THE FIFTH SEAL

Iván Madarász was commissioned by the OPERA to compose The Fifth Seal using the screenplay of Zoltán Fábri’s legendary 1976 film. The film is based on Ferenc Sánta’s novel set in 1944 Hungary. Although the opera preserves the actual historical background of the Second World War, the composer also found it important to remove his work from the context of this period, and to emphasize the more general, in a way eternal meaning of the story that is not tied to any particular era. One of the many special features of this opera is that besides the standard symphonic orchestra, which is even used by the composer to illustrate the dramatic moments of the air raid, the popular music of the 1930s and ‘40s is also present in the work.