Ede Szigligeti
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Ede Szigligeti (8 March 181419 January 1878) was a Hungarian
dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...
. He was born József Szathmáry, at Nagyvárad-Olaszi (presently
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, Romania). His parents would have made him a priest; he wanted to be a great doctor; finally he entered the office of an engineer. But his heart was already devoted to the drama and, on 15 August 1834, despite the prohibition of his tyrannical father, he actually appeared upon the stage at
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. His father thereupon forbade lim to bear his name in future, and the younger Szathmary henceforth adopted instead the name of Ede Szigligeti, the hero of one of Sandor Kisfaludy's romances. He supported himself for the next few years precariously enough, earning as he did little more than twelve florins a month, but at the same time he sedulously devoted himself to the theatre and sketched several plays, which differed so completely from the "original" plays then in vogue ('' The Played-out Trick'' actually appeared upon the boards) that they attracted the attention of such connoisseurs as Vorosmarty and Bajza who warmly encouraged the young writer. In 1840 the newly founded
Hungarian Academy The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primary ...
crowned his five-act drama ''Rosa'', the title-role of which was brilliantly acted by Rosa Laborfalvy, the great actress, who subsequently married
Maurus Jokai Maurus is a Latin given name. It can refer to: Persons ;Saints * Saint Maurus of Parentium (3rd century), the first bishop of Parentium and the patron saint of Poreč * Saint Maurus (c. 500 - c. 584), the first disciple of St. Benedict of Nursia * ...
. Szigligeti was now a celebrity. In 1840 he was elected a member of the Academy and in 1845 a member of the
Kisfaludy Society The Kisfaludy Society (Hungarian: ''Kisfaludy Társaság'') was a literary society in Pest, founded in 1836 and named after Károly Kisfaludy, who had died in 1830. It held monthly meetings and was a major force in Hungarian literary life, giving ...
. He was now the leading Hungarian dramatist. Three of his plays were crowned by the National Theatre and sixteen by the Academy. His verdict on all dramatic subjects was for years regarded as final, and he was the mentor of all the rising young dramatists of the 1860s. During the half-century of his dramatic career Szigligeti wrote no fewer than a hundred original pieces, all of them remarkable for the inexhaustible ingenuity of their plots, their up-to-date technique and the consummate skill with which the author used striking and unexpected effects to produce his denouement. He wrote, perhaps, no work of genius, but he amused and enthralled the Magyar playgoing public for a generation and a half. Szigligeti's most successful tragedies were ''Gritti'' (1844),'' Paul Beldi'' (1856), ''Light's Shadows'' (1865), ''Struensee'' (i&ii), ''Valeriaa and The Pretender'' (1868). His tragedies, as a rule, lack pathos and sublimity. Much more remarkable are his comedies. He is a perfect master of the art of weaving complications, and he prefers to select his subjects from the daily life of the upper and upper-middle classes. The best of these comedies are ''The Three Commands of Matrimony'' (1850), ''Tuneful Stevey'' (1855), ''Mamma'' (1857), ''The Reign of Woman'' (1862), and especially the farce ''Young Lilly'' (1849). He also translated
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
's ''
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'' and
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's ''
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'', and wrote a dramaturgical work entitled ''The Drama and its Varieties''. A few of his plays have appeared in German.


References

*
Pál Rakodczay Pál is a Hungarian masculine given name, the Hungarian version of Paul. It may refer to: * Pál Almásy (1818–1882), Hungarian lawyer and politician * Pál Bedák (born 1985), Hungarian boxer * Pál Benkő (1928–2019), Hungarian-American ch ...
, ''Edward Szigligeti's Life and Works'' (Hung.; Pressburg, 1901) *
Pál Gyulai Pál is a Hungarian masculine given name, the Hungarian version of Paul. It may refer to: * Pál Almásy (1818–1882), Hungarian lawyer and politician * Pál Bedák (born 1985), Hungarian boxer * Pál Benkő (1928–2019), Hungarian-American ch ...
, ''Memorial Speeches'' (Hung.; Budapest, 1879 and 1890). {{DEFAULTSORT:Szigligeti, Ede 1814 births 1878 deaths People from Oradea Dramatists and playwrights from the Austrian Empire Dramatists and playwrights from Austria-Hungary