Erkel Ferenc: BÁNK BÁN

Opera in three acts, in Hungarian, with Hungarian and English subtitles

The text and music of the production are based on the original and baritone versions of the work.

Length of the performance: 3 hours 10 minutes with 1 intermission.

Ferenc Erkel began to explore József Katona's much-attacked drama as a possible opera theme after his victory in 1844 in a competition to compose the Kölcsey Hymn. History made the time of composition long: first the War of Independence and then the censorship of the subsequent dictatorship meant that the public had to wait until 9 March 1861 before the work could be performed in its entirety at the then National Theatre. The current series of Bánk bán, which has always been a success, whether or not it has been influenced by the many additions and adaptations, is unique in that the text and music are based on the original version of the work and the 1939 version by Kálmán Nádasdy, which is the version most familiar to the public. The storytelling is thus most similar to Katona's original ideas, but at the same time we should not be without the evergreen lyrics of the great aria "Hazám, hazám..." (My country, my country...).