The Last Five Scenes

Attila Bozay (1939-1999) wrote his final work, utilising motifs from Imre Madách's The Tragedy of Man, for the Hungarian Millennial Opera Competition. Although the jury was unanimous in awarding the work first prize, Bozay would not make it to see the decision, and the task of scoring the three-act opera was completed by three of his students. The work is a true novelty, rarely presented to audiences. “Even in his final period of creativity,” wrote Tibor Tallián, “Bozay resisted the temptation to reveal his naked emotions to either himself or others. He was speaking of himself, of course, but he was also speaking about the times and about humanity as a person living out his final days in the final days of the era. By focusing on the five final scenes in Madach's framework and thus rendering this tragedy of history ahistorical, he reflected the post-historical consciousness of today.”

Hungarian-language discussion programme