György Ligeti

Régi magyar társas táncok

Title
Régi magyar társas táncok
Subtitle
Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances after János Bihari, János Lavotta, Antal Csermák and Márk Rózsavölgyi (18th century)
Category
Ensemble/Chamber Orchestra
Language of this work
(Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances)
Duration
11:00
Number of performers
7 - 17
Instrumentation
flute (ad lib.) · clarinet (ad lib.) - strings (5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 ad lib.) or soloistic (1 · 1 · 1 · 1 · 1 ad lib.)
Composition year(s)
1949
Movements

Andante
Allegro - Trio. Pochissimo meno mosso
Andantino maestoso - Trio
Allegro moderato

Extra title
for flute, clarinet and strings
Audio
Copyright

György Ligeti: The Ligeti Project © 2016 Warner Classics 0825646028580

Comment of the composer on the work

While I was still a student at the Budapest Music Academy in 1949, I was requested by public radio to cultivate the “national heritage” by writing a suite on dance melodies of the Biedermeier period, that is, around 1800. The Régi magyar társas táncok (Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances, 1949) are therefore not my own composition, but only a selection of dance tunes by Lavotta, Bihari, Csermák and Rózsavölgyi, which I orchestrated for flute, clarinet and strings. In the same year I wrote some incidental music for a Chinese puppet play. The Big Turtle Fanfare is a melodic fragment from this music. After a lengthy stay in Romania in 1950, I wrote Baladă şi joc (Ballad and Dance) — first for two violins, then for school orchestra. I later developed the Romanian Concerto (1951) from this piece.

© 2001–2003 Teldec Classics & 2004 Warner Classics, Warner Music UK Ltd | Translation: Louise Duchesneau

Publisher