Scene from the production Le Grand Macabre
Opera

Le Grand Macabre

Györgi Ligeti

Mankind is facing its final hour. The end of the world is fast approaching and Nekrotzar, the terrifying Great Macabre, rises from his grave to proclaim the end of time. He takes Piet the Pot, a drunken wine-taster, as his assistant. Together they embark on an apocalyptic ride through Breughelland, a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah of booze and sex, ruled by the infantile prince Go-Go, corrupt ministers and perverted courtiers, inhabited by a frightened and downtrodden people and controlled by the Secret Political Police.

The anti-anti-opera »Le Grand Macabre« by the Hungarian composer György Ligeti, which premiered in 1978, is regarded as one of the most effective works of musical theatre of the past decades. In this highly entertaining mix of medieval mystery play, absurd slapstick and black humour, Ligeti tells the story of the end of the world in a virtuoso composition filled with musical quotations and pastiche. Happily, the tale does not conclude with the anticipated apocalypse, which is simply forgotten during a night of general drunkenness.

Opera in two acts

Libretto by Michael Meschke and György Ligeti, based on Michel de Ghelderode’s drama La Balade du Grand Macabre

Performed in German with German and English supertitles

Premiere
3. November 2019,

No further performances in the current season.

Premiere cast

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
 Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Dresden premiere
Co-production with the Teatro Real in Madrid

Generously supported by the Semperoper Foundation


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