Ferenc Erkel was the father of Hungarian grand opera, as well as an accomplished conductor, pianist and administrator. The last of his nine completed operas, István király, is a tale of passionate emotions, love, jealousy, power struggles and murder in which King Stephen, the founder of the Hungarian state and its first Christian ruler, is portrayed as a saint amidst the clash of pagan and Christian worlds. After 125 years of ruinous cuts and alterations to the music and the libretto, this recording is the first to restore the opera to the resoundingly successful form conceived by its composer.