Abstract:
In the absence of melodic and motivic structures, how does signification
function in atonal music? By extending the properties of actoriality, this article
focuses on the goal-directedness of kinetic energy as an independent property
of actoriality. The demonstration focuses on various modalities of goal-directed
kinetic energy in meaningful segments of György Ligeti’s second string quartet
(1968) in order to promote an understanding of the overall design. Because time
and space are integrated in the various modalities of atonal musical processes, a
conceptual framework for making sense of signification in Ligeti’s string quartet
as a whole becomes possible.
