On 20 November 2020, all three great ensembles of the Hungarian State Opera presented works by composers of the second half of the 19th century. A selection of songs by Rheinberger, Serenade by Dvořák, and excerpts from Tchaikovsky's ballets were streamed from 8:00 p.m. on Facebook and Origo.hu.
The Opera Chorus presented songs composed by Lichtenstein-born Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839 – 1901), who was a resident of Germany for most of his life. He was a prolific artist known first of all for his sacred works and organ compositions, but the result of his work as a composer of songs can frequently be heard in choral concerts. The cycle Maitag: Ein lyrisches Intermezzo was composed to poems written by his wife, Fanny von Hoffnaaß, inspired by Petrarca. The movements Früh Morgens, Reimspiel and Heimfahrt were performed by Anett Baranyai, Emőke Salamon and Enikő Mentes-Soós. In the second part of the performance given by the chorus, Die Wasserfee and Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt was heard interpreted by Makiko Yoshida, Eszter Forgó, Attila Tillai and István Kristóf. Featuring on the piano was Éva Leszkovszki-Tóth, répétiteur and conductor was Dániel Erdélyi.
The Opera Orchestra prepared excerpts from Serenade in D minor (Op. 44) by the more widely known Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904). The piece composed for wind instruments, cello and double bass evokes the old-world atmosphere of musical performances of the castles of the Rococo period. The movements I. Moderato, quasi marcia, II. Minuetto. Tempo di minuetto and III. Finale. Allegro molto were performed by Fruzsina Káli-Fonyódi, Nóra Baráth (oboe), Sándor Kiss, Péter Csongár (clarinet), Judit Polonkai, Ágnes Breszka (bassoon), Gábor Tóth, Tamás Gáspár, János Leiter (French horn), Chung Hosung (cello) and Zoltán Miklós (double bass).
Viewers of earlier episodes had already seen excerpts from recent productions of grand ballets by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) performed by the Hungarian National Ballet. The ballet dancers presented three more numbers in the programme, but this time from works by one of the most influential choreographers of ballet history, Marius Petipa (1818 – 1910), who even worked with the composer himself. Pas de Trois from Swan Lake, a collaboration with Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Lev Ivanov, was performed by Dmitry Diachkov, Yuki Wakabayashi and Miyu Takamori. Viewers of the show could also see two excerpts from Petipa's Sleeping Beauty: "Grand" Pas de Deux and Blue Bird Pas de Deux, the former performed by Lili Felméry and Gergely Leblanc, the latter by Yourim Lee and Ryosuke Morimoto.
The performance directed by András Aczél was hosted by Melitta Gyüdi.
The performance can be viewed HERE.
Photo by Péter Rákossy