Table Of ContentThis 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 per-
sonal and artistic development is set forth and illuminated, and his prin-
cipal 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 eth-
nicities. This expanded world of the musical comprises not just tones i
and sounds, speech and music, the vocal and the instrumental: Ligeti t
e
conceives music as a cosmos of acoustic form.
g
„This study excels all previous monographs on the subject of Ligeti in i
L
factual thoroughness and breadth of aesthetic horizon, in fineness of
intellectual portraiture and authority of musical analysis.“ (Lutz Lesle)
y
“The most exciting, comprehensible, analytically profound and concep- g
tually lucid study to date, which, in addition, for the first time incor-
r
porates the sketches in the discussion and thereby elucidates the basic
ö
ideas underlying many of the works.“ (Fonoforum)
y
G
·
György Ligeti
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o
r
o
l
F
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Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of Musicology at the Univer- i Beyond Avant-garde and Postmodernism
t
sity of Hamburg. Among his works are volumes on the origin n
of Gregorian neumes, about Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, Johannes a
Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg. t Translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch
s
n
Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch is professor emeritus of English and Compara-
o
tive Literature at Indiana University. He has translated several books by
C
Constantin Floros. CONSTANTIN FLOROS
www.peterlang.com ISBN 978-3-631-65499-6
265499_Floros_AK_A5HCk.indd 1 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
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio-
grafie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Cover illustration: György Ligeti.
Courtesy of SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz/Germany.
Revised and expanded version of the German original edition:
György Ligeti. „Jenseits von Avantgarde und Postmoderne“ by Constantin Floros.
© by MUSIKZEIT Verlag Lafite, Vienna/Austria.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Floros, Constantin.
[György Ligeti. English]
György Ligeti : beyond avant-garde and postmodernism / Floros, Constantin ; translated
by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-631-65499-6
1. Ligeti, György, 1923-2006--Criticism and interpretation. I. Bernhardt-Kabisch, Ernest,
1934- translator. II. Title.
ML410.L645F5613 2014
780.92--dc23
2014021260
ISBN 978-3-631-65499-6 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-04783-7 (E-Book)
DOI 10.3726/ 978-3-653-04783-7
© for the English edition: Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2014
All rights reserved.
© for all other languages: MUSIKZEIT Verlag Lafite, Vienna
PL Academic Research is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH.
Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙
Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any
utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to
prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in
electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
www.peterlang.com
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1 Part One: Personality and Fundamental Aspects of the Work .................................... 5
1.1 Biographical Sketch ............................................................................................................. 9
1.2 Questions of Identity ......................................................................................................... 15
1.3 Towards an Intellectual Physiognomy ............................................................................ 18
1.4 A “Non-Puristic” Music.................................................................................................... 26
1.5 Metaphors, Allusions and Synaesthesias ......................................................................... 28
1.6 Innovativeness: Aspects of Compositional Technique ................................................. 34
1.7 Motion Types, Tonal Gestures and Expressive Characters ......................................... 40
1.8 Time and Space. Imaginary Space ................................................................................... 44
1.9 New Sound Images – New Semantemes.
“Cystoscopy”, Vacuum and Music of the Spheres ........................................................ 50
1.10 A “Double-Bottomed” Relation to Tradition ................................................................ 55
1.11 Diversity of Inspirational Sources. A Universalist Concept of Art and Music ........ 57
1.12 New Ways of Transcending the Tempered System ...................................................... 63
1.13 Backgrounds of Ligeti’s Popularity .................................................................................. 66
2 Part Two: Works ............................................................................................................... 71
2.1 Composing in the Homeland ........................................................................................... 73
2.2 Going beyond Serialism .................................................................................................... 76
2.3 Apparitions and the Dream of the Web ........................................................................... 79
2.4 Atmosphères – a Secret Requiem? ...................................................................................... 84
2.5 Micropolyphony ................................................................................................................. 89
2.6 Language and Music in the Requiem ................................................................................. 94
2.7 Lux aeterna ......................................................................................................................... 103
2.8 Continuum ........................................................................................................................... 106
2.9 New Conceptions of the Concertante: Notes on the Cello Concerto .......................... 110
2.10 On the Three Pieces for Two Pianos ............................................................................ 114
2.11 Mad World Theater: Le Grand Macabre.......................................................................... 117
2.12 The Turning Point ca. 1980 ............................................................................................ 140
2.13 Épater l’Avant-garde:
Retrospective and Forward-Looking Elements in the Horn Trio............................... 144
2.14 Notes on the Hölderlin Fantasies .................................................................................. 151
2.15 Construction and Imagination: Principles of the Piano Etudes ................................... 156
2.16 “Quasi-Equidistance” and Polyrhythm: Coordinates of the Piano Concerto ............. 180
2.17 The Violin Concerto ........................................................................................................ 192
2.18 The Horn Concerto ......................................................................................................... 207
V
Afterword: Beyond Avantgarde and Postmodernism .......................................................... 211
3 Part Three: Appendix ...................................................................................................... 215
3.1 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... 217
3.2 Notes ................................................................................................................................. 218
3.3 Register of Works ............................................................................................................ 231
3.4 Selected Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 236
3.5 Index of names ................................................................................................................. 249
VI
Preface
From September 30 to October 4, 1962, the Society of Musical Research held
its International Musicological Convention in Kassel. I vividly recall the con-
cluding session, on “Problems of Structure in Contemporary Music”, in
which György Ligeti, in a captivating paper on electronic music, pleaded for a
conception of music capable of accommodating also the intersti-
tial/intermediate areas of the musical. 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, still relatively little-
known composer.
After Ligeti’s appointment to the Hamburg Musikhochschule in 1973, I had re-
peated opportunities to be in contact with him and over the years got to
know him as an altogether unconventional, intensely curious individual of
profound wit and comprehensive knowledge and a warm-hearted friend. I
began to scrutinize his works, whose musical idiom had always fascinated me,
and to publish essays about them. It gave me particular pleasure to introduce
some of his compositions, at times even before their first performance, in ar-
ticles that appeared in the Swedish journal Nutida Musik. In 1975, Ligeti was
awarded the noted Bach Prize in Hamburg, and I was chosen to present the
eulogy. From 1987 on, I gave lectures about his music not only in Hamburg
but in Vienna, in Graz, in Hitzacker, in Gütersloh and in the Rhine region.
In the spring of 1989, I told him of my intention to write a book about him.
On July 24, he wrote me:
I read your eulogy with great pleasure and thank you most cordially
for it. I think it is much too laudatory (but I can bear it …). I am also
delighted that you will be giving a seminar about my music at the Mu-
sicological Institute next semester, and am equally delighted that you
are writing a book about my music. If you need me, I am of course at
your disposal. I will spend the summer in Vienna, but if you want to
talk with me, Ms. Duchesneau will always know where to find me.
Of primary importance were the conversations I had with Ligeti in his Ham-
burg apartment. This book is initially based on these conversations and on an
intensive study of his numerous writings and the many interviews he has giv-
en. The first (introductory) part centers on questions of biography, art and
music theory, the psychology of creation and general aesthetics and concerns
basic traits of Ligeti’s personality and work, his intellectual physiognomy and
the phenomenology of his music. The more extensive second part comprises
1
discussions of his most representative works, with special emphasis on the
processes of creation. For the first time, Ligeti’s drafts will be an object of
scholarly investigation in this book. I was particularly concerned to elucidate
the genesis of his works, to outline the technical problems of composition
that occupied him, to explore the relation between imagination and construc-
tion, and likewise to elucidate the extra-musical associations accompanying
the compositional process.
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, a music that
requires an analogous synaesthetic perception on the part of the listener. Syn-
aesthetic aspects will therefore be continually considered in the analysis and
interpretation of the works.
It goes without saying that this study, too, would not have come off without
the support of dear friends and numerous amiable colleagues. 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. Dr. Louise Duchesneau stood tirelessly by me throughout the writing
of the original version. She got hold of books, scores, and recordings for me
and advised me on numerous questions. My colleagues Prof. Peter Petersen
and professor Albrecht Schneider kindly put recordings of radio interviews at
my disposal. Mr. Péter Hálasz and Ms. Edit Spielmann helped me in render-
ing the Hungarian texts in Ligeti’s drafts. From conversations with the com-
posers Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Professor Manfred Stahnke and Professor
Altug Ünlü I derived valuable information about Ligeti as a teacher. The Uni-
versal Edition of Vienna, B. Schott’s Sons in Mainz and the Henry Litolff /
C.F. Peters Publishing House in Frankfurt let me have important music mate-
rial. My gratitude goes to all of them.
The present English translation of the book differs from the original German
version by some substantial additions. Dr. Vera Ligeti kindly put some hither-
to unknown portraits of her husband at my disposal. My friend Professor Dr.
Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch of Indiana University once again provided a trans-
lation of uttermost scrupulosity and raised numerous questions, which we
were able to clarify in our correspondence. My most cordial thanks go to him.
I am also much obliged to Professor Dr. Altug Ünlü for the formatting of the
volume, and to Michael Rücker and Andrea Kolb of the Peter Lang Publish-
ing House for their generous editorial advice.
Hamburg, May 2014
Constantin Floros
2
