The composer of the famous Slovenian avant-garde opera Black Masks, Marij Kogoj, worked on this eccentric modern work, based on a story by the Russian writer Leonid Andreyev, between the years 1924 and 1927. The opera about Lorenzo, who is haunted by demons until his eventual mental break down, has for long been considered to be born under an unlucky star. Its previous stagings - some of them infamous, others doomed to never see the light of day - have been surrounded by dark rumours, including some linking the opera with the composer's personal destiny.