THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

cm/sec. which was standard at the WDR, this type of material had sounds ranging between
.013 and 1.974 seconds.
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In another type of material, Ligeti’s sketches indicate that a similar procedure
was used. In the sketches for what is labeled, “Material 3,” the series of durations appears
(shown below in Table 3.1), and the second column shows the number of times each
duration (in cm) occurs. Instead of filling in circles, Ligeti writes out the numbers and
writes “R”, “S”, or “U” over them as they are used. These most likely stand for “Rausch”
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[noise], “Sinus” [sine tones], and “Ugato.” [barking] . The third column is the product of
the first two, and is my own calculation, not appearing in the original sketch. This column
shows that the product of the duration in centimeters and number of instances was, in this
case, equal to approximately 30.
Table 3.1. Artikulation, Material 3: Durations and Number of Instances
Length Instances Index Unrounded
1 30 30
1.1 28 30.8 1.1 rounds to one decimal place
1.2 26 31.2 1.21
1.3 24 31.2 1.32
1.4 22 30.8 1.43
1.5 20 30 1.54
1.7 18 30.6 1.65
1.9 16 30.4 1.87
2.1 14 29.4 2.09
2.3 12 27.6 2.31
2.5 12 30 2.53
2.8 10 28 2.75
3.1 10 31 3.08
3.4 8 27.2 3.41
3.7 8 29.6 3.74
4.1 7 28.7 4.07
4.5 7 31.5 4.51
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This and all subsequent sketches transcribed as the basis for examples in this chapter are held at in the
György Ligeti Collection of the Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
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It is not uncommon for Ligeti to use a mixture of German (especially for technical terms, ones he might
have learned recently for use in electronic music) and Hungarian for more descriptive terms.
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