Ferenc Erkel: BÁNK BÁN (THE VICEROY BÁNK)
Classic Opera
This performance is not recommended for chrildren under the age of 14.
In 1844, following on the heels of his triumph in the competition to set Ferenc Kölcsey's Himnusz – today the national anthem of Hungary – to music, Ferenc Erkel set about looking at the possibilities for using József Katona's much-attacked drama Bánk Bán as the subject for an opera. History made the period of composition a lengthy one: first came the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848/49, and censorship by the dictatorship that followed meant that the audience would have to wait until 9 March 1861 before the work could be performed in its entirety at Pest's National Theatre. As a result of, or in spite of, the high-level additions and revisions, the remarkable aspect of the following performances of the ever-acclaimed Bánk Bán is the fact that the text and musical material were created using both the work's original version and the 1939 revision – the one best know to the wider audience – credited to Kálmán Nádasdy. The storyline thus most closely mirrors the thinking of original playwright József Katona, without forcing us to dispense with the now-timeless grand aria "Hazám, hazám" ("My homeland, my homeland").
General cast
Endre II, king of Hungary................................. Lajos Geiger
Gertrud, his queen........................................... Erika Gál
Bánk bán, the viceroy...................................... István Kovácsházi / Boldizsár László
Melinda, his wife.............................................. Orsolya Hajnalka Rőser
Ottó, Younger brother of Gertrud..................... Gergely Boncsér
Tiborc, a peasant............................................. Csaba Szegedi
Petur bán, leader of the nobles....................... Michele Kalmandy
Biberach, a knight-errant................................. Antal Cseh
A royal officer................................................... Zoltán Bátki Fazekas
Conductor: Ádám Medveczky
Authors
Librettist: Béni Egressy - Kálmán Nádasdy
Director: Attila Vidnyánszky
Set designer: Oleksandr Bilozub
Costume designer: Viktória Nagy
Choreographer: Árpád Köntzei
Dramaturg: Eszter Orbán
English surtitles: Arthur Roger Crane
Chorus director: Gábor Csiki
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