Complete Or Incomplete?The Analysis Of Texts And Melodic Contours In Gy(?)rgy Kurtag’s Musical Fragments-Chamber Song Op.9

Gy(?)rgy Kurtag(1926-)is a composer who loves to use incomplete,fragmented,and even pointless poems as the lyrics of his musical works.In his Vier Capriccios,Op.9 for the Soprano and Chamber Orchestra,Kurtag has selected four of Balint Istvan’s Poems as the lyrics of his musical work.Therefore,I will first analyze and translate the poems,and use contour theory established by American music theorists Elizabeth West Marvin,Paul Laprade and methods by Charles R.Adams to analyze this musical work.Through my analysis,I will try to explore how Kurtag used melodic contours to highlight the contradictions,oppositions in musical fragments and discuss their most important feature-incomplete.Finally,I will also explore whether the musical fragments are complete or incomplete?...