Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-xh428 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-15T12:27:27.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Emergence of Timbre: Ligeti's Synthesis of Electronic and Acoustic Music in Atmosphères

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2011

JENNIFER IVERSON
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1957, soon after his emigration from Hungary, György Ligeti began an internship at the electronic music studio of Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. The three electronic works Ligeti produced there constitute a small portion of his oeuvre, but it is commonly acknowledged that his experiences in the studio were crucial for his stylistic development. This article makes specific analytical connections between the techniques of elektronische Musik that Ligeti encountered at the WDR and his sound-mass techniques in acoustic composition. The discourses in circulation in the electronic studio of the 1950s – especially as articulated by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Karel Goeyvaerts, and Gottfried Michael Koenig – reveal a collective obsession with gaining compositional control over timbre. By internalizing and reusing mainstream elektronische Musik techniques such as additive synthesis, filtering, and Bewegungsfarbe in an acoustic form, Ligeti brought timbre forward as the central compositional problem in the acoustic work Atmosphères.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Twentieth-Century Music , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 61 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Discography

Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music, vol. 4. CD, SubRosa Records, SR 250, 2007.Google Scholar
Cologne–WDR: Early Electronic Music. Acousmatrix series, vol. 6. CD, BVHAAST Records, 9106, [no date].Google Scholar
Goeyvaerts, Karel.The Serial Works nos. 1–7. Champ d'Action. CD, Megadisc Classics, 7845, 1996.Google Scholar
Institute of Sonology, The Hague. His Master's Noise, prod. Kees Tazelaar and others. CD, BVHAAST Records, 06/0701, 1996.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. Continuum, Zehn Stücke für Bläserquintett, Artikulation, Glissandi, Zwei Etüden für Orgel, Volumina. CD, Wergo, WER 60161, 1988.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. The Ligeti Project, vol. 2. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Jonathan Nott. CD, Teldec, 8573 88261-2, 2002.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. The Ligeti Project, vol. 5. Asko Ensemble, Schönberg Ensemble, cond. Reinbert de Leeuw. CD, Teldec, 8573 88262-2, 2004.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Elektronische Musik 1952–1960. Complete Works, vol. 3. CD, Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2001.Google Scholar

Bibliography

Bauer, Amy Marie. ‘Composing the Sound Itself: Parameters and Structure in the Music of Ligeti’. Indiana Theory Review 22/1 (2001), 37–64.Google Scholar
Bernard, Jonathan. ‘Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti's Problem, and His Solution’. Music Analysis 6/3 (1987), 207–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, Jonathan. ‘Voice Leading as a Spatial Function in the Music of Ligeti’. Music Analysis 13/2–3 (1994), 227–253.Google Scholar
Boehmer, Konrad. ‘Koenig – Sound Composition – Essay’, in Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives, ed. Licata, Thomas. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. 59–71.Google Scholar
Borio, Gianmario. ‘New Technology, New Techniques: the Aesthetics of Electronic Music in the 1950s’. Interface 22 (1993), 77–87.Google Scholar
Borio, Gianmario and Danuser, Hermann, eds. Im Zenit der Moderne: die Internationalen Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt 1946–1966. 4 vols. Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach, 1997.Google Scholar
Boulez, Pierre. Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship, ed. Thévenin, Paule, trans. Stephen Walsh. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Burde, Wolfgang. György Ligeti: eine Monographie. Zürich: Atlantis-Musikbuch, 1993.Google Scholar
Cage, John. Silence. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Campbell, Murray, and Greated, Clive. The Musician's Guide to Acoustics. New York: Schirmer, 1988.Google Scholar
Chadabe, Joel. ‘The History of Electronic Music as a Reflection of Structural Paradigms’. Leonardo Music Journal 6 (1996), 41–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chadabe, Joel. Electric Sound: the Past and Promise of Electronic Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.Google Scholar
Clendinning, Jane Piper. ‘Contrapuntal Techniques in the Music of György Ligeti’. PhD diss., Yale University, 1989.Google Scholar
Clendinning, Jane Piper. ‘Structural Factors in the Microcanonic Compositions of György Ligeti’, in Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. Marvin, Elizabeth West and Hermann, Richard. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1995. 229–258.Google Scholar
Cross, Lowell. ‘Electronic Music 1948–1953’. Perspectives of New Music 7/1 (1968), 32–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decroupet, Pascal, and Ungeheuer, Elena. ‘Karel Goeyvaerts und die serielle Tonbandmusik’. Revue belge de musicologie 48 (1994), 95–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decroupet, Pascal, and Ungeheuer, Elena. ‘Through the Sensory Looking-Glass: the Aesthetic and Serial Foundations of Gesang der Jünglinge’, in Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives, ed. Licata, Thomas. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. 1–39.Google Scholar
Delaere, Mark. ‘Goeyvaerts, Karel’, in Grove Music Online. <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/11361> (accessed 20 July 2010).+(accessed+20+July+2010).>Google Scholar
Dibelius, Ulrich. György Ligeti: eine Monographie in Essays. Mainz: Schott, 1994.Google Scholar
Dunn, David. ‘A History of Electronic Music Pioneers’, in Classic Essays on Twentieth Century Music, ed. Kostelanetz, Richard, Darby, Joseph, and Santa, Matthew. New York: Schirmer Books, 1996. 87–123.Google Scholar
Eimert, Herbert. ‘Die sieben Stücke’. Die Reihe (German edn) 1 (1955), 8–13.Google Scholar
Eimert, Herbert. ‘What is Electronic Music?’ trans. uncredited. Die Reihe (English edn) 1 (1958), 1–10.Google Scholar
Eimert, Herbert. ‘How Electronic Music Began’. Musical Times 113 (1972), 347–349.Google Scholar
Eimert, Herbert. ‘Elektronische Musik – eine neue Klangwelt’ (1952), in New Music Darmstadt 1950–1960: a Text and Picture Book, ed. Hommel, Friedrich and Schlüter, Wilhelm. Darmstadt: Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, 1987.Google Scholar
Ernst, David. The Evolution of Electronic Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1977.Google Scholar
Goeyvaerts, Karel. ‘The Sound Material of Electronic Music’, trans. uncredited. Die Reihe (English edn) 1 (1958), 35–37.Google Scholar
Goeyvaerts, Karel. ‘Paris: Darmstadt 1947–1956. Excerpt from the Autobiographical Portrait’. Revue belge de musicologie 48 (1994), 35–54.Google Scholar
Griffiths, Paul. A Guide to Electronic Music. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979.Google Scholar
Griffiths, Paul. György Ligeti. London: Robson Books, 1983.Google Scholar
Harvey, Jonathan. The Music of Stockhausen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Heikinheimo, Seppo. The Electronic Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Helsinki: Suomen Musiikkitieteellinen Seura, 1972.Google Scholar
Helmholtz, Hermann. On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music, 4th edn, trans. William Ashton Ellis. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1912.Google Scholar
Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture, 3rd edn. Hoboken, NJ: Taylor & Francis, 2008.Google Scholar
Humpert, Hans Ulrich. Elektronische Musik: Geschichte – Technik – Kompositionen. Mainz: Schott, 1987.Google Scholar
Humpert, Hans Ulrich. ‘So begann die elektronische Musik in Köln’, in Neue Musik im Rheinland, ed. Bremer, Heinz. Kassel: Merseberger, 1996. 67–72.Google Scholar
Iverson, Jennifer. ‘Historical Memory and György Ligeti's Sound-Mass Music, 1958–1968’. PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2009.Google Scholar
Iverson, Jennifer. ‘Shared Compositional Techniques between György Ligeti's Pièce électronique No. 3 and Atmosphères’. Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung 22 (April 2009), 29–33.Google Scholar
Koenig, Gottfried Michael. ‘Studio Technique’, trans. Hans G. Helms. Die Reihe (English edn) 1 (1958), 52–54.Google Scholar
Koenig, Gottfried Michael. ‘Ligeti und die elektronische Musik’, in György Ligeti: Personalstil – Avantgardismus – Popularität, ed. Kolleritsch, Otto. Vienna: Universal Edition, 1987. 11–26.Google Scholar
Koenig, Gottfried Michael. Ästhetische Praxis: Texte zur Musik, vol. 1, ed. Wolf Frobenius and others. Saarbrücken: Pfau, 1991.Google Scholar
Levy, Benjamin Robert. ‘The Electronic Works of György Ligeti and Their Influence on His Later Style’. PhD diss., University of Maryland, 2006.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. Pièce électronique No. 3 and Atmosphères. Autograph drafts and sketches, 1957–61. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. Atmosphères für großes Orchester (1961). London: Universal Edition, 1963.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. Ligeti in Conversation with Peter Varnai, Josef Häusler, Claude Samuel, and Himself. London: Eulenberg, 1983.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. ‘Träumen Sie in Farbe?’ György Ligeti im Gespräch mit Eckhard Roelcke. Vienna: Zsolnay, 2003.Google Scholar
Ligeti, György. Gesammelte Schriften. 2 vols, ed. Monika Lichtenfeld. Mainz: Schott, 2007.Google Scholar
Lobanova, Marina. György Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, trans. Mark Shuttleworth. Berlin: Verlag Ernst Kuhn, 2002.Google Scholar
Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Michel, Pierre. György Ligeti: compositeur d'aujourd'hui, 2nd edn. Paris: Minerve, 1995.Google Scholar
Moore, Brian C. J.Hearing. San Diego: Academic Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Moore, Brian C. J.. ‘Loudness, Pitch, and Timbre’, in Blackwell Handbook of Sensation and Perception, ed. E. Bruce Goldstein. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005. 423–428.Google Scholar
Morgan, Robert P.‘Stockhausen's Writings on Music’. Musical Quarterly 75/4 (1975), 194–206.Google Scholar
Nauck, Gisela. ‘Elektronische Musik: die ersten Jahre’, in Von Kranichstein zur Gegenwart: 50 Jahre Darmstädter Ferienkurse 1946–1996. Stuttgart: DACO, 1996, 265–272.Google Scholar
Nordwall, Ove, ed. Ligeti-dokument. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1968.Google Scholar
Pousseur, Henri. ‘Formal Elements in a New Compositional Material’, trans. uncredited. Die Reihe (English edn) 1 (1958), 30–34.Google Scholar
Roig-Francoli, Miguel A.‘Harmonic and Formal Processes in Ligeti's Net-Structure Compositions’. Music Theory Spectrum 17/2 (1995), 242–277.Google Scholar
Sabbe, Herman, ed. Karlheinz Stockhausen: … wie die Zeit verging …. Musik-Konzepte 19. Munich: Edition Text + Kritik, 1981.Google Scholar
Sallis, Friedemann. An Introduction to the Early Works of György Ligeti. Cologne: Studio, 1996.Google Scholar
Schrader, Barry. Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982.Google Scholar
Steinitz, Richard.György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.Studie II (1954). London: Universal Edition, 1956; Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2000.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. ‘… how time passes …’, trans. Cornelius Cardew. Die Reihe (English edn) 3 (1959), 10–40.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. ‘Two Lectures: “Electronic and Instrumental Music” and “Music in Space”’, trans. Ruth Koenig. Die Reihe (English edn) 5 (1961), 59–82.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. ‘The Concept of Unity in Electronic Music’, trans. Elaine Barkin. Perspectives of New Music 1/1 (1962), 39–48. Reprinted in Perspectives on Contemporary Music Theory, ed. Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972. 214–225.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. Texte zur elektronischen und instrumentalen Musik, vols 1 and 2. Cologne: DuMont Schauberg, 1963, 1964.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. ‘The Origins of Electronic Music’. Musical Times 112 (1971), 649–650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer, ed. Jonathan Cott. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. Stockhausen on Music, ed. Maconie, Robin. London: Marion Boyars, 1989.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz.. Gesang der Jünglinge, facsimile edn. Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 2001.Google Scholar
Suplicki, Markus. ‘György Ligeti: Atmosphères – eine unkausale Form?’. Musiktheorie 10/3 (1995), 235–247.Google Scholar
Taruskin, Richard. Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 5: The Late Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Toop, Richard. ‘Stockhausen and the Sine-Wave: the Story of an Ambiguous Relationship’. Musical Quarterly 65 (1979), 379–391.Google Scholar
Toop, Richard. ‘Stockhausen's Electronic Works: Sketches and Work-Sheets from 1952–1967’. Interface 10 (1981), 149–197.Google Scholar
Toop, Richard. György Ligeti. London: Phaidon, 1999.Google Scholar
Ungeheuer, Elena. Wie die elektronische Musik ‘erfunden’ wurde… : Quellenstudie zu Werner Meyer-Epplers musikalischem Entwurf zwischen 1949 und 1953. Mainz: Schott, 1992.Google Scholar
Ungeheuer, Elena. ‘Parallelen und Antiparallelen: Meyer-Eppler und die elektronische Musik’, in Neue Musik im Rheinland, ed. Bremer, Heinz. Kassel: Merseburger, 1996. 73–86.Google Scholar
Ungeheuer, Elena. ‘Die Geburt der Idee aus dem Geist der Technik? Anmerkungen zum Klangkontinuum in der elektronischen Musik’. Musiktheorie 12/1 (1997), 27–36.Google Scholar
Ungeheuer, Elena, ed. Elektroakustische Musik. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 2002.Google Scholar
Ungeheuer, Elena and Pascal Decroupet. ‘Technik und Ästhetik der elektronischen Musik’, in Musik und Technik, ed. Helga de la Motte-Haber and Rudolf Frisius. Mainz: Schott, 1996. 123–142.Google Scholar
Vogel, Stephan. ‘Sensations of Tone, Perception of Sound, and Empiricism’, in Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-Century Science, ed. Cahan, David. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. 259–287.Google Scholar
Wilson, Charles. ‘György Ligeti and the Rhetoric of Autonomy’. twentieth-century music 1/1 (2004), 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar