It won the Grand Prix of the Prince Pierre of Monaco composers' competition in 1970 and was first performed in its entirety on 11 May 1986 at the Opernhaus Wuppertal.

The composer himself wrote the libretto which is based on Stanisław Lem's The Cyberiad, a darkly comic series of science fiction short stories.

[1][2][3] The revolutionary approach by Meyer in terms of music included the incorporation of chance into the process of creation known as aleatoricism, and the use of sonorism in orchestration, based on inventing new types of sounds on individual instruments.

The Poznań production was directed by Ran Arthur Braun and conducted by Krzysztof Słowiński,[6][7] with space-scenography by Justin C.

The second story recounts how the subject of King Voluptatus (Król Rozporyk in Polish, i.e. Zipperupus), a constructor named Chytrian (Listig in German), tries to get rid of him because he has completely lost touch with reality after spending too much time in special giant cupboards which generate erotic dreams.

The final insight resulting from these "ironic utopian reflections" on human existence is that only wisdom and truth can save the world, not the pursuit of progress, perfection, and wealth.