Ferenc Erkel

(1810, Gyula-1893, Budapest)

composer, conductor, pianist, composer of the Hungarian National Anthem

He was born into a musical family and studied in Oradea/Nagyvárad and then in Bratislava/Pozsony. He was not even 18 years old when he became a private music teacher in Cluj Napoca/Kolozsvár, where he became acquainted with György Ruzitska, a leading figure of the Transylvanian (Erdély) music life. He started his musical career as a pianist, but occasionally conducted at concerts and composed music.

In 1835 he moved to Pest where he worked as a conductor at various theatres. He became the first conductor of the Pesti Hungarian Theatre (Pesti Magyar Színház), later known as the National Theatre (Nemzeti Színház), directing the musical life there for nearly 30 years. Working at theatres made him interested in stage work. He finished his first opera, Mária Bátori, in 1840; the author of the libretto was Béni Egressy. He won the competition to compose the music to the words of a poem by Ferenc Kölcsey for the National Anthem. To this day it is the Hungarian National Anthem.

Following his enforced retreat after the defeat of the 1848-1849 revolution he once again started to work to activate the capital city's concert life. During this time he wrote Palatine Bánk (Bánk bán), an opera based on József Katona's play; the libretto was written by Béni Egressy. It is still the most highly acclaimed piece of Hungarian opera to this date.

He had a leading role in music education too. He took part in the founding of the Music Academy (Zeneakadémia) in 1857 and was its director and piano teacher for the first ten years. When the Opera House (Operaház) opened in 1884 Ferenc Erkel became its music director. According to experts alongside Ferenc Liszt, Ferenc Erkel was the most prominent representative of Hungarian Romanticism in music who also lead out in establishing the Hungarian language opera.