King Stephen

The Opera premiered Ferenc Erkel's opera King Stephen, originally commissioned for the institution's inauguration the previous year, on 14 March 1885. The libretto, based on Lajos Dobsa's tragedy King Stephen I, was credited to Antal Váradi. Long considered to have been composed jointly with his son Gyula Erkel, more recent research indicates that this was not the case. The premiere of this opera, which reveals qualities similar to those of Bánk bán and Hunyadi László, was tremendously successful with the audience. The work is set in the period between 1030 and 1038, the last years of King Stephen's reign, and ends with the apotheosis of the title character.

Hungarian-language discussion programme