THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

Chapter 4: Later Works and Concluding Thoughts
While he was composing the electronic works examined in the last two chapters,
Ligeti was also working on the orchestral piece that would become Apparitions. This
piece went through a number of different drafts under different titles, including Víziók
(Visions) and Sötét és Világos (Dark and Light). Ligeti began the final version of
Apparitions in 1958, just after Artikulation, and completed it early in 1959. It is this final
version of Apparitions where the knowledge Ligeti has acquired in the studio is first put
into practice in instrumental composition in recognizable ways.
The previous chapters have uncovered many new techniques and strategies for
compositional design in the electronic idiom. In particular the analyses have included
discussions of Ligeti’s methods for determining durations, generating and categorizing
musical material, as well as some of the factors he considered when arranging this material
into the final piece. This chapter will continue to address these same concerns but rather
than going through Apparitions as it unfolds, this chapter will be organized to address
these issues in turn: first rhythmic practice, then approaches to pitch and resulting musical
gestures, and finally form. This will allow the opportunity to make specific comparisons
to the electronic precedents, pointing out specific chains of influence. It will also allow a
preliminary extension of these findings to later pieces, and thus bringing this study to its
stated goal.
Rhythmic Practice:
When Ligeti escaped Hungary during the revolution of 1956, he describes himself
as largely ignorant of the practices of the Western-European avant-garde.
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