Use of Humour in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre - Essay Example

Use of Humour in Ligetis Le Grand Macabre It may seem unusual to think of an opera as being humorous, or as seeking to make its audience laugh. When one thinks of traditional operas like Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen or Tchaikovskys works, they are not even slightly funny. People often die in horrible ways and opera is more likely to be a tragedy than a comedy. Liegti, however, stands out as somewhat of a humorist, especially as regards his opera Le Grand Macabre. The main ways that Ligeti uses humour in the opera are through musical parody of existing operas, through heavy-handed comedy, and through its use of dark humour.

This use of humour is not restricted to Ligetis opera. As Boyden and Kimberly (2002, p.572) have stated, dark humour is the dominant element in his theatrical works, including his opera Le Grand Macabre. The musical structure of the opera is humorous in its parodies of existing works. The start, for instance, with its twelve note rows, is a parody of serialism, poking fun at serial composers who tend to be overly serious (Searby, 2015). Ligeti uses parody throughout the opera, as well as related techniques such as quotation, distorted quotation, .

and pastiche (Searby, 2010, p.171). This parody is combined with the mixture of a number of contrasting musical elements as diverse as flamenco, a church hymn, and ragtime to further undercut the seriousness of the music (Searby, 2010, p.71). Ultimately the effect of these musical techniques is a kind of incongruity which makes listeners laugh as they struggle to make sense of the mixed-together styles. Additionally, the parody of more serious works invites listeners to compare the opera to those other works as they listen.

Outside of musical parody and pastiche, a good deal of the humour comes from the scenario of the opera itself, which is very heavy-handed and comes in a fast, sort of manic fashion (Searby, 2015). The scenario, which focuses among other things on people who want to have sex constantly and someone who wants to destroy the world, is clearly humorous, even if it is not a happy kind of humour. As John Morreall points out, two of the things which make us laugh are incongruity, or the unexpected, and feelings of superiority over other people (Searby, 2015).

One example of both kinds of humour, complete with heavy-handedness, in Le Grand Macabre is how the astronomers wife asks for a good lover and is then killed because the sex she gets from Nekrotzar is so rough (Boyden and Kimberly 2002, p.573). While this should not really be funny, it is funny because we can feel superior to her and also do not expect sex to lead to death. The ending of the opera, likewise, results in the two people who want constant sex being so cheerful that they cause the evil Nekrotzar to melt away into nothingness (Boyden and Kimberly 2002, p.573). Ultimately, the use of musical allusion and parody, combined with the humour of the operas scenario and libretto, serves to help the opera satirize the idea of a terrifying tyrant as well as death itself (Searby, 2015).

Ligetis use of humour is what makes the operas otherwise heavy-handed subject matter into an effective and memorable experience. Reference List Searby, M., 2010. Ligetis Stylistic Crisis: Transformation in his musical style, 1974-1985. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press. Searby, M., 2015. Humour in opera: a case study of Ligeti’s use of humour in his opera Le Grand Macabre. [seminar] (Personal communication, 16 February 2015). Boyden, M. and Kimberly, N., 2002. Gyorgy Ligeti. In: The Rough Guide to Opera.

London: Rough Guides. pp.572-574.