Matilda of Hungary

Matilda of Hungary is an opera in three acts composed by William Vincent Wallace to an English libretto by Alfred Bunn.

Wallace's first opera, Maritana, had been produced in 1845 under the management of Alfred Bunn at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and went on to international success.

[1] Seeking to repeat its success, Bunn wrote a libretto, evidently based on a story of his own devising, about a fictional Queen of Bohemia.

The hero's name was borrowed from a 15th-century king of Bohemia, George of Podiebrad, but the events depicted by Butt bear no resemblance to the historical figure's life.

He is missing, either killed or captured in battle by Turkish forces, and in his absence Matilda is striving to prevent a faction at court from seizing the throne.

[14] John Bull commented, "We do not greatly object to mere improbability in the story of a drama especially a musical one; but, though a Drury-Lane grand serious opera is scarcely above the level of [a] melodrama yet neither the one nor the other should contain absurdities palpable to a child of ten years old.

"[15] There was criticism that the character of Matilda was morally repugnant for receiving the attentions of Podiebrad while believing her real husband might be alive.