"The Hungarian National Opera"
As was the case with all the nations of Eastern Europe, in Hungary too, the writing music took wing only in the mid-19th century. That development resulted in the emergence of national musical cultures and institutions Just as in Russia, Bohemia and Poland, the opera proved the most suitable genre for propagating national ideals. In addition to the identity of purpose, each nation had the same musical approach to these problems. They had to fit their own popular and national music into the framework evolved in Italy, France and Germany and into corresponding types of form, scenic structure and dramaturgy.
Apart from some occasional pieces and the music for the Hungarian national anthem, Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893) only wrote operas. Since he was the outstanding conductor in Hungary at the time, he was familiar with the cream of operatic literature and was well versed in the demands of stage technique and dramaturgy. His first opera, Batori Maria was entirely under Italian and French influence, and the Hungarian material merely featured as an insert. In Hunyadi Laszló, first performed in 1844, national music acquired a function. In the 19th century, however, this music could be no other than verbunkos dance music. The Hungarians of the time regarded it as truly genuine and ancient Hungarian music. In the last century, the concepts of "old and " popular-national" were generally regarded as the same and it was thought that the verbunkos had been present even in the days of the Hungarian conquest in 896A.D. It has since been discovered, however, that even though the verbunkos is rooted in remote times and places, and contains genuine Hungarian folk elements, it cannot be regarded either as ancient or folk. We still do not know the exact origin of the verbunkos. In addition to the genuine Hungarian folk elements one can also discern the influence of contemporary Italian and Viennese piano music as well as certain Slav features. We know of data about the verbunkos from the middle of the 18th century and it seems that it became fashionable in the 1770s. Its aristocratic tautness, rhythmic wealth and soaring emotional effect made the verbunkos more than any other kind of music, a symbol of the political and intellectual ideals of the Reform Age preceding the 1848-1849 revolution and War of Independence.
Verbunkos implies melodic invention, principles of form and methods of orchestration. Its melodic characteristics are dotted rhythm. certain typical patterns and regular musical periods of broad melodic lines. It has a three-part structure slowfast-faster. (In the course of its development, it became simply a slow-fast form ) Naturally, orchestration of the verbunkos was dominated by the tonal colours of the Gypsy bands that popularized it, with the primary emphasis upon the strings, especially the violin.
This music assumed a structural function in Hunyadi Laszló. The slow type became the expression of tragedy, while the fast forms were used to reflecting heroism, At the same time, Erkel sharply divided the figures portrayed in his operas. The negative characters were never identified with the verbunkos, while the positive the overture and this descending, scale-like motif occurs at every step in the score. Verbunkos music lends an unmistakable heroic intonation to Bank's first appearance on stage, to Petur's figure and to Tiborc. The musical material of the king's role is a sort of midpoint between the two hostile groups, at certain times reflecting a national tone and at others, an international idiom. The verbunkos served not only as basic melodic material and a means of characterization but also as part of the formal construction. For example. in the scene on the banks of the Tisza the slowfast-faster structure of the verbunkos was used as the guiding principle in the composition of a whole scene. It is only natural that the verbunkos and its descendant. the csardas should also appear in Bank ban where they are justified by the plot-the dances of the first act. At that time, genuine Hungarian folk music, that of the peasants, was virtually unknown outside the villages. In the flute music, scored for two piccolos (the scene by the Tisza river). however. Erkel, either intuitively or drawing upon past memories, hit upon musical solutions that were extraordinarily close to genuine Hungarian folk music.
The straight line of Erket's operatic development reached its peak in Bank ban. In this work, he achieved a synthesis of traditional international operatic composition and Hungarian melodic material of the highest standard by the use of the varbunkns both as basic musical material and as part of the structure. Since this artistic peak is associated with the greatest tragedy in Hungar ian literature, we can regard Bank ban as the Hungarian national opera.
heroes start out from an international operatic style and in the course of their dramatic development, arrive at a folk national melodic realm, The musical structure of Bank ban pursues the same line as initiated in Hunyadi Laszló. The villainous negative characters-Gertrud and her entourage-are delineated in the general international musical idiom of the times. Whenever they come into contact with a positive hero either in duets or in ensembles, the latter also takes on this tone (the duet of Melinda and Ottó, etc.). But there are examples to the contrary where the positive hero becomes so predominant in a particular scene that his verbunkos tone carries with it his opponents (Gertrud-Bank duet). The development is felt chiefly in the character portraying the title role. Bank's first aria (°Melinda, to egi nev"-Melinda, how bright) is identical in character with contemporary tenor romances French or Italian operas. In the aria `Hazam, hazam (Homeland. Homeland), however, which marks one of the culmination points of the opera, we find typical verbunkos music with all its characteristic rhythmic patterns and melodic turns. This heroic, national tone can perhaps be heard most clearly in Melinda's part. Aside from her duet with Ottó, almost every one of her arias or parts in the ensembles represents the slow solemn type of verbunkos. The accompaniment to her farewell scene in the second act both in its melodics and the composition of the orchestra, shows an at tempt by Erkel to introduce a kind of verbunkos chamber music to the operatic stage (viola d'a- more, cor anglais, harp and cimbalom). Melinda's fundamental melody is already apparent in the overture and this descending, scale-like motif occurs at every step in the score. Verbunkos music lends an unmistakable heroic intonation to Bank's first appearance on stage, to Petur's figure and to Tiborc. The musical material of the king's role is a sort of midpoint between the two hostile groups, at certain times reflecting a national tone and at others, an international idiom. The verbunkos served not only as basic melodic material and a means of characterization but also as part of the formal construction. For example. in the scene on the banks of the Tisza the slowfast-faster structure of the verbunkos was used as the guiding principle in the composition of a whole scene. It is only natural that the verbunkos and its descendant. the csardas should also appear in Bank ban where they are justified by the plot-the dances of the first act. At that time, genuine Hungarian folk music, that of the peasants, was virtually unknown outside the villages. In the flute music, scored for two piccolos (the scene by the Tisza river). however. Erkel, either intuitively or drawing upon past memories, hit upon musical solutions that were extraordinarily close to genuine Hungarian folk music.
The straight line of Erket's operatic development reached its peak in Bank ban. In this work, he achieved a synthesis of traditional international operatic composition and Hungarian melodic material of the highest standard by the use of the varbunkns both as basic musical material and as Erkel himself was well-aware that he had reached a peak, that the same style and method could only lead to imitations of Bank ban. For that very reason, in all his later works, he changed either the dramatic structure, or the melodic material, or the style. In Brankovics he relied on Slav melodic material, and he used a prose libretto, besides, as in Dózsa Gyórgy, he made less and less use of set pieces, in Heroes without a name, the Csar-das and folksy art-song replaced the verbunkos-type Hungarian folk-music, and in King Stephen his style approached Wagner's.
József Katona (1791-1830), the author of the tragedy, was one of those strange intellects who create a single masterpiece never matching it in any work either before or after. He completed Bank ban at the age of twentyfive, in 1814-1815 and revised it two years later.
The story of the origin of Bank ban, the opera covers a span of twenty years. It was first mentioned a few months after the premiere of Hunyadi Laszló in 1844. as a work in preparation based upon Katona's play. One thing is certain - that the plan of the opera must have been completed by 1851. the year Beni Egressy, the librettist, died. At the time of the absolutist regime following the defeat of the Hungarian revolution and War of Independence in 1848-1849, it was of course impossible to have Bank ban performed on stage. The first performance only took place in the period consolidation, on 9 March, 1861, at the National Theatre in Pest. The conductor was
Erkel and the cast included the best Hungarian opera singers of the time. The critical response was full of superlatives and the work became one of the most frequently performed operas in the repertoir of the National Theatre and subsequently, the Budapest Opera House.
Towards the end of the 1930's, the management of the Hungarian Royal Opera ordered the musical and textual modernization of the piece. The revision was undertaken by Kalman Nadasdy, the noted poet and translator, and producer of the Opera. The musical changes necessitated by the new text were executed by Nandor Rekai, a leading conductor of the company. Nadasdy primarily set about eliminating the structural weaknesses of Egressy's libretto pointing up the figure of Petur who is a major character in Katona's play but had been neglected in the opera. Nadasdy also stripped the character of Tiborc of the sentimentality added by Egressy and restored Katona's poignancy. Wherever possible, he used Katona's original words and in fact managed to salvage whole scenes. As far as Rekai was concerned, he in turn used Erkel's original music throughout in making the necessary changes to suit the text. He omitted certain voice parts, turned trios into duets, and choral sections into orchestral interludes, etc. Both revisers made considerable cuts, in the interest of dramatic continuity and succinctness.
Abridged from an essay by Peter Varnai
Utwory
Compact Disc 1 (63´31˝)
1 PRELUDE
ACT ONE
Scene 1
2 Scena Ah, Biberach örvendj (3´21˝)
(Ottó, Biberach, Petur, Chorus)
3 Drinking Song Bordalt, Petur... Ha férfilelkedet (2´39˝)
(Chorus, Petur)
4 Scena A királyné!... Szép örömkönny (2´49˝)
(Courtier, Chorus, Ottó, Melinda, Gertrud)
5 Duet Hívtál, Petur bán! (7´13˝)
(Bánk, Petur, Biberach)
6 Scena and ballet Jöjjetek barátaim! (4´46˝)
(Petur, Chorus, Courtier)
7 Scena Gyengéd szíved nem örül (5´53˝)
(Ottó, Melinda, Gertrud, Biberach, Chorus)
Scene 2
8 Scena, Aria and Duet Melinda, csak egy szóra! (6´48˝)
(Ottó, Melinda, Biberach)
9 Romance Lett volna vak e szem... Melinda! te égi név (3´49˝)
(Bánk)
10 Scena Oh, szégyen,ím az első lény (2´14˝)
(Ottó, Biberach)
Scene 3
11 Finale Most Gertrud elbocsát (7´26˝)
(Gertrud, Chorus, Melinda, Otto Petur)
ACT TWO
Scene 1
12 Prelude (6´53˝)
13 Aria Mint száműzött... Hazám, hazám (2´39˝)
(Bánk)
14 Duet A békétlenek terveit... Nagyúr! Bánk, jó napot (7´51˝)
15 Sebhely díszíti homlokod (1´55˝)
(Bánk, Tiborc)
Compact Disc 2 (62´48˝)
1 Scena Gyászhírt hozok (2´55˝)
(Biberach, Bánk, Melinda)
2 Aria Ölj meg engemet, Bánk (3´32˝)
(Melinda)
3 Duet Hol van fehér homlokod liljom virága? (3´56˝)
(Bánk, Melinda)
4 The Farewell Hűséges Tiborcom... Ki ártatlanul bűnös vagyok (8´10˝)
(Bánk, Melinda)
Scene 2
5 Duet Bánk bán! Te itt? (6´30˝)
(Gertrud, Bánk)
6 Magyar hazámnak falvait bejártam (5´37˝)
(Bánk, Gertrud, Otto)
ACT THREE
Scene 1
7 Scena Szegény gyermekem (6´10˝)
(Melinda, Tiborc, Chorus)
8 Aria Élt régen egyszer (3´54˝)
(Melinda)
9 Recitativo and Lullaby A csónak készen vár... Álmodj szelíden (4´52˝)
(Tiborc, Melinda)
10 Scena Ne üljetek most a ladikra fel! (2´03˝)
(Chorus, Tiborc, Melinda)
Scene 2
11 Scena Isten, a holtnak adj örök nyugalmat (10´07˝)
Száz hős csatán
(Chorus, King Endre, Knight, Bánk)
12 Finale Oh, jaj nekem! Tiborc! (4´42˝)
(Bánk, Tiborc, Chorus)
Wykonawcy
Endre II, King of Hungary - SÁNDOR SÓLYOM-NAGY (baritone)
Gertrud, his Queen - ERZSÉBET KOMLÓSSY (mezzo-soprano)
Ottó, Prince of Meran, her brother - JÓZSEF RÉTI (tenor)
Bánk bán, Palatine of Hungary - JÓZSEF SIMÁNDY (tenor)
Melinda, his wife - KAROLA ÁGAY (soprano)
Petur bán - ANDRÁS FARAGÓ (baritone)
Biberach, a knight-errant - LÁSZLÓ PALÓCZ (baritone)
Tiborc, a peasant - GYÖRGY MELIS (baritone)
A Courtier - IMRE JÓKY (tenor)
A Knight - ANDRÁS RAJNA (baritone)
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA CHORUS
(Chorus master: Amadé Németh)
BUDAPEST PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Géza Németh - viola d'amore
Béla Pásztor - cor anglais
Ida Tarjáni Tóth - cimbalom
Conducted by
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