Musica Ricercata - Pitch Structure

Pitch Structure

An important global structural feature of Musica ricercata is that Ligeti confines himself to only certain pitch classes in each movement, with each subsequent movement having exactly one more pitch class than the last. The pitches found in each movement are as follows:

Movement Pitches
I A, D
II E♯, F♯, G
III C, E, E♭, G
IV A, B♭, F♯, G, G♯
V A♭, B, C♯, D, F, G
VI A, B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G
VII A♭, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G
VIII A, B, C, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, G♯
IX A, A♯, B, C, C♯, D, D♯, F, F♯, G♯
X A, A♯, B, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, G♭, G, G♯
XI A, A♯, B, C, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, F♯, G, G♯

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