Ferenc ERKEL (1810-1893) King Stephen (István király) Soloists King Stephen Opera Chorus Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV Valéria Csányi CD 1 75:11 Act Three Ferenc Act One @ No. 9: Most elhagyunk, maradjatok 1 No. 1: Ég áldd meg a királyt (We take leave now, you stay) 5:33 ERKEL (Chorus, Imre, Crescimira) (1810-1893) (God save the King) 8:52 (Chorus, István, Hunt, Pázmán, Vencelin, Péter, Vazul, # Boldogtalan leány (Hapless girl) 6:40 King Stephen (István király) Endre, Béla, Levente, Imre, Gellért, Csanád, Asztrik) (Imre, Crescimira) 2 No. 2: Ó atyám, szétzúzva boldogságom CD 2 66:49 Opera in Four Acts (Oh Father, my happiness is shattered) 6:52 1 No. 10: Oh, bosszúálló égnek istene Libretto by Antal Váradi (based on Lajos Dobsa’s drama I. István király) (Imre, Gellért, Chorus, Gizella) (Oh, vengeful God) 5:10 3 No. 3: Hódolva jő ím hű fegyvernököd (Crescimira, Zolna) (Your devoted, loyal squire arrives) 5:46 István, the king of Hungary . János Gurbán, Baritone 2 Bosszúdnak angyala (Angel of your revenge) 7:21 (Sebős, Gellért, Gizella, Imre, Jóva) (Péter, Crescimira, Chorus, Sebős) Gizella, the queen, his wife . Jutta Bokor, Alto 4 No. 4: Finale: March: A boldog hír szárnyra kelt 3 Nos, miért e zavart tekintet? Imre, the prince, their son . Zoltán Nyári, Tenor (The happy tidings have taken wing) 6:33 (Well now, why these troubled looks?) 6:23 Crescimira, a Croatian princess, his fiancée . Zsuzsanna Bazsinka, Soprano (Asztrik, Csanád, Chorus, Hunt, Pázmán, Vencelin, (Péter, Crescimira, Chorus) Vazul, István’s cousin . Kázmér Sárkány, Baritone Vazul, Endre, Béla, Levente, Gellért, Gizella, Imre) Act Four Sebős, a courtier . Tamás Daróczi, Tenor Act Two 4 Scene 1, No. 11: Itt e hely, itt kell várnom reá 5 No. 5: Hullámzó folyam (Billowing waves) 3:55 Jóva, a lady-in-waiting . Jolán Sánta, Alto (Here is the place I must wait for him) 7:23 (Sebős) Zolna, her daughter, a lady-in-waiting . Ildikó Szakács, Soprano (Zolna, Chorus) 6 No. 6: S most merre asszonyom? Előre ezen úton Barang, a shaman . Tamás Szüle, Bass 5 No. 12: A hajnal érkezik, kelet világa közelg (Whither now, my lady? Ahead, upon this path) 5:04 (Dawn arrives, the world of the east approaches) 12:58 Gellért, a bishop . Ferenc Valter, Bass (Soldier, Jóva, Zolna, Sebős) (Barang, Vazul, Chorus, István, Gellért, Asztrik, Csanád, Péter, István’s nephew . Ákos Ambrus, Baritone 7 No. 7: Átok reád, Árpádok háza Hunt, a German knight; (Curse on you, House of Árpád) 3:53 Hunt, Pázmán, Vencelin, Endre, Béla, Levente) Endre, a prince, son of Vazul . Sándor Kecskés, Tenor (Sebős, Vazul) 6 Scene 2, No. 13: Ó, hozza vissza diadallal a nagy Pázmán, a knight; Béla, a prince; 8 No. 8: Finale: Megértse mindenki szavunkat királyt az ég (Oh may that Heaven return the great Csanád, a general; Asztrik, an abbott . János Fátrai, Baritone (May that our words be clear to all) 10:43 King with triumph) 3:01 (Gizella, István, Chorus, Jóva) Vencelin, a knight; Levente, a prince; (Herald, Chorus, István) 7 Csak daloljatok (Just sing) 5:38 a soldier; a herald . .Dömötör Pintér, Bass 9 És most az Úrnak templomába (And now to the church of the Lord) 3:15 (Crescimira) László Deák, Organ (István, Chorus, Asztrik, Gellért, Gizella, Csanád, 8 Megtört szívemnek első gondja hazám Hunt, Pázmán, Vencelin, Endre, Béla, Levente) (My homeland is my broken heart’s main concern) 6:38 István Király Operakórus (King Stephen Opera Chorus) 0 Szíved titkát meglestem (István, Chorus, Csanád, Endre, Béla, Levente) Ákos Somogyváry (Chorus-master) (I have discovered the secret of your heart) 4:38 9 Most a végcsapást (Now the final blow) 7:58 (Sebős, Péter, Chorus) (Sebős, István) Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV ! Drága magyar föld, új hazám 0 Uram, bocsásd el hű szolgádat (Dearest land of Hungary, my new country) 3:26 (Lord, let your faithful servant depart) 4:21 Valéria Csányi (Crescimira, Chorus, Gellért, Asztrik, Csanád, Hunt, (István, Chorus, Csanád, Asztrik, Gellért, Hunt, Pázmán, Vencelin, Endre, Béla, Levente) Pázmán, Vencelin) Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893) went down two roads: either the musical forms prompted the creators of this recording to revive the King Stephen (István király) established by the great foreign masters were given a opera, 125 years after its première, in the form in which its national content by making use of the music of the people, composer conceived it. After eighteen months of For Hungarian music the life and work of Ferenc Erkel Erkel fought for the cultural, political and economic or new forms were created using the rhythms specific to preparation the première took place in Komárom on 10th (1810-1893) are of almost immeasurable importance. independence of Hungary within the Habsburg Empire as the national language. In his early operas Erkel July 2010, the bi-centenary of the composer’s birth. Like the chess player that he was – namely one of the did Verdi in an Italy struggling against Habsburg rule. The introduced the Hungarian musical element into existing The present recording has been made using Erkel’s best in Hungary – he built up and directed the musical life bloody defeat of the revolutions of 1848 and the cruel operatic forms. In King Stephen he experimented with manuscript score and parts. Items subsequently added of Hungary as a strategist of genius. As a performer he reprisals that followed were never forgotten by the transferring the specific rhythms of Hungarian words into have been removed and the cuts made in the 1930s was one of the best conductors of his time. Beginning in different peoples of the empire. Italy gained its his music. He achieved his goal: without any elements restored. Most of the extensive ballet music of Act Two has 1838, he was the director of the opera company at the independence after the Battle of Solferino in 1859, from popular music he wrote music that is Hungarian been omitted since this part of the work was not performed Hungarian National Theatre for thirty-six years; through whereas Hungary eight years later, in 1867, managed to through and through. This is what lends the work its real at the original première. The music was learned using a his persistent hard work he raised Hungarian operatic secure an ambiguous compromise, following Austria’s importance in the history of music. vocal score reflecting the form of the opera at its première. performance to an international level. Before the middle defeat at the Battle of Königgrätz in 1866 during the Crowned in the year 1000, Stephen was Hungary’s Chorus parts that were illegible had to be deciphered and a of the 1840s there was no better pianist living in Hungary. Austro-Prussian War. Erkel did not follow political fashion, first Christian ruler and founder of the Hungarian state. He score made for the chorus. We wish to express our thanks His work as a piano teacher reached its zenith at the and until the end of his life remained faithful to the Reform was canonized in 1083, the feast of St Stephen being to the Music Department of the National Széchényi Library Music Academy, established by Liszt and Erkel together Era (1825-1848) of his youth, a period of socio-political 20th August. Erkel had planned as early as 1846 to for providing us with facilities for research, and to the staff in 1875 with Liszt as the president and Erkel as the modernisation. compose an opera on King Stephen but, in the end, it of the Opera House’s music library, without whose help we director. In 1853 he founded the country’s first permanent Dezső Legánÿ, in his monograph on Erkel the opera became Erkel’s last completed opera. He began writing it could not have carried out the work of preparation, in concert-giving orchestra, the Philharmonic Society, which composer, wrote: ‘We cannot simply describe Erkel’s in 1874 and by 1875 he had finished two acts, whereupon particular the reproduction of copies. still operates today. In 1867 he founded the National development as a road leading from the “number opera” of he stopped. In 1880 he had the libretto revised and by To understand the libretto a few historical facts need to Hungarian Choral Association which in terms of its Italy towards the continuity of Wagnerian opera; of course 1882 the work was down on paper. The orchestration was be clarified. The plot is only partially fictitious. The main membership was the largest civil organization in the it is foolish to deny the external influences that affected the done in part by Erkel’s sons and finished by the summer characters of the opera were real people, with the country, and still is through its modern legal successor. composer, but these in themselves were not the trigger of 1884. Although the opera was intended for the opening exception of the main conspirator Sebős. On stage are five As a composer he wrote the Hungarian national anthem, that caused his transformation as a composer – they were of the Budapest Opera House that year, the première key figures from Hungarian history: the Hungarian ‘holy which found its way into hymnbooks as a sacred song of merely its colouring. Erkel’s development was influenced eventually took place half a year later, on 14th March family’, namely King Saint Stephen, Queen Blessed Gisela, the Church. He also wrote virtuoso instrumental works, in part by an organic inner change, during which his style 1885, to huge success. It was given twelve more times and their son Prince Saint Emeric (Imre), as well as Bishop incidental music for the theatre, choral works and was increasingly and more deeply influenced by that year, a feat unmatched to my knowledge by any other Saint Gerard (Gellért) Sagredo who was Prince Emeric’s cantatas, but in his work as a composer he put opera Hungarian features and forms; and in part by the librettos Hungarian opera.