View source for Micropolyphony

{{Short description|Musical texture}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=April 2021}}
'''Micropolyphony''' is a kind of [[polyphony|polyphonic]] [[musical texture]] developed by [[György Ligeti]], which consists of many lines of dense [[canon (music)|canons]] moving at different [[tempo]]s or rhythms, thus resulting in tone clusters.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} According to [[David Cope]], "micropolyphony resembles [[tone cluster|cluster chords]], but differs in its use of moving rather than static lines"; it is "a [[simultaneity (music)|simultaneity]] of different [[part (music)|lines]], [[rhythm]]s, and [[timbre]]s".{{sfn|Cope|1997|loc=101}}

Differences between micropolyphonic texture and conventional polyphonic texture can be explained by Ligeti's own description:
{{quote|Technically speaking I have always approached musical texture through part-writing. Both ''Atmosphères'' and ''Lontano'' have a dense canonic structure. But you cannot actually hear the polyphony, the canon. You hear a kind of impenetrable texture, something like a very densely woven cobweb. I have retained melodic lines in the process of composition, they are governed by rules as strict as Palestrina's or those of the Flemish school, but the rules of this polyphony are worked out by me. The polyphonic structure does not come through, you cannot hear it; it remains hidden in a microscopic, underwater world, to us inaudible. I call it micropolyphony (such a beautiful word!). (Ligeti, quoted in {{harvnb|Bernard|1994|loc=238}}).}}

The earliest example of micropolyphony in Ligeti's work occurs in the second movement (mm 25–37) of his orchestral composition ''Apparitions''.{{sfn|Steinitz|2003|loc=103}} He used the technique in a number of his other works, including ''[[Atmosphères]]'' for orchestra; the first movement of his ''[[Requiem (Ligeti)|Requiem]]'' for soprano, mezzo-soprano, mixed choir, and orchestra; the unaccompanied choral work ''Lux aeterna''; and ''Lontano'' for orchestra. Micropolyphony is easier with larger ensembles or polyphonic instruments such as the piano,{{sfn|Cope|1997|loc=101}} though the ''[[Poème symphonique]]'' for a hundred metronomes creates "micropolyphony of unparallelled complexity".{{sfn|Griffiths|2001}} Many of Ligeti's piano pieces are examples of micropolyphony applied to complex "minimalist" [[Steve Reich]] and [[Pygmy music]] derived rhythmic schemes.

==References==
{{reflist|15em}}
'''Sources'''
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Bernard|1994}}|reference=Bernard, Jonathan W. (1994). "Voice Leading as a Spatial Function in the Music of Ligeti". ''[[Music Analysis (journal)|Music Analysis]]'' 13, nos. 2/3 (July–October): 227–253.}}
* {{cite book|last=Cope|first=David|author-link=David Cope|year=1997|title=Techniques of the Contemporary Composer|place=New York|publisher=Schirmer Books|isbn=0-02-864737-8}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Griffiths|2001}}|reference=[[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Griffiths, Paul]] (2001). "Ligeti, György (Sándor)". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]], vol. 14 ("Kufferath" to "Litton"). London: Macmillan Publishers. {{ISBN|0-333-60800-3}}; {{ISBN|1-56159-239-0}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Steinitz|2003}}|reference=Steinitz, Richard (2003). ''György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination''. London: Faber and Faber. {{ISBN|0-571-17631-3}}; Boston: Northeastern University Press. {{ISBN|1-55553-551-8}}.}}

==Further reading==
* Drott, Eric (2011). "Lines, Masses, Micropolyphony: Ligeti's Kyrie and the 'Crisis of the Figure'". ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'' 49, no. 1 (Winter):4–46.
* {{ill|Péter Várnai|hu|Várnai Péter|lt=Várnai, Péter}} (2003). "Beszélgetések Ligeti Györgyyel", translated by Gabor J. Schabert. In ''Ligeti in Conversation with Péter Várnai, Josef Häusler, [[Claude Samuel]], and Himself'', pp. 13–82. Eulenberg Music Series. London: Eulenberg Books. {{ISBN|0-903873-68-0}}.{{Verify source|date=April 2013|reason=There appears to be nothing at all in Hungarian in this book. The table of contents gives a chapter titled "György Ligeti Talking" starting on p. 13. Is this what is meant?}}

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[[Category:Musical texture]]
[[Category:György Ligeti]]

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