About the work
Opera in two acts by Ferenc Erkel, his first completed opera, to a libretto by Béni Egressy based on András Dugonics's play of the same name (1794). It premiered on 8 August 1840 at the Pesti Magyar Színház, which was renamed Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre) that same day.
Plot
Set in twelfth-century Hungary, the young knight Bátori secretly loves Mária, the widow of his late lord, and must withstand courtly intrigue and suspicions of treason before the tragic love story reaches its resolution.
Cultural significance
As the first opera to a Hungarian-language libretto, Bátori Mária launched Erkel's lifelong engagement with Hungarian national subject matter, though it remained a modest success with only three performances in its premiere season and vanished from the repertoire for decades after 1860.