“‘My career’? I can write down this word only with a touch of irony – I would rather call it an obstacle race, since fate caused me enough trouble, and I always had to run to catch up with myself in the narrow time allotted to me.” [2]
Thus begins Csaba Bede-Fazekas [3] his confession about his own career. The pessimistic tone stems from the fact that he was able to step onto the stage as a professional actor only relatively late, at the age of thirty. Indeed, when we examine the artist’s oeuvre, we find a career that began with difficulty yet became all the more fascinating. To outline this career path, we can rely on the reviews and critiques published in newspapers. Through them we can become acquainted with the roles of the actor-singer and follow the stages of a slowly unfolding yet remarkable provincial actor’s destiny.
His family was considered class-alien in the 1950s. When he was drafted into the army, he was stationed in Budapest, where – thanks to the intervention of Oszkár Maleczky – he was allowed to attend the Academy of Music. Later he was admitted to the Bartók Conservatory, but after completing the conservatory he still could not obtain a theatre contract for several years. He began acting in an amateur troupe, where he met the opera singer Ferenc Szegleth. With his help he succeeded in finding a position at the State Déryné Theatre. [4] The Déryné Theatre was a travelling theatrical company that brought the experience of theatre to the inhabitants of small provincial towns and villages. This mode of operation naturally had a strong influence on the repertoire: alongside classical works of world and Hungarian literature, the company toured the country primarily with musical and entertaining productions.
The theatre immediately entrusted him with a substitution, in Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus. He proved his talent, and a few months later he was already singing the role of Falke. [5] Pongrác Kacsóh’s János vitéz (John the Valiant) brought him great success in the role of Bagó, which he was able to perform countless times in later years in various productions. “Csaba Bede-Fazekas’s Bagó is not only a lovesick peasant lad but an excellent folk character, and his singing voice is superb.” [6] Thus, from the very beginning he was recognised both as a singer and as an actor. “The exceptionally beautiful colour of his voice was paired with cultivated singing. His performance, free from sentimental exaggerations and devoid of theatrical gimmicks, only increased his success.” [7] Although his abilities brought him success, his operatic training was not fully utilised in the productions of the Déryné Theatre, partly due to the nature of its repertoire.
A fate-changing event occurred in 1970. The Déryné Company happened to be on tour with John the Valiant when, one evening, the director and conductor of the Győr Kisfaludy Theatre, György Várady and Sándor Gulyás, attended the performance. They had come to see another actor, but Csaba Bede-Fazekas impressed them so greatly that they ultimately offered him a contract with the theatre. [8] This stroke of luck defined his entire career, yet even then his operatic career could still not begin. The Győr theatre did not have an opera ensemble, and therefore its repertoire excluded works with substantial operatic roles. This, of course, did not mean that the artist had to remain idle. In his first years he was able to refine his skills in operettas and musicals, as well as in spoken-word productions.
His first role in Győr was in Milyutin’s grand operetta Restless Happiness, in which he both acted and sang. In this production he made a strong impression on the audience: “He introduced himself most sympathetically as Andrei; his attractive appearance, pleasant voice and restrained acting were a secure point of the performance.” [9] As the Shepherd in Az eltüsszentett birodalom (The Sneezed-Away Empire) he won the hearts of children as well. “He was the most forceful figure in this cast. One had to believe everything he did […].” [10] His debut in Győr was thus highly successful.
From among his subsequent roles, large and small alike, we must highlight Nikó in the musical Zorba, whose premiere took place in 1973 during the Sopron Festive Weeks at the Felsőrákos Cave Theatre. “This young actor surprises the audience with increasingly clear, natural and restrained acting.”[11] He impressed spectators not only with his voice; his portrayals – rejecting excessive theatricality and mannerisms, even in smaller roles – consistently ranked among the best performances in each production.
However, in the absence of opera performances, he still could not fully unfold his talent in every respect. For this reason he had to seize the opportunity to try himself at the Csokonai Theatre, since in Debrecen a considerable number of operas were already being staged at the time.
In Debrecen he made his debut as King Endre II in Bánk bán (Bánk, the Palatine), played Gábor diák in Gül baba, appeared in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and successfully sang the role of Frédéric in Delibes’s opera Lakmé. Just as in Győr, he was received enthusiastically: “The lyrical colour of Csaba Bede-Fazekas’s baritone will well serve to complete the palette of the opera section’s male singers.” [12] Yet, as the list of roles shows, at the Debrecen theatre he was likewise regarded as an actor capable of performing any role in any production. On one hand this was recognition, proving the artist’s versatility; on the other hand it hindered the full unfolding of his singing career. For this reason, after a single theatre season, Csaba Bede-Fazekas returned to Győr.
Gradually, opera performance also became a tradition at the Kisfaludy Theatre, since in 1978 a new theatre building was constructed, allowing the company to begin working with several divisions. József Bor was entrusted with organising and leading the musical division. In the new building, the first opera premiere took place in February 1979, which was also a world premiere. György Ránki composed an opera fantasy from Sándor Weöres’s A holdbéli csónakos (The Boatman on the Moon). The new work was staged by József Bor with guest artists from the Szeged National Theatre and the Hungarian State Opera alongside the Győr ensemble. The production was very well received by the audience. Csaba Bede-Fazekas achieved great success in the role of Vitéz László. “[…] his portrayal was highly effective at dramaturgically important points; with the help of his humour and temperament he performed and sang his role with confidence throughout.” [13]
His return to Győr brought increasingly varied roles, such as that of Mircse prímás in Nem élhetek muzsikaszó nélkül (I Cannot Live Without Music), allowing him to “break free from the ‘dashing hussar captain’ pigeonhole.” [14] He performed at the high standard already associated with him in every production, and he excelled in more and more opera performances. In József Bor’s staging of Donizetti’s comic opera Don Pasquale, “in the role of Malatesta he was one of the most evenly crafted personalities of the production. His mere presence, his wittily stylised movements, his deliberate vocal delivery all express his opinion about people and events. He stands behind the happenings – and we believe him. As a singer he is precise, suitably nuanced, and delivers a performance worthy of his illustrious colleagues.” [15] In 1981 audiences saw him as Figaro in The Barber of Seville, also directed by József Bor, and a year later he was able to sing the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto, one of the most famous baritone leads in the operatic repertoire. “In Rigoletto, the singer can show everything he knows.” [16] – says Csaba Bede-Fazekas about the work. In this production he indeed proved his ability: “[…] he revealed Rigoletto’s highly complex character as a living human being, with tense emotional saturation. Few are capable of such complexity.” [17] This role accompanied him with similar success throughout his later career: he performed it at the Erkel Theatre in 1987, at the Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen in 1990, and at the National Theatre of Miskolc in 2000. After Rigoletto, further Verdi roles found him in Győr. First came the Count di Luna in Il trovatore, then the Marquis of Posa in Don Carlos. “Csaba Bede-Fazekas elevated the Marquis of Posa to the rank of the production’s key figure. He functions as a broad arch between past and future, between tyranny and the idea of freedom. The naturalness and warm tone of his voice, the musical clarity and precision of his expressive means, and the persuasive quality of his acting created an atmosphere around him.”[18] This was followed by Nabucco, presented in 1989 within the Győr Summer Festival, directed by József Bor. Csaba Bede-Fazekas again appeared before the audience with a performance worthy of the title role. “This extraordinarily gifted baritone, both as singer and actor, enriched his list of operatic roles with a moving and poignant portrayal. He transformed from a wild tyrant into a crawling nobody, then compellingly depicted the gradual dawning of reason. Not a single conventional ‘operatic’ gesture, not a single cliché! And meanwhile one of the finest Hungarian operatic voices sounded Verdi’s melodies like a living instrument. Csaba Bede-Fazekas had already sung Rigoletto, and now in the role of Nabucco he also solved a moment of foreshadowing.” [19] As Giorgio Germont in La traviata he likewise gave a memorable performance, both in Győr and in Miskolc. “He gave a masterful example of how to deliver old Germont’s romance, which tends toward sentimentality, with genuine feeling, human simplicity and measure. His portrayal is the essence of noble proportion.”[20] And the series of excellent portrayals continued: Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Amonasro in Aida, and Iago in Otello. In 2002 at the Szeged National Theatre he played the title role in Simon Boccanegra in Balázs Kovalik’s production, for which he received the Dömötör Prize for Best Opera Singer. The complexity of his portrayal is well illustrated by the following quotation: “Bede-Fazekas is overwhelming in the two major confrontations with Fiesco, yet the climax of his portrayal is the great council chamber scene. […] It is rare today to encounter an artist who is able to command this scene throughout, vocally and dramatically. And he is able to convey the composer’s extreme instructions in the scene of Paolo’s psychological torment, such as ‘con forza terribile’ (with terrible force) and ‘con tremenda maestà e con violenza sempre più formidabile’ (with terrifying majesty and with ever more formidable violence).” [21]
Alongside the Verdi works, from the 1990s onward the operas of Giacomo Puccini also became part of the artist’s repertoire. The Puccini works were not only important in terms of the fulfilment of his operatic career, but they also meant a great deal personally to Csaba Bede-Fazekas: “It is true that I received my great baritone roles – Rigoletto, Nabucco, the Marquis of Posa, Count di Luna, Jago, etc. – from Verdi, yet it is Puccini who is closer to my heart. Why? If I had to explain, perhaps I would put it this way: Verdi delights, overwhelms and amazes, but Puccini, in addition to all this, stirs me and makes me weep!” [22]
He had the opportunity to portray the police chief Scarpia in Tosca multiple times – in Győr in 1991, 1992 and 2003, and in Miskolc in 1996. His “calculating, self-assured, cynical Scarpia becomes complete in the sharply flashing dialogues and in the suffocating tension of the scene-painting music.” [23] He realised the police chief’s complicated and complex character “in a way that would make even two 35-year-old singers envious. Both his musical realisation and character portrayal place him among the world’s greatest.” [24]
In Dénes Gulyás’s 1993 production of Gianni Schicchi, he again performed the leading role, and “what he did was more than honourable accomplishment – single-handedly he turned a musical play into an opera.” [25] Just as in his serious, dramatic roles, he delivered a performance of appropriate weight in the title role of the one-act comic opera as well. “A fully realised, cunning falsifier of wills. His emphases, signals, rich colours and shifting character nuances at times even exceed the boundaries offered by the role, and he does all this with tasteful, effortless humour.” [26]
In 1994 he received a role in Madame Butterfly. Although the production directed by Zoltán Imre met with mixed reception, Csaba Bede-Fazekas’s portrayal of Sharpless nevertheless proved outstanding. “[…] thanks to his pleasant appearance and voice, he was flawlessly likeable […]” [27] as Sharpless.
La bohème cannot be omitted from this list either: he had already appeared in it in 1983 as Marcel. In 1996 he performed the role of Alcindor. In a later stage of his career, in 2006, he encountered Turandot, in which he portrayed the Emperor Altoum. Later, at the Szeged Open-Air Festival, in the production directed by Gergely Kesselyák, he embodied the same character. “As the Emperor eager to free himself (and his unruly daughter) from the throne as soon as possible, protesting weakly against the decree of fate, Csaba Bede-Fazekas brought the role with the rich nuance of an ageing voice and a deliberately embraced vulnerability.” [28]
Reading the reviews, one gains the impression that the characters of the Verdi and Puccini works seemed almost tailor-made for him. Into the line of roles that suited him perfectly fits Tiborc from Bánk bán. This opera also appeared several times throughout his career: first, as already mentioned, he sang Endre II, and later Petúr and Tiborc as well. In the production presented at the 1984 Győr Musical Summer, his performance was praised as follows: “The most mature and most authentic performance was given by Csaba Bede-Fazekas […]. His simple and natural movement and the captivating sincerity of his acting were accompanied by a dynamic and expressive singing voice – this portrayal of Tiborc continues the finest traditions, free of mannerisms and filled with intimate empathy.”[29] A 2007 staging also brought words of praise: “His stage movement and actions are thoroughly economical, and he even minimises facial expression. Would any sort of facial play suit a medieval Hungarian peasant? No more than it would a hypocritical French burgher. As Tiborc, the artist simply enters, stands and looks, just as he does as Giorgio Germont – and yet, without pose or mimicry, how different the two personalities are: the great little man and the small great man! Bede-Fazekas does not even ‘sing’: the sole purpose of the perfectly bending Hungarian voice and flawless intonation is musical–human communication.”[30] Thus his interpretation, even after more than twenty years, has not lost any of its force.
Naturally, alongside the rise of his operatic career, he continued to perform in operettas, musicals and spoken-drama productions as well. In 1986 the Kisfaludy Theatre staged Imre Kálmán’s operetta Cigányprímás (The Gypsy Band Leader)). The work practically suggested itself, for “[…] if a theatre has a Csaba Bede-Fazekas who is achieving success after success not only in Győr but on other stages as well, then it must not pass by a role such as Imre Kálmán’s title role, 36. Pali Rácz, the Gypsy band leader.”[31] The artist, of course, did not disappoint in this role either. “With a naturalness characteristic only of truly great performers, he identifies with the protagonist’s past, present and entire life. His emotions and impulses are human, his means simple. Text and music together form an exemplary unity in characterising the hero; with confident restraint and with refined, continuously applied use of the musical idiom he renders Imre Kálmán’s melancholic music memorable in a beautiful, full tone.” [32]
The force of his stage presence and the complexity of his characterisation also become clear in another leading role. The Győr theatre produced Fiddler on the Roof twice with Csaba Bede-Fazekas in the title role, first in 1993 and again in 2003. The theatre offered this as a “reward role” to the artist on the occasion of his 60th birthday. György Korcsmáros, then director of the Győr National Theatre, argued for the production in much the same way as the leadership had earlier done in the case of Gypsy Band Leader: “Where there is a Csaba Bede-Fazekas, there you have the leading actor for the musical Hegedűs a háztetőn. He is Tevye!” The critics of the production highlighted Bede-Fazekas’s portrayal, which managed to remain fresh even in the shadow of earlier legendary interpretations by Ferenc Bessenyei and József Gregor. “He not only solves the musical part of the task excellently, but the acting as well. With a remarkable ability for characterisation and a wealth of nuances, he presents to the audience the milkman with a hard life who, despite ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’, ultimately accepts everything with cheerful resignation, conversing incessantly with God.” [34]
We could continue the list of roles for a long time, but even from the critical reception of the productions presented so far, Csaba Bede-Fazekas’s career path becomes perfectly clear.
Since 1963 he has had to try himself in virtually every genre. The reason lies in the profile of provincial theatres. While major theatres in the capital can specialise in a single genre, in large towns outside Budapest one institution must serve all tastes. This requires a truly versatile company. This is one of the reasons why Csaba Bede-Fazekas can still be considered a pillar of the Győr National Theatre today. Thanks to his gifts, he performs every role – whether a leading part in an opera or a small role in a comedy – at an outstanding level. This is confirmed by the reviews surveyed, which highlighted his name and the significance of his performances even in the smallest parts – showing that his portrayals always enhanced the quality of the productions, regardless of whether a given staging was successful or not.
Csaba Bede-Fazekas “after decades of a provincial artist’s life, which can hardly be called easy, still represents a standard of human integrity and professional excellence on which one can build a theatre and a musical culture.” [35]
[2016]
[1] Gábor Bóka: Mihez képest? (Compared to what?) Muzsika, 2012/5.
[2] Bede Fazekas Csaba: Pályafutásom (My career)- Bede Fazekas Csaba. Színlap, 1989/1.
[3] For consistency, the artist's name is consistently hyphenated even in quotations where a different spelling was originally used.
[4] Tivadar Pátkai: Azt csinálom, amit szeretek (I do what I love) Performed by: Csaba Bede Fazekas, private singer. In György Ágnes ed. Ez is szerelem (This is Also Love - The History of the Győr Theatre 1945 - 75), Győr, Kisfaludy Károly County Library, 1988, 144-145.
[5] M. I.: Nívódíjasok. Bede Fazekas Csaba, Kis Alfold, 20 August 1971.
[6] Éva Szakály: Színházi jegyzet (Theatre note) János Vitéz. Vas Népe, 19 September 1969.
[7] Horváth Erika: A János vitéz Tatabányán – A Déryné Színház előadása (John the Valiant in Tatabánya - A performance of the Déryné Theatre). Komárom Megyei Dolgozók Lapja, 21 September 1968.
[8] Tivadar Pátkai: Azt csinálom, amit szeretek (I do what I like). Performed by Csaba Bede Fazekas, private singer. In György Ágnes ed. Ez is szerelem (This is Also Love - The History of the Győr Theatre 1945 – 75), Győr, Kisfaludy Károly County Library, 1988, 144-145.
[9] G. B.: Miljutyin - Nyugtalan boldogság. Bemutató a Kisfaludy Színházban (Restless happiness. Performed at the Kisfaludy Theatre). Kisalföld, 26 February 1970.
[10] (-ács): Eltüsszentett birodalom. Kisalföld, 26 November 1972.
[11] Jenő Illés: Fertőrákosi Barlang Színház - Zorba. Film Theatre Muzsika, 28 July 1973.
[12] N. N.: Lakmé - Delibes operájának bemutatója a Csokonai Színházban (premiere of Delibes' opera at the Csokonai Theatre). Hajdú Bihari Napló, 5 March 1975.
[13] Zoltán Baróthy: A holdbeli csónakos – Új magyar opera bemutatója Győrött. (The boatman in the moon - Premiere of a new Hungarian opera in Győr), Kisalföld, 27 February 1979.
[14] P. M.: Színházi este – dramaturg nélkül (Theatre evening - without dramaturg), Kisalföld, 17 January 1978.
[15] László Kóbor: Donizetti – Don Pasquale. Sikeres operabemutató (Donizetti - Don Pasquale. Successful opera premiere). Kisalföld, 28 December 1979.
[16] (pio): Rigoletto két arca. Chilei vendégművészek Győrött (Two faces of Rigoletto. Chilean guest artists in Győr). Kisalföld, 25 February 1982.
[17] Baróthy - Kóbor: Verdi - Rigoletto. Kisalföld, 13 March 1982.
[18] László Kóbor: Verdi - Don Carlos. A hatalomhoz fűződő viszony drámája (Don Carlos. The drama of the relationship to power). Kisalföld, 19 October 1988.
[19] D. L.: Nabucco. Bemutató a győri Kisfaludy Színházban (Premiere at the Kisfaludy Theatre in Győr). Film Színház Muzsika, 8 july 1983.
[20] D. L.: Traviata. Film Theatre Muzsika, 7 July 1990.
[21] Tamás Márok: Élet és halál határmezsgyéjén (The border between life and death). Színház, 2002/11.
[22] N. N.: Puccini: Puccini 150 – I. rész (Puccini 150 - Part I), Opera-Világ, 22 December 2008. http://operavilag.net/interjuk/puccini-150-i-resz-2/
[23] László B. Kóbor, László B.: Megcsorbult dráma - Puccini Tosca című operája Győrött (Drama with a twist - Puccini's opera Tosca in Győr), Kisalföld, 2 November 1991.
[24] N. N.: Tosca még kétszer (Tosca twice more). Kisalföld, 14 February 2004.
[25] Miklós Fáy: Diptichon (Diptych). Népszabadság, 15 June 1993.
[26] B. Kóbor, László B.: Szép színek, remek tónusok (Nice colours, great tones). Kisalföld, 6 November 1993.
[27] Miklós Fáy: Koncepciókiasszony. Népszabadság 10 November 1994.
[28] Tamás Jászay: : Háromból kettő (Two out of three). Revizoronline.com, 28 July 2009. http://www.revizoronline.com/hu/cikk/1674/puccini-turandot-szegedi-szabadteri-jatekok-2009/?label_id=2171&first=0
[29] Kerényi Mária: „Névtelen hősök" – a Győri Zenei Nyár Bánk-bemutatóján ("Anonymous Heroes" - at the Bánk performance of the Győr Music Summer). Muzsika, 1984/10.
[30] Tibor Tallián: Arbitrium elegantiarum. Ferenc Erkel: Bánk bán - Győr National Theatre. Muzsika, 2007/4.
[31] M. Pió: „Generációs" operett. Bemutató előtt a Cigányprímás ("Generational" operetta. Before the performance of the Gypsy Band Leader). Kisalföld, 18 December 1986.
[32] László Kóbor: Jó ritmus, kellemes hangulat (Good rhythm, pleasant atmosphere). Kisalföld, 27 December 1986.
[33] András Pass: Hegedűs a háztetőn – Beszélgetés Korcsmáros György rendezővel (Fiddler on the Roof - Conversation with director György Korcsmáros). Kisalföld, 11 December 1993.
[34] Hochenburger Ágnes: Eljő a tejes (Enters the Milkman). Criticai Lapok, 1994/6.
[35] Kerényi Mária: Verdi Don Carlosa Győrött – Tízéves a Kisfaludy Színház operatársulata (Verdi's Don Carlos in Győr - The Kisfaludy Theatre Opera Company turns ten). Népszava, 12 December 1988.