In 1977, Ligeti completed his only opera, "Le Grand Macabre", thirteen years after its initial commission. Loosely based on Michel de Ghelderode's 1934 play, "La balade du grand macabre", it is a work of Absurd theatre—Ligeti called it an "anti-anti-opera"—in which Death (Nekrotzar) arrives in the fictional city of Breughelland and announces that the end of the world will occur at midnight. Musically, "Le Grand Macabre" draws on techniques not associated with Ligeti's previous work, including quotations and pseudo-quotations of other works and the use of consonant thirds and sixths.