Zoltán Kodály opera Háry János was premiered.
Háry János is an opera in four acts by Zoltán Kodály to a Hungarian libretto by Bela Paulini and Zsolt Harsanyi, based on the comic epic The Veteran (Az obsitos) by Janos Garay. It was first performed at the Royal Hungarian Opera House, Budapest, October 16, 1926.
According to Kodály, Háry János is "the personification of the Hungarian story-telling imagination. He does not tell lies; he imagines stories; he is a poet.
The story is of a veteran hussar in the Austrian army in the first half of the 19th-century. He sits in the village inn regaling his listeners with tales of heroism: his supposed exploits include winning the heart of the Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon's wife, and then single-handedly defeating Napoleon and his armies. Nevertheless, he finally renounces all riches in order to go back to his village with his sweetheart.