Dear Mr Weissmann,

Thank you very much for your postcard, I am pleased that you are publishing an example of mine. Unfortunately I can't send you a score, one copy is currently being copied on the radio in Cologne, another is in Vienna, and the original [manuscript] is in Berlin. I have copied a few passages from the copy so that you can choose.
The string quartet is from 1954. I assume that you have already heard about my other pieces, because I have sent you an autobiography; and you have two of my manuscripts. Since [19]54, i.e. since the string quartet, which still shows a Bartók influence, I have hardly used this style any more, because then came the influence of Webern and so on. I've now digested that and am starting to work at full speed again. I think there's hardly any Berg or Webern in what I'm doing now, although of course you can sense that I like these two composers (and some works by Stravinsky) best.
The title of my work in preparation is "Apparitions", 5 short movements for string orchestra and a few other instruments (2 h[arfs], 1 piano, 1 harpsichord, 1 celesta, a few percussion instruments [sparingly]). Last year I wrote three electronic pieces, the first is "Glissandi" - I don't like it and won't have it performed; the other is "Artikulation", it will be premiered in Cologne on 25 March; the third doesn't have a title yet, it's only in sketches. What I am writing is not 12-tone music and is less speculative than the music of the Stockhausen circle. However, I have moved very far away from the "New Hungarian" school (without this being to the detriment of Hungarianism). Sound fantasies are primary, from these the forms are formed freely, without any traditional formal patterns.


Kind regards,
György Ligeti