Everett - Signification of Parody and The Grotesue in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre

Society for Music Theory
Signification of Parody and the Grotesque in György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre

Author(s): Yayoi Uno Everett
Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 26-56
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/mts.2009.31.1.26
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MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 26
Signification of Parody and the Grotesque in György

Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre
yayoi uno everett
Fashioned as an “anti-opera,” Ligeti conceived the music for Le Grand Macabre as a kind of “pop
art,” filled with quotations and references to opera and other preexisting musical genres.
Examining the opera’s thematic connections with the original play by Michel de Ghelderode and
Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of grotesque realism, I suggest that Ligeti’s parodic approach in this
opera is governed by two narrative trajectories: the grotesque and existential irony. Drawing on
writings by Robert Hatten, Linda Hutcheon, and Esti Sheinberg, this paper develops semiotic
constructs of mapping, troping, and/or reversal in determining the parodic procedures invoked. I
argue that, through such procedures, Ligeti engages with musical parody at two levels: the surface
level at which quotation of existing music and musical styles are transformed and the global level
at which an expressive opposition between ludicrousness and horror is established in articulating
the grotesque trope. Furthermore, through deployment of collage and textural disintegration,
Ligeti creates an aural counterpart to the allegorical depiction of chaos, destruction, and renewal
found in Breughel’s “Triumph of Death.”
Keywords: György Ligeti, Michel de Ghelderode, Mikhail Bakhtin, Robert Hatten, Linda
Hutcheon, James Liszka, Esti Sheinberg, parody, grotesque, opera, type, topic, trope, microp-
olyphony, allusion, existential irony, transvaluation
n composing his first and only opera entitled resorts to a gimmicky satire nor treats operatic conventions
O Le Grand Macabre (1977; revised 1996, hereafter

abbreviated LGM), György Ligeti remarked: “I
cannot, will not compose a traditional ‘opera’; for me the op-
with nostalgia. Intrigued by the composer’s polemical
stance against traditional opera, critics and scholars have
brought different aesthetic considerations to bear in debating
eratic genre is irrelevant today—it belongs to a historical its significance. Paul Griffiths notes that LGM, like Clocks
period utterly different from the present compositional sit- and Clouds (1973) and San Francisco Polyphony (1974), came
uation” (quoted in Lie 2004, vii). While LGM’s immense out of the myriad influences in the early ’70s that marked
popularity derives from the seemingly comical aspects of Ligeti’s first move away from serial orthodoxy (The New
parody that extend the tradition of opera buffa, it neither Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd ed, s.v.,
“Ligeti”). Richard Toop calls LGM an “anti-opera” and a
kind of “pop art,” filled with quotations and references to op-
I extend my gratitude to Daphne Leong, Kevin Karnes, and Robert eratic genres from the past, but “their quality is mainly ironic
Hatten for their suggestions and comments in shaping this article. rather than nostalgic” (1999, 163). Furthermore, Thomas
26
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 27
signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 27
May describes the work’s sonic palette as “Rabelaisian, be- musical parody in this opera? What gives the production of
coming quite visceral in its extremities of contrast, range, this opera its visceral, Rabelaisian edge? In what sense does it
volume, and sound color, as well as the call for over-the-top constitute an “anti-opera”?
virtuosity” (2004, iv). In light of such questions, the present analysis of LGM
Ligeti’s deployment of parody and collage in LGM resists seeks to unveil the work’s narrative and meta-musical impli-
easy categorization because of the vast array of procedures by cations in relation to Ligeti’s parodic strategies for recasting
which he transforms historical models, often appropriating borrowed musical styles and quotations. Examining the
styles associated with operatic conventions only to subvert opera’s thematic connections with the original play by Michel
them. To label LGM a work of postmodern pastiche, cele- de Ghelderode and Mikhail Bahktin’s concept of grotesque re-
brating plurality for its own sake, however, trivializes the alism, I will suggest that Ligeti’s parodic approach in this
richness and complexity of references that underlie it. opera is governed by two narrative trajectories: the grotesque
Reflecting on the Zeitgeist of late 1960s, many avant-garde and existential irony. While many other contemporaneous op-
composers adopted parodic strategies as a form of social cri- eras utilize similar parodic techniques to satirize musical con-
tique or commentary. In this respect, Ligeti shares an ideo- ventions, LGM is unique in synthesizing text, images, and
logical vantage point with composers such as Peter Maxwell sound toward articulating an overarching trope of the
Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, and Mauricio Kagel, who grotesque, combined with surrealist and absurdist aesthetics.
adopted quotation and collage techniques with the intent Furthermore, in theorizing about the narrative trajectories
to subvert musical conventions, including the avant-garde and musical parody as a marked form of intertextual reference,
trends associated with the Darmstadt school.1 Catherine I draw on writings by Linda Hutcheon, Robert Hatten, and
Losada discusses how such works that incorporate quota- Esti Sheinberg.
tions and collage constitute both “a response to and an out-
growth of the serial practices” and provides a useful taxon- i. on the narrative implication of the grotesque
omy of postwar compositions based on the diverse principles
and motivations that underlie the adoption of collage tech- From a dramaturgical point of view, LGM presents a
nique (2004, 19). Given the nine categories of musical bor- mixture of medieval morality play and absurdist theater, re-
rowing Losada offers with regard to postwar art music, the sulting in “a curious hybrid of parody and profundity, of
work loosely fits into one in which “collage is used as a comedy and horror” (Lie 2004, vii). The libretto is based on
metaphor for an aesthetic” and whereby “the conceptual in- the Belgian playwright Michel de Ghelderode’s La Balade du
corporation of different styles of music overrides the signif- grand macabre (1934), which depicts the coming of the apoc-
icance of the individual quotations” (21). Yet what is the alypse in the fictional Breughelland. As a baroque parable on
meta-musical concept that governs Ligeti’s approach to the intertwined fortunes of politics and sex, the story re-
volves around farcical characters that include the evil tyrant
Nekrozotar, young lovers Jadis and Flandre, astrologer
1 In dramatic works like Bernd A. Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten (1965), Videbolle, his wife Salivaine, drunkard Proprenaz, and
Harrison Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy (1967), Maxwell Davies’s
Resurrection (1963), or Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969), composers
prince Goulave. Nekrozotar elicits both fear and laughter as
used parodic strategies in part to supplant the purity of a modernist the citizens of Breughelland respond to his announcement of
aesthetics, while channeling the avant-garde’s power of provocation in the apocalypse with sheer indifference, indulgence, or panic.
formulating a social commentary or critique. In the end, life triumphs over death as the impending crisis
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 28
28 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)
is avoided and the evil characters (Salivaine and Nekrozotar) The operative narrative articulates principles central to
are duly punished; the play concludes with a pantheistic cele- Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of grotesque realism in several impor-
bration of the regenerative cycle of life (Decock 1969, 116). tant respects. According to Bakhtin, the essential principle of
As early as in 1965, Ligeti brainstormed ideas for compos- the grotesque originates in the idea of degradation central to
ing an opera, having received a commission from then direc- the culture of folk humor in the Middle Ages: “the lowering
tor of the Stockholm opera, Göran Gentele. After a failed of all that is high, spiritual, ideal, [and] abstract; it is a trans-
attempt to compose an opera that parodies Stravinsky’s fer to the material level, to the sphere of earth and body in
Oedipus Rex, he found inspiration for an operatic libretto in their indissoluble unity” (1984, 19–20). Bakhtin further ar-
Ghelderode’s play in 1972 (Sewell 2006, 7). For the opera, gues that the Renaissance writers’ interest in the material
the names of the inhabitants were modified to Nekrotzar bodily principle or the “rehabilitation of the flesh” emerged
(Nekro + tzar), a peasant named Piet the Pot, young lovers as a reaction against the asceticism of the Middle Ages; “the
Amando and Amanda, court astrologer Astradamors, his material bodily principle is contained not in the biological
menacing wife Mescalina, Prince Go Go, the goddess Venus, individual, not in the bourgeois ego, but in the people, a peo-
and secret police Gepopo.2 Piet the Pot, a buffoon servant ple who are continually growing and renewed. This is why all
character in commedia dell’arte, is adapted from another that is bodily becomes grandiose, exaggerated, immeasur-
Ghelderode character named Piet Bouteille. The addition of able” (19). In this respect, Bakhtin credits the French
Venus is an homage to Baroque operatic convention, while Renaissance writer François Rabelais for foregrounding the
the half-bird, half-woman concoction of Gepopo came about importance of the material body as a “triumphant, festive
through Ligeti’s interest in surrealism and the absurdist the- principle” and uniting the cosmic, social, and bodily ele-
ater. Unlike the villainess Salivaine who lives to be punished, ments as an indivisible whole; for example, in Rabelais’s pop-
Mescalina falls in love with Nekrotzar and expires in his ular novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532), grotesque fig-
arms. While substantially cutting back the text from the orig- ures of giants derived from popular-festive carnival images
inal play, Ligeti inserted dialogues based on slapstick humor, are interwoven with cosmic phenomena in celebrating the
Gepopo’s comical arias, St. John’s Passion, among other texts, theme of death, renewal, and fertility (328).
to keep the burlesque and the tragic in balance.3 Amanda From another perspective, the painting entitled “The
Sewell argues that the most important deviation from the Truimph of Death” (1562) by the Dutch Renaissance artist,
original play is found in the conclusion; instead of revealing Breughel the Elder, captures the ideas fundamental to
Nekrotzar as nothing more than a charlatan, Ligeti intro- grotesque realism. At first glance, the graphic scenes of terror
duces ambiguity by allowing the audience to decide whether may haunt the modern viewer as a horrifying vision of the
Nekrotzar is Death or fraud and whether the apocalypse ulti- apocalypse. In the painting, which depicts a battle scene,
mately takes place or not in the final scene (2006, 12). skeletal legions swarm across the landscape, while ordinary
mortals commit desperate acts in confrontation with death:
people flee into a tunnel decorated with crosses while a
skeleton on horseback slaughters them with a scythe; a starv-
2 In the first version of LGM, the lovers’ names were Clitoria and
Spermando (Kostakeva 1996, 161).
ing dog nibbles at the face of a child; the pious pray for salva-
3 Von Seherr-Thoss (1998) provides a detailed comparison of the con- tion; and royal figures, including a court jester and Arcadian
tents of the original play by Ghelderode and the libretto for the first lovers, marvel at this phenomenon in sheer disbelief. Yet from
edition of LGM (144–45). the Renaissance perspective on grotesque realism, the painting
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 29
assumes a positive characteristic in celebrating the regenera- grotesque through establishing an expressive opposition be-
tion of life through death: all values, thoughts, phenomena, tween ludicrousness and horror.5 Furthermore, Ligeti builds
and objects are brought together to break down the barriers dramatic tension by developing textural strategies of collage
that separate the living from the dead. and disintegration in lieu of a traditional ensemble ending.
Given Ligeti’s lifelong interest in the visual arts, it is In such contexts, parody and other forms of imitation serve
hardly surprising that the apocalyptic scene depicted in as the central means by which the composer creates an aural
Breughel’s painting provided the creative impetus for LGM. counterpart to the allegorical depiction of chaos, destruction,
Ligeti comments: “I have always been fascinated by the idea and renewal found in Breughel’s “Triumph of Death.”
of hell and scenes of the Last Judgment. I am thinking of
Breughel and especially of Bosch, whose paintings present a ii. semiotics, parody, and the
mixture of fear and grotesque humor” (Várnai 1983, 46).4 context of enunciation
Since its 1978 premiere in Stockholm by Opéra Royal, the
stage productions of LGM—thirty-one in all—incorporated Before proceeding to the analysis of LGM, I will begin
aspects of grotesque humor, absurdist theater, and surrealism with a brief summary of semiotic concepts relevant for
in depicting the imaginary Breughelland to different ends. analysis. Building on Charles Peirce’s semiotic theory,
Especially controversial was Peter Seller’s 1997 production Hatten defines type as a “conceptual category defined by fea-
of LGM in Salzburg, which Ligeti found disturbing due to tures or a range of qualities that are essential to its identity,”
the explicit depiction of the apocalypse set in Chernobyl that while token presents “the perceptible entity that embodies
detracted from his desire for ambiguity (Sewell 2006, 45). In the features or qualities of the type” (1994, 44–45). Topics are
the early ’80s, Ligeti remarked that only one production had “patches of music that trigger clear associations with styles,
come close to what he had imagined, namely, the 1979 pro- genres, and expressive meanings” (2005, 2); tokens that de-
duction in Bologna, which captured the true spirit of the fine each topic are constrained by a narrow range of gestures,
work as “a demonical romp, a great extravaganza” (Várnai such as a descending chromatic bass line in a minor key that
1983,113). signifies the lament topic. So, for instance, E major is a
The ensuing analysis of LGM focuses on the revised token of the general key type, yet as a token of a symbol for
score from 1996, in which Ligeti further reinforces his ideas Masonic unity in Mozart’s Magic Flute, it gains a more spe-
for ambivalence, absurdism, and the sublime through simpli- cific topical meaning. Although defined by convention, top-
fied text setting, minimized spoken dialogue, and revised in- ics are not restricted to historically established ones; Ligeti’s
strumentation for greater transparency of sound (Von signature style of “sound mass” texture, used repeatedly in
Seherr-Thoss 1998, 362–64). In applying semiotic con- the context of LGM as an iconic or onomatopoeic represen-
structs for analysis, I argue that Ligeti engages with musical tation of the approaching comet, can be interpreted as an
parody at two levels: the surface level at which he transforms iconic topic that emerges through contextual reinforcement.
and subverts quotation of existing music and musical styles And all instances of musical borrowing based on direct or
and the global level at which he articulates the trope of the stylistic quotation constitute indexical types or topics because
4 In 1961, Ligeti saw Breughel’s “Triumph of Death” and Bosch’s 5 Ludicrous differs from comical in referring to a situation that is “amus-
“Garden of Earthly Delights” in the Prado and they influenced his ing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration
Requiem (Lie, vii). or eccentricity” (Babcock 1993, 1344).
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 30
they reference existing ones in the musical literature from the unmarked one on the basis of degree of specifica-
(Monelle 2006, 28). Lastly, Hatten explains how a trope tion or determinacy (1983, 79). Rather than restricting the
emerges from a “clear juxtaposition of contradictory, or pre- valuative relation, as in a privative opposition (A vs. non-A),
viously unrelated, types” and that “there must be evidence it can be based on equipollent opposition (A vs. B), in which
from a higher level to support a tropological interpretation” one term is often evaluatively dominant than the other
(2004, 217). In the libretto, even the naming of characters in (Battistella 1990, 33). So, for instance, the English usage of
Brueghelland derives from the troping of familiar words: “woman” and “man” shares this valuative relation, with the
Nekrotzar merges the idea of a tyrant (tzar) with the under- former constituting the marked term (due to the degree of
world suggested by “nekro” (dead); Gepopo combines the specificity attributed to the term “woman”) and the latter un-
evil connotation of Gestapo (secret police) with “Popo”— marked (since “man” can be used as a generic term for both).
an oblique reference to the half bird, half man character By extension, musical parody and intertextual reference8
Papageno from the Magic Flute, and so forth. A musical share this valuative relation; parody is construed as a marked
trope, likewise, opens up room for a creative synthesis of top- reference that involves the composer’s deliberate reworking
ics by strategically combining stylistically incongruous ele- of a borrowed material or style and elicits a concrete identifi-
ments.6 Hatten describes how the Turkish march used to cation by educated listeners (e.g., “that’s a twisted quota-
embellish the “Ode to Joy” theme in the finale to Beethoven’s tion of Wagner’s ‘desire’ leitmotif!”), while an intertextual
Ninth Symphony creates an “all embracing” trope, in which reference is unmarked and elicits a less determinate range
topics that represent “high” and “low” styles are fused to con- of semantic reference from the listener (e.g., “it sounds like a
note the brotherhood of all men (1994, 84). Applied to the passage from Die Walküre”).
thematic, formal, and genre levels, Hatten describes troping Furthermore, my usage of parody here overlaps with
as a technique that “constitutes one of the more spectacular Christopher Reynolds’s term allusion, which he defines as “an
ways that composers can create new meanings” (2006, 68). intentional reference to another work made by means of a re-
Now, when a composer “parodies” a style from the past, semblance that affects the meaning conveyed to those who
the quoted material or its referent7 is marked or highlighted recognize it” (2003, 6). The difference is that Reynolds uses
in a way that differs from other forms of musical imitation. allusion to refer primarily to motivic, rhythmic, and textual
And here I invoke Michael Shapiro’s concept of markedness appropriations in nineteenth-century music, be it the assim-
that establishes a valuative relation between two terms based ilative process by which Schumann alludes to Beethoven’s
on asymmetry, in which the marked term is distinguished song cycle An die ferne Geliebte in his piano work or the con-
trastive process by which a song by Mendelssohn serves as a
model for Schumann’s “Vogel als Prophet” (80). The original
6 The technique of troping here overlaps with what Martha Hyde calls model serves as an intertextual reference to the new context,
an eclectic or exploitative type of imitation, where past styles are com-
bined with contemporary techniques to yield “a brilliant manipulation
of the new and old” (2003, 102). Hyde offers four categories of imita- 8 While Julie Kristeva and Roland Barthes treat intertextuality as a
tive strategies (reverential, eclectic, heuristic, and dialectical) in refer- modality of perception where the reader is free to associate texts at
ence to Stravinsky’s neoclassical works. random (Kristeva 1980, 15), Michael Klein draws a distinction be-
7 In Charles Peirce’s semiotic theory, the referent or object is what the tween poietic (authorly intention) and esthesic (readerly response) forms
sign “stands for.” Referents can include ideas, events, and material ob- of intertextuality (2005, 12). The present context refers to the esthesic
jects and in the present context refers to the parodied musical element. form.
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 31
Original context New context

Sign system:
transcontextualization
(R = referent) R R′
negation or reversal
(I = interpretant) I I′
example 1. Parodic context of enunciation
but typically in an unmarked, neutral sense. Following is accompanied by a playful, satirical, or ironic intent (55). In
Hutcheon, I argue that parody in postwar twentieth-century introducing the concept of ethos, Hutcheon emphasizes the
music presents a more pronounced form of doubled-voiced viewer’s active role in decoding the artist’s underlying inten-
utterance, in which the semantic reference of the original tion. In extending her theory to the enunciation of musical
quotation is set in sharp relief from its surrounding musical parody, Example 1 presents a diagram that illustrates how
context. Often through exaggeration and distortion, its the object of a musical sign becomes “trans-contextualized”
meaning is twisted or turned inside out. Ligeti comments when transplanted into a new context.9 As shown by the ar-
with regard to composing LGM: “I take bits of music or sig- rows, the change in context transforms the sign-interpretant
nals, put them in an unfamiliar context, distort them, not of the object.10 As a syntactical and rhetorical sign, parody
necessarily making them sound humorous but interpreting acquires either a marked ethos, satirical or ironic, when the
them through distortion just as a surrealist painting presents sign-interpretant of its referent (I) undergoes topical reversal
the world” (Várnai 1983, 59). or negation (I’). For example, in speech, “Jack is a REAL
In this respect, Hutcheon offers important criteria for
formalizing the semantic structure of parody, which she de-
9 The diagram builds on the model introduced by Sheinberg to illustrate
fines as a form of artistic recycling accompanied by complex
the structure of parody (152).
forms of “trans-contextualization and inversion” in reference 10 For Peirce, the concept of meaning is simply defined as the actual effect
to twentieth-century art forms (1985, 15). She also defines of a sign (its interpretant), that is, the direct feeling (emotional), physi-
ethos—“an inferred intended reaction motivated by the cal reaction (energetic), or language-based concept (sign-interpretant)
text”—as an integral factor that determines whether parody inspired in the perceiver by a musical sign (Turino, 224).
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 32
x y x' y'

Cédez a Tempo a Tempo
avec une grand émotion

Cédez

x = “desire” leitmotif a <A F E D > from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde
y = “ridiculing” gesture
example 2. Quotation of Wagner in Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cakewalk”
tiger,” enunciated with a deliberate roll of the eye and satirical Debussy blurs the presumed boundary between highbrow
tone of voice, conveys the reversal of the literal message— and lowbrow music. Thus while the affect of “desire” is asso-
that Jack is not at all aggressive like a tiger, that he is a cow- ciated with the borrowed motif, the changes in musical con-
ard (sign-interpretant). In this case, it is the mode of delivery text brought on by its juxtaposition with the “mocking”
that transforms the “aggressive” connotation (the ground) motif, exaggerated expressive indication, and formal context
associated with the referent “tiger” from affirmation to of ragtime negate the sign-interpretant of “desire” by trivial-
negation. izing it. According to Sheinberg, Debussy creates “an aes-
In musical contexts, the negation or reversal can likewise thetic distance, a double outlook which is, simultaneously,
be achieved through rhetorical and/or syntactical manipula- satirizing and self-satirizing” (2000, 144). And it is the im-
tion (Everett 2004).11 For example, when Debussy quotes plicit recognition of the original context of enunciation—
the “desire” leitmotif from Tristan und Isolde in “Golliwog’s e.g., the tragic connotation of the “desire” motif in Wagner’s
Cakewalk,” I argue that he distorts the borrowed referent Tristan und Isolde—that enables the listener to recognize
through incongruous juxtaposition. As shown in Example 2, that the sign-interpretant of the original leitmotif has been
first, he extracts the ascending minor sixth motive and exag- subverted.
gerates the sentiment (“avec une grande émotion”), and then Expanding on Hatten’s framework, Example 3 presents
he juxtaposes this quotation with the grace-note figuration my classification of three types of parodic procedures: map-
that “mocks” the serious affect of Wagner’s music. By embed- ping, troping, and reversal. They are often used in combina-
ding the operatic leitmotif within the genre of ragtime, tion with one another and involve a type or topic as referent.
Mapping refers to the basic procedure of correlating a partic-
11 In a previous article in Music Theory Online (2004), I introduce three
ular character or situation with a distinctive stylistic type or
constructs (paradigmatic substitution, incongruous juxtaposition, and topic, troping to juxtaposing or superimposing incongruous
progressive decontextualization) that induce satiric ethos locally or topics and types for creative synthesis, and reversal to negating
ironic ethos at broader metaphoric levels of interpretation. the topical referent of a given quotation through distorting
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 33
Syntactic: Mapping Troping Reversal

of topic/type of topic/type of topic
substitution juxtaposition distortion

exaggeration superimposition
Ethos: Playful Satirical

Semantic:
Expressive Ludicrousness : Horror
States:
Trope of the Grotesque

(Absurdist Aesthetics)
example 3. Parodic Procedures in Le Grand Macabre. Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.
its syntactical attributes. In the context of LGM, these syn- opera called The Nose (1927–28); in this operatic adaptation
tactical procedures map onto two semantic components: a of Gogol’s novel, in which a government official loses his
parodic ethos that ranges from playful to satirical along a nose, Shostakovich depicts a number of scenes where indi-
continuum and an expressive state that signifies ludicrous- vidual voices gradually accumulate in textural density into a
ness or horror. cacophonic whole. Sheinberg comments: “when a chaotic
On a broader level, the tropological reading of the multitude of accumulated voices mingles into an indecipher-
grotesque emerges through two interrelated textural strate- able noise of a horrifying and dangerous mob,” the “crowd-
gies in LGM. First, Ligeti builds the ensemble texture in texture” conveys a grotesque picture (2000, 278). Similarly,
each scene by combining procedures of mapping, troping, Ligeti offers extensive passages in which the citizens’ plea for
and/or reversal into a multi-layered collage. By incorporating help from the impending disaster builds in density where the
incongruous musical types and topics into a collage that initially homophonic choral utterance disintegrates into a ca-
gradually increases in textural density, Ligeti effectively blurs cophonic outcry (Scene III, rehearsal 377). In the course of
the boundary between the ludicrous and horrifying expres- such a transformation, the initially harmless crowd turns into
sive states. Second, he disintegrates a given musical texture a dangerous mob. While the first strategy articulates the
through fragmentation and distortion. In LGM, Ligeti grotesque trope via blurring the boundaries between the lu-
gradually transforms the vocal utterances or instrumental dicrous and horrifying expressive states through textural ac-
collage to a point of total disintegration in order to accentu- cumulation, the second articulates a definitive shift in ex-
ate the expressive state of horror. Sheinberg finds precedence pressive state from the ludicrous to the horrifying via
for both procedures in Dmitri Shostakovich in his early distortion and fragmentation.
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 34
dopia movimento $ = 100 with verve, but slovenly

ff espr.

Mescalina drinks and soon becomes tipsy.
3

Mesc. 4
Pro - sit, sis - ter Ve - nus!

#
3 # ##

#
4 ### # #
#
# Org.
(ff)
#
Clav.

3 ##
4
#
#
#

#

#
Vln. sul tasto

Vla. %
3

Vlc.
##
4 #
#
Harp ff près de la table, laissez vibrer
tutta la forza
3
4

#
#

#
#

[D , G ] [F , G, G , B, D] [B, C, D , F, G ]
example 4. Mescalina’s call for Venus (Scene II, r.187). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
Used by permission of European American Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Music.
iii. parodic strategies in lgm: and clavichord signifies the benevolent spirit of the goddess
mapping, troping, and reversal of love, whom Mescalina cries out to. Mescalina begins her
“drunken” aria on G, although her erratic vocal line is punc-
I will now illustrate the diverse contexts in which Ligeti tuated by a succession of dissonant string and organ clusters
deploys different parodic procedures within LGM. Under on “Venus”; the abrupt shift in timbre and the deformation
the category of parody via mapping, Ligeti pays homage to of the perfect fifth to tritones in the cluster chords [F, G,
operatic conventions by assigning distinctive stylistic or tim- G, B, D] and [B, C, D, F, G] convey Mescalina’s greedy
bral idioms to typecast the main characters. Example 4 pre- disposition. In the subsequent musical passage where
sents the passage from Scene II where the menacing but Mescalina calls out for Venus, a melody played by oboe
lovelorn Mescalina summons Venus for help in finding her a d’amore mimics the housekeeper’s yearning for a virile man
virile mate. Here the comedic features of the two characters (rehearsal 192). When Venus finally appears, her other-
are set into sharp relief through the basic procedure of map- worldly presence is underscored by the high soprano range
ping contrastive timbres and stylistic idioms. First, the and vocal contour based on oscillating thirds (rehearsal 217).
arpeggiation of the “open” fifth interval, G–D, on the harp In alluding to the “fairy scene” from Verdi’s Falstaff, Venus is
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 35
9 tenuto poco cresc. poco cresc. . etc.
( &*

Amanda ' 43

O my dar - ling! As marb - le white ’neath hea - ven’s
tenuto poco cresc. poco cresc. .

Amando ) & ' 43

O my dar - ling!
18 . . .
( +
Ada. &
er pe e e e e e
. . .
+
Ado. ) &

cr pc c c c c c
/ / /

sempre legato
& / / / /
Cel.
,- ,- ,-

&
/ / / / / / /
,- ,- ,-
[C, C , D, F, F , A]
text: “So let us in our bliss together perish. . . . ” (ornamentation applies to underlined text).
example 5. Amanda/Amando duet (Scene I, r. 9/18). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
accompanied by a female chorus, placed off stage, providing Strings initially accompany the enchanting duet with sus-
a direct echo of every phrase she sings (rehearsal 214–225). tained harmonics; as shown at rehearsal 9, the vocal parts
Example 5 illustrates a parodic strategy via troping of styl- move within an expanding chromatic wedge in rhythmic uni-
istic types from the lovers’ duet in Scene I. Amanda and son. Later in this duet (rehearsal 18), their vocal texture ap-
Amando sing about the enduring quality of love, projected propriates a Baroque form of ornamentation on the word
against Nekrotzar’s omen of the impending catastrophe. “perish,” harmonized in parallel thirds and accompanied by a
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 36
a tempo
2 $ = 132
lunga diminuendo
*
34 24 24
Piet

43 44
the Pot

Di - es i rae, di es il la solv - vet sae - clum in
poco più mosso
3 4 $ = 132
ff 3 sub dim. 4
sub ff
he drinks

3
2
44 3
4
1 4

o, gol den Breu ghel - land that nev (hic) that nev - er knows a
poco più mosso subito poco più mosso meno mosso

$ = 116 $ = 132 5 $ = 104
sub ff

cantabile
6 3
sub
sudden outburst
3 4 44
4
4
43
5
care, fill all your child- ren with de light! O, long lost par a dise,
example 6. Piet the Pot (Scene I, r. 2–3). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
figuration in the celesta that outlines an atonal hexachord repetition of the celesta motive that this passage underscores
built on thirds. Here, the stylized neighbor-note figures recall the seemingly sublime, but ludicrous expressive state.
the trillo technique of ornamentation that traces back to Piet the Pot’s “drunken” aria exemplifies Ligeti’s tech-
Baroque vocal ornamentation, specifically, the love duet sung nique of troping incongruous stylistic topics through abrupt
by Nero and Poppea from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di shift in musical discourse. As shown in Example 6, his aria
Poppea.12 In transforming this stylistic referent, it is merged begins with a literal quotation of the head motive of Dies
with other musical textures to create new meaning. One has Irae (last pitch is chromatically altered to C), which disinte-
to do with the lovers’ stylized stammering on the syllable “pe” grates into a descending chromatic line. At rehearsal 3, the
of “perish” beginning at rehearsal 18; this exaggerated form of vocal line abruptly shifts to a drinking song; Ligeti’s sketches
repetition underscores the absurdity of the situation. It is also indicate that he modeled the vocal line based on the choral
through troping of Baroque vocal ornamentation and cyclical hunting song from Berg’s Wozzeck (Act III, rehearsal 560)
and a song called “Valentin Alpenrosen” (Von Seherr-
12 Seville, 23–24. The aria “Ne più, ne più s’interporrà noia dimora” Thoss 1998, 224–25). Here, Ligeti further distorts Berg’s
demonstrates two voices in the treble clef that move in parallel thirds. misquotation of the German folk song Ein Jäger aus
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 37
Tempo giusto $ = 80
( 4 12 12 2+ 2 2 2 2 2 222 22
4 car horns

4 2+ 2+ 2+ 2 22 2
ff sempre ff
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 222 222
4 car horns sempre
44

2 2 2 22 22
sempre ff
4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
4 car horns
2 2 2 2
) 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
sempre ff
axis of symmetry

( 22222222 2 22 22 22 22 2 22 22 7 22 22 22 22
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22 22 222 22 22 22 22 22

22222222 2 2 2 22 22 22 2 22 22 7 22 22 22 22
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22 22 222 22 22 22 22 22

22222222 2 22 22 22 22 2 22 22 7 22 22 22 22
) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22 22 222 22 22 2 22 22

example 7. Opening Prelude (Scene I). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
Kurpfalz through irregular phrasing and a succession of up- an instrumental “toccata” played by three car horns. The car
ward leaps by a ninth or seventh (originally an octave in the horns participate in a fugal imitation in which the interval of
folk song). At rehearsal 5, the wedge-like vocal entry on the the successive entries diminish proportionally in rhythmic value
text “O, long lost paradise” anticipates the vocal lines sung by by half; the composite rhythm shortens until a steady sixteenth-
Amanda and Amando at rehearsal 9+5. Because the chro- note motion results at measure 6. After two more measures, the
matic motive for Dies Irae later manifests as a signifier of rhythmic pattern reverses itself to form a complete palindrome.
the comet, Piet displays a prophetic vision of the fate of Retrograde-symmetrical structure appears in combination
Breughelland while presenting himself as a drunken fool. with imitative and canonic writing throughout this opera.13
Troping at the formal level occurs in the instrumental pre-
lude and interludes that separate each scene in this opera. As 13 The palindromic form is also used by Ghelderode in his ordering of the six
shown in Example 7, the beginning of each scene begins with tableaux in the original play, from which the libretto for LGM was taken.
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 38
Ancora più mosso sempre lo stesso tempo

Vivacissimo molto ritmico ( = = 480)
< = 144 ; ::::::

(
Picc.
3 24 23 118
4
7 7 7
Picc.

Cl.
3 3

34 ; 24
:
3 118
2 7 7

)
Bass Cl.
ff 3
3 screaming in panic diminuendo
' '
3 2 3 118
4 4
Gepopo
2
Co met in - sight! Red glow! Burns bright!

3 24 23 7 118 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Mand. Glsp.
4

7 7
Pno. 2 2 2 2 2 2
4ff 4ffff
Cel.
Glsp. 4ff Cel. Tblk.
3 24 23
Mand.
7 118
4
Str.

7

example 8. Gepopo’s aria (Scene III, r. 394). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
Although the form of the prelude and subsequent interludes it is parodic because it invokes and subverts a familiar oper-
between scenes is modeled on an instrumental toccata tracing atic convention. In an extended aria sung by Gepopo in
back to Baroque operas, Ligeti replaces the timbre of brass in- Scene III, the head of the secret police of Breughelland
struments with car horns and electric doorbells. Such sounds, sings a schizophrenic aria in which she warns Prince Go Go
along with the use of metronomes, alarm clocks, and sirens can of a comet that will destroy their land, as displayed in
be understood as aural markers of surrealism and more specifi- Example 8. In an aria that begins with a high trill that over-
cally futurism, infusing the opera with an unequivocally mod- laps with trills sustained by woodwinds (rehearsal 389),
ernist sound. As a parodic strategy, the construction of preludes Ligeti blends coloratura techniques with tremolos, angular
and interludes exemplifies mapping via substitution: that is, rhythms, and intervals that fluctuate between extreme ends
while borrowing the structure and rhetoric (“fanfare”) of a pre- of the vocal register. Even in the absence of explicit quota-
existing form, Ligeti replaces the content with surrealistic tions, Gepopo’s aria recalls the style of vocal executions fea-
sounds of car horns to create aesthetic distance. tured in the convention of “mad” arias, for example, from
Mapping via substitution applies to a musical context Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor; the cascading descent
where the borrowed stylistic referent is less transparent, yet from a high register and shifting points of reference are
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 39
sub agitato
429 non pesante
$ = 176
( 3
24
68

24
Cl. 4

3
24
68

2
Trp. ) 4 4

( 3
24 68 24

Timp. ) 4
secco 6 . ff
43 24 68 2 24
Police
Whistle

3 goes into a paroxysm of excitement,

confusion and panic
3 2 68 2
Gepopo
4 4 4
Da! Da! Da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da! A - da!
; ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
3 24 68 24
4
Hrpsd./Bsn./Vln.
Hrpsd. El. Org. ; ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
3 2 68 24
4 4

example 9. Gepopo’s aria (Scene III, r. 429). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
points of commonality found in both, although Gepopo’s the quality of madness to an absurd height.14 As shown in
aria is far more discontinuous and angular. In addition, in Example 9, Gepopo’s plea to “Call a guard!” dissolves into a
commenting on her half-bird, half-man nature, her vocal repeated utterance of “A-da” across a minor ninth. The ac-
utterances are accompanied by an array of percussion instru- companying instruments support her musical stutter with
ments that offer futuristic sounds and outbursts, alternating sustained trills and the synchronized rhythmic patterns,
with a rhythmic ostinato (based on an aksak rhythm 4+4+3)
by temple blocks and congos that brings lightheartedness to
14 Ligeti was particularly interested in Alfred Jarry’s absurdist theater,
the musical passage. which denied the traditional flow of action and traditional concept of
Later in the same aria, Gepopo’s mimicking of animal characters on stage by making them appear incoherent and discon-
sounds assumes a surreal and Dadaesque quality as her nected, like parodies of the real world (Grossman 1967, 475). Gepopo’s
singing degenerates into an unintelligible stutter that extends incoherence and musical stutter exemplify this theatrical orientation.
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 40
subito moderato
guisto $ = 100 ritenuto al meno mosso $ = 80
the lowest note possible
with fluttertongue
3
44

'
4 2
Trb.
Tb.
3
cresc. ff softly
dim to a breath
3 4
Go Go
4

4
E - nough! E - nough! E - nough! For - give me! I beg your par - don!

3
4

4
4
'' ' '
Vla.
'
Hrpsd.
4 '
3 '
4

4 7
' '
Vlc. '
Cb.
distorted cadence
example 10. Prince Go-Go (Scene III, r. 306). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
which become progressively shorter and faster as she “goes Prince Go Go is portrayed as a naïve and helpless creature,
into a paroxysm of excitement, confusion, and panic” (Ligeti’s whose noble status is indexed by the use of secco recitative
description in the score). This passage obviously presents a that segues to string accompaniment on the text “Forgive
case where the parodic effect is enunciated without troping, me!” Although the vocal rhythm retains the secco recitative
but rather through exaggerated forms of repetition and frag- style of enunciation, it is harmonized by dissonances built on
mentation associated with the aesthetics of absurdist theater. thirds and fifths that loosely parallel the vocal contour. The
In contrast to such examples that underscore the ludi- prince’s clueless and idiotic character is satirized through
crous expressive state, Ligeti reserves the third category of subverting a tonal cadence; note the manner by which the
parody via reversal or negation for dramatic moments that vocal line cadences on B, against which the bass moves from
satirize a character or articulate a large-scale enunciation of B to F and the retardation and suspension in the upper part
the grotesque in the context of a collage. For instance, Prince resolve to a major ninth from E to F.
Go Go’s role is satirized through troping of stylistic types Another satirical example is provided in Example 11.
and distortion. Example 10 is taken from the beginning of Mecalina’s schizophrenic aria is characterized by a dramatic
the third scene, in which two corrupt politicians try to force shift in musical discourse to reveal two different sides of her
Prince Go Go to sign a decree to raise taxes. This scene be- personality. First, the lament topic appears in combination
gins with a boisterous, hocketing duet by the politicians in with a distorted quotation of of Wagner’s “desire” motif a 〈A
the comic buffa tradition of Rossini. Against their mockery, F E D〉 to portray the lovelorn nature of Mescalina. Notice
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 41
44 24 45
molto sostenuto, dolente $ = 40
“desire” motif a
sotto voce, dolente

Mesc.

Oh, pain! Oh, pain! Oh, pain! Oh, pain! Oh, pain!

@

Vlc.

lament topic with descending bass line
45 44
doppio movimento $ = 80 inversion of the “desire” motif b 43

Mesc.

Who’ll rinse dish - es? Do the wash - ing? Who the cook - ing? Who the mend - ing? Who will do the clean - ing? Who the scrub - bing, wax - ing?
7 ''7 '

.
Org.

'''
7 7

''
Vlc.

sub ten.
example 11. Mescalina’s lament (Scene II, r.153, reduced score). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights
Reserved. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors LLC, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Music.
how the cello outlines a chromatically descending bass upon contrasting musical passages to convey Mescalina’s lovelorn
which Mescalina sings her song of lament based on the dis- and menacing dispositions.
torted and incomplete rendition of the “desire” motif 〈B G The “desire” motif surfaces in an ironic moment later in
F F〉. In the next system, the music quickly shifts to reveal Scene II, when Nekrotzar approaches Mescalina as an answer
her menacing character, intensified by chromatic clusters in to her wish to find a virile lover. Example 12 illustrates the sud-
the organ and strings that support the melodic inversion of den change in texture at rehearsal 229, as the string trio pre-
the “desire” motif b 〈G A A B〉. Arguably, the whole of the sents a bourrée with an expressive indication of grazioso that
“desire” leitmotif has been divided and distorted across two accompanies the love/death scene of Mescalina. Appropriating
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 42
Andantino con moto, grazioso (bourée perpetuelle)

“desire” motif a'
$ = 104 sempre sotto voce
( 4

7
Venus 4
It shall be done. It shall be
sempre sotto voce
4
4 7

7
Mesc.

man! Still my de - sire!
sempre sotto voce

4
Nekro. ) 4 7
man! A - rise Bac chan - te! I’ll still thy de - sire!

( 4

Vln. 1/2
4
4
Vla. A 4

44

Vlc. )
elaboration of the “desire” motif a'
example 12. Use of pastoral topic (Scene II, r. 229). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music. All Rights Reserved.
a courtship dance, the “desire” motif appears in the chromati- of the pastoral is turned inside out by this macabre dance, in
cally descending Alberti bass figures in the lower strings, which the misaligned vocal entries create a multi-layered col-
echoed by the appearance of the motif sung in staggered thirds lage; while Nekrotzar seduces Mescalina and Venus prods
by Mescalina and Nekrotzar three bars later. Venus, Mescalina, them on, Piet the Pot and Astradamors are plotting to kill
Nekotzar, Piet the Pot, and Astradamors engage in a closing Mescalina. Her last utterance on the word “Murder!” is accom-
vocal ensemble that accumulates in textural density as the panied by a light-hearted dance music in 2/4 meter in the
scene results in the death of Mescalina. The perpetual descent harpsichord and electric piano (rehearsal 235). Furthermore,
in the bass provides the perfect musical analogue for the rhetorical effect is ironic rather than simply satirical; the
Mescalina’s figurative descent into hell. And the positive affect combination of euphoric and dysphoric expressions gives rise
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 43
to a trope of irony inaugurated by the contradiction between topical reversal by de-contextualizing the theme from the fi-
what is claimed (murder of Mescalina) and an ambivalent con- nale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. As shown in Example
text where two motivations coalesce into one (was this scene 14, the rhythmic is preserved while the pitches are distorted;
about love or murder?).15 Although the death of Meculina in the theme is transformed into a twelve-tone passacaglia, in
the operatic narrative is an aberration from the original play, which the ordered pitch interval (opi) of the row alternates
the scene curiously resonates with Ghelderode’s conviction that between ic’s 6 and e. Furthermore, the permutation of twelve
“eroticism is a source both of tragedy and of burlesquerie” and tones and the rhythmic talea of Beethoven’s theme are mis-
his view of lust as “death’s other companion” (Herz 1962, 96). aligned so that the next entry of the row begins on last quar-
The most dramatic effects are achieved when Ligeti de- ter note of the talea. This passacaglia forms the foundation
ploys parody via reversal or negation in the context of a for a multi-layered collage in different tempi and meters: a
multi-layered collage texture to articulate the expressive state solo violin enters with a ragtime that recalls the devil’s music
of horror. In the first scene, when Nekrotzar announces the from Stravinsky’s l’Histoire du Soldat, the bassoon enters with
coming of the apocalypse, the idea of horror is signified by a Greek orthodox tune, the piccolo trumpet plays a Brazilian
the polymetric superimposition of descending cluster chords samba, the parade drum plays marching music in irregular
over the ticking of a gigantic metronome on stage. Against meter, and the bass trombone blares out a distorted variation
the cluster chords in the piano that maintain the notated of the twelve-tone Eroica theme. By combining music drawn
meter, the harpsichord, metronome, and choral entry proceed from high and low styles into a massive collage, this passage
in different rhythms and tempi. Example 13 provides the turns into an ultimate macabre dance, gradually building in
relevant passage. Nektrozar’s static vocal enunciation on C4 textural density and dynamic intensity, and in which the ludi-
draws on the operatic convention of the “oracle” aria. Von crous and horrifying states co-mingle. As a musical corollary
Seherr-Thoss traces this topical convention to Gluck’s Alceste to Bakhtin’s grotesque body, the individual layers maintain
(1776), where the voice of Oracle announces the death of the their autonomy through independence in timbre, meter, and
king in a declamatory recitation based on a single note (1998, tempo, while being subsumed into the ever-growing collec-
251). In response to Nekrotzar’s proclamation, the chorus de- tive. As this procession of incongruous tunes unfolds, chaos
livers a chromatically distorted Lutheran chorale that turns reigns on stage as people fight, eat, drink, copulate, and so
the parodic ethos of its referent inside out: more specifically, forth, in coping with the final moments of life.
the text that speaks of a God as guardian in the chorale Following the macabre dance, the citizens of Breughelland
“Erkenne mich mein Hüter” from Bach’s St. Matthew’s make their plea for help in the form of a disintegrated
Passion is replaced by one that invokes destruction and peril. chorale, as Nekrotzar makes his final pronouncement of the
Additionally, the chorale melody is harmonized mainly by apocalypse. In this climactic passage, the “heavenly trom-
tritones to convey the musical expression of horror. bone” motif appears over and over again to signify a form of
In Scene III, Ligeti introduces a massive textural collage divine intervention that thwarts Nekrotzar’s omen. Ligeti’s
entitled “Homage to Ives,” where he builds on the formula of instruction indicates that two trumpeters and two trombon-
ists are to be positioned high up in a box overlooking the
15 Furthermore, Ligeti’s transformation of traditional form (e.g., bourrée
stage and that they are to sound as if “coming from far away.”
in Scene III) intersects with Martha Hyde’s criteria for a heuristic form Historically, the trombone symbolizes the supernatural or the
of musical imitation in which a composer seeks a deeper engagement underworld and conjures up images of terror and unknown
with a given model in order to achieve dramatic conflict (2003, 119). realms of darkness. The presence of trombones plays upon
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 44
sub. ff ff sub. ff ff
6
with a visionary gesture
62 6 sub.
sempre

Nekro
For there will be blood, and fi-re will fol - low! And no - thing re - main,
↓
Hrpsd.
1
+ 1+ 1+ 1 + 1+ 1 + 1
+
1
↑
1 1 1 1
↑ ↑
↑ ↑
↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

cresc. poco a poco

6

.

ff

molto pesante ff
Pno.
B B

@ '@ '@ '@ @

Vla.
7
arco

Cb.

3
44 $ = 80 45 44 45
shrieking, forced, nasal

Ten.
Bass.

( )
Des - truc- tion soon draw high, thou art in pe - ril great.
example 13. Nekrotzar’s announcement of the apocalypse (Scene I, r. 62, reduced score). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott
Music. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors LLC,
sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott Music.
this conventional symbolism, although Ligeti reverses the reversed symbol is subsumed by the expressive horror of the
glorious and triumphant topic that usually accompanies its music that follows. The trombone motif repeats several
use in the Tuba Miram sections of the Requiems by Mozart times, each time followed by Nekrotzar’s final pronounce-
and Berlioz. As shown in Example 15, this theme sounds ment and the chorus’s desperate plea for help.
pastoral, cast in a lyrical 6/8 meter and accompanied by an Ultimately the stage darkens as the scene concludes with
expressive indication of dolce. In addition, the tenor trom- an instrumental postlude, entitled “Intermezzo: the terrible,
bones continuously play notes at the uppermost threshold of imaginary Last Judgment” (rehearsal 603). And there is some-
their range. And here is an instance where the effect of this thing rather ironic in Ligeti’s designation of this horrifying
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 45
Andante misurato, sempre ostinato (“collage”)

451 $ = 100
( 4

Timp. )
4
secco
4
pizz.

4
Vlc. 7
Cb.

. . . .
A: <F B B E E A D A G D C G > A
opi: <6 e 6 e 6 5 6 e 6 e 6> opi = ordered pitch-class intervals
Violin: ragtime (r. 452)

$ = 60
Ragtime two step - ben ritmato

2

4

Vln.

Bassoon: Greek orthodox tune (r. 453)
Tempo giusto, ben ritmato (alla danza) $ = 80

Bsn. A 68
non legato
Piccolo clarinet: Brazilian samba (r. 454)

$ = 138
E
E
E

Cl. 34

Picc.
6
Flute piccolo (r. 457)

$ = 192
vivace leggiero

4
4
Fl.
Picc.
possible
example 14. Eroica variation theme; collage (Scene III, r. 451, reduced score). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music.
All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors LLC,
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 46
Parade drum (r. 456)

Tempo agitato $ = 192
Par. 44 2222 22 2 22 2 2 2 34 2 22 22 2 22 2
Drum
3 brutale
Bass trombone (r. 457)

Multo vivace, energico $ = 168–176 blaring
4
Bass
4
Trb.

3 brutale
example 14. [continued ]
postlude as an Intermezzo, referring to a genre of comic op- In the first scene, the ludicrous and horrifying states are
eratic interlude presented between scenes of an eighteenth- brought into stark contrast: Amanda and Amando’s innocent
century opera seria. This music that serves as the sonic icon “love” duet oscillates between Piet the Pot and Nekrotzar’s
for the falling comet, a micropolyphonic texture that in- omen about the impending crisis; the momentous build-up
creases in dynamic intensity to the written indication of to the first collage (rehearsal 59) shifts the expressive state
eight fortes, appears to reverse the conventional meaning of from ludicrous to horrifying, yet the scene concludes with a
an Intermezzo. Or does the “heavenly” trombone motif sig- brief recapitulation of the love duet. The structure of the sec-
nify some form of divine intervention? As the stage turns ond scene, given in Example 17, further amplifies the oppos-
completely dark, the audience is left in suspense over the sig- ing expressive states through abrupt shifts in musical dis-
nificance of the music that closes the third scene. course; while Mescalina and Astradamors’s number duet and
Before proceeding to the Epilogue, I will discuss the sig- quotations from Liszt and Schumann belong to the comic
nificance of the structuring of the operatic numbers within buffa genre, Mescalina’s lament and the ensemble scene (re-
each scene in relation to parodic strategies deployed. As hearsal 228) blend the ludicrous and the horrifying expres-
mentioned earlier, each of the three scenes develops in a sim- sive states. The closing comic buffa ensemble (rehearsal 250)
ilar manner by a crescendo to a “catastrophic” climax within immediately follows the ironic bourée perpetuelle and leads to
the Wagnerian “bar form” (Toop 1999, 163). Furthermore, as the ominous micropolyphonic postlude that signifies the ap-
shown in Examples 16, 17 and 18, musical numbers map proaching comet. The third scene, given in Example 18, pro-
onto distinctive expressive states of ludicrousness or horror vides a change in setting as it opens with a series of buffa
within each scene. The arrows show the path through which numbers featuring Prince Go-Go’s politicians at the castle of
the musical numbers oscillate back and forth between the Breughelland. The playful aksak rhythm is abruptly followed
two expressive states, while the bracket indicates where tex- by the sinister choral recitation, which embodies the fear and
tural strategies of collage and disintegration cut across the helplessness of the inhabitants of Breughelland. Gepopo’s
two expressive states. “mad” aria provides another comic relief before it segues into
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 47
489 Tempo primo $ = 188
(
Da lontano $ = 66 '
6

44 ' 34
Fl. 1/2 8
F
6 44 '' 34
Ob. 1/2 ) 8

F
3
44 34
6

Nekro 8
He who has ears to hear, let him hear, for the hour of doom is up
( 6 44 34
Vln./Vla. 8 '
' break off
suddenly,
without accent
6 44 ' 34
Vlc./Cb. ) 8 '
sub. ff
sub. ff
The “Heavenly Trombones”

(as though from a long way away, but clearly audible)

( 6
Trp. 8
dolce

6
Ten. )A 8
dolce 3: 12th overtone
4: 8th overtone
example 15. The “Heavenly Trombones” (Scene III, r. 489, reduced score). Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.  1996 by Schott Music.
All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors LLC,
the distorted choral recitation that captures the inhabitants’ In summary, the structure of the three scenes shares a
desperate plea for help. The sense of catastrophe reaches its parallel construction with regard to the sequence of numbers
climax with the instrumental postlude that depicts the fall of that culminates in a polymetric or polytemporal collage. The
the comet. massive collage comprised of the superimposition of seven
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 48
Scene I
Ludicrousness Horror
Prelude [car horns]
r.1 Piet the Pot Dies Irae quote]

[Berg: hunting song
from Wozzeck]
r.9 Amanda/Amando
[love duet]
r.51 Piet/Nekrotzar [duet;

allusion to Wozzeck] Collage 1
r.59 Nekrotzar’s announcement of
the apocalypse (polymetric
“ticking” of metronomes)
r. 63
Deformation of Lutheran
chorale (choir’s response)
r. 94 “horse riding” music

[allusion to Wagner’s
Walküre]
r.110 Amanda/Amando
[love duet]
example 16. Mapping of Expressive States in Le Grand Macabre
incongruous musical types in the third scene (see Ivesian col- collage. This effect is nonetheless offset by the buffa ensem-
lage) expands the initial strategies introduced in the first and ble or pastoral topic that follows. Continual shifts in topical
second scenes. In both contexts, a trope of chaos and destruc- discourse relativize the effects of the ludicrous and horrify-
tion is established through inclusion of an explicitly marked ing in the first two scenes, as indicated in the example by
referent (e.g., distorted chorale) within a multi-layered the criss-crossing arrows. In the third scene, however, the
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 49
Scene II
r. 119 Interlude [car horns]

r. 120 Mescalina/Astradamors duet
[comic buffa; pseudo 12-tone]
r. 153 Mescalina’s lament motif
[distorted “desire” motif]
r. 165 Astradamors’ song of mercy
[parallel fourths/organum]
r. 172 Grand Galop chromatique [Liszt]

The Merry Peasant [Schumann]
r. 184 Comet music
r. 194 Venus
[harp arpeggiation] Mescalina
r. 209 Piet the Pot/Astradamors duet

[comic buffa]
r. 213 Venus/chorus
[call & response] Mescalina
r. 228 Bourée perpetuelle

Collage 2 [“pastoral
desire” motif] disintegration
r. 244 Comet music
r. 250 Final ensemble [comic buffa]
r. 273 Comet music
example 17. Mapping of Expressive States in Le Grand Macabre (continued)
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 50
Scene III
r. 277 Interlude [door bells]

r. 278 White/black politicians
[comic buffa; pseudo 12-tone]
r. 300 Prince Go-Go
[secco recitative]
r. 364 aksak rhythm (4+4+3)
r. 377 Choral recitation disintegration

“Go! Go!” < ffff
r. 387 Chamber Concerto, mvt. III

(self-quotation)
r. 395 Gepopo’s “mad” aria
r. 417 Chorus: “dread and fright do sear us”
r. 432 siren < ffffff
r. 451 Collage 3: “homage to Ives” 12-tone def. of “Eroica”

violin: ragtime
picc. cl: Brazilian samba bsn: Greek Orthodox tune
fl/picc: Hungarian tune
parade drum: marching music bass trumpet: leitmotif
r. 474 “The Heavenly trombone” fugue

Nekrotzar’s “oracle” aria
r. 482
Chorus “Hear us prince!”
r. 504 Astradamors/Piet/Nekrotzar
[comic buffa]
example 18. Mapping of Expressive States in Le Grand Macabre (conclusion)
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 51
r. 528 Hocket on “drink!”

r. 534 String quartet [Andante
Grazioso “Galmatias”]
r. 544 Astradamors/Piet
galloping music deformation of bass trumpet motif
r. 576 “The Heavenly trombones” < ffffffff

r. 603 Intermezzo: “the terrible, imaginary
Last Judgment”
example 18. [continued ]
distinction between the two states becomes increasingly recitative, and the politicians’ duet (Scene III) all return in
blurred from the successive enactment of textural strategies bits and pieces. Nekrotzar, disempowered and defeated, re-
involving collage and disintegration, as indicated by the turns to his grave, as the pastoral topic of the final pas-
brackets that cross over the two expressive states. As the sacaglia brings the opera to closure. Amanda and Amando,
ensemble texture acquires greater density, the dynamic indi- waking up to find out that the world still exists, sing an ethe-
cation for the “comet” music is pushed to an absurd level real duet (with text borrowed from Verdi’s Falstaff ) celebrat-
(fffffff ). All of these strategies contribute to Bakhtin’s idea of ing the supremacy of love; “Let others fear the Judgment
infinite accretion, “the process that accepts and affirms all Day: we have no fears, let come what may! ‘Neath terrors
contradictory data as part of one large, rich, and varied pic- dire let others bow: for us there’s only here and now.” Over a
ture” (Sheinberg 2000, 314). fugal passacaglia in mirror canon (“Andantino con moto”),
other singers join in to bid farewell and reassure their com-
iv. on narrative ambivalence and existential irony patriots not to be afraid of death.
This farcical ending has invited critical commentary from
Aside from the parodic strategies and the trope of the critics and scholars. Alastair Williams remarks: “Ligeti’s
grotesque, a larger question revolves around what to make of frustration with limited systems and stable meanings be-
the conclusion of LGM. The short Epilogue of this opera is comes explicit in the absurd libretto to Le Grand Macabre,
marked by a reversal of expectation and dramatic irony, as which deals in its half-mocking, half-serious way with ques-
the main characters wake up only to realize that Nekrotzar’s tions of temporality and death, though scorning anything re-
omen was false. As the citizens of Breughelland greet one sembling an insight. If the Day of Judgment does not take
another in awe, Ligeti presents a brief recapitulation of the place, which is one interpretation of the opera, it is death it-
“ludicrous” musical numbers featured in the last three scenes self that dies on the fictitious Day of Judgment, hence the
in a continuous medley; e.g., the Prelude music of car horns unknowable other to life fails to become a stable sign that
(Scene I), horseriding music (Scene II), Gepopo’s secco would confer metaphysical significance on the opera” (1997,
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 52
90). But exactly why does Ligeti avoid narrative closure and archetypes, Liszka comments that irony moves away from
“resist formation of stable meanings” with regard to death the “comedic-like quality of satire to a simple and fatalistic
and the Day of Judgment? By dismissing Ligeti’s intention perception of the human condition in which the main em-
as “half-serious” and “scorning anything resembling an in- phasis is on the natural cycle, the unbroken turning of the
sight,” Williams seems to miss the broader picture, the meta- wheel of fate or fortune” (1989, 132). Hutcheon further re-
concepts, that underlie the operatic narrative. marks that ironic meaning emerges when “the unsaid is
In a standard narrative trajectory, there is a progression other than, different from, the said” (1994, 64).
from the initial conflict (marked) to its eventual resolution On a first glance, the operatic characters’ indifference to
(unmarked), accompanied by a process that Liszka calls the outcome of the disaster seems to suggest dramatic irony;
transvaluation in reference to his analysis of myth: even after facing the most appalling threat of disaster, the
characters simply return to the way things were in the begin-
The narration focuses on a set of rules from a certain domain or do- ning. There is no reflection, no moment of enlightenment.16
mains of cultural life which define a certain cosmic, social, political, However, Ligeti’s idea of purposeful ambivalence renders the
or economic hierarchy, and places them in a crisis. There is a disrup-
reading far more complicated than a simple case of dramatic
tion of the normative function of these rules—they are violated, there
is some transgression. The narrative then unfolds to a certain, some- irony. Even if the conditions of death and doom are magi-
what ambivalent, resolution to the crisis, depending on the pragmat- cally thwarted, the viewer is left with a sense of unease, a
ics of the tale: the disrupted hierarchy is restored or enhanced or, on lack of resolution to the putative crisis. Perhaps the moral of
the other hand, the hierarchy is destroyed, leading to social anomie, the story lies in acknowledging that progress itself is kind of
or terrible tragic consequences. . . . The ambivalence of the resolution an illusion, that our perception of reality is unfinalizable in
reveals the presence of a certain tension which serves as the dynamic accordance with Bakhtin’s concept of grotesque realism.
of the narration, the tension between an order or hierarchy, i.e., a set
Considering Ligeti’s emphasis on ambivalence, the type of
of rules which imposes an order on a culture, and the possibility of its
transgression, i.e., the possibility of an alternative order. The narra- irony found here comes closer to existential irony, which
tive of myth continually plays out this tension (1998, 15). Sheinberg introduces in reference to Shostakovich’s embrace
of contradictory signifiers in Symphony No. 10 and other
In LGM, the crisis passes without any foreseeable impact works; the recurring waltz theme in Symphony No. 10 articu-
on the inhabitants of Breughelland; life seems to go on as lates the topical correlation of “a dance that is not a dance,”
usual, and Amanda and Amando sing about love at the end, one that conveys an expression of “a euphoric dysphoria”
as if nothing happened. The opera is ironic because in spite of (2000, 316–17). Just as Shostakovich’s symphony leaves con-
the narrative closure achieved through the apparent resolution tradictory affects fused and unresolved, LGM is filled with
of the crisis, the viewer is left to ponder the ambivalence instances marked by ambivalence, e.g., Mescalina’s love-death
generated by the forced closure. It lacks the transformative scene, the “heavenly” trombone motif, the designation of
moment that characterizes the comedic narrative archetype Intermezzo for the apocalypse. Even the “happy ending” in
in which the characters profess to a new beginning marked
by the restoration of an idealized social order. Nor does it fit
the tragic archetype in which there is a defeat of order 16 Muecke describes dramatic irony as a kind of situational or Sophoclean
through transgression (that is, Nekrotzar fails to conquer irony in which the characters on stage remain unaware of the prospect
Breughelland). In summarizing Northrop Frye’s narrative or “irony of fate” that lies ahead (1970, 29).
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 53
the Epilogue is fraught with semantic tension. Ligeti may setting, repetition, and topical reversal. Even the basic
have injected the deus ex machina formula at the end as a cri- strategy of mapping topic or type is often accompanied by
tique of the operatic convention that sentimentalizes such contrastive shifts in texture, timbre, and register to under-
moments and intended it also as a farcical commentary on score the quoted element. Frequency in repetition plays an
society’s responses to impending catastrophes throughout important role in heightening the level of markedness of a
the ages. particular parodic enunciation; for instance, the distorted
choral music that represents the desperate plea of people
v. conclusion and further considerations returns in various contexts and acquires a music-dramatic
weight of its own, compared to the unmodified quotations
Undoubtedly, a comprehensive analysis of LGM needs to of music by Liszt and Schumann (Scene II) that appear
take into account many other aspects of the opera’s musical only once. Thus, certain parodic references assume a nar-
design that are not based on the parodic procedures of map- rative function through repetition (akin to that of a leit-
ping, troping, and reversal discussed here. The intricate con- motif ), while others impart only a localized, descriptive
trapuntal writing, mirror canons, and quasi-serial passages function to comment on a character or situation. Topical
are tokens of Ligeti’s musical style, but they are not marked reversal presents the most poignant or pronounced form of
in a specific sense in constituting a parodic enunciation parodic enunciation, as the referent is thoroughly trans-
under the criteria invoked here.17 So are numerous instances contextualized in accordance with Hutcheon’s definition of
of intertextual references or allusions to musical types or parody.
topics that remain neutral or unmarked, such as the “horse Future work may consider examining the intersection
riding” music that connotes Wagner’s Walküre (Scene I), between parodic and non-parodic musical topics in unify-
Nekrotzar’s declamatory recitation based on an “oracle” aria ing the motivic and harmonic contents of the opera. For
(Scene I), or Ligeti’s self-quotation of the Chamber example, minor third and tritone surface as important in-
Concerto (Scene III). Although LGM offers a composi- tervallic building blocks for musical topics and types that
tional labyrinth of pitch, harmonic, and rhythmic procedures signify the apocalypse. While the Dies Irae quote embed-
that is worthy of investigation onto its own, my aim in this ded in Piet the Pot’s initial aria presents an indexical topic,
article was to demonstrate the systematic manner by which Ligeti’s micropolyphonic texture for the comet emerges as
parodic procedures are correlated with oppositional expres- an iconic topic: that is to say, while the Dies Irae quotation
sive states in formulating a tropological reading of the refers to other repertory as a symbol of death and destruc-
grotesque and existential irony. tion in western musical canon, the latter provides a sound-
Needless to say, not all parodied elements carry the same scape that resembles the natural qualities of an impending
dramatic weight. A parodic enunciation in LGM acquires disaster. And Ligeti’s writing reveals fluidity and inventive-
markedness or perceptual salience through contrastive ness in transforming the motivic and harmonic content of
this indexical topic to an iconic one, as shown in Example
17 Amy Bauer argues, however, that one could consider Ligeti’s method of 19. The Dies Irae incipit, introduced in Piet the Pot’s aria,
appropriating and transforming contrapuntal writing as paralleling the distorts the original melody by altering the seventh note to
Mannerist School and his micropolyphonic texture as an instance of C (rather than C). The triplet figuration and the minor third
musical parody (1997, 41–46). descent 〈−3〉 are subsequently transformed into a rhythmic
MTS3101_02 4/16/09 5:47 PM Page 54
Indexical topic Iconic topic (comet)

r.2
lunga
3 *
Piet
the Pot 4 42
Di es i rae, di es il la
<–3> <–3> r. 67+2

Fl./Picc.
1
F ff
<–3> <–3> <–3> <–3>
r.194 3 suddenly shouting loudly like an emergency siren

3 48 44

Mesc.
8
Ve - nus, Ve - nus! Trb.
3 .
<–3 +3 –4> <–6 +6 –6 +5 –7>

r. 206

3
4
Tr. Bass
(off stage)

dolcissimo, innocente

<+6 –6 +6 –6 +6 –6 +5 –6 +6 –6 +6>
r.217

3
Venus
4
And then what hath thou done with these two men?
<–3 –3 +3 –3 +4 –2 +3> G* forced
G forced, shrill
greatest possible
volume
r. 243
' + break off suddenly
'
& 7
Tutti
(Winds/
Brass)
33 33
<–3 +4>
example 19. Transformation of the Dies Irae motif
diminution of descending thirds in the upper woodwinds figure (rehearsal 206), Venus’s response to Mescalina that
(rehearsal 67+2), call and response pattern between inverts the latter’s vocal contour (rehearsal 217), and the
Mescalina 〈−3 +3 −4〉 and the trombone motif with tritones “comet” motif derived from the same contour (rehearsal
and fifths substituting for thirds (rehearsal 194), the bass 243). The emerging emphasis on the tritone interval is sig-
trombone motif that inverts the contour into an ascending nificant because it later surfaces as the harmonic building
MTS3101_02 4/21/09 12:37 PM Page 55
block for the apocalyptic music (Intermezzo: the terrible, Battistella, Edwin L. 1990. Markedness: the Evaluative
imaginary Last Judgment) in Scene III.18 Superstructure of Language. Albany: State University of
In concluding, LGM constitutes an “anti-opera” par excel- New York Press.
lence because of its narrative ambivalence and double-voiced Bauer, Amy. 1997. “Compositional Process and Parody in
forms of parodic enunciation. It has all the ingredients of a the Music of György Ligeti.” PhD diss., Yale
post-Brechtian musical theater that engages the audience to University.
actively participate in decoding defamiliarized references Everett, Yayoi Uno. 2004. “Modeling Parody and Irony in
(what Brecht calls the “divided sign”), as a way of dislodging Music by Weill, Maxwell Davies, and Andriessen.” Music
conditioned responses in order to perceive works of art in a Theory Online 10.4.
new light. Even the over-the-top virtuosity that disintegrates Foster, Hal. 1983. The Anti-Aesthetic. Seattle WA: Bay Press.
into noise, e.g., Gepopo’s coloratura aria that degenerates into Hatten, Robert S. 1994. Musical Meaning in Beethoven.
animal-like barking, attests to the idea of embracing operatic Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
tradition in order to dismantle it. In this respect, Ligeti’s aes- ——. 2004. Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes.
thetic stance is hardly postmodern in the sense of advancing Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
eclecticism for its own sake, but rather aligned with what Hal Herz, Micheline. 1962. “Tragedy, Poetry and the Burlesque
Foster calls “oppositional” postmodernism, which is concerned in Ghelderode’s Theatre.” Yale French Studies 29. The
with a “critical deconstruction of tradition, not an instrumen- New Dramatists: 92–101.
tal pastiche of pop or pseudo-historical forms” (1983, vii). Hutcheon, Linda. 1985. Theory of Parody: The Teachings of
From a biographical perspective, the narrative discourse Twentieth-Century Art Forms. New York: Methuen.
of this opera constitutes an intertext that mirrors Ligeti’s ——. 1994. Irony’s Edge: the Theory and Politics of Irony.
own artistic habitus of exile; as a survivor of the Holocaust London and New York: Routledge.
and Hungarian Uprising, the theme of death and survival Hyde, Martha. 2003. “Stravinsky’s Neo–Classicism.” In The
has been an integral part of his life experiences. There is a Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky, ed. Jonathan Cross,
profound message that Ligeti communicates in LGM that 98–136. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
far surpasses its capacity to elicit laughter: by situating the Lie, John. 2004. “Ligeti and the Shoah.” Program notes to
audience inside the fantasy-world of Breughelland, the opera San Francisco Opera Production of Le Grand Macabre.
forces us to confront our own fears and pretensions as we Liszka, James, J. 1989. The Semiotic of Myth. Bloomington:
grapple with the existential chaos of the human condition. Indiana University Press.
Losada, Catherine. 2004. “A Theoretical Model for the
works cited Analysis of Collage in Music Derived from Selected
Works by Berio, Zimmerman and Rochberg.” PhD diss.,
Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1984. Rabelais and His World. Trans. City University of New York.
Helene Iswolsley. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Klein, Michael. 2005. Intertextuality in Western Art Music.
Babcock, Philip, ed. 1993. Webster’s Third New International Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Dictionary. Springfield MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc. Kosteva, Maria. 1996. Die Imaginäre Gattung: Über das
Musiktheatralische Werk G. Ligetis. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
18 For example, the apocalyptic music (rehearsal 603) comprises intersect- Kristeva, Julia. 1980. Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach
ing tritones of B-F, C-G, D-G, D-A and E-A. to Literature and Art. Ed. Leon S. Roudiez. Trans.
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Thomas Gora, Alice Jardine, and Leong S. Roudiez. New Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 31, Issue 1, pp. 26–56, ISSN 0195-6167,
York: Columbia University Press. electronic ISSN 1533-8339. © 2009 by The Society for Music
May, Thomas. 2004. “Viewpoint.” Program notes of Le Theory. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission
to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University
Grand Macabre. San Francisco Opera. of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.
Monelle, Raymond. 2006. The Musical Topic: Hunt, Military ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/mts.2009.31.1.26
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Signification of Parody and the Grotesque in György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre

Signification of Parody and the Grotesque in György

O Le Grand Macabre (1977; revised 1996, hereafter

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 27

28 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 29

30 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 31

Original context New context

example 1. Parodic context of enunciation

32 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

example 2. Quotation of Wagner in Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cakewalk”

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 33

Syntactic: Mapping Troping Reversal

substitution juxtaposition distortion

Ethos: Playful Satirical

Trope of the Grotesque

example 3. Parodic Procedures in Le Grand Macabre. Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre.

34 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

dopia movimento $ = 100 with verve, but slovenly

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 35

9  tenuto poco cresc.  poco cresc. .  etc.

( &*               

       /         /         /

36 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

poco più mosso

poco più mosso subito poco più mosso meno mosso

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 37

38 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Ancora più mosso sempre lo stesso tempo

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 39

3 goes into a paroxysm of excitement,

40 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 41

     7   ''7 '      

42 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Andantino con moto, grazioso (bourée perpetuelle)

 sempre sotto voce       

elaboration of the “desire” motif a'

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 43

44 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

@ '@ '@ '@ @

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 45

Andante misurato, sempre ostinato (“collage”)

Violin: ragtime (r. 452)

Piccolo clarinet: Brazilian samba (r. 454)

Flute piccolo (r. 457)

46 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Parade drum (r. 456)

Bass trombone (r. 457)

example 14. [continued ]

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 47

489 Tempo primo $ = 188

48 music theory spectrum 31 (2009)

Prelude [car horns]

r.1 Piet the Pot Dies Irae quote]

r.51 Piet/Nekrotzar [duet;

r. 94 “horse riding” music

example 16. Mapping of Expressive States in Le Grand Macabre

signification of parody and the grotesque in györgy ligeti’s le grand macabre 49

r. 119 Interlude [car horns]

r. 172 Grand Galop chromatique [Liszt]

9 tenuto poco cresc. poco cresc. . etc.

( &*

/ / /

7 ''7 '

sempre sotto voce

@ '@ '@ '@ @