The origins of Hungarian opera can be traced to the late 18th century, with the rise of imported opera and other concert styles in cities like Pozsony (now Bratislava),

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and

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 ...

. Operas at the time were in either the

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or Italian style. The field Hungarian opera began with school dramas and interpolations of German operas, which began at the end of the 18th century. School dramas in places like the Pauline School in

Sátoraljaújhely Sátoraljaújhely (; archaic german: Neustadt am Zeltberg ; sk, Nové Mesto pod Šiatrom; yi, איהעל, Ihel, or ) is a town located in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in northern Hungary along the Slovak border. It is east from the county ...

, the Calvinist School in

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and the Piarist School in Beszterce . Pozsony produced the first music drama experiments in the country, though the work of Gáspár Pacha and József Chudy; it was the latter's 1793 ''Prince Pikkó and Jutka Perzsi'' that is generally considered the first Hungarian opera. The text of that piece was translated from ''Prinz Schnudi und Prinzessin Evakathel'' by Philipp Hafner. This style was still strongly informed by the Viennese ''Zauberposse'' style of comedic play, and remained thus throughout the 19th century. Though these operas used foreign styles, the "idyllic, lyric and heroic" parts of the story were always based on verbunkos, which was becoming a symbol of the Hungarian nation during this time . It was not until the middle of the 19th century that

Ferenc Erkel Ferenc Erkel ( hu, Erkel Ferenc , german: link=no, Franz Erkel; November 7, 1810June 15, 1893) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist. He was the father of Hungarian grand opera, written mainly on historical themes, which are still o ...

wrote the first Hungarian language opera, using French and Italian models, thus launching the field of Hungarian opera .

Notable Hungarian opera singers

Notable Hungarian classical musicians

Notable Hungarian composers

References

See also