Pannon Philharmonic

Conductor

Gergely Vajda

About the Programme

Anti-opera. What could be the reason for György Ligeti (1923-1990) to think that even this paradox concept was outdated for the genre classification of his creation, Le Grand Macabre (1978)? This is the composer's only opera, which is not linked to any style and trends. The basis of the two-act work is a drama with the same title by the Belgian avant-garde writer, M. de Ghelderode. In the very tangled story, Nekrotzar intends to destroy the world, setting itself as the angel of death. The events happened to him and their characters not a little less pervert would provide excellent and chewy theme to psychiatric scientists, not to mention that the in the finish, the "hero" misses the end of the world because of his drunkenness. The whole work is pervaded by fear of death, spiced with absurd humour; the apocalypse atmosphere forms a unique mixture with the show-offs of vaudeville comedies. In this music, Beethoven and Verdi's musical stuff, grotesque sounding Schubert-quote or a Monteverdi-tune played on 12 car horns might seem unreasonable, but the listener should ask the question: is that really an imaginary story of a fictional location or rather of the unhuman world of busy streets of today? "Anti-anti-opera". This is Ligeti’s strongest opinion.