Lujza Blaha (''Ludovika Reindl''; 1850–1926) was a Hungarian actress and singer. She was known as "the nation's nightingale", an epithet given her by writer

Mór Jókai Móricz Jókay of Ásva (18 February 1825 – 5 May 1904), known as Mór Jókai, was a Hungarian novelist, dramatist and revolutionary. Outside of Hungary, he was also known as Maurice Jókai or Maurus Jókai or Mauritius Jókai. He was a le ...

. ''"First published in the Time Out Budapest magazine's monthly column "Magyar of the Month" (2009–2011)"''

Personal life

Ludovika Reindl was born 8 September 1850 in Rimaszombat (today Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia). She married Ján Blaha, a Czech conductor in the imperial army, when she was 15 years old. He died five years later, but she kept his surname all her life despite marrying twice more. Despite being considered a "national icon" during her lifetime, she opposed the dignified "national prima donna" that was being thrust upon her and often crossed the taboos of the epoch by being sexually provocative both on stage and in her private life. She died 18 January 1926 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. She was buried in the

Kerepesi Cemetery Kerepesi Cemetery (Hungarian: ''Kerepesi úti temető'' or ''Kerepesi temető'', official name: ''Fiumei úti nemzeti sírkert'', i.e. "Fiume Road National Graveyard") is the most famous cemetery in Budapest. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in ...

, and her funeral drew a crowd of 100,000, including a gypsy band of 200 musicians.

Career

Blaha's parents were travelling actors, and she first performed aged 15 in

Subotica Subotica (, ; , , ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Sub ...

. She received acting training from the Budapest School of Dramatic Arts. She joined the national theatre five years later and between 1871 and 1900 she played almost 200 parts in plays, mostly Hungarian "folk plays" or "", patriotic plays celebrating peasant life. Apart from her theater work, she would also draw crowds at balls, the banquets and torchlight music events organised by the Mulató-klub (The Club of Amusements), and she was also active as an operetta singer. She also appeared in two silent films. The first, ''A táncz'' ("Dance", 1901) was an educational documentary short by , while the second, ''A nagymama'' (The Grandmother, 1916) sees her play the title role in the

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)

film. She played an important role in popularizing Hungarian gypsy songs. Her final performance in 1908 was in Gergely Csiky's play ''Nagymama'' ("grandmother").

Legacy

Lujza Blaha Square in central

was named for her in 1920 to celebrate her 70th birthday. It was the site of the

Hungarian National Theatre The National Theatre, located in Budapest originally opened in 1837. Since then, it has occupied several locations, including the original building at Kerepesi Street, the ''People's Theatre'' at Blaha Lujza Square, as well as Hevesi Sándor Sq ...

from 1908 to 1965; this was demolished because of construction of

Blaha Lujza tér metro station Blaha Lujza tér is a station of the M2 (East-West) line of the Budapest Metro. It is a major transport junction. The station was opened on 2 April 1970 as part of the inaugural section of Line M2, between Deák Ferenc tér and Örs vezér tere. ...

. Her Neoclassical summer home in the resort town of

Balatonfüred Balatonfüred (; ; ) is a resort town in Veszprém county, in Hungary. The town with a population of 13,000 is situated on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. It is considered to be the capital of the Northern lake shore and is a yachting destinat ...

, on the northern shore of

lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

, has been turned into a hotel bearing her name and is a minor tourist attraction of the town. FiumeDSC01857

Her tomb in

has been described as "one of the finest pieces in the Hungarian national pantheon". Hungarian indie-pop band

Blahalouisiana Blahalouisiana are a Hungarian indie-pop/beat-rock/pop-rock band from Székesfehérvár, Hungary. It consists of vocalist Barbara Schoblocher, lead guitarist András Szajkó, bassist Gábor Jancsó, guitarist László Mózner, drummer Ádám Juh ...

was founded in 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaha, Lujza 1850 births 1926 deaths 19th-century Hungarian women opera singers Actresses from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Hungarian actresses Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery