György Ligeti (1923 - 2006): Lux aeterna, for 16-part mixed choir a capella (1966)


György Ligeti
Born 28 May 1923 in Diciosânmartin, Transylvania, Kingdom of Romania;
died 12 June 2006 in Vienna

First performance:
November 1966, Schola Cantorum Stuttgart under the direction of Clytus Gottwald


In 1966, György Ligetis composed a 16-part Lux aeterna, a revolutionary and trend-setting composition for a cappella choral music. The Requiem text is given a completely new interpretation here, it is taken to the limits of what can be sung and exaggerated to the extreme, ecstatically enraptured. Ligeti succeeds in blurring space and time to the point of total dissolution with changing pianissimo soundscapes, a sound event that becomes an acoustic symbol of a vision of eternal light (lux aeterna). At the end, everything flows into a secondary sound that gradually fades into the silence of the room and allows us to look into eternity.

The composition runs in canon blocks, shown here from left to right:


Listen here (approx. 9 minutes)!


Listening companion:

Block 1 (Lux aeterna): The sopranos enter canonically on f: The tone splits into the finest micro-polyphony. One harmony grows imperceptibly into another. Text and language disappear in the face of the mysterious light, polyphony transforms into tone colour.
The high soprano tone intensifies the brightness of the sound.

Block 2 (Domine): The tone colour changes to darker sounds with the use of the male voices. Different shades of sound.

Block 3 A;B;C: Increase to full sound. Maximum sound density. The voices mix. Mystical sounds unify into a calm tone.

Block 4 (Domine): Then the basses enter for the second time: Domine, stern and serious, in a low register.

Block 5: The sopranos begin to shine again (lux perpetua): the image of God in its polarity of seriousness (Domine, bass) and light (lux, soprano) becomes musically tangible.


At the end: a second sound that fades away. The sound fades into silence, it is there, only we no longer hear it (in the score there are 7 notated rests at the end!).

Lux aeterna luceat eis,










Domine



cum Sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. 
Requiem aeternam dona eis,

Domine


et lux perpetua luceat eis.

May eternal light shine on them,










Lord,



as with your saints in eternity,
because you are merciful.
Grant them eternal rest,

Lord,


and let perpetual light shine on them,.

Note for music lovers:

Website: Unknown Violin Concertos