High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Le Grand Macabre (1975 77, revised version 1996) is György Ligeti's only opera. The opera has two acts and its libretto, loosely based on a play by the Belgian author Michel De Ghelderode, was written by Ligeti in collaboration with Michael Meschke. The original libretto was written in German, and the opera has been performed also in Swedish, English, French and Italian. Unlike many operas, this one was written specifically with flexibility of language in mind. Only a few notes need be changed to perform the opera in any of these languages.