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, Kismarton, Nagyszeben and Budapest. Operas at the time were in either the German 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, the Calvinist School in Csurgó and the Piarist School in Beszterce ^[1]. Pozsony is: the Hungarian name for Preßburg = Bratislava (the current capital of Slovakia), once capital of the Hungarian kingdom Hence, the abbreviated name of the Pozsony county from a time when it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. ... Eisenstadt (Hungarian Kismarton, Croatian Željezno) is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. ... Sibiu (Hungarian: Nagyszeben, German: Hermannstadt) is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 170,000. ... Budapest seen from north. ... Italian opera can be divided into three periods, the Baroque, the Romantic and the modern. ... Sátoraljaújhely (Slovak: Nové Mesto pod Å iatrom) is a town in northern Hungary, and is located in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, near to the Slovakian border. ... Bistriţa (Hungarian: Beszterce, German: Bistritz) is the capital city of Bistrita-Nasaud county, Romania. ...

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 thusly 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 ^[2]. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that Ferenc Erkel wrote the first Hungarian language opera, using French and Italian models, thus launching the field of Hungarian opera ^[3]. Jump to: navigation, search 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

References

• ^  In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.) (2000). World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1858286360
• ^  "Hungarian Music". Stephen Sisa: The Spirit of Hungary. URL accessed on September 3, 2005.