My grandfather was not a musician but he was an artist – a painter, a decorative painter. – Gyorgy Ligeti
I was fifteen years old, and I hardly knew how to play a simple Bach prelude on the piano when I began to compose music, and at the most advanced level. I had never studied such things as harmony. – Gyorgy Ligeti
Then, after the war it was impossible to travel, after so many years of Hitler and Stalin. – Gyorgy Ligeti
In January 1944 I was called up by the Forced Labor Service, but I deserted on October 10, 1944. – Gyorgy Ligeti
I think it was when I was nineteen, by that time the Jewish laws were already in force and the split was beginning to come about which isolated the Jewish culture. – Gyorgy Ligeti
Stravinsky used Mother Goose. He was influenced by Mother Goose, indirectly, but very beautifully. – Gyorgy Ligeti
I listen to all kinds of music – new music, old music, music of my colleagues, everything. – Gyorgy Ligeti
When I was younger I was completely without money – when I was studying in Budapest, when I was a refugee. – Gyorgy Ligeti
I continued to study Math and Physics on my own, but one and a half years later I realized that I did want to be a composer, and after that I never changed my mind. – Gyorgy Ligeti
Well I live in Vienna with my wife and son, and I teach in Hamburg, there will be no changes in that respect. – Gyorgy Ligeti
It isn’t false modesty when I say this, but although I am supposed to be a famous person it doesn’t mean anything to me. I just sit at home and work. – Gyorgy Ligeti
