Lujza Blaha (''Ludovika Reindl''; 1850–1926) was a Hungarian actress and singer. She was known as "the nation's nightingale", an epithet given her by writer

Mór Jókai Móric Jókay de Ásva (, known as ''Mór Jókai''; 18 February 1825 – 5 May 1904), outside Hungary also known as Maurus Jokai or Mauritius Jókai, was a Hungarian nobleman, novelist, dramatist and revolutionary. He was an active participant ...

. ''"First published in the Time Out Budapest magazine's monthly column "Magyar of the Month" (2009-2011)"''

Personal life

Ludovika Reindl was born 8 September 1850 in

Rimavská Sobota Rimavská Sobota (; hu, Rimaszombat, german: Großsteffelsdorf) is a town in southern Slovakia, in the Banská Bystrica Region, on the Rimava river. It has approximately 24,000 inhabitants. The town is a historical capital of Gömör és Kishon ...

, today's Slovakia. She married Ján Blaha, a conductor in the imperial army, when she was 15 years old. He died five years later, but she kept his surname all her life despite marrying twice more. Despite being considered a "national icon" during her lifetime, she opposed the dignified "national prima donna" that was being thrust upon her and often crossed the taboos of the epoch by being sexually provocative both on stage and in her private life. She died 18 January 1926 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. She was buried in the

Kerepesi Cemetery Kerepesi Cemetery (Hungarian: ''Kerepesi úti temető'' or ''Kerepesi temető'', official name: ''Fiumei úti nemzeti sírkert'', i.e. "Fiume Road National Graveyard") is the most famous cemetery in Budapest. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in ...

, and her funeral drew a crowd of 100,000, including a gypsy band of 200 musicians.

Career

Blaha's parents were travelling actors, and she first performed aged 15 in Subotica. She received acting training from the Budapest School of Dramatic Arts. She joined the national theatre five years later and between 1871 and 1900 she played almost 200 parts in plays, mostly Hungarian "folk plays" or "Volksstuck", patriotic plays celebrating peasant life. Apart from her theater work, she would also draw crowds at balls, the banquets and torchlight music events organised by the Mulató-klub (The Club of Amusements), and she was also active as an operetta singer. She also appeared in two silent films. The first, ''A táncz'' ("Dance", 1901) was an educational documentary short by Pekár Gyula, while the second, ''A nagymama'' (The Grandmother, 1916) sees her play the title role in the Alexander Korda film. She played an important role in popularizing Hungarian gypsy songs. Her final performance in 1908 was in Csiky Gergely's play ''Nagymama'' ("grandmother").

Legacy

Lujza Blaha Square in central

was named for her in 1920 to celebrate her 70th birthday. It was the site of the

Hungarian National Theatre The National Theatre, located in Budapest originally opened in 1837. Since then, it has occupied several locations, including the original building at Kerepesi Street, the ''People's Theatre'' at Blaha Lujza Square, as well as Hevesi Sándor Squ ...

from 1908 to 1965; this was demolished because of construction of Blaha Lujza tér metro station. Her Neoclassical summer home in the resort town of Balatonfüred, on the northern shore of

lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and ...

, has been turned into a hotel bearing her name and is a minor tourist attraction of the town. FiumeDSC01857

Her tomb in

has been described as "one of the finest pieces in the Hungarian national pantheon". Hungarian indie-pop band Blahalouisiana was founded in 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaha, Lujza 1850 births 1926 deaths 19th-century Hungarian women opera singers 19th-century Hungarian actresses Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery