There are some operas which are rarely – if ever – staged, but whose music becomes famous – even wildly popular—in the concert hall. Everyone has heard the overture to Rossini’s “William Tell,” for example, but only a few fortunate (or very determined) opera fans ever get to see the whole opera staged.

Zoltán Kodály’s opera “Háry János” falls into this strange class of works both popular AND obscure. This comic opera debuted at the Royal Hungarian Opera House in Budapest on today’s date in 1926 and recounts the adventures of an old veteran of the Napoleonic Wars named “Háry János.”

In the village tavern, Háry boasts of his heroic exploits: how he singlehandedly won a battle against Napoleon, for example, and how the Emperor’s Wife fell in love with him, and she would have run off with him if he’d wanted, but he chose to remain true to his Hungarian sweetheart back home.

You get the idea…

Kodály’s opera was a hit in Budapest but was not taken up elsewhere. But a concert suite of excerpts from its brilliant score depicting Háry János’s imaginary adventures became a popular showpiece for orchestras, an unbeatable combination of great tunes, colorful orchestration, and smile-inducing wit.

Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967) — Háry János Suite (Budapest Festival Orchestra; Ivan Fischer, cond.) Philips 462 824