DIRECTOR JAN LAUWERS ABOUT GYÖRGY LIGETI

Le Grand Macabre is a masterpiece in the form of a cynical scherzo. As a king without a kingdom, Ligeti scatters salt on the wounds of the old continent. We live in a Europe which is rapidly changing, and cynicism is the last thing we need. Particularly since humour is more often the weapon of a coward than a deed of optimism. But you can hardly call Ligeti a coward. On the contrary, a libretto in which the moral is distinguished by brutal sex, rampant consumerism, and the end of time is not hedonistic cynicism for him but an ironic ode to love. He says:

Thus, it is the triumph of Eros: we live, we drink, we make love, but all that in disorder, as in real life. It is a rather sordid Eros, not entirely nice. We live, but life is not so beautiful. Therefore, this end is very close to the design of Ghelderode. It is not act of a true hedonism, it is not an act of happiness. Rather, it is sad, very sad. In my version, it is made ironic by the music, the text is not so ironic, but the music is much more, the finale music, this passacaglia, very consonant, very pretty, very pure.

I like things pushed to the extreme, I like the extremes, absolutely insane things, and much more in opera. I believe that, for an understandable musical success where the text is half the picture, one must push everything to the ex- treme, as much as possible.

GYÖRGY LIGETI