Composition database

This is the Composition Database of BMC, which includes information about works by composers that are either Hungarian or Hungarian by origin or live in Hungary.

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Title of the work

Mysteries of the Macabre - für Koloratursopran und Kammerorchester

Composer
Ligeti György
Original / Hungarian title
Mysteries of the Macabre - für Koloratursopran und Kammerorchester
Foreign language / English title
Mysteries of the Macabre - für Koloratursopran und Kammerorchester
Subtitle
Drei Arien aus der Oper "Le Grand Macabre"
Dedication
Elgar Howarth und Håkan Hardenberger gewidmet
Year of composition
1977
Type
Solo voice(s) with chamber orchestra
Number of players
17
Instrumentation
S. color. solo - fl. (anche picc.), ob., cl. (anche cl.b.), fg. (anche cfg.) - cor., tr., trb. (ad lib. anche trb.cb.) - perc. (2 esec. - campli., crot., xil., ptto.sosp., ptti. a 2, tam-tam, tom-tom, tambourine, 4 bongo, tmb.picc., gr.c., 4 temple bl., cas., marimba, guiro, slide whistle, 1 sheet of wrapping paper, signal whistle, police whistle, wood bl.) - pf. (anche cel.), mand. - strings: vl. 1, vl. 2, vla., vlc., cb.
Duration
9 min
Text
MESCHKE, Michael - LIGETI, György
Premiere information
11 March 1993, NEC (New England Conservatory), Boston, USA; Lisa Saffer (S.), New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble, John Heiss (cond.)
Publisher / Source
Schott Music, 8210 (study score), performance material on hire
Available here!
1 min. sample
1 Mysteries of the Macabre
Remarks, other info
Three arias from the opera "Le Grand Macabre", arranged by Elgar Howarth

Year of composition: 1974-1977, revised 1991

"I composed my opera Le Grand Macabre from 1974 to 1977. The Mysteries of the Macabre are arrangements of three coloratura arias of the chief of the "Secret Political Police" which have been arranged (beautifully!) for chamber ensemble by Elgar Howarth. My friend Howarth had conducted the world premiere of the opera in Stockholm in 1978 and some of the further productions. The half-nonsense text is an immediate – however more accurate – continuation of the idea of my works Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures, but there is no chromatics in the music any more."
 

Recordings

Title Publisher
György Ligeti Edition 4 - Vocal Works Sony