This essay is an analysis of Gyorgy Ligeti's Melodien for orchestra (1971), with a particular focus on symmetrical structures and imitative echoing. In this essay, I explore the many levels--melodic, harmonic, temporal, and structural--on which these mirrorings and shadowings take place. In Melodien, these symmetries and shadowings are often broken, distorted, or negated; the tension between order and disorder in Ligeti's works manifests itself in these moments. I also explore the connections between Gustav Klimt's mosaic paintings, an inspiration behind Melodien, and Ligeti's compositional practices. In the introduction, I briefly situate Melodien in terms of Ligeti's previous works. In the following two sections, I discuss structural, temporal, and melodic aspects of mirroring and shadowing. In the fourth section, I explore harmonic aspects, including the prevalence of the major third in Melodien and the presence of symmetrical and near-symmetrical interval structures. In the fifth section, I discuss the idea of implied just intonation within the 12-note equal-tempered world of Melodien--distorted shadows of harmonic spectra. In the sixth section, I discuss the connections between Melodien and Klimt's mosaic works: the surface-level brightness and glitter of both, structural and compositional correspondences between Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) and Melodien, and the presence of broken symmetries in Klimt's works.

The reputation given to Adolf Loos and Gustav Klimt as opposites, as well as the understanding of Loos's writings as supporting this reputation, correspond less to the works as such than to the general dichotomic mode of understanding that we inherited from the so-called platonic dichotomy of being and appearance. / Indeed, common to their respective work are the relationships in which stand the elements forever understood as antagonistic. Neither opposition nor transparency, their work bring forth an intermediary state, the state of coexistence of difference. / By questioning the relationships between elements taken as opposites, Loos and Klimt are challenging the secular dichotomy of being and appearance, and with it the whole understanding of artistic creation and of the work of art as such.

No description available.