Nikola Šubić Zrinski (opera)

[Sivi_Sokol]

Ovo sam bio postavio na Storm...., ovaj, hoću reći jednom drugom forumu. Možda će ovdje biti od veće koristi.

NIKOLA ŠUBIĆ ZRINSKI (OPERA) - part i

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NIKOLA ŠUBlĆ ZRINSKI BY IVAN ZAJC

1. In the prolific opus of the Croatian composer Ivan Zajc, 87 works were written for the musical stage, and 27 of these were operas: 22 finished and 5 unfinished. Zajc started out by composing them after Italian librettos (La Tirolese, Milan 1855), and went on to compose (apart from using Italian texts) after German librettos (Die Hexe von Roissy, Vienna 1866); after his arrival in Zagreb he almost exclusively used Croatian texts. He characterized these as »opera« (e. g. Adelia), »musical drama« (e. g. Ban Leget) or »musical tragedy« (e. g. Nikola Šubić Zrinski), »sung musical allegorical drama« (e. g. Prvi grijeh; The Original Sin), »legend« (e. g. La dea della montagna ovvero i minatori), »concert opera« (e. g. Postolar i vrag; The Cobbler and the Devil), »musical stage-play« (e. g. Seoski plemić; The Country Squire) and »musical theatre« (e. g. John Bull). The fact that he used almost the entire range of possible characterizations for his works is clear evidence of the composer's refined sense for the specific nature of the content and expression inherent in this musical form for the stage.

2. The fact that the composer found himself to be best at home in this area of musical expression from the very beginning of his (official) embarkation in this field is borne out by the review of the first performance of his graduation work which was published in the Milan newspaper La Fama:
Zajc's music is original, spontaneous, clear and proper with many beautiful, delightful and vivacious themes. We have met an artist who displays his skill especially in sections for the choir. The Finale of the second act proves that he is independent and that he does not imitate the much too difficult forms of the stiff counterpoint composers. In short La Tirolese is a worthy opera whose composer, although a beginner, knows his music, the nature of voices and orchestration and never misuses them. Although he on a few occasions imitates Verdi, we cannot begrudge him that. I would like to point out a number of arias and whole sections, particularly a cavatina, a female duet, a characteristic and vivacious chorus, a tenor aria, and especially the last scenes of the opera in which the composer raises his art to the heights of true emotion and expresses the catastrophe of the drama in very lively colours and with great passion. The audience liked the opera very much and received it with great applause.
The description of Zajc (as a composer of operas) in this review can be applied to him, to a large extent, to the whole of his career.

3. Zajc wrote most of his operas in Zagreb. Through his operas he filled the (objective) vacuum in this musical form existing at that time, and - along with the operas of other composers which he performed in Zagreb - educated the audience and became a model for our other composers, as well as expressing his patriotism. This is most clearly borne out in what we may describe as Zajc's »patriotic trilogy«: Mislav, Ban Leget and Nikola Šubić Zrinski, and the last of these three has been recognised by many in Croatia to be a synonym not only for Zajc as a composer but also as a musician.

4. Although Zajc was in most cases much more fortunate with respect to the artistic quality of his librettos than his predecessor Vatroslav Lisinsks, (1819-1854), it was only on three occasions that he had the opportunity to work with really good literary texts, the first occasion being the opera in question. The libretto for Nikola Šubić Zrinski was written (albeit after the drama Zrinyi by the German writer Theodor Körner, 1791-1813) by the poet (and teacher) Hugo Badalić (1851-1900). The libretto abounded not only with action and dynamic twists, but also with fine poetry. Inspired by the text, Zajc - according to his notes on the score - composed the opera in a little over three months: between the 2nd of July and the 10th of October 1876. The premiere was performed after 24 days (4th of November of that same year)!

5. This fact relating to the time-scale of the composition is indeed impressive, even when we take into account that the composer made use of some of his material from the unfinished opera Branković (i. e. his attempt to rewrite it as Čengić-Aga), using substantial material for the composition of the finale of the first scene of the first act, and partially (one four-beat bar) for the introduction to Zrinski's Oath (Act I, scene 3, tempo poco andante). On the other hand, in Nikola Šubić Zrinski he masterfully incorporated two motifs from Ban Leget (1872) and one from Mislav (1870), thus linking these, as we have already noted, into a »patriotic trilogy« which reached its climax in Nikola Šubić Zrinski.

Apart from this connection, we should point out the interrelationship of the themes (Croats in three different periods of history: Mislav, the 6th century /hunger/, Ban Leget, the second half of the 10th century /political unrest/, Nikola Šubić Zrinski, the 16th century /struggle against the Turks/). To this we can add yet another link, one which concerns folk elements in the music: Zajc was led by the intention of »colouring« the three works by native Croat forms of musical expression. In Nikola Šubić Zrinski this can be seen by Zajc's refined use of the Croatian folk melody from Podsused The magpie has a long tail and mottled plumage for composing Jelena's Dream (Act II, scene 7).

We need to draw particular attention to Zajc's use of the leitmotiv, not only in his use of the beginning of his composition for male choir To Arms! from 1866 (composed in Vienna), which appears in full in the finale of the opera, but also in another motif linked with the personality of Suleyman.

6. Nikola Šubić Zrinski is without doubt Zajc's most communicative work. It can be classified as a heroic opera with sections (numbers) which — in the course of three acts (eight scenes) — follow logically in a gradual concentric sequence towards the final tragedy of the brave defenders of Szigeth faced with the Turkish onslaught (1566). The sections are filled with musical commentary which is infused not only with an unusually inspired sensibility (for example, Zrinjski's romance Look yonder, see the town shine), but also with discrete tonal colouring derived from Croatian folk melodic expression (for example, Jelena's subtle lullaby The red rose blossoms), as well as ecstatic pathos (e.g., Zrinjski's and Eva's duet On wings of glory), and impressive monumentality (e.g., the Oath of the town defenders), eastern colour (e.g., the ballet scenes), and the profound investigation of the essence of the human psyche (e.g., Suleyman's arioso before his death). Constantly sympathetic with the fate of protagonists from both camps and taking into account the rules of the stage, Zajc's execution is that of a master of technique who knows how to find adequate tonal solutions to all of his ideas in composition, both subtle (e. g., Jelena's lullaby) and caricatured (e. g., the Turks' chorus Let Allah follow...). By using, as we have already pointe out, the leitmotiv technique in a substantial way Zajc has produced a work which today stands not only as a successful Croatian opera of its time, bu also a work which (along with The Original Sin, quite rightly finds its place among similar contemporary works in other countries.

7. The fact that Zajc himself considered Nikola Šubić Zrinski to be a worthy achievement which can be fittingly staged abroad is also borne out by his correspondence with the Czech politician and writer Josef Vâclav Frič (1829-1891) concerning Zajc's (unsuccessful) attempt to stage the work in St. Petersburg. This idea of staging the opera abroad will be realized only a year before Zajc's death; the opera was performed in Prague in 1913. It would be fitting to see in the years ahead, that Nikola Šubić Zrinski is performed more frequently abroad. Zajc's work indeed deserves such a destiny.
Lovro Županović, PhD.

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NIKOLA ŠUBIĆ ZRINSKI (OPERA) - part ii

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IVAN ZAJC (1832-1914)
biography

The Croatian composer and conductor Ivan Zajc was born in Rijeka on August 3rd 1838, His father was an army bandmaster of Czech origin. Zajc's musical talent was evident early on in his life; at the age of six he performed in public, playing the piano and the violin. Nevertheless, his father was at first opposed to the idea of him taking up music after his secondary education, and wanted him to study law. At the insistence of Zajc's professors from the gymnasium he relented and Zajc went to Milan where he studied at the Conservatory between 1850 and 1855. His teachers were S. Ronchetti-Monteviti (counterpoint and composition), A. Mazzucato (orchestration) and L. Rossi (dramatic music). During his studies he regularly received prizes as one of the most talented studies. A special recognition came in the form of the first prize he was awarded at the graduation examination for his opera La Tirolese (1855), which was in that same year performed on the school stage.
Having graduated, Zajc's future was secure since he could stay in Milan as a conductor in the Teatro alla Scala, but circumstances in his family forced him to return to Rijeka. There he accepted the post of conductor and concert master of the Town Theatre Orchestra, and he also taught stringed instruments in the Philharmonic Institute. At that time he was hard at work writing compositions, and in doing so displaying stunning speed and ease which were to be his characteristic until late in his life. In 1862 Zajc left Rijeka to go to Vienna, the city where the opera and theatre were flourishing. He thought that he might earn recognition as a composer of operas, but circumstances were such that he had to be satisfied with composing operettas, for the most part one-act operettas. His very first work for the Viennese stage, the operetta Mannschaft an Bord (1863), was an enormous success with the public, and his later operettas served to strengthen his reputation even further. However, it was in Vienna that Zajc composed his first compositions to texts in Croatian, including the patriotic composition for choir To Arms! (1866), which he would later on incorporate into his opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski. In Vienna he frequently met with young students from Croatia: Ivan Dežman, Franjo Marković, August Šenoa, Matija Divković and others. They tried to convince him to leave Vienna and go to Zagreb in order to raise the level of musical culture after the demise of the Illyrian Movement. Bishop Josip Jura] Strossmayer and the poet Petar Preradović also joined in persuading Zajc, who soon made up his mind. Patriotism won him over and he left his lucrative position in Vienna, and thus also all chances for a secure, brilliant career as a favourite popular composer of operettas.
In 1870 Zajc came to Zagreb, where he had to start from the beginning in fairly uncertain conditions. On his arrival he was presented with two posts: he became the director and conductor of the first permanent Croatian opera and the director and teacher of the music school of the Croatian Institute of Music. He was at the head of the Opera until 1889 - i.e. until it was closed for the first time — and at the head of the school until his retirement (1908). At the Opera he carried out a thorough reorganisation and significantly contributed to the training of the ensemble which would in the 19 years of Zajc's leadership perform some 50 operas and about ten operettas. The repertoire shows Zajc's unmistakable leanings towards Italian opera. Nevertheless, Zajc was not only the founder of Croatian opera as institution of the arts. He had even at that time, as well as later on in life, enriched the art of opera in Croatia with a line of his own works, so that we have to say that he was also responsible for creating Croatian opera almost from scratch (only one Croatian opera was performed in public before his arrival in Zagreb, namely Love and Malice by Vatroslav Lisinski, Lisinski's Porin would be performed as late as 1897). Zajc also contributed immensely to the progress and development of the school of the Croatian Institute of Music by taking part in its reorganisation,the occasional changes and improvements in the curiculum and the programme, as well as organising notable school concerts. As an excellent teacher in voice training, Zajc was successful in training several prominent singers. He also gave private lessons in composition.
Zajc was an exceptionally prolific and versatile composer. There is almost no area in which he did not leave his mark. Nevertheless, the focus of his opus was on works for the stage. Being brought up in surroundings which respected and cultivated Italian tradition in music, Zajc had come to love Italian opera during his studies at the Milan Conservatory. It remained an ideal to which he remained faithfull all his life. However, Zajc was not a blind imitator of his models. Having the gift of rich melodic invention, he knew how to find his own way and build original works on the beauty of the melodic line his main means of expression. Nevertheless, his links with the art of Italian opera had an influence during his stay in Zagreb. Although he tried to imitate characteristics of Croatian folk music in individual works, including his music for Gundulić's Dubravka, Zajc directed music in Croatia in a direction which was ideologically different from that of the composers of the Illyric Movement. Restricted by his musical training and artistic preferences, he could not carry on from where the members of the national renewal movement left off, so that the late individualisation and final recognition of the national style in music in Croatia were for the most part a result of Zajc's attitude towards music. During his career as a composer,
Zajc did not evolve in any significant way. Obviously uninformed with respect to the development of European music in the last decades of the 19th century, he held on to technical and compositional techniques from his youth and achieved a notable skill and routine which certainly enabled him to compose work after work with almost unbelievable ease. His opus includes 1200 various works.
Zajc's masterpiece for the stage, still fresh and lively, the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski is splendid in its melodic richness and a symbolism which has been relevant for decades. In a period when the ongoing political struggle of Croats against the Hungarians covered almost every page of Croatian history, Zajc's Zrinski stressed the greatness of patriotic heroism as a true pledge for the victory of the people, their aspirations and ideals. Zrinski was also built up on a multitude of contrasts; heroic scenes are intermingled with lyrical passages, and they are all reinvigorated by aptly applied choreographic elements. We can easily find convincing and accessible melodic lines in every one of Zajc's works for the stage. His opus for the stage includes 19 operas, the most notable being Mislav (1870), Ban Leget (1872), Lizinka (1878), as well as his 26 operettas, which show the way in which Zajc succeeded in adapting to the specific elements of the Viennese style from the middle of the nineteenth century.
The ease and closeness of the melodic lines is also a hallmark of Zajc's vocal works. His compositions for choirs had formed the backbone of the programmes of choirs in Croatia in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. Some of them were performed very often (Zrinsko~Frankopanska, Glasna jasna, Večer na Savi, Slijepac Marko, Curičica mala), and there was hardly a choir in Croatia to which Zajc did not dedicate a composition. But the focal point of his vocal works were his songs, which greatly surpassed those of other contemporary Croatian composers. Zajc's songs are for the most part written in verse form or three-part form; the piano accompaniment is frequently independent, while the structure of the vocal section displays the characteristic features of Zajc's style (a preference for certain intervals, a leap to the subdominant, sequencing, a strict periodisation, occasional coloraturas). Zajc's most popular songs include Večernja pjesma (Evening Song), Vir (Whirlpool), Uznesi se (Rejoice), Lastavicam (Swallows), Domovini i ljubavi (To my Homeland and to My Love), Tužna ljubav (Sad Love), Djevojka i ruža (The Girl and the Rose) and others.
Among Zajc's instrumental compositions we need to note his String Quartet in E major (op. 143), one of the rare pieces of chamber music written in Croatia in the nineteenth century, and the Romantic and programme music A Symphonic Musical Image for the Piano and Orchestra. Zajc's compositions for the piano are predominantly marked by elements of »drawing-room music«.
Zajc played an important part in the development of Croatian music. Acting over a long period of time as an organiser, conductor, teacher and composer, he began and successfully carried out the struggle against dilettantism and for promoting a serious approach to the composition and performance in music, thus paving the way for new and significant achievements of Croatian musical culture in the twentieth tieth century. Because of all of these efforts Zajc deserves great credit.
He died in Zagreb on December 16th 1914.
Josip Andreis
Muzička Enciklopedija br. 3
Leksikografski zavod "Miroslav Krleža"
Zagreb 1977.

[Sivi_Sokol]

NIKOLA ŠUBIĆ ZRINSKI (OPERA) - part iii

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SYNOPSIS

Act one
Scene one: In his camp in Belgrade, Suleyman II, already in poor health, decides to wage war and advance to Vienna. The physician Levi warns him that the exertions of war can prove to be fatal for his health. The grand vizier Mehmed Sokolović praises the Sultan's plans. Suleyman announces to his troops that he first of all wants to capture Szigeth and vanquish Nikola Zrinski. His captains think that they should bypass Szigeth, but the Sultan remains implacable.
Scene two: The people in Szigeth have a foreboding of coming events. Jelena, Nikola's daughter, tells her mother Eva how she fears the Turks and enslavement. Upon hearing about the Turkish invasion, Zrinski decides to make a stand. Jelena and Juranić wish to be married, but Zrinski postpones the marriage until the end of the war.
Scene three: On the fortress wall, Zrinski's troops greet Alapić and Juranić who are joined by Nikola Šubić together with Eva and Jelena. The women decide to stay in Szigeth with the defenders. Zrinski and the troops take a solemn oath to defend Szigeth to the last man.

Act two
Scene four: In the Turkish camp, the Sultan's suite, together with Timoleon the eunuch, are enjoying themselves in a song celebrating the death of the young Hungarian king on the field of Mohacs some forty years previously. The Sultan and the grand vizier attend a ceremonious dance. The Sultan is impatient because of Zrinjski's resistance and sends Sokolović to negotiate with him.
Scene five: In Szigeth, Nikola Šubić is worried because the Turks are continuing their advance. He decides to bring down the walls of the new town himself and to withdraw to the old fortress with his troops. Mehmed Sokolović arrives with the Sultan's message. He will make Zrinski king if he hands over the keys of the town. Zrinski proudly rejects this. Sokolović threatens him and discloses that the Turks have taken his son Gjuro. Together with his family and troops, Zrinski repeats the solemn oath. Amazed by such courage, Sokolović returns to the camp.

Third act
Scene six: At the camp before Szigeth, the Sultan dies. Sokolović assumes power and hides Suleyman's death from the Turkish troops.
Scene seven: Eva and Jelena have taken shelter in the basement of the old town. The girl dreams of her marriage to Juranić. He arrives with the message, that they are preparing for the decisive battle. Jelena anticipates that things will go badly, and asks Juranić to kill her so that she does not fall into Turkish hands. They say goodbay and Juranić stabs Jelena with his dagger.
Scene eight: On the fortress wall, Zrinski takes his leave of Eva. The troops and the people gather. With the joint cry »To arms, to arms, draw your sword« all go to their death.

The most famous part of the opera:

Officers and soldiers
The Croatian banner is flying high!
Croats are ever ready to fight
For their king, their homes and their kind!

Zrinski
Onwards, brothers,
The mad Turk beckons!
Juranic, you'll take our banner.
Ill follow in step
And Alapić too.
But before we meet our fate,
Come, brothers, let's embrace.

The officers gather around;
he embraces them and shakes hands with them

Juranić (taking up a banner)
To arms, to arms,
Draw your sword, my lord!
Let us show the devils the way to die!

Zrinski, Alapić, Paprutović, Eva, officers and soldiers
The town is burning,
It's engulfed in fire.
Their cries resounding
With furious desire!

Juranić
The flame that's burning in our hearts
Will silence their cries with steel!

Juranić, Zrinski and chorus
Like brothers
Here we stand.
Come to Zrinski
And say farewell!

Chorus
Brothers!
Load your muskets,
Load your cannon,
Let them roar!
Draw your swords.
Let the Turk cry: »No more!«

Eva, Juranić, Paprutović, Zrinski
Farewell to you.
My home, farewell.
May God be with you, now and ever.
Your enemies are ever ready to march
And plan to tread on your every step.
But no! Every son of yours is ready to fight.
To protect you forever with all their might!

All*
For our home
We're ready to do battle!
Though Hell threatens
With its bloody thirst,
We're few, but brave and ready!
Let's see whom death will take first!
Death to the Devil, death!

Zrinski
To die in glory, for our country we trust!

All
We'll take on the enemy! He'll fall, he must!

All goes.

Catastrophe


*Thanks to slobodagovora for pointing out the error. I forgot the most famous part of the most famous part ;)
The mp3 sample of this part you can download here (http://rapidshare.com/files/37838182/U_boj_u_boj.mp3).

[Sivi_Sokol]

NIKOLA ŠUBIĆ ZRINSKI (OPERA) - part iv

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THE BATTLE OF SZIGETVAR (Siget in Croatian) As recorded in historical accounts

However, at that ime individual Turkish pashas began to wage war in Hungary. The pasha of Budim, Arslan (Oroslan), attacked the fort of Palota west of Szekesfehervar on June 5th 1566, but retreated after ten days when the counts of Helfenstein and the captain of Gyor, Salm, came to its aid. Salm went on to take not only the neighbouring Vesprim, but in the middle of July also took the well-fortified Totis. Some commanders even considered attacking Esztergon, but King Maximilian II ordered the dukes to limit themselves to defence, since word was received that the Sultan was on his way.
The aging Suleyman, struck by gout, could not properly stand on his feet, let alone ride, and was even mentally unstable. Nevertheless, he decided to lead his army personally. On one hand he wanted to fulfil his religious duty, and on the other he wanted to remove the stain inflicted on his honour by the defeat of his army at Malta. This was the thirteenth campaign that he led. On April 29th he left Istanbul to arrive in Zemun as late as the second hal of June; it was there that the Duke of Erdelj, John Sigismund, was oredered to meet him with his armed well-born royal suite. On June 29th the duke went down on his knees three times before the sultan and presented him with rich gifts. The sultan received him as a favourite son, and promised that he would not rest until crowning him with the Hungarian crown. On the following day the sultan gave him rich gifts which were carried by 22 court attendants, as well as four beautiful horses which were brought by the chief equerry. At their parting on July 1st, the sultan told the duke: »You gather the troops, the gunpowder, lead and money; if there is anything you need, let me know and I will give you what you want.«
Suleyman was primarily interested in capturing the strongholds which stood in the way of the expansion of Turkish rule, and these were Gyula in the east, Szigetvar in the West, and Eger in the north. Vezir Pertav-Pasha was dispatched to Gyula with 25.000 cavalrymen and infantry, reinforced by 2000 janisaries, and the sultan also ordered that he should be joined by the Pasha of Temesvar and Crimean Tartars. A two month siege reduced the ranks of the heroic defenders, so that the captain of the fort, Vladislav Kerečenji, with his remaining 500 men had to surrender, but with the provision that he and his men were free to leave. The Turks went on to take the lesser neighbouring forts of Jeno and Vilagos in doing so completely displaced the rule of the king Maximilian in regions to the east of the central part of the river Tisza.
It has been said that Suleyman first of all wanted to lead the main body of his army against Eger, but after receiving word that Nikola Zrinski defeated a Turkish company at Siklos he decided to move straight for Szigetvar, which was in any case a greater thorn in his side. But the crossing of the rising waters of the river Drava slowed down his advance, so that the Turkish army reached Szigetvar as late as August 1st, and Suleyman himself reached the town on August 6th. Because of conflicting reports, it is hard to say how many Turkish troops besieged the town, but there can be no doubt that there were more than 100.000 soldiers ready for battle and more than 200 canon of various sizes.
At that time Szigetvar consisted of the new town (to the south), the old town and the old fort (to the north). These three parts of Szigetvar were connected by bridges - the one between the old town and the fort being fairly long, while the one between the old town and the new town was much shorter. The main defence of the town as a whole was provided by the marshes of the stream of Almas which made it into an island (the Hungarian word for an island is in fact »sziget«). The best fortified was the fort itself; however, it had no stone walls, but only wooden defensive walls filled with earth and five bastions. It is only in the inner part of this fort, which was also aproached by a bridge, that there stood a stone tower in which gunpowder was kept. Nikola Zrinski had secured provisions for a lengthy siege of the town, so that there was plenty of food. After learning that the Turks were drawing near, he assembled all his troops and all men ready to bear arms in the old fort, where they pledged their loyalty to him and promised to obey him to the death after he made the following pledge: »I, Nikola prince of Zrin, do solemnly swear, first of all to Almighty God, and then to his Majesty, our glorious king and our suffering homeland and to you, my knights, that I shall never leave you, that I shall rather live and die with you, to suffer for better or worse. So help me God!« On this occasion he appointed his nephew Gašpar Alapić to be his deputy in the event of his death.
Straight away on August 7th the Turks began attacking the new town. The siege lasted for a full month. One Croatian hero who was taken prisoner by the Turks after the fall of Szigetvar, and who was later freed after paying a high ransom, recorded a faithful and detailed account of the siege in the Croatian language. (The account was written by Franjo Črnko, clerk and chamberlain to Nikola Šubić Zrinski; his ransom was paid for by Nikola's son Juraj. The Croatian version, written in the Glagolitic script, was discovered in Austria in 1912, and published by F. Kidrič, who determined that F. Črnko was its author.) At the request of Ivan Auersperger, the work was translated by the Slovenian Samuel Budina into German and Latin. The Croatian original was thereafter lost; the Latin translation was printed in Vienna in 1568, providing us with a comprehensive account of the disaster at Szigetvar by an eye-witness who actually took part in this terrible clash.
Lacking proper fortifications, the new town could not hold out for long in spite of the heroic resistance of its defenders. After only two days, on August 9th, Zrinski had to burn it and withdraw into the old town. But the Turks needed only ten days to caputre it, and entered it on August 19th. On this occasion many defenders died because they did not have time to take refuge in the fort. Nevertheless, the Turks also had heavy casualties, with up to 3000 dead. Already during the siege of the old town Zrinski sent a message to King Maximilian, who was at the camp at Gyor, stating that he would, »should disaster befall him, set fire to the old town and retreat to the fort and defend it to the last man«.
The battle for the old town was particularly bloody. The Grand Vezir Mehmed Sokolović first of all tried to win Zrinski over to his side by sending him a letter, tied to an arrow shot into the town, offering to give him all Croatia if he would only surrender Szigetvar. Some time after this, in the Megjimurje region the Turks captured the trumpeter of Juraj Zrinski, Nikola's eidest son. Suleyman then took the trumpet, which bore the coat of arms of the Zrinski family, and sent it to Nikola Zrinski with the message that he would execute Zrinski's son if he does not surrender. Finally, the Turks threw various letters written in Croatian, Hungarian and German, calling the defenders not to lose their lives in vain, but rather to surrender and receive rich gifts from the sultan. However, all the threats and messages proved useless.
The Turks incessantly attacked the fort, day and night, for several days and succeeded in damaging the fortifications in several places. On August 26th Grand Vezir Sokolović ordered an all-out vharge. This assault was repelled; what is more, the defenders captured two Turkish banners and killed the Egyptian governor Ali-Pasha and the artillery commander Aliportuk. An even fiercer assault was carried on August 29th, the anniversary of the fall of Belgrade, the battle of Mohacs and the taking of Budim. Although very ill and invalid, the sultan himself mounted his horse and showed himself to his troops in order to encourage them. But the heroic defenders beat off all assaults from dawn to dusk, and even captured an aga of the janisseries. The Turks then started work to undermine the fortifications, September 2nd they dug under the bastion known as »the hill«, which was built by Nadasdy, and filled the sap with wood, straw and gunpowder. Zrinski then succeeded in fending off another Turkish assault but the wind shifted and the town began to burn forcing Zrinski to abandon it, together with provisions, food supplies and the suffering inhabitants to the Turks, and to retreat with his remaining troops, into the tower. However, Suleyman had died on September 4th, and had not lived to see the fall of Szigetvar or receive word of the fall of Gyula. The Grand Vezir Sokoiović kept the news of the sultan's death a secret from everyone, even the vezirs, and even propped up the sultan's dead body on a chair at the window of his tent before leading the charge on September 5th, so as to make it appear that the sultan is still alive and watching his brave troops. At the same time Sokolović sent a confidential messenger to Suleyman's son and his father-in-law Selim II with word of his father's death and also called on him to hurry to the camp and join the troops. In order to continue in deceiving the Turks, Sokolović maintained the usual customs and ceremonies (he has food prepared for the sultan and, at a certain time od day, ordered muusicians to play in front of his tent) as if the sultan was still alive'
Zrinski could not hold out much longer in the fort within the old town. He was left with less than 500 brave troops. At dawn of September 7th the Turks began to release incendiary arrows and fireballs into the fort, setting fire to it, including Zrinski's quarters. When the entire Turkish army prepared for the assault, Prince Zrinski decided to charge out of the fort to a heroic death rather than meet a cowardly end in the fire.
Zrinski first of all ordered all his valuable objects and treasure to be taken from his quarters and thrown into the fire He then summoned his faithful official Črnko and with his assistance dressed in his resplendent robes. On his head he placed a gold-embroidered cap with an aigrette and a jewel. He belted his sabre and carried a light round shield. He had a hundred Hungarian ducats sown into the lining of his dolman to serve as a prize for the Turk who would capture him. And finally, he took the keys of the fort so that they would not fall to the enemy while he was alive. It was dressed like this that he left his quarters and joined the remaining defenders, who were waiting for him in the courtyard near the gate at which they aimed a canon loaded with pieces of iron and lead shot. Repeating to his faithful troops that he does not regret dying for the sacred faith in Jesus, for the king and homeland, he ordered the tower gate to be lowered and the canon to be fired. The shot brought down a multitude of Turks in front of the bridge and cleared the way into the enemy ranks. At that moment Zrinski broke out with his troops, led by Lovro Juranić who carried the royal banner. Zrinski, at the head of the charge, brought down a Turkish officer with a shot from his pistol and began wielding his sword all around him. The Turks kept calling to him not to rashly lose his life, but rather to surrender and plead for mercy from the sultan. Finally he was struck in the head by an enemy shot and fell to the ground. A furious battle was then fought around the dying commander, a battle in which the defenders perished to a man. The Turks took the still breathing Zrinski and carried him to the aga of the janissaries, who had him placed on Kocijan's canon and decapitated. And then, when the victorious Turks burst into the tower to plunder it, the storerooms full of gunpowder exploded and buried 3000 enemy soldiers in the rubble.
The defenders of the fort of Szigetvar were killed almost to the man; the Turks spared the lives of only a few, including Zrinski's clerk Črnko, the young Bert Gerecija, Stjepan Oršić and Gašpar Alapić, who was later to become the ban of Croatia. Črnko and Alapić were released from Turkish imprisonment after Juraj Zrinski, Nikola's father, paid their ransom. Sokolović had Nikola Zrinski's head placed on a pole in front of the sultan's tent, where it stood for two days. On September 9th he sent the head to his brother Mustapha, the pasha of Budim, who forwarded it to Count Salm. Nikola's son Juraj took it to Čakovec, where it was laid to rest in the family tomb in the Pauline church of St. Helen. The siege and taking of Szigetvar cost the Turks 18.000 cavalrymen and 7000 janissaries.
Vjekoslav Klaić: The History of the Croats, Book five, The fourth period:
The rule of kings from the Habsburg family (1527-1740),
pp. 328-332,
Nakladni zavod Matice Hrvatske, Zagreb 1973

Everything that is wrote here was taken from the booklet of the above mentioned opera...

[Sivi_Sokol]

NIKOLA ŠUBIĆ ZRINSKI (OPERA) - part v

http://h1.ripway.com/wolfpredation/nikola.subic.zrinski.JPG

Prince Nikola Zrinski after a contemporary portrait painted by Baltazar Jenichen

[Sivi_Sokol]

Ako ikoga zanima cijela opera, a nema namjeru (ili si ne može priuštiti) kupiti CD(-e) od CR-a, mogu ja uploadat u mp3 formatu na rapidshare...

Pozdrav.

[slobodagovora]

Nikola Šubić Zrinski - opera
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LVhUQa3JbI0

Opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski - Ivan pl. Zajc, Zagreb, 30. svibnja 1990.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H1JgDtLuKE0

[Watzy]

Ako ikoga zanima cijela opera, a nema namjeru (ili si ne može priuštiti) kupiti CD(-e) od CR-a, mogu ja uploadat u mp3 formatu na rapidshare...

Pozdrav.

Predivna opera, imam VHS snimak jedne izvedbe na otvorenom iz 90-ih te jednu staru izvedbu na pločama.

Ako je moguće, volio bih imati vrhunce u mp3 formatu poput npr. Zakletve ("Tako meni Boga velikoga"), arije "Na krilih slave letimo" i romanse Zrinskog ("Gle kako divno sjaji grad").

[Ace Rimmer]

Bravo, hvala, ide u Selected Threads (http://www.thephora.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23068) .

[Sivi_Sokol]

And here are the links:
part i (http://rapidshare.com/files/38921651/NIKOLA_SUBIC_ZRINSKI__glazbena_tragedija_u_tri_cina__-_Ivan_Pl_Zajc_-_2006.part1.rar.html) - 100 MB
part ii (http://rapidshare.com/files/38938954/NIKOLA_SUBIC_ZRINSKI__glazbena_tragedija_u_tri_cina__-_Ivan_Pl_Zajc_-_2006.part2.rar.html) - 100 MB
part iii (http://rapidshare.com/files/38954894/NIKOLA_SUBIC_ZRINSKI__glazbena_tragedija_u_tri_cina__-_Ivan_Pl_Zajc_-_2006.part3.rar.html) - 91 MB

Some information on this issue:

Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Croatian ban, commander of Siget : Vladimir Ruždjak
Eva, his wife: Milka Bertapelle
Jelena, their daughter: Branka Stilinović
Lovro Juranić, Jelena's fiancé: Zvonimir Prelčec
Gašpar Alapić: Nikola Bogdan
Vuk Paprutović: Rajko Truban
Sulejman the Magnificent, Turkish Sultan : Dragutin Bernardić
Mehmed Sokolović, Grand Vizier: Franjo Paulik
Levi, Sulejman's physician: Milivoj Belavić
Timoleon: Ivica Kiš

The Sultan's retinue, Croat and Turkish officers and soldiers, veiled women, odalisques, eunuchs.
The action takes place In 1566 at Belgrade, in the fortress of Szigeth and in the Turkish camp before the fortress
(where the scenes take place - i.e. in three different places...)

Recording location - Studio "Dubrava film", Zagreb 1962.
Edition - MUSICA CROATICA
Prepared by - Veljko Lipovšćak
Producer - Pero Gotovac
Recording engineer - Vladimir Štefanac
Digital remastering - Vladimir Smiljanić
English translation - Tomislav Pisk

[Watzy]

And here are the links:
part i (http://rapidshare.com/files/38921651/NIKOLA_SUBIC_ZRINSKI__glazbena_tragedija_u_tri_cina__-_Ivan_Pl_Zajc_-_2006.part1.rar.html) - 100 MB
part ii (http://rapidshare.com/files/38938954/NIKOLA_SUBIC_ZRINSKI__glazbena_tragedija_u_tri_cina__-_Ivan_Pl_Zajc_-_2006.part2.rar.html) - 100 MB
part iii (http://rapidshare.com/files/38954894/NIKOLA_SUBIC_ZRINSKI__glazbena_tragedija_u_tri_cina__-_Ivan_Pl_Zajc_-_2006.part3.rar.html) - 91 MB

Some information on this issue:

Ova izvedba sa Ruždjakom je antologija, a zvuk je perfektan! Puno hvala Sivi Soko !!! :thanks: :thanks: :thanks:

[Sivi_Sokol]

Ova izvedba sa Ruždjakom je antologija, a zvuk je perfektan! Puno hvala Sivi Soko !!! :thanks: :thanks: :thanks:

Je meni su oči ispale kad sam vidio godinu i da je zvuk tako dobro očuvan...

[Sivi_Sokol]

Vice Vukov pjeva najpoznatiji dio opere, Zagreb 1992. godine. Vice Vukov - "U boj, u boj!" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=DDTQcSmyxbU&feature=related)

[FuiStar]

Moze li se obnoviti linkovi za download?

[Sivi_Sokol]

NIKOLA ŠUBIĆ ZRINSKI - Glazbena tragedija u tri čina - Ivan Pl. Zajc (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MTEUEMKO)