Hungary Theater and Dance

CULTURE: THEATER

Only at the end of the century. XVIII, first in Pest, then with more success in Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoca) in Transylvania, the first professional Hungarian companies were formed. In the Middle Ages there were liturgical dramas in Latin (11th century), performances of miracles and mysteries, then a thriving Jesuit theater (especially during the Counter-Reformation) and (from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment) frequent visits by Italian and German companies to the Courts large and small that also hosted opera and ballet performances. It was the Enlightenment movement, which in Hungary also had the character of affirmation of national culture and traditions, that brought the theater out of the noble palaces and schools where it had been confined and put it in contact with the people. They arose, starting from 1769, permanent theaters in the capital and in the major provincial cities: the most important was the Magic Theater of Pest, which in 1840 became a State-subsidized National Theater. In 1860 a Popular Theater was added to it, again in the capital; in 1864 the first school of dramatic art was opened and in 1884 the opera house, which had hitherto operated at the Nazionale, had its own headquarters. In the last years of the century and in the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of rooms that imported and elaborated in an autonomous way naturalism and symbolism or produced comedies of solid trade multiplied. With the advent of the People’s Republic, all theatrical activity was nationalized and received new impetus. In the early years of the 21st century, about 50 theaters were active in the country, many of which are located in Budapest.

CULTURE: DANCE

According to a2zcamerablog, Hungary is a country located in Europe. The taste for dance spread to Hungary in the upper echelons of society in the seventeenth century. At the end of the century. XVIII Hungarian folk dances were performed in Viennese theaters (in 1796 the couple of Italian dancers Viganò-Muzarelli danced the verbunkos at the court theater in Vienna) and numerous foreign ballet companies gave performances in Hungarian theaters. At the beginning of the century. XIX date the first Hungarian companies that presented ballets and pantomimes, interpreted by actors, but the first professional dancer is considered J. Farkas who in 1820 with Fidanzato per chance presented the first Hungarian ballet. Years followed, especially after the foundation of the National Theater, of great vivacity and interest, in which numerous dancers established themselves, first of all F. Saáry. The political events that troubled the country around the middle of the century. XIX marked a certain decline also linked to the renunciation of the enhancement of the Magyar element, but its rebirth came with the creation of the Opera House in 1884. The ballet was brought to 60 elements, the first dancers were hired in Italy and the best soloists were sent to Milan to perfect themselves. For years, however, the Italian influence was considerable, ballet directors were Italian masters and between 1902 and 1915 N. Guerra he brought the company of the Opera to excellent levels and formed, among others, F. Nadasi, who was destined to succeed him at the helm of the company. Aurel M. Milloss had also been a pupil of War in Budapest. The Hungarian master, who had spent the decisive years of his training abroad, fled to Hungary from Germany in the aftermath of the advent of Nazism, and in his homeland (1936) composed his masterpiece, Il mandarin Marvelous (presented only afterwards to the Scala, 1942). The other prominent Hungarian in the history of the dance of the century. XX, R. Laban, in turn, operated mainly abroad, particularly in Germany and Great Britain, so that his vast work of systematizing choreographic knowledge had almost no impact on the dance life of Hungary. Since the Thirties, in the meantime, alongside Nadasi, an excellent teacher, the creative personality of G. Harangozó had emerged. (1910-1974), who was able to reorganize the repertoire of the company. From 1950 the influence of the Russian ballet tradition became more and more marked: Soviet choreographers – first of all V. Vainonen – were invited to Budapest and titles from the Russian classical repertoire and the contemporary Soviet repertoire began to be regularly represented. Among the new talents of choreographers that emerged in the 1960s, we should mention Imre Eck and László Seregi. In 1960 Eck started a new, agile company in Pécs, the Ballet Sopianae, now directed by S. Tóth. The seventies saw the staging of choreographies by F. Ashton, M. Béjart, G. Balanchine, A. Ailey. Another talented Hungarian, I. Marko, established himself in M. Béjart’s Ballet du XX e Siècle, in 1979 he founded another small quality company in Györ, the Györ Ballet. Great impetus was given, after the war, also to the great passion of the Hungarians for folk dances. At the end of the 1970s, there were over two thousand active amateur folklore groups in the country.

Hungary Theater