Mysteries of the Macabre

for soprano and orchestra is one of the several adaptations (there is also a version with trumpet instead of solo soprano and with ensemble or piano instead of orchestra) of a scene from Le Grand Macabre, an opera Ligeti composed in 1974–77. In this tripartite aria, the soloist sings the part of the Gepopo secret police chief, who warns the ruler of Brueghelland (the fictional country in which the opera’s plot is set) of the forthcoming apocalypse, announced by the mysterious Nekrotzar—an actual or alleged incarnation of Death. The Gepopo passes the message on through an odd code: as in Ligeti’s earlier works (Aventures, Nouvelles aventures), incomprehensible successions of fancily articulated syllables and phonemes make up a sort of virtuoso display. The breakneck coloraturas, while absurd and grotesque (as are the accompanying instrumental parts), bring to mind well-known operatic fireworks such as Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria.

Krzysztof Kwiatkowski