The kaleidoscopic ‘Aria, Hoquetus, Choral’ in György Ligeti’s Violin Concerto

This article focuses on the second movement of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with its parallel formal constructions. Alongside the variation form, it incorporates large-scale processes and symmetric constructions. Focusing on the attributes and positioning of various texture types reveals hierarchically higher-level groupings: the arias appear as refrains in the rondo, the hocket becomes the high point of the formal palindrome, and the chorales divide the music into a tripartite form, the proportions coming close to those of the Golden Ratio. On the theoretical level I explore the roles of secondary parameters in contemporary music, as discussed by Patricia Howland, Amy Bauer and Dora Hanninen, and the definitions of timbre by Stephen McAdams and Robert Hasegawa. My examination of ‘Aria, Hoquetus, Choral’ relies on widely known tools of music analysis. I observe: (1) the variation form and how it is disclosed; (2) the roles of primary and secondary parameters in the formal organization; (3) large-scale textural processes and (4) registral and timbral dramaturgies. I compare the outcomes of my score analysis with a spectrogram. The essential features of the visual representation support my parallel readings of the movement’s form and offer additional evidence for my interpretation.