Ede Szigligeti

Ede (Eduard) Szigligeti , real name József Szathmáry (born March 8, 1814 in Großwardein / Nagyvárad [today Oradea , Romania ]; † January 1878 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian playwright, writer, actor, director and translator. He is considered the creator of the Hungarian folk piece.

life and work

Monument in Oradea

József Szathmáry's father was a lawyer in Großwardein, then part of the Austrian Empire , and actually wanted his son to become a priest. However, he decided to study technology, but on August 15, 1834, against his father's will, he broke it off to become an actor and began writing at the same time. Under the pseudonym Ede Szigligeti - his father had forbidden him to continue his family name - and soon known as the "Hungarian Eugène Scribe ", he wrote around 100 pieces, around 80 of which were still in the theater repertoire when he died. His supporters included Mihály Vörösmarty and József Bajza .

In 1840 he was appointed a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia) and in 1845 accepted as the leading Hungarian playwright in the Kisfaludy Society (Kisfaludy Társaság) . From 1873 he was director of the Hungarian National Theater (Nemzeti színház) in Pest , was ennobled and died in 1878 as a very respected poet. His grave is in the Kerepesi temető cemetery in Budapest. In his honor, a monument was erected in Oradea - after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of Nagyvárad in the Hungarian half of the empire.

Ede Szigligeti is considered to be the creator of the local folk play, which thanks to his zeal displaced the old Viennese folk theater from the Hungarian stages. His works have become a source of entertainment for more than a generation of Hungarian theatergoers. In addition to some rather pathetic tragedies such as Gritti (1845), Béldi Pál (1856) and Struensee (1871), his comedies were particularly popular, such as Házassági három parancs (1850), A mama (1857), Nőuralom (1862), and his most famous work Liliomfi (Little Lilly, 1849). He also translated Goethe's Egmont and Shakespeare's Richard III. into Hungarian.

Szigligeti and Nestroy

The posse for free! (1857) by Johann Nestroy was referred to as "from the French" on the theater bill , but actually had the comedy Liliomfi by Szigligeti as a model.

In Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel is particularly noted that Nestroy possibly held, quite rightly, be it non-Hungarian origin; the motives would undoubtedly be evidenced in the French and German antics. Nestroy's attempt not to publicly state the Hungarian provenance of the play on the theater ticket could be explained by his disapproving attitude towards Hungarian nationalism. In a number of anecdotes from this time, this attitude, which in Hungary is by no means friendly, is pointed out. According to a note in the Budapest magazine Hőlgyfutár, he behaved quite correctly against the author of Liliomfi , in that he had paid him significant compensation. Nevertheless, there were sharp attacks in the Hungarian press until the beginning of the 20th century: Pester Lloyd (1908, no. 73) wrote “A Plagiarism by Nestroy” ; other voices from the same year were "A német Liliomfi" (A German Liliomfi) and "Nestroy 'Umsonst' - ja és a 'Liliomfi'" (Nestroys' Umsonst '- is Liliomfi)' .

literature

Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Historical-critical complete edition, fourteenth volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1930.

Web links

Commons : Ede Szigligeti - collection of images, videos and audio files

Szigligeti Ede. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 14, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2012–,ISBN 978-3-7001-7312-0, p. 154.
Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica (accessed June 23, 2014)
Ede Szigligeti in The Cambridge Guide to Theater, p. 506. (accessed June 23, 2014)
Original Hungarian text by Liliomfi at www.mek.oszk.hu/ (accessed June 23, 2014)

Individual evidence

↑ he chose the name after a hero from a novel by Sándor Kisfaludy
↑ When a guest performance in Budapest was canceled, Nestroy wrote that he was "so tired" - an allusion to " Szózat " (appeal), the "Hungarian Marseillaise " that was often sung at the time.
^ Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 682-687.
↑ Helmut Ahrens: I'm not auctioning myself up to the laurel. Johann Nestroy, his life. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-7973-0389-0 ; Pp. 343-344.

personal data
SURNAME	Szigligeti, Ede
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Szathmáry, József
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Hungarian playwright, actor, director, translator
DATE OF BIRTH	March 8, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH	Oradea , Austrian Empire
DATE OF DEATH	January 19, 1878
Place of death	Budapest , Austria-Hungary

[1] se the name after a hero from a novel by Sándor Kisfaludy

[2] When a guest performance in Budapest was canceled, Nestroy wrote that he was "so tired" - an allusion to " Szózat " (appeal), the "Hungarian Marseillaise " that was often sung at the time.

[3] Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 682-687.

[4] Helmut Ahrens: I'm not auctioning myself up to the laurel. Johann Nestroy, his life. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-7973-0389-0 ; Pp. 343-344.