Dr.Godfried-Willem RAES

Kursus Experimentele Muziek: Boekdeel 9: Aktualiteit

Hogeschool Gent : Departement Muziek & Drama

9702: Gyorgy Ligeti

Gyorgy Ligeti

1923-2006

Ligeti werd geboren in 1923 en stierf in 2006. Hij werd 83. In 1956 kwam hij in het 'westen' terecht, waar hij in kontakt kwam met de Keulse school rond Karlheinz Stockhausen en de elektronische muziek. Zijn produktie op dat laatste vlak is evenwel beperkt. Het veralgemeend serialisme werd ondanks die kontakten niet door Ligeti toegepast. Zijn muziek vertoont meer verwantschap met de stochastische aanpak van Iannis Xenakis, al is zij bij lange niet zo systematisch. Het kreatief zwaartepunt van Ligeti's werk ligt in de periode 1960 tot 1980, met werken waarin hij de mikropolyfonie ontwikkelde. Van zijn muziek werd misbruik gemaakt in de kommerciele films van Kubrick waardoor zij geassocieerd raakte met een haar expressief volkomen vreemde SF wereld. Zijn kompositorische produktie sedert de jaren 80 van vorige eeuw is in heel wat stukken beduidend minder origineel en leunt bij momenten zelfs aan bij bepaalde vormen van postmodernisme. De overromantische uitvoeringen van zijn werk door sommige uitvoerders hebben aan deze indruk bijgedragen. Wellicht zou zijn werk (bvb. zijn piano etudes, beinvloed door Conlon Nancarrow wiens werk hij pas op late leeftijd leerde kennen) beter gediend zijn met louter mechanische uitvoeringen.

Onze eerste prille ontmoeting met Ligeti dateert van 1965-66 toen we als koorzanger betrokken waren bij de uitvoering van zijn indrukwekkend Requiem dat toen in Vlaanderen en Nederland werd gebracht onder de onvergetelijke leiding van Bruno Maderna. Later hebben we Ligeti persoonlijker ontmoet gedurende een week waarin hij masterclasses gaf in Darmstadt 1970, en leerden hem daarbij kennen als weliswaar fascinerende maar ook neurotische persoonlijkheid. Toen we hem spraken over de projekten waar we toen mee bezig waren -muziekmachines waarvan de output uitsluitend bestond uit per definitie onmuzikale geluiden, met name alarmsignalen zoals bellen, klaxons en sirenes, leek hij vervuld van afschuw. Tijdens zijn lezingen was bij ook systematisch volledig de draad kwijt bij elk geluidssignaal dat van buiten, het auditorium bereikte.

Zijn gelukkig enige opera, Le Grand Macabre uit 1977, mag zoals zowat alle operas geschreven in de 20e eeuw, als een mislukking worden beschouwd.

Enkele belangrijke werken:

Atmospheres (1965)

Aventures et Nouvelles Aventures (muziekteater)

Lux Aeterna (koor)

Lontano

Requiem (koor, soli en orkest)

Kammersymphonie

Continuum (voor klavecimbel)

Clocks and Clouds (1972)

Volumina (orgel)

Poeme Symphonique (1962), voor 100 metronooms

Hungarian Rock

Persbericht van Associated Press n.a.v. zijn overleden

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Composer Gyorgy Ligeti, who fled Hungary after the 1956 revolution, then won acclaim for his opera ''Le Grand Macabre'' and his work on the soundtrack for ''2001: A Space Odyssey,'' died Monday. He was 83. Ligeti, celebrated as one of the world's leading 20th century musical pioneers, died in Vienna after a long illness, said Christiane Krauscheid, a spokeswoman for his publisher, Germany-based Schott Music. Details were unavailable, but Austrian media said he spent the last three years in a wheelchair. Ligeti (pronounced lig'-ih-tee) was born in 1923 to Hungarian parents in the predominantly ethnic Hungarian part of Romania's Transylvania region. His father and brother later were murdered by the Nazis. He took Austrian citizenship in 1967 after fleeing his ex-communist homeland. He began studying music under Ferenc Farkas at the conservatory in Cluj, Romania, in 1941, and continued his studies in Budapest. But in 1943, he was arrested as a Jew and sentenced to forced labor for the rest of World War II. ''My life in the Nazi era and under communist rule was full of risks, and I believe I still reflect this feeling,'' he once told the Austria Press Agency in an interview. After the war, Ligeti resumed his studies with Farkas and Sandor Veress at Budapest's Franz Liszt Academy. After graduation in 1949, he did research on Romanian folk music and then returned to the academy as an instructor in harmony, counterpoint and formal analysis. Ligeti attracted wide atttention for ''Macabre,'' which he wrote in 1978. Ligeti's early work was heavily censored by Hungary's repressive regime, but his arrival in Vienna in 1956 opened up new possibilities. In the Austrian capital, he met key players in Western Europe's avant-garde music movement such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gottfried Michael Koenig and Herbert Eimert, who invited him to join an electronic music studio at West Germany's state radio in Cologne in 1957. He won early critical acclaim for his 1958 electronic composition ''Artikulation'' and the orchestral ''Apparitions.'' He gained notoriety for a technique he called ''micropolyphony,'' which wove together musical color and texture in ways that transcended the traditional borders of melody, harmony and rhythm. Ligeti spoke at least six languages, including his native Hungarian, German, French, and English, said Stephen Ferguson, who worked as his assistant and editor at Schott Music from 1992-96. ''He was one of the few avant-garde composers who found his way into the modern program,'' Ferguson said. ''He was fascinated by patterns, but at the same time created wonderful atmospheres, such as in the music used in '2001: A Space Odyssey,' or in 'Clocks and Clouds.' ''He reintroduced techniques of polyphony out of the tradition of Bach and Palestrina with a playful and innovative sense of sound. He developed a new sound -- cluster sound -- which fascinated director Stanley Kubrick and propelled Ligeti to the top of the great composers of the second half of the 20th century.'' Excerpts of his ''Atmospheres,'' a requiem and 1966's ''Lux Aeterna'' were used on the bestselling soundtrack for Kubrick's ''Space Odyssey.'' Although the music was not the film's well-known fanfare, which was composed by Richard Strauss, it won Ligeti a global audience. Kubrick returned to Ligeti in 1999, using the composer's Musica Ricercata II (Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale), as the theme for what turned out to be his final film, ''Eyes Wide Shut.'' Ligeti, who for a time also lived in Germany and San Francisco and was a visiting professor at the Stockholm Academy of Music for many years, was known for striking a playful note with his music, epitomized by a piece he wrote for 100 metronomes. Sir Simon Rattle was a fan of Ligeti and led many performances of his works during his tenure at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra before taking over the Berlin Philharmonic. Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel hailed Ligeti on Monday as ''the greatest Austrian in the 20th century music world,'' and the city of Vienna said it would offer a special grave site in honor of its adopted composer. Ligeti is survived by his wife, Vera, and a son, Lukas, a percussionist who lives in New York. Funeral arrangements were incomplete. ------

Associated Press writer Melissa Eddy in Berlin contributed to this story.

Filedate: 2006/ last update : 2006-06-19