The Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano 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 music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

was completed in 1982. The piece was a turning point in Ligeti’s career. Ligeti had composed little since he completed his opera, ''

Le Grand Macabre ''Le Grand Macabre'' (completed 1977, revised 1996) is the third stage production by Hungarian composer György Ligeti, and his only major stage-work. Previously, he had created two absurdist sung "mimodramas" ''Aventures'' (compl. 1962) and ' ...

,'' in 1977, having only finished a few smaller pieces, like ''Hungarian Rock (chaconne)'' and ''Passacaglia ungherese'' for harpsichord. Influenced by sources as diverse as sub-Saharan African drumming, the music of

Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American-Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...

, and the piano music of Chopin and

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, the Trio is considered to be the watershed moment that opened up his "third way," a style that Ligeti claimed to be neither modern nor postmodern. Ligeti wrote the Trio at the suggestion of pianist Eckart Besch as a companion to

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

Horn Trio Horn trio can mean a work written for three horns or horns as well as one for horn and two other instruments. In the latter category, an important genre is the trio for horn, violin and piano. Although there are a few earlier examples, the traditi ...

, one of the few other examples in the genre, which is why the Ligeti Trio is marked ''Hommage à Brahms''. Ligeti recalled his reaction to the suggestion: " soon as he pronounced the word 'horn' somewhere inside my head I heard the sound of a horn as if coming from a distant forest in a fairy tale, just as in a poem by Eichendorff."

Analysis

The Trio is in four movements: A performance of the piece lasts about 21 minutes. The composition explores the use of major and minor harmonies as free sonorities without following established patterns of

common practice In Western classical music, the common practice period (CPP) was the period of about 250 years during which the tonal system was regarded as the only basis for composition. It began when composers' use of the tonal system had clearly superseded ...

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitch (music), pitches and / or chord (music), chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived ''relations'', ''stabilities'', ''attractions'', and ''directionality''. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or ...

. In addition, it explores the natural

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...

of the upper partials available on the horn, asymmetric Bulgarian rhythms in the second movement, and the Ligeti ''

lament A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...

o'' motif in the fourth movement. The first three movements are each in a

ternary form Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples inclu ...

– a notable look back towards traditional forms. The final movement is an example of a

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is typically based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin Th ...

using as its ground bass a similar theme as that of the opening movement. It has been pointed out that the opening theme of the first movement is reminiscent of the opening theme of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's Piano Sonata No. 26, "Les Adieux".Richard Steinitz, ''György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination'' (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003): 255–56. .

References

External links

Listening

Recording
Horn Trio: Andantino con tenerezza – Helen Kim, violin; Robert Patterson, horn; Adam Bowles, pian
Luna Nova New Music EnsembleRecording
Horn Trio: Vivacissimo molto ritmico – Helen Kim, violin; Robert Patterson, horn; Adam Bowles, pian
Luna Nova New Music EnsembleRecording
Horn Trio: Alla Marcia – Helen Kim, violin; Robert Patterson, horn; Adam Bowles, pian
Luna Nova New Music EnsembleRecording
Horn Trio: Lamento Adagio – Helen Kim, violin; Robert Patterson, horn; Adam Bowles, pian
Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
{{Authority control Chamber music by György Ligeti Ligeti Ligeti 1982 compositions

Analysis

References

Further reading

External links

Listening