“Mendacious Romance is full of skilfully composed musical gestures and musical phrases” (interview on Operaportal [a Hungarian Opera website], August 4, 2013.)    -   “Captivating romantic melodies…”

Gyula Fekete, composer, holder of the Erkel Prize and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize, Head of the Composition Department,
Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2013

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“I had the pleasure of hearing Norbert Németh’s opera in a concert-like performance. Even in a non-theatrical form, the dramatic character of the piece was remarkable. Its powerful, charismatic melodies, which fully exploit the possibilities of the singing voice, fall nicely together with the colourful orchestration to form a carefully written musical drama. The music of the piece bears testimony of the autonomous personality of the composer: you will hear an opera independent from stylistic trends, written in a unique musical language. The reviews of this opera and its success at the Miskolc opera competition prove how it touches both professional opera critics and the general audience”

Iván Madarász, composer, holder of the Erkel Prize and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize, Professor at Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2013

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“… The works of Norbert Németh take a different view of values: they mainly build on personal experiences, making it easy for today’s man to relate to the forms and techniques of today’s musical communication… Its musical sensitivity and impressive depiction of emotions, its orchestration and colourful chamber music maintained live contact with the audience, sustaining their sensitivity to beauty even at a late hour.”                                              

Mihály Duffek, pianist, dean of the Faculty of Music, University of Debrecen, 2012

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“The first opera of Norbert Németh, the gifted medical doctor and composer, is extraordinarily rich, colourful and multifarious music as far as melodic ingenuity is concerned. In his music, written for Magda Győri's modern libretto representing the eternal problems of love, faith, seduction and deception lyrical, dramatic and character scenes alternate with each other in a refined manner. The music of 'Mendacious Romance' follows in the wake of romantic traditions and it is generated by overpowering emotions: it truthfully represents the quivers of the human soul depicting it on a wide scale from struggling with grief to feeling turbulently overwrought.”

László Bartal, conductor, Hungarian State Opera House, Budapest, 2002

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“The operatic literature of the 20th century broke away from traditions in the sense that, instead of relying on conventional librettos or great classical dramas, it turned to playwrights who were both original thinkers and significant writers for novel dramatic ideas to be used for the new operas. Genuinely talented dramatists like Mallarmé, Ramuz, Menyhért Lengyel or Béla Balázs became librettist for Debussy, Stravinsky, Honegger and Bartók. As a result it was impossible to use the term 'libretto' any longer. On the other hand, there is no other domain of modern music where tradition exercises such a strong influence as in stage music, however original or bold-hearted it may be.

While taking part in the preparation and creation of the opera titled 'C'est la guerre' by Emil Petrovics I  also had the opportunity to experience how perplexing it is to solve the dilemma of the script and how difficult it is to give this script a valid musical representation.

This is the reason why I found reading Magda Györi's script so fascinating. Although I am fully aware of the fact that the fate of an opera is written in its music, every author knows how much depends on the choice of a dramatic piece or how grave a risk they run when they have the script written. Magda Győri's libretto opens up new prospects from scene to scene for the creative imagination of the composer and she is not afraid to make use of operatic forms and ideas strongly rooted in tradition. I am greatly interested in how the libretto is translated into music and how it is realised on stage. This is why I am looking forward to it”

Miklós Hubay, Kossuth Awarded drama writer, translator and opera librettist, Budapest, 2001