the harp become one solid machine: Ligeti is assigning to each of the ten instruments34 a note that is being repeated with a constant period, each one starting in different
point to keep any alignm ents to the
minimum. He makes it even more complicated by dividing the instruments into teams of three, w here each team has different grouping of notes for each division: Firs t group with three notes per crotchet, second group with
four notes per crotch et and
third group with five notes per cro tchet. The bass clarin et is playing a constant trill, the only instrument with two notes playing not in precise period - the harps left hand has also two note but which are aligned. As th ey are an octave apart can be consid er as one sound.
27
The table b elow shows each in strument’s grouping team ( 1st column), period ( 3rd column), starting point (
4th column) and pitch, with period and starting point
converted equally using semiquaver as a unit.35
Grouping Inst
Five
four
three
ruments
Starting point
Pitch
1,6
C4
trumpet 3,2
0,8
flute 2,4
2,4
A3
French horn
1st clarinet
Period (semiquaver unit)
(semiquaver unit)
4,8
- 0,5
D6
oboe 3,5
2
bassoon 3
- 0,5
E5
harp’s left hand
4,5
E4
16
trombone 13,3 harp’s right hand bass clarinet
B5
- 2,7
B1 / B2
6,7
B3
5,3
5,3
-
- 5,3
D5 F2 / G2
Notably, only two instrum ents have sim ilar period as flute’s peri od is half French horn’s period, hence, they are the only two events having parallel movement. From the aspect of reg ister’s span, the pass age is tak ing p lace from B 1 to D 6. The intervals among the pitches are between semitone and major seventh.
The Cello Concerto has two more meccanico parts: The second one is starting in the m iddle of bar 59. This time the violoncello and the double bass are add ed with the in struments used in the first m eccanico passag e. Although this time twelve instruments are constructing the machine, the span is much more restricted, to E 4 – D6 (two octaves and a perfect four th less broad). The intervals among the pitches are between semitone a minor second.
28
The third one is starting bar 59. The sam e number of instrum ents is taking part this time. All the strings are present but the brass instrum
ents are not and the harp has
been res tricted to the us e of one ostinat o. The s pan is even more restricted E
4
– D6
(two octaves and a perfect fourth). T he same variety of intervals exist here (semitones to minor third) with the most being semitones. A restriction in terms of register can be observed as the meccanico style is reappeared. At the same time, density is increased.
Net-Structures Researchers of Ligeti like Clendinning and Hicks 36 enlarge the limits that can include other passages as m eccanico sty le. More part icularly they include in this category passages made from overlapping arpeggiated-like patterns. These passages may evoke mechanistic feeling and m ay be constructed from mechanical procedures as well, but are governed from di fferent and more com plicated rules so it is preferable to be studied separately. In this sense, I will ado pt the term used by Roig-Francoli ‘net-structure’ as I fi nd it more precise. He defines as a net-structure ‘a continuous web of finely-woven lines or repeated patterns in a constant interactive process of transformation of one or more parameters, such as pitch, rhythm, texture, dynamics, or timbre’. 37 This kind of structures exists in the tw o passages of the second m ovement, discussed before: From the last crotchet of bar six, the
cells are con stantly heard an d the three
instruments are accelerating th eir rate of distribution. At the same time, the rates are very clos e in com
parison with each oth
er. In th
is case, the rates are:
29
a, a+1,
a+2 in one crotchet
(for exam
ple 5, 6, 7).
Up to bar eight the rate of acceleration is: In the period of one crotchet, one note is added to each instruments grouping. The following table shows the specific passage’s note groupings. Fl. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Cl.1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Cl.2 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
The same way of constructing net-structures is used in Ramifications (1968-69) but in a static way , without acceleration. This co mposition starts with the com bination of grouping of 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Back to the Cello Concerto, in the end of bar eight, the two violin s with the viola are using the same cells, taking them in the speed that the woodwinds left them. The way that they articulate them is different: This tim e, e ach one of the th ree in struments is perform ing with the altera tions of grouping of 10, 11 and 12, in away that the rate of distribution stays the same. Vln.1 10 11 12 11 10 11 12 11 10 Vln.2 11 10 11 12 11 10 11 12 11 Vla 12 11 10 11 12 11 10 11 12 Ligeti is constructing his net-structures in many other different ways. The result of all this kind of textures is c lusters of liquid quality, as the no tes that constitute them are not played continuously (as in the first movement) but with repetition.
Generally, the result co mes from the com bination of (at least two) different textures, with relevantly close rate of distribution of notes.
30
The sam e principal that governs the neut
rality of harmony is used to achieve
neutrality of rhythm: The difference between the com pletely neutral Harmony of an earlier period and the half-neutral one (if you could excuse me for this am biguous term), the first is m ade from the chrom atically filled clusters in th e m ajor part of register, th e second from half-filling of a restricted pa rt of register. The second can be widen and shrink and have variety of density whereas the first cannot.
In the same sense, the difference between the completely neutral Rhythm and the halfneutral one, is that the first is m
ade from the non-existence of any accent, wit
h
imperceptible entries and gradual dying away sounds , the second from the use of rhythm in a way that it does not have any
pulsation (with the c obweb technique). In
addition, the second can have variation with different combination of rhythm ic parts or with acceleration and deceleration, whereas the first can not.
Like a highly precise mechanism Although the following passage (b.41-42,
b.43-44) does not demonstrate any
characteristic technique of the com poser, I found very interes ting the sound and I add it as part of the Cello concerto’s analysis. Although, it has two in general important features (Graph 3):
The contrast with Ligeti’s net-structur es and the continuous a-synchronisation of the different parts,
Some traces of serialism.
31
‘As if all instruments were one single instrument’; not only all of the parts are synchronised horizontally (temporally), but also vertically (spatially): Although the rate of the distribution of notes, it tents to be fluid with constant changes of notes’ groupings (between 13, 14 and 15 pe
r crotchet), all the nine different
instruments are playing aligned. A fast line made from very small intervals is given to the different instruments identically but in different heights between the register of D 2 - F#5 (three octaves and a major third). The result is four lines as following: A line of two-note clusters, on the bottom of this registeral span, using D2 - A2. A line of three-note clusters, on the bottom of the middle registeral span, using C#3 - A3. Another line of three-note clusters, on the top of the middle registeral span, using C#4 - A4. A single simple line on the top of the registeral span, using C#5 – G5
The span stays between the sam e lim its fo r seven subdivisions but each individual line is restricted to six c hoices of steps within each own lim its. Although later th e three of the four lines disappear (2nd subdiv. of b.43) , leaving just the top middle line, the m aterial that it is u sing is g radually en riched until the m oment that the o ther instruments appear.
Going back to the beginning of this passage , for the first three subdivisions, Ligeti is using a quasi-serial technique to choose th e order of the m elody’s content: all of the six sets has to be performed in order to use a set of pitches for another time. The result
32
it does not sound serialistic as is constituted of moving clusters in parallel. He is using it for the first group of 14 notes , then initialising it (as he does not expect the ‘row’ to finish this time) and using it in the group of the 13 notes and initialising it again, using it the group of 14 notes. The order of the notes is not fixed to use it for e ach time. In addition, after the use of this technique in the first three groups, he abandons it.
Another interesting feature is that with passag e he achiev es a clim ax after the s tatic feeling, which is in p ianississimo marking. It is achieved from the very oppositio nal registeral spans between this and th e passage before. A decisive fa ctor must be also the rich timbre in opposition with just strings timbre.
The Soloist’s Character The solo-cello’s character as a so loist was started to be discussed in the beginning. Although, as som e i mportant features of th e music had to be understood first, the completion of this aspect is left for the end of the Survey. Despite the few clearly identifiab
le pas sages with the s olo ce llo a s a r eal so lo
instrument discussed before, in general, it has the m structural changes or it ta kes key points. I will refer to
ost im portant role leading som e of the points in the
composition that they reveal this character: For instance, in the f irst movement is estab lishing the F 4 (b.19), it adds the D 4 (b.26) and later A4 (b.28) broadening the cluster. In the second m ovement, it appears for the first tim e to perform a m elody using only the rem aining pitch classes never sound befo
re in this movem ent concluding this
episode. Later introduces a new character, from the constantly repetitive dyads with a
33
tone’s interval, to an opposing m elodic line, improvising-like, made of big leaps and discontinuous rhythm. Not to m ention the vi rtuosic passages where is the instrum ent that appears the most times (like in b.55, 58, 75).
Conclusion Although the different techniques have been demonstrated separately, each feature never appears by each own. A com
bination of
features consist every passage. The reas on, why these techniques are dem onstrated separately, is in order to achieve a better appreciation and understanding. Many techniques of Ligeti, which are dem onstrated and discussed in this survey with the occasion of the Cello Concerto, are iden tifiable in many composition of the same period as w ell as h is entire career as a com
poser. As Ligeti’s style is relevantly
restricted in com parison with th e style of other com posers, through this wor k someone can obtain an overall view of his
music. It is o ne of his com positions,
containing developed ideas of the p ast as we ll as ide as that will b e developed more after th is w ork. I believ e tha t th e Cello Concerto is a m arvellous work of art and a great aesthetical achievement in the history of western music. Although is thirty-seven years now that it is written, with its original character it still sounds very fresh.
34
Appendix 1. As there is not any official publication of any kind of score for this work, it would be useful to expose a Ligeti ’s description of the perfor mance procedure gave to a former student of him:
The piece should last about 18 to 2 0 minutes. Ideally, there should be 100 metronomes, but at least thirty are needed. All of the m etronomes should be w ound down before the b eginning of the piece. Id eally, the piece should begin after interm ission, with the people outside as the piece b egins. The m etronomes should be wou nd with 36 0 and 180 degree turns. Not too many should be wound with 360 and 180 degree turns. Not too m any should be set fast , but there should be at least 16 to 20 slow ones in the first row. Perhaps, 20 to 30 should be slow. Perhaps one solo m etronome should be set fast, but that would m ake a new version. (The transcription is taken from t he notes of Mar tin Bresnick as it was found in the article of Jane Piper Clendinning, ‘The Pattern-Meccanico Compositions of György Ligeti’, Perspectives of New Music 31 (1993), p.193)
A detailed description of the prem iere’s preparation and perfor mance is exposed in Richard Toop’s biography of Ligeti. About the actual performance, he writes:
The conductor entered with the ten players (all composers participating in the m usic W eek), each of wh om had ten clo ckwork m etronomes, with the mechanism run down. At
a sign from the conductor, the
35
players wou nd up their m etronomes, and set th e speeds for each one (different fo r each ). Th en, after a pause of a few m inutes (!), th e conductor gave another sign, the play ers set the metronomes in motion and quietly left the stage, followi ng the conductor. The piece was over when the last metronome ran down. (Richard Toop, ‘György Ligeti’, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 1999 p.86-87)
2. The following is a childhood
dream of Ligeti whic
h appeared in first
performance’s program note of Atmosphères: As a small child I once had a dream that I cou ld not ge t to my cot, to my s afe haven, because the
whole room was filled with a dense
confused tangle of fine filaments. It looked li ke the web I had see n silkworms fill their box with as they change into pupas. I was caught up in this imm ense w eb together with both living things and objects of various kinds - huge moths, a aria, of beet
les w hich
tried to get to the flickering flame of the candle in the room; enormous dirty pillow s were suspended in this s ubstance, t heir r otten s tuffing hanging out through the slits in the torn cover. There were blobs of fresh mucus, balls of dry m ucus, rem nants of food all gone cold and other such revolting rubbish. Ev ery ti me a be etle or a mot h moved, the entire web started shaking so that the big, heavy pillows were swinging about, which, in turn, m ade the web ro ck h arder. Sometimes the different kinds of
movement reinforced one another
and the shaking became so hard that the web tore in places and a few insects suddenly found themselves free. But their freedom was short-
36
lived, they were soon
caught up again in the rocking tangle of
filaments, and their buzzing, loud at first, grew weaker and weaker. The su ccession of th ese sudd en, unexpected e
vents gradually
brought about a chan ge in the i nternal structure, in th e te xture o f the web . In places k not fo rmed, th ickening in to a alm ost so lid mass, cav erns o pened u p where shreds of th e o riginal web we re floating about like gossam er. All these changes seemed like an irreversible process, never return
ing to earl ier states again. An
indescribable sadness hung over these s hifting forms and structure, the hopelessness of passing tim e and the m elancholy of unalterable past events. (Found in: Ligeti in conversation, ‘Ligeti in Conversation’. London: Eulenburg, 1983. p.25)
Notes 1
György Ligeti, ‘Fragen und Antworten von mir selbst’, (1971), translation from German by Geoffrey Skeleton, Ligeti in Conversation (London : Eulenderg), p.129
2
György Ligeti, ‘Metamorphoses of Musical Form’ (1958) in Die Reihe, Vol.7 (Form-Space), English edition (Bryn Mawr: presser, 1965), p. 5-19 [Found in: Jonathan W. Bernard, ‘Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti’s Problem, and His Solution’, Music Analysis 6 (1987) p. 208]
3
Ibid., p. 8, 10
4
György Ligeti, ‘Fragen und Antworten von mir selbst’, (1971), translation by Geoffrey Skeleton, Ligeti in Conversation (London : Eulenderg), p.131
5
Ibid., p. 131
6
Ibid., p.125
7
Notably, Nono composed Y su sangre ya viena cantando for concertante flute, Berio a Serenata with virtuoso part for flute, together with Tempi concertati a concertino-like for flute, while Maderna had written an oboe concerto.
8
Irony and humour is another feature in György Ligeti’s music, although is not present clearly in the Cello Concerto.
9
Heinz Von Loesch, ‘Das Cellokonzert von Beethoven bis Ligeti : ästhetische und kompositionsgeschichtliche Wandlungen einer musikalischen Gattung’, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, p. 231
37
10
O. Nordwall: György Ligeti: eine Monographie ‘Zwei Interviews mit György Ligeti’ (Josef Häusler), (1971) translation from German by Sarah E. Soulsby, Ligeti in Conversation (London : Eulenderg), p.84 11
They are both compositions of the same year (1966). Lux Aeterna is written before the Cello Concerto. 12
The exact place of a pitch in the register is very important throughout Ligeti’s work. Referring to a pitch I will use C4 corresponding middle to C.
13
p.84
14
This is a direct way of modulating gradually the timbre of a string instrument. As closer the bow plays towards the bridge, as sharper its tone is, and vice-versa. Consequently, when the string length stays the same (the player has not change position of his finger), but the point of touching the string is changing, the sum of frequencies arriving to our ear, is perceived as a continuous pitch of changing timbre. 15
p.58
16
Synaesthesia is the condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a colour. ‘The American Heritage Book of English Usage’ , Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996, (online edition, 2000), http://www.bartleby.com/61/81/S0968100.html 17
Jonathan W. Bernard, ‘Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti’s Problem, and His Solution’, Music Analysis 6 (1987) p. 210 18
Peter Varnai: ‘Beszélgetések Ligeti Györggyel Zenemükiadó Vállalat’, (1971), translation from German by Geoffrey Skeleton, Ligeti in Conversation (London : Eulenderg), p.131 19
p.60
20
Found in the article of Heinz Von Loesch, ‘Das Cellokonzert von Beethoven bis Ligeti : ästhetische und kompositionsgeschichtliche Wandlungen einer musikalischen Gattung’, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, p. 237 21
Ligeti names octave and triton as his typical ‘signals’. He says that he avoids specific intervals for the important points of the formal structure: major third, major fifth, he do shuns major triads, Webernian major sevenths and diminished ninths (made up of a triton and a fourth or fifth). He also refers to some intervals with dominant significance for him: minor third, major seconds, minor third plus major second, two major seconds on top of one another and fourth made up of a minor third and a major second (or the other way around)
22
p.28
23
Graph 1 demonstrates the change of pitch material in time. Each unit of the vertical axis represents a note of the chromatic scale with C4 corresponding to middle C. Five units of the horizontal axis represents a bar. Graphs like this one are very important for the analysis and understanding of Ligeti’s music. 24
Obviously, as Ligeti does not use the bar lines conventionally but just for coordination purposes, the use of the bar numbers is just to refer to the score.
38
25
I will refer to intervals with the traditional way (semitone, tone, minor third etc.). Although they do not have any tonal relevance, I believe that it is easier to follow this terminology than the numeral way used from some researchers. 26
The term block Xa - Yb it is used to refer to pitch complex chromatically filled with Xa as the lowest pitch and Yb as highest pitch. 27
More specifically: b.46 Vcl. A6, (B6 already existing from before), b.47 solo-Vcl. B6, b.48 2nd vln.C7,
b.48 vla. C#7, b.49 picc. D7 28
More precisely: b.49 tr. D6, b.51 (successively) ob. E6, 2nd cl. E6, 1st cl. F6
29
p.52
30
The term ‘cell’ is used here as the intervals have fundumental structural importance and each one is clearly distiguisable as it is articulated from one instrument each time. Loesch, is describing them as pendulums and althought it is more exact for their attribute I choose to use the term cell since it has more structural character.
31
The pitch class of a sound is determined only by its note assignment and not by the octave in which the note occurs. ‘The American Heritage Book of English Usage’ , Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996, (online edition, 2000) http://www.bartleby.com/64/C004/027.html 32
p.16
33
Gyula Krudy is known as novelist and man of letters. He lived between 1878 and 1933.
34
The two separate hand of the harp has been counted as two different parts as they are playing different patterns in different registeral height 35
To avoid any confusion: the first column shows the division of the second columns instruments in to teams, according to the number of notes per crotchet. The third column represents each instruments period of a repeating note converted to semiquaver-unit. The fourth column’s numbers show the starting point converted to semiquaver-unit. The counting starts with the first semiquaver starting after the subdivision of this bar (b.57, second quaver). Negative numbers refer to a starting point before the subdivision. Consequently they have to be counted backwards (for example, -2 means two semiquavers before the subdivision). 36
Articles of this researchers including analysis of Ligeti’s works with use the term ‘meccanico’ in a more widen way are: Clendinning, Jane Piper. "The Pattern-Meccanico Compositions of György Ligeti" Perspectives of New Music 31 (1993): 192-234. Hicks, Michael. "Interval and Form in Ligeti’s Continuum and Coulé" Perspectives of New Music 31 (1993): 172-189. 37
Roig-Francoli, Miguel. "Harmonic and Formal Processes in Ligeti’s Net-Structure Compositions", Music Theory Spectrum 17 (1995), p.243.
