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György Kurtág's Microludes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Margaret McLay
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Extract

Kurtág's microludes are remarkable in at least two respects: firstly, some of them are so brief as to make even Webern seem verbose in comparison, and, secondly, Kurtág has managed to create something relatively rare—a form born of the chromatic scale itself The microludes are sets of 12 tiny preludes, one for each semitone. Each set moves from C to B by analogy to Bach's ‘48’; however, unlike the Bach pieces, the microludes are not essays in a particular tonality, but rather explore certain relationships to a particular individual pitch.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 151 , December 1984 , pp. 17 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

1 Kurtág would regard a piece such as this, which scarcely needs a composer, as a musical ‘Objet trouvé’. Clearly, the child is here able to concentrate upon the quality of the sound produced by the different dynamic levels—Kurtág believes this act of listening very important in the child's musical development. The unchanging pitch also allows concentration upon counting different rhythmic groups.

2 These microludes are entitled Hommage à Mihály András. Some of Kurtág's homages to composers include allusions to the music of the dedicatee, but this is not the case with opus 13. The composer András Mihály was a colleague of Kurtág's in the Chamber Music Department of the Ferenc Liszt Academy, and is now Director of Hungarian Opera. He has been a great champion of contemporary music in Hungary and set up the Budapest Chamber Ensemble which has given many premières and other performances of new music.

3 In a public talk given at Bath College of Higher Education as part of the Bath International Festival, Thursday 7 June, 1984.