György Ligeti Overview

György Ligeti was a 20th-century Hungarian composer, most well-known for his works used in the films of Stanley Kubrick. Ligeti’s early works were influenced by his countryman Béla Bartók. After fleeing Hungary’s communist regime in the late 1950s, Ligeti arrived in... [more]

György Ligeti was a 20th-century Hungarian composer, most well-known for his works used in the films of Stanley Kubrick. Ligeti’s early works were influenced by his countryman Béla Bartók. After fleeing Hungary’s communist regime in the late 1950s, Ligeti arrived in Cologne and worked in an electronic music studio with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Ligeti completed a few electronic works, but he preferred writing for acoustic instruments. The sounds and processes produced by electronic equipment had a significant influence on his next period of creativity. In this middle period, Ligeti focused primarily on texture and timbre. Some techniques he employed include large semitone clusters and “micropolyphony” – a technique where individual players repeat small cells in independent rhythms, creating an undulating but opaque texture. Well-known works from this period include Atmospheres (1961) and Lux Aeterna (1966) - both used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ligeti’s later period focused on rhythm, and made use of tonal harmonies, which he had abandoned in his middle period. His best-known works from this period are his Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano (1982) and his three books of Piano Etudes (1985, 1994, 2001). [show less]