Erkel Theatre
The Erkel Theatre—Erkel Színház in Hungarian—was conceived as an ambitious answer to who should get access to opera: in 1911 it opened as the Népopera, the “People’s Opera,” planned to bring opera to the masses at low cost. The project was backed by the Népopera JSC, largely funded by the Budapest city council, which even provided the plot free while requiring a permanent Hungarian company and Hungarian-language productions. Designed by Dezső Jakab, Marcell Komor, and Géza Márkus, the theatre was completed in just 9 months, with a 14-metre-wide stage and a mural by Bertalan Pór. That first model faltered. During World War I, the Népopera was shut down in 1915, and in 1917 Gábor Faludi modernized the building—reducing seats to 2,400 and renaming it Városi Színház (City Theatre). For decades it also acted as a secondary stage to the Hungarian State Opera House from 1951. …
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