# A contest: Peter Mikuláš vs. Eduard Haken - aria of Svätopluk from the Slovak opera Svätopluk by Eugen Suchoň



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

It's year 894, Great Moravian Empire. The aging king Svätopluk I is sharing his haunted thoughts with his scribe Záboj - see the libretto attached in the end.
The first one is a recital version, where we do not hear Záboj responding.
The second one is the complete opera, with the aria (or scena) *time tagged*. If it does not work for you, listen at *1:34. 


Peter Mikuláš:*




Peter Mikuláš, Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk, scéna Svätopluka z 3. dejstva


*Eduard Haken:*




*time tagged, or start at 1:34:00*
Eugen Suchoň: Svätopluk (1953-59)

Illustration









Libretto:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

In this unfamiliar but compelling music, I found the performance of Peter Mikuláš beautifully sung and deeply touching. Haken is not inferior dramatically, but his voice is not so fresh and free.

Tell us more about this opera.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> Tell us more about this opera.


Actually, I am discovering it only now, as well as other Slovak repertoire. Eugen Suchoň is probably the most popular composer of Slovak classical music. This opera was written in 1953-59, and the topic is the Slovak or Moravian history, with a great deal of poetic license. The theater in Bratislava will play it soon, with the premiere on February 24 2023. Peter Mikuláš, who is quite young in this recording, will be singing it again. I suspect he wants to retire in this role. Which is fitting, because the character is the dying king, who is passing the kingdom to his sons, hoping they will not quarrel and will sustain the empire. (It will obviously not work).
The fanfares from this opera are used in the presidential ceremonies, equivalent to Smetana's Libuse for Czech republic.
This blog gave it a nice review








Eugen Suchon: Svatopluk (1960)


Opera in three acts. Running Time: 2 hours 32 minutes. Sort of a connector to our all-Smetana month, a more modern Slovak opera based on Moravian history! So this is very different. Yes, this is a …




philsoperaworld.music.blog


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Real, old-fashioned operatic music from 1960! I'm impressed.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Beautiful music, faintly reminiscent of Szymanowski, whose music I really like. (Do you know *Król Roger*?)

Peter Mikuláš was particularly impressive, I thought.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Do you know *Król Roger*?


No, I don't know any Polish opera. (maybe I have heard an aria from Halka once, that is a composer Moniuszko) There is so much to discover now, with youtube at your fingertips.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

The foto of the libretto was giving me a nausea, because the website made it a title picture. So I added an illustration instead and also removed a Slovak half of the libretto, so that the print is not so small. I will provide the Slovak version on request.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

So far, 7:0 for Peter Mikuláš. I must say I am very content this time, because he was the one who awakened me to this aria and made me plan to see the opera live. My mother says, it is his signature role - I didn't know this.

Plus, you know, these silly tribal feelings, Czechs vs Slovaks, yay !

Eduard Haken is a very popular water sprite ("Vodník") in Rusalka, and I like his Biblical songs a lot.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Thank you, BBSVK, that you've digged it out. It's a new opera and a new composer for me. And new singers too. Both are good and have good enunciation, I could understand what they sing with a little approach to English text. Pan Haken seemed to be a little tired and his singing reminded declamation. Pan Mikulash sounded significantly fresher.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

BBSVK said:


> Plus, you know, these silly tribal feelings, *Czechs vs Slovaks*, yay !


I don't know if this is actually true but an acquaintance once told me that Czechs and Slovaks think of themselves as brothers and sisters - same mother but with a different father - and that each can readily understand the other's language as it was more a question of pronunciation and the use of dialect as opposed to actual linguistic differences. She also told me that they consider Poles to be cousins but that they find their accent to be hilarious and that they actually laugh when they hear it.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Actually, I should have used a past tense for Eduard Haken, because he died in 1996. For me, someone who was on my vinyl is obviously immortal and a contemporary singer forever. It shows that I am getting old.


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