AUTHORITATIVE | CURATED | First 500 words Free

• Major Operas
• High Romantic
• Opera

Composed: 1844–53 Premiered: 1861, Pest Libretto by Béni Egressy after József Katona’s play Prologue King Endre of Hungary is away at war and his wife Gertrud and her corrupt followers have taken control at court. Act I At Gertrud’s instigation, her brother Otto intends to seduce Bánk’s wife Melinda. Rebels opposed to Gertrud have sent a message to Bánk ...

• Personalities
• High Romantic
• Opera

1810–93, Hungarian Ferenc Erkel, known as the ‘father’ of Hungarian national opera, was principally a pianist and conductor. In 1838, he became chief conductor of the National Theatre in Pest, and in 1853 founded the Budapest Philharmonic. He was also active as a composer, and his first opera, Bátori Mária (1840), was successfully staged ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Conductor
• Late Romantic

(Fer’-enk Er’-kel) 1810–93 Hungarian composer and conductor A pioneer of Hungarian national opera, Erkel was conductor at the National Theatre in Pest from 1838 and later of the Budapest Philharmonic concerts. His early works in the style hongroise predate even Liszt’s Hungarian works, and he forged a national operatic style in such works as Hunyádi László (1844), with its Hungarian ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

1857–1934 English composer Elgar was born at Broadheath, near Worcester. His father ran a music shop in Worcester, where Elgar embarked on a course of self-instruction that made him total master of music’s craft and one of the world’s greatest orchestrators. Brought up a Roman Catholic in a Protestant community and a tradesman’s son, Elgar never felt socially ...

• Personalities
• High Romantic
• Opera

1850–1925, Polish Jean de Reszke was a Polish tenor whose handsome face and fine physique suited him for romantic roles. He made his debut at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1874, not as a tenor, but in the baritone part of Alfonso in Donizetti’s La favorite. He continued to sing baritone roles until he re-trained and ...

• Opera
• High Romantic

On the face of it, the French Revolution failed when the House of Bourbon returned to rule France after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. The face of it, however, was deceptive. The forces of liberalism unleashed by the Revolution had simply made a strategic withdrawal. In France, liberals, socialists and republicans remained opposed to extreme ...