was finished in 1952 in Budapest, while Ligeti was still a student at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music.
Ligeti was, at that time, very influence by Béla Bartók's work, and tried to follow his steps when he composed music based on Hungarian traditional songs or poems, as he also did in Lakodalmas, Bujdosó and Kállai kettős.
Moreover, in 1952, Hungary was occupied by Russia and Hungarian culture was mostly censored, rarely published and secretly performed.
It usually takes approximately four to five minutes to perform and is scored for a mixed choir which should consist of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses.
The movement list is as follows:[5][6] This composition has been translated and adapted into German by Hilger Schallehn and into English by Desmond Clayton.