After the Opera (and the End of the World), What Now

Following the premiere of Le Grand Macabre in 1978, György Ligeti faced a compositional crisis: how to proceed? The opera had taken him far from his compositional styles of the 1960s and early 1970s, but the way forward to the Piano Concerto he wished to compose next was not clear. In the seven years between the opera and the first book of Piano Etudes, Ligeti composed only three significant works: the Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano (1982) and two sets of songs for sixteen-part unaccompanied chorus—the Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin (1982) and Magyar Etüdők (1983), setting texts by Hölderlin and Sándor Weőres. This essay will examine the place of these songs, Ligeti's first settings of poetic texts since the 1950s, in the context of his works for voice, and consider their role in establishing his late style. Keywords: György Ligeti Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin Magyar Etüdők Late StyleUnaccompanied Choral WorksSándor Weőres Notes For detailed analytical comments on the Drei Phantasien and Magyar Etüdök, see Clendinning (Citation1989, Vol. 1, pp. 303–335 and Vol. 2, pp. 176–208, 219–222). Steinitz (Citation2003, pp. 39–40). Ibid., p. 16. In this work, Ligeti chose a text by Renaissance poet Bálint Balassa for the first movement, with the second and third movements based on Hungarian folk song texts, and the fourth movement on a Slovakian folk song text. For more on Ligeti's employment of poems by Sándor Weőres, see the recent article: Mándi-Fazekas and Fazekas (2011). Ligeti (Citation1996c, p. 9), Sony 62311. Ibid., p. 10. These details of Ligeti's life during and immediately after World War II are documented by Steinitz (Citation2003, pp. 19–21, 28–30). Though these works languished in obscurity for many years, their scores are now available from Schott and they were recorded in the 1990s for the Sony Ligeti Edition, Vol. 2. Ligeti (1996b, p. 10), Sony 62305. Ligeti (1996a, pp. 7–8), Sony 62306. Initially presented in Clendinning (Citation1989, Vol. 1, pp. 47–48). Both of these pieces are discussed in detail in Clendinning (Citation1995). See also Bernard (Citation1987, Citation1994). Discussed in Steinitz (Citation2003, pp. 253–255). Steinitz (Citation2003, p. 212). Ligeti (1998, pp. 11–12), Sony 62309. Despite Ligeti's assertion to the contrary, there are good reasons to believe his ‘compositional block’ for this extended span of time was both professional and personal. These interests are discussed by Stephen Taylor elsewhere in this issue. This great advice to a young composition student was from Bob Burroughs, composer in residence and composition faculty member at Samford University from 1971 to 1980. I am sure it is not original to him, but it was advice he gave repeatedly and applied himself with great success. (He has been a prolific composer of choral church music, with over 2000 compositions in print). Hölderlin (Citation1996, p. 23), Sony 62305. Weőres (Citation1996, p. 25), Sony 62305. Page 2 of the score only includes a German translation of the poems, and the German text does not include the ‘knocking at the door’ image, but rather that ‘the icicle drips water’. The translation by Szalai is likely the better rendition of the original image. See the essay elsewhere in this issue by Amy Bauer for additional comments on these texts. The Hamburg Concerto is discussed elsewhere in this issue by Mike Searby. Initially presented in Clendinning (Citation1989, vol. 1, pp. 156–158). The use of pattern-meccanico techniques in Continuum is discussed in Clendinning (Citation1993). These texts are discussed in more detail by Amy Bauer elsewhere in this issue. There is no particular reason to think that Menken and Ashman were aware of Ligeti's choral works, or vice versa. These pieces are discussed by Wolfgang Marx elsewhere in this issue. For a synopsis of the opera, see Steinitz (Citation2003, pp. 224–227). For more details, see Steinitz (Citation2003, pp. 343–353)

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