Theatre
Bánk bán
Not translated into English
József Katona · 1833
Synopsis
Towards the end of the year 1213, King Andrew II has gone off on campaign, and Queen Gertrude, who has come from Germany, governs with her own people. The Hungarian nobles, led by Petur, see the country being squeezed for the benefit of foreigners and prepare a conspiracy; the peasant Tiborc comes to describe the misery of the serfs. All turn to the palatine Bánk, guardian of the kingdom in the king's absence. Meanwhile Ottó, the queen's brother, relentlessly tries to seduce Melinda, Bánk's young wife.
Context
The play was born of a competition opened in 1814 by the journal Erdélyi Múzeum of Kolozsvár: Katona sent in a first version, completed in 1815, which the jury did not single out. He rewrote it in 1819, following the criticisms of his friend Boldizsár Bárány, and had it printed in Pest in 1820. The censors forbade its performance, one censor judging that Bánk's greatness eclipsed that of the royal house. It was first staged in Kassa in 1833, three years after the author's death, by the company of his friend Miklós Udvarhelyi, and then gradually reached the other stages of the country.
Who it is for
A prologue and five acts, rich in names and titles of old Hungary; a French translation appeared in 1910, while no complete English translation has been located.
Prizes and reception
A work that holds a place apart in Hungarian literature, and from which Ferenc Erkel drew an opera in 1861.
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