''Invention'' is an early composition by Hungarian composer

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

. It is scored for solo piano and was composed in 1948.

Composition

At the time of the composition, Hungary had gone through World War II and was about to enter a

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

era, which would last seven years. At that time, Ligeti was 24 years old and was still a student at the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

. Very influenced by the style of

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

, Ligeti wrote the composition in 1948, as an academic composition for Sandor Veress's classes. It was dedicated to

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. Biography György ...

, a fellow student of his, and was later published by

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fou ...

together with Ligeti's 1947 Due capricci, even though they were composed a year apart and were conceived separately.

Analysis

This is a very short composition for piano, which takes around one minute to perform. When asked to write a

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

-like invention, Ligeti wrote it with his own harmonic style. This two-part invention shows a very profusely used

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

and features highly

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...

melodic segments. It is a very quick piece, marked ''Risoluto, ♩ = 88'', and gravitates towards F.

Notable recordings

Following is a list of some of the most notable recordings of this composition:

References

External links

A preview of the score
{{György Ligeti Compositions by György Ligeti 1948 compositions Compositions for solo piano Contemporary classical compositions

Composition

Analysis

Notable recordings

See also

References

External links