THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

There are many reasons to suspect that these orchestral pieces follow the
electronic works in more than just chronology. There is a significant break in style
between Ligeti’s Hungarian works, which follow in the style of Béla Bartók and Zoltán
Kodály, and the pieces from Apparitions on which were recognized for their original
textures and timbres. Richard Steinitz describes the significance of this later style, saying,
“In Apparitions and Atmosphères Ligeti created his trademark, the unmistakable ‘Ligeti
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sound’ that would define his music for the net two decades.” How Ligeti arrived at this
radically new style is a matter deserving investigation, and as these electronic works are
the only compositions bridging the timespan between the Hungarian and textural styles,
and written during a period of “apprenticeship” while learning about post-war
compositional developments, it seems quite reasonable, that these intervening electronic
works may be a kind of link between these two bodies of music, containing many ideas
which are transitional and provide the seeds of a new musical style which is more fully
developed in his later works.
Before his flight from Hungary, it is clear that Ligeti had only limited experience
with modern music. Much of this exposure to music banned by the Hungarian authorities
would have come through smuggled scores and records. He was able to come by some of
Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno’s writings on new music, as well as a copy of Hanns
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Jelinek’s Anleitung zur Zwölftonkomposition, which contains examples from Schoenberg
and Webern, but no information on later serial practice. He also reports having seen the
2Richard
Steinitz, György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003),
98.
3 nd
Hanns Jelinek, Anleitung zur Zwölftonkomposition (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1952-58, 2 ed., 1967).
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