GYRGY LIGETI

AND THE SONOROUS IMAGE

OF MATHEMATICAL
INTUITIONS
PROF. DRD. AMALI A SZCS-BLN ARU

SUPERVISOR PROF. UNIV. DR PAVEL PUCA

THE GHEORGHE DIMA MUSIC ACADEMY IN CLUJ-NAPOCA
SIGISMUND TODU DOCTORAL SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION
Gyrgy Ligeti is one of the most interesting representatives

of the postwar music avangarde , especially if we look from the

perspective of the connection of music to mathematics. He

managed

to

transfigure

mathematical

concepts

without

resorting to rigorous calculations, but as he himself confesses,

only intuitive mathematical thinking. Opus in which we will refer

below

represents

perhaps

decisive

step

towards

individualization of the composer's compositional landscape of

his time. The need of independence from any group or
aesthetic orientation, coupled with a spirit of rebelliousness and
a subtle irony were backgroud's permanent his musical
evolution.

STEPS IN THE GENESIS OF MICROPOLYPHONY

Pome symphonique for 100 metronomes 1962

"So I imagined, creating a rhythmic grid so dense that first
appear in almost continuous: implying interference and
disorder. To do this, I had a number of metronomes enough, the
number hundred representing only a guess."

Harmonies for organ 1967

Continuum for harpsichord 1968
Although one can clearly hear strings picking, which have a
one-off effect that the strike hammers the piano, these points
merge into the lines. The tension between point attacks and
merging into a continuum is fundamental to the musical form."

Coule 1969

SIMILARITIES
BETWEEN POME SYMPHONIQUE AND CONTINUUM

Rhythm from isorhythmic to illusory rhythms.

Algorithmic generation of musical form.

Order/disorder connection.
The fractal dimension.
The transformation of discrete in continuum.

RHYTHM FROM ISORHYTHMIC TO ILLUSORY

RHYTHMS
POME SYMPHONIQUE

MM

t
(s)

10

40

42

44

46

48

52

54

56

58

76

50

63

66

69

72

104

108

112

116

152

60

84

88

92

96

208

80

126

132

138

144

100

168

176

184

192

120

160

200

1
6

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2,856 2,727 2,608 2,500 1,153 1,111 1,071 1,034 0,789

THE FIRST GROUP OF METRONOMES

MM

40

50

60

80

100

120

160

200

t (s)
The
number
of beats
/ period

1,500

1,200

1,000

0,750

0,600

0,500

0,375

0,300

10

12

16

20

MM

42

63

84

126

168

t (s)
The
number
of beats
/ period

1,428

0,952

0,714

0,476

0,357

200
100

0
0

5
MM

t (s)
The
number
of beats
/ period

44
1,363

66
0,909

88
0,681

132
0,454

176
0,340

MM

t (s)
The
number
of beats
/ period

46
1,304

69
0,869

92
0,652

138
0,434

184
0,326

200
100
0
0

MM
t (s)
The
number
of beats
/ period

48
1,250

72
0,833

96
0,625

144
0,416

192
0,312

MM
t (s)
The number
of beats
/ period

52
1,153

104
0,576

208
0,288

500

0
0
MM

t (s)
The number
of beats
/ period

54
1,111

108
0,555

MM

t (s)
The number
of beats
/ period

6
MM
t (s)
The number
of beats
/ period

58
1,034

116
0,517

7
56
1,071

112
0,535

MM

t (s)
The number
of beats
/ period

76
0,789

152
0,394

CONTINUUM

Bar 13 to 16

Bar 17 to 20

Bar 29 to 32

Bar 36 to 39

Bar 47 to 50

ALGORITHMIC GENERATION OF MUSICAL FORM

In
a
mathematical
model
using
all
possible
metronomes beatings taken only once the first six seconds
happened in the chart below. It is easy to notice that in fact
pulsations are well ordered, only the density too high for our ears
and too little time in succession beating creates the false
perception of chaos.

ORDER / DISORDER RELATIONSHIP

CHAOS THEORY - Small differences in initial conditions yield widely

diverging outcomes for such dynamical systems.
ATTRACTORS - In a discrete-time system, an attractor can take the form of a finite
number of points that are visited in sequence

Pome symphonique the chart by increasing the error of approximation from 0.001 to 0.1

Pome symphonique the chart by increasing the error of approximation from 0.1 to 1 only
for MM 40 108

THE METHODS OF TRANSFORMATION IN CONTINUUM ARE:

- Adding or deleting one sound in upper or in the lower

extremity of formula.
- Changing an internal or external interval of formula.
- Chromatising by the insertion inside the interval, and the
reverse, the elision of an insider sound.

HEINZ-OTTO PEITGEN
(ABOUT SUPER-SIGNAL AND CONTINUUM):

The rhythmic patterns which are produced by the

interplay between the two hands are musical figures
of a second order, that is, they are not directly
produced by the player but are illusionary patterns
which are produced by overlapping grids of different
speeds.

THE FRACTAL DIMENSION

Fractal = curve or very irregular form for which any conveniently selected part

is gets similar in shape to a larger or smaller when the first is increased or reduced to
the size of the second.

Pome symphonique

Cantor ternary set

D=
D Pome =

= 0,489

D Continuum =

= 0,885

PARTICULARITIES
Pome symphonique
Multiple simultaneous sonorous plans
with constant progress.
Metronome,
an
annex
and
coercive instrument used strictly for
ordination during the study is
transformed into a machine of
chaos.
Form develops through expansion contraction relation (connection) or
explosion implosion.

Continuum
Two sonorous plans
in varied
deployment.
The evolution of form is ensured by
alternation between moments of
synchronization and dephasing of
the two plans.
Has a shape that reminds of sonata
form,
the
three
sections
corresponding to the exhibition,
development,
respectively
recapitulation,
retrieving
characteristics that are similar to
those of the definition of classical
form.

EXPOSITION

DEVELOPMENT

RECAPITULATION

Bars 1 to 91

Bars 92 to 153

Bars 154 to 204

CONCLUSIONS
Gyrgy Ligeti, it seems, has benefited from a form of synesthesia
more complex than is usual for other composers (color sound
connection). The music is associated including to the math , not in a
"naive" according to him words, but in one kind of consubstantiality.
Because otherwise you cannot justify that Pom symphonique for 100
metronomes (1962) predicts the chaos theory foundation. Edward
Lorenz published in 1963 article Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow - the
birth of this fascinating theory. And if the two events are relatively close,
we have the example of quasi-fractal structure of Continuum
composed six years before Benoit Mandelbrot defines the term in 1975.
The two presented works have characteristics that distinguishes
them individually, but together are the sound image of splendid
mathematical insights.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEBOGRAPHY:

1. CHEMILIER, Marc, Gyrgy Ligeti et la logique des textures,Analzse musicale, nr.
38/2001, p. 75-85, http://ehess.modelisationsavoirs.fr/marc/publi/ligeti/ligeti.pdf
(accesat 04.07.2014)
2. DUCHESNEAU, Louise; MARX, Wolfgang (coord.), Gyrgy Ligeti of foreign lands
and strange sounds, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2011, p. 93
3. HARLEY, James, Algorithm Adapted From Chaos Theory: Compositional
Consideration, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/i/icmc/bbp2372.1994.054/1/--algo
rithms-adapted-from-chaos-theory-compositional?page=root;size=150;view=pdf
(accesat 29.12. 2015)
4. LIGETI, Gyrgy, Latelier du compositeur, Edition Contrechamps, Genve,
2013 , p. 191, 249
5. SALTER, Jonathan, Chaos in Music: Historical Developments and Application
to Music Theory and Composition, https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/ uncg/f/Salter
uncg_0154D_10135 .pdf, (accesat 05.01.2016)
6. SHAFER, Jennifer, The Two-Part and Three-Part Invention of Bach: A
Mathematical Analysis, https://www.etbu.edu/files/2113/8608/9827/Jennifer
_Shafer.pdf (accesat 08.01. 2016)
7. SZCS-BLNARU, Amalia, Pome symphonique pentru 100 de metronoame
sau un principiu generator de form, Studii de muzicologie vol. XI, Editura PIM,
Iai, 2016, p. 213-222

THANK YOU FOR YOUR

ATTENTION!