Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893)
- Magyar Cantate (1867)
Performers: Szabina Schnoller (soprano); Mercedes Heim (alto); Barna Kovacs (tenor); Laszlo Jekl (bass); Domotor Pinter (bass);
Pecs Bela Bartok Male Choir; Musica Nostra Choir; Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV;
Akos Somogyvary (conductor)
Further info: Erkel - Choral works
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Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist. Erkel’s family was of German
descent but regarded itself as Hungarian and lived in Pozsony (now
Bratislava, Slvk.). His ancestors included many musicians and music
teachers. Erkel first studied music with his father, and then from 1822
to 1825 he studied with composer Henrik Klein in Pozsony. From 1828 to
1834 he lived in Kolozsvár (now Cluj, Rom.), and in 1835 he moved to
Pest. Until 1841 he performed regularly as a soloist and accompanying
pianist. In 1835 he was the conductor at the National Stage at the Buda
Castle Theatre, and in 1836-37 he led the German Theatre of Pest. In
1838 he became the first conductor of the newly opened Hungarian Theatre
of Pest (from 1840 the National Theatre). There he worked to develop
Hungarian-language operatic performance with the intention of creating
an opera company capable of competing with the German Theatre of Pest.
In addition to staging works by Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini,
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, and Carl Maria von Weber, he revived
József Ruzitska’s opera Béla futása (“Béla’s Flight”), which in 1822 had
been the first Hungarian opera. After this production proved to be a
failure, he began to write his own operas, synthesizing western European
elements with Hungarian themes. His first original works were Bátori
Mária (1840) and Hunyadi László (1844), both with librettos by Béni
Egressy. Parts of the latter work, which enjoyed enormous and lasting
popularity, were adapted as revolutionary songs. Also in 1844,
“Hymnusz,” with lyrics taken from an 1823 poem of the same name by
Ferenc Kölcsey and with music composed by Erkel, was adopted as
Hungary’s national anthem.
To support his family, Erkel also wrote accompaniments and feature songs
for popular plays (including those by prolific playwright Ede
Szigligeti), and he became the music teacher of the daughter of Archduke
Albert. After the Hungarian struggle for independence of 1848-49, Erkel
revived the opera company of the National Theatre on next to nothing.
In 1853 he assembled what would become the Philharmonic Society (legally
established as an association in 1867), which performed concerts at the
National Museum and later in the Vigadó Theatre. He also introduced new
works by Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, and Franz
Liszt. His 1857 opera, Erzsébet (“Elizabeth”), was less than a success
with audiences. In 1861 Erkel staged his most famous work, Bánk bán
(based on a drama by József Katona, with a libretto by Egressy), which
at that point probably had been ready for production for more than 10
years. However, Sarolta, his first comic opera, performed in 1862,
proved to be another failure. Erkel’s 1867 opera, Dózsa György, displays
Wagnerian stylistic touches in its use of leitmotifs, while Brankovics
György (1874) employs Hungarian, Serbian, and Turkish musical material.
In his later operas Erkel began entrusting his sons Gyula, Sándor, and
Elek with small orchestration duties and later with the writing of
complete accompaniments to vocal scores and compositions. In 1871 Erkel
announced his resignation as the lead conductor of the Philharmonic
Society, but he stayed on for the next few years, gradually ceding the
position to Hans Richter. In 1873 Erkel became director of the theatre’s
operatic division, but he resigned after a year and thereafter
conducted only his own works.
