György Ligeti’s 1977/1996 opera Le Gran Macabre was commissioned by the Royal Opera in Sweden. It operated both as a summary of the previous 25 years of his compositional work and an overview of the human condition from ‘sex to politics, inebriation and death.’ Set in the mythical kingdom of ‘Bruegelland,’ inhabited by the peasants, monsters and apocalypses seen in Breugel’s paintings. The opera received its debut in 1978 in Stockholm, Sweden and then, revised by Ligeti, appeared in 1997 in Salzburg, in a production directed by Peter Sellars.
György Ligeti
Mysteries of the Macabre
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, conductor
