Renewal: September 24, 2010.
Nikola Šubić Zrinski by Ivan Zajc is one of the rare works of that author that has kept its place on the repertoire of Croatian opera houses. The libretto written by Badalić is imbued with patriotic enthusiasm, while the music is pronouncedly belcanto and often inspired by Slavic quotations. The story describes the death of one of the most famous members of the aristocratic Zrinjski family after the long lasting Turkish siege of Siget in 1566, during which sultan Suleiman the Great died without succeeding to get to Vienna. The libretto was written upon the drama of the romantic poet Koerner, who chose the subject of the resistance of the Croatian governor to the Turkish invaders with the desire to encourage his contemporaries to fight against Napoleon’s conquest of Europe. Although the libretto is the weakest part of this opera, the patriotic message is often given the preference over the undeniable musical qualities of the work, which place this opera on the very peak of the Slavic opera romanticism.
