In December 2001 the Hungarian State Opera House revived András Mikó’s staging of Don Carlos in tribute to the former principal director. Gábor Forray’s spectacular scenery and Tivadar Márk’s splendid costumes were also renewed for the occasion. The Italian-language performance offers excellent roles for leading singers. The composer wrote the opera for the Paris Opera, basing the libretto on Schiller’s drama. Both works have little in common with the real, historical persons, being much more concerned with eternal human conflicts, the desire for freedom, love and intrigue. The première in 1867 brought only modest success and the revised version created for the Milan Scala a decade and a half later was not a triumph for the composer either. The version adapted later with the contribution of Franz Werfel, after Verdi’s death (now the most frequently performed and the version that can also be seen in Budapest) fulfilled the hopes of those who believed in the power of this opera.

The composer devoted special attention to the libretto based on Shakespeare’s drama. In a letter he gave instructions to Francesco Maria Piave, the librettist, to study the 11th century Scottish environment. However, it can be said that the opera is closer to a modern psychological drama. Verdi was in advance of his age in thinking about his heroes and linking the dramatic situations in an almost cinematic way. This aspect is reinforced by Henning Brockhaus’s production, first created for the Rome Opera House, then in September 2002 also staged in the Budapest Opera House. Verdi composed Macbeth on a request from Florence and although the première in 1847 was less successful than expected it was soon performed elsewhere as well. The National Theatre of Pest-Buda staged it in 1848 with the primadonna of the time, Rozália Klein Schodel as Lady Macbeth. The female lead is the key figure in any good production of Macbeth. Brockhaus’s production cannot be linked to any particular period, the scenery and costumes do not place the dramatic events in a specific time or place but put the emphasis on the psychological conflicts.

Janáček: Jenufa
The Moravian composer’s three-act opera is set in a village. Janáček, like Bartók and Kodály later, considered it his vocation to draw from the source of Czech folk music. The story of the opera is said to be based on real events; it is certainly a drama with dark elements that could come from a detective story. The basic situation is familiar from Hungarian ballads: the sufferings of a defenceless girl who has fallen into temptation. Two men vie for Jenufa; she does not love one of them, Laca and she is expecting a child from the other, Steva. Laca wounds her and while Jenufa is ill in bed after the confinement, her foster mother kills the baby boy. Steva abandons her but Laca would still marry the girl. They are preparing for the wedding when someone finds the baby’s body… The première of the opera in Brno was a success but it was not until after the Prague performance in 1916 that the opera had a real impact. The production in the Opera House in 2004 is directed by Attila Vidnyánszky.

Péter Eötvös was admitted to the Academy of Music at the age of 14 by Zoltán Kodály. He graduated from the department of composing in 1963 then went to Cologne to continue his studies. Here he came into contact with Stockhausen and then in Paris with Boulez, founder of the Ensemble InterContemporain, the contemporary music centre. He is currently director of the International Eötvös Institute training young composers and conductors in Hilversum, the Netherlands.
His opera Three Sisters is still very successful in Europe. As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams could be described as sound theatre or a sound play. The atmosphere it creates is a strange, half-dream, half-reality story based on the poems and diary of the 11th century Japanese woman known as Lady Sarashina.

Verdi: Falstaff
Like Don Carlos, the last Verdi opera is also a fresh revival; the original performance was directed by Gianfranco de Bosio. Arrigo Boito’s libretto about Falstaff’s pranks is based on Shakespeare’s comedy. The 1893 première in the Milan Scala was an enormous success. Verdi had been drawn to the theme much earlier; he thought about setting it to music in the 1850s. But it was not until 1890 that he began work on the composition with surprising energy, after a series of private and public troubles and illnesses. The singers accepted the eighty-year-old master’s instructions with great respect. Falstaff’s great cheer and the unusually modern tone for Verdi make each performance a special occasion.