page_title: Viola Sonata (Ligeti)
section_title: 2. Loop
hierarchical_section_title: Viola Sonata (Ligeti) / Movements / 2. Loop
caption_attribution_description: English: The 45 double stops that are looped in the second movement of Ligeti's Viola Sonata. Norsk nynorsk: Dei 45 dobbelgrepa som repeterast i andresatsen av Ligetis bratsjsonate.
context_page_description: György Ligeti composed his Viola Sonata between 1991 and 1994. It is a sonata for viola solo in six movements, and Ligeti composed it in various phases, parallel with his Violin Concerto, and his piano études. The composer was inspired to write a viola sonata after hearing Tabea Zimmermann playing on the radio, then began writing various movements. The second movement Loop, was premiered by Garth Knox, while Facsar was premiered in 1993 by Jürg Dahler. The two movements were conceived as part of a complete work and that became the second and third movements of Ligeti's Viola Sonata.
  The sonata is a departure from Ligeti's Cello Sonata, composed 40 years earlier and represents an important turning point, with the Viola Sonata embracing more of a pattern reminiscent in the Baroque sonata, which has many movements, a Lamento, and concludes with a chaconne, which follows Frescobaldi's sonatas that brought the passacaglia and chaconne. The first and third movements are variations on an ostinato, and alternate between the moto perpetuo movements that are the second and the fourth.
context_section_description: The second movement, Loop, employs similar diminutives procedures to Renaissance motets, which contrast with the augmentation employed in the previous movement. There is a clear jazz influence in the movement and there is an indication to play "with swing", perhaps due to the influence of the music of Stéphane Grappelli. The entire work consists of 45 double stops that are looped, with a 3-bar introduction. The technical difficulty is remarkable, the double stops are always played with open strings and have position jumps that are rather challenging for the left hand and turns the complex arc, which together with the growing rhythmic contraction leading to an interrupted finale.
caption: The 45 double stops that repeat throughout the piece.
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