Sonata for Solo Cello (Ligeti)

[1] In this year, he composed the Dialogo, which would later become the first movement of the Sonata, for a female cellist and fellow student at the Budapest Music Academy, Annuss Virány, with whom Ligeti was "secretly in love.

[3] Having written only one unperformed cello work to date, Ligeti offered to expand the Dialogo into a "two-movement short sonata," adding a virtuosic Capriccio movement.

[2] With the country now a part of the Eastern Bloc, Ligeti was required to subject all his compositions to the scrutiny of the Communist-controlled Composers' Union, at the risk of losing his job.

The Sonata comprises two contrasting movements:Ligeti freely admitted that his pre-1956 compositions were heavily influenced by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály.

In an article delving into the technical aspects of the Sonata, Søren Beech suggests that the melody may have been inspired by ancient modal tunes preserved through the Eastern European folk music tradition.

[8] The modal melody is presented throughout the movement with distinct alterations: it is stated with rhythmic augmentation and then in polyphony, a testament to Ligeti's counterpoint training under Ferenc Farkas.

[5]In fact, the title Capriccio was a direct reference to the famously brilliant Caprices for violin by Niccolò Paganini, which Ligeti had encountered as a child.

[10] The modal melody is once again reiterated, this time "tremolo sul tasto", (over the fingerboard) and harmonized with a perfect fifth above, a chord planing technique which also reflects Bartók's influence.