''Lux Aeterna'' is a piece for a 16-part mixed choir, written by

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 ...

in 1966. It is most famous for its use in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. The text (in Latin) is from the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Requiem Mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

: ''Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine; et lux perpetua luceat eis'', which means "May everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord, with thy saints in eternity, for thou art merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them." The piece features many of Ligeti's characteristic styles, including: *

Micropolyphony Micropolyphony is a kind of polyphonic musical texture developed by György Ligeti which consists of many lines of dense canons moving at different tempos or rhythms, thus resulting in tone clusters vertically. According to David Cope, "micropol ...

, which Ligeti describes as "The complex

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

of the individual parts embodied in a harmonic-musical flow in which the harmonies do not change suddenly, but merge into one another; one clearly discernible interval combination is gradually blurred, and from this cloudiness it is possible to discern a new interval combination taking shape." *

Cluster chord may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study t ...

s, where every note within a given interval is sung simultaneously *A focus on

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

rather than melody, harmony, or

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

Analysis

The piece can be seen as divided into three distinct parts, as designated by text: ''Lux aeterna luceat eis'' .1–36 The sopranos and altos sing very similar parts in Ligeti's characteristic style of

micropolyphony Micropolyphony is a kind of polyphonic musical texture developed by György Ligeti which consists of many lines of dense canons moving at different tempos or rhythms, thus resulting in tone clusters vertically. According to David Cope, "micropol ...

. Each part has the same sequence of notes, separated by small time intervals. The tenors enter about halfway through this section, singing in the same range as the women. ''Domine cum sanctis tuis in aeternum...'' .37–86 The basses enter, singing in very high falsetto, showing Ligeti's focus on timbre and

texture Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Surface texture, the texture means smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface characteristics with waves shorter than road roughness * Texture ...

. This is followed by a section where only the men's voices sing, and then the women enter on the text "''Quia pius es''." The sopranos sing "''Requiem aeternam dona eis''" in a high

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

and gradually fade away. ''Domine et lux perpetua luceat eis'' .87–126 The basses again sing the text "''Domine''," this time in a very low register, briefly forming the only detectable traditional chord in the whole piece (D minor), together with the altos in a low register. Sopranos and tenors enter in a high register. All parts gradually fade, and the piece ends with seven bars of silence. It is characteristic of nearly all Ligeti's mature works that the subdivisions of the basic beat keep changing, which contributes to their beatless, floating feeling. In this piece, each of the sixteen voices is given a characteristic subdivision of the quarter-note beat:

External links

* Michael D. Searby
Ligeti's Stylistic Crisis: Transformation in His Musical Style, 1974–1985
* Valerio Benz
György Ligetis "Lux Aeterna" – Chormusik auf Weltraumodyssee
SWR 2014
Lux aeterna

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label. History Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...

1999 {{Authority control Compositions by György Ligeti 1966 compositions Choral compositions