They are opening the season with runs of Béla Bártok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" (in some kind of razzle-dazzle 3D staging that I hope justifies the high ticket prices) and Ferenc Erkel's "Bánk Bán": the two major Hungarian operas that could possibly be considered part of the standard repertoire, if it were not for the difficulties of staging them in Hungarian outside of Hungary, and therefore the Budapest Opera has assumed a sort of custodial role for the safeguarding of both, and produces them each year. There's occasional talk of premiering Bánk Bán in Washington or Los Angeles, but for now you have to go to Budapest to see it, or to Cluj Napoca (a city of 300,000 with two opera houses, one Romanian and one Hungarian), from whence some of tonight's performers had been poached.
As is often the case, I am on my own, as at this point I can only get Moni to come out for lighter operas or ballets, or orchestral performances, and none of my other friends here are particularly interested either, despite occasional plaintive resolutions to lift their debased cultural states out of the mire.
I've gotten pretty good at working out which are the best seats for the prices available, and prices are rising rapidly even though it's still a fraction of the cost of visiting a comparable opera house in western europe, or the Met. Unless there's something that I want to get a particularly good view of, I usually sit in the "maid's quarters" among the rafters in the top tier, where you can get tickets for as little as 2-6 euros, albeit some with blocked views. The only problem is that these also tend to get snapped up by dilletantes, foreign tourists, and student groups who either don't know how to behave in an opera house or are oblivious thereto and spend most of the time chatting, and the acoustics are so good you can hear even conscientiously breathy whisperers from several rows away. You can only do so much shushing before your evening is ruined. I figured for Bánk Bán, as a historical Hungarian work, we will be overloaded up there with hordes of teenagers who would rather be pretty much anywhere else, and in close proximity to each other with many matters of great import to discuss, so it's time to plump for a decent seat with the gentry.
Here we go, the second row of second floor box 11 right. One of my favourites. You put down 15 euros for the seat on the left, which was engineered for malnourished 19th century skeletons and bottoms, get there a bit early and spread out on the communal red settee behind it, complete with footstool, on its raised platform, and spread out like an octopus. Nice!
I really need a box of my own though, with a valet.
Now, on to Bánk. Bánk is the guy's name. Bán is his title in Medieval Hungary, something like a Viceroy or a Duke. The Queen is some kind of German, and brought all of her foreign relatives and courtiers to wreak havoc on Hungary while the King is off fighting somewhere. Her brother even makes advances on Bánk's wife Melinda right under his nose, and attacks her, but Bánk thinks he's been betrayed and sends her off to the family estate in the countryside. Beset by grief for his suffering homeland (and himself) - actually this is where we get the single most catchy aria from the opera, "Hazám Hazám" (my homeland, my homeland): seen below sung by Attila B. Kiss, the same performer as last night in a 2007 performance in Szeged. Give it until 1:20 or so to really get going.
Musically, what's interesting is that the narrative of the opera, which was written around 1860, is driven by an Italian style, notably Verdi, I think, whereas for the arias like this one, and dances, he introduces Hungarian folk themes, which I am pretty sure no one had done before, particularly since Bártok and Kodály wouldn't be born for another 20 years.
Anyway, Bánk confronts the Queen to mend her evil ways and winds up killing her after she pulls a knife on him. Melinda, now insane, drowns herself and their son, the revelation of which by dragging their bodies into the court seems to get Bánk off the hook from being sliced apart by the king's sword as the curtain falls on a permeating sense of general tragedy.
It's actually kind of a political opera even today. Substitute a bunch of foreign banks for the courtiers. The EU for the Queen, Audis for horses, etc., and you have a Fidesz parable for the country's current parlous state. Actually, I think there were some government ministers in attendance as I noticed a police presence outside on the way in, and some kind of closed function being guarded by goons during the intermission. I am pretty sure not too many ministers go to see "Rigoletto".
Musically, this guy Kiss was right on as Bánk. Melinda, the other main role, was played by Ibolya Vigh a young soprano from Cluj. In the first act as the vivacious Melinda she sounded a bit tight in the high registers, but as her role gets darker and the notes (mainly) lower, she brought a really haunting quality to it, especially to her final scene before throwing herself into the waves. Expect more from her.
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