Budapest
has a grand history in music, ranging from the virtuoso pianist
Franz Liszt to the operas of Ferenc Erkel.
In the early 20th century, Béla Bartók
and Zoltán Kodály scoured the country
to capture its vanishing folk songs and their work has enriched
today’s vibrant Hungarian music scene. Following the shift
from state funded to corporate sponsored orchestras the funding
is tight. Some of the best singers and players have and are continuing
to emigrate to the west. Players who stay are often under practised,
frequently having to balance their playing with a second job. However,
their spirit and passion for playing more than make up for any deficiencies
in their technical skill.
Tickets for the majority of concerts are available at the Nemzeti
Filharmónia ticket office, V Vörösmarty
tér 1 (telephone number: (01) 118 0281). Otherwise, these
are available for purchase at the venue, an hour before the show.
Tickets for the Hungarian
State Opera are available for purchase at the State
Opera Ticket Office, VI Andrássy út 20 (telephone
number: (01) 332 7914). The Petofi
Csarnok, in Városliget, and the Almássy
téri Szabadido Központ (Almássy Square
Leisure Centre), VII Almássy tér 6, are the two favourite
venues for folk music. Tickets for most cultural, popular and sporting
events in Budapest can also be ordered online from Ticket
Express.
Listings in English are provided in Budapest
Week and Budapest
Sun. The monthly Budapest
Style also is very good for cultural listings. Tickets for most
cultural and sports events can be booked online at www.tex.hu.
Music
The comparatively well funded Budapest Festival Orchestra
is among the few to reach international standards and regularly
features international soloists and conductors. One can usually
rely upon the Hungarian State Orchestra for a good
performance. Formerly the Orchestra of the Hungarian Post Office,
the MATÁV Symphony Orchestra (telephone
number: (01) 215 5770) hone company, MATÁV, performing in
the recently renovated MATÁV Zeneház, IX Páva
utca 10,12, which seats 200 and has excellent acoustics.
Zeneakadémia,
VI Liszt Ferenc tér (telephone number: (01) 462 4600), is
Hungary’s principal music venue and also houses the Ferenc
(Franz) Liszt Music Academy – tickets are quite difficult
to get, with most events being sold out days in advance. Friday
evening chamber concerts, given by Hungary’s best musicians,
are performed in Bartók
Memorial House, II Csalán utca 29 (telephone number:
(01) 394 2100), the former residence of the great composer and now
a museum in his honour.
The
Hungarian State Opera splits its repertoire between the prestigious
Opera House, Magyar Állami Operaház, VI Andrássy
út 22, and the enormous Social Realist Erkel Színház,
VIII Köztársaság tér 30, which tends to
be used for less popular productions. The late Hapsburg
Fovárosi Operett Színház (Municipal
Operetta Theatre), VI Nagymezo utca 17 (telephone number: (01) 269
3870), produces operettas, including the Hungarian favourite, Kálmán’s
The Csárdás Princess.
Theatre
There are over thirty theatres in Budapest, in spite of a shortage
of funding and most survive on a diet of Shakespeare,
which the Magyars feel sounds better in Hungarian than in English,
as well as Hungarian classics. The Hungarian acting style is still
very formalised and a bit stiff. Shows commence at around 1900 hrs
and box offices are open all day or an hour prior to curtain up.
Credit cards are not accepted very often.
The new Nemzeti
Szinhaz (National Theatre), XI Bajor Gizi Park 1 (telephone
number: (01) 476 6800) opened in 2002 in the new cultural centre
of Budapest, and its construction gripped the locals, as Budapest
had been without a national theatre for decades following the demolition
of its ugly predecessor during 1968. The Nemzeti stages mainly domestic
and international musicals/dramas. Katona József Szinház,
V Petofi Sandor utca 5 (telephone number: (01) 318 6599), is reputed
as showing some of the best Hungarian theatre.
Dance
The lifeless Hungarian National Ballet is best avoided. A better
choice is the vibrant Dance Houses (Táncház)
for folk music and dance. Instruments include lead violin, kontra
and gut strung bass, with the odd hurdy-gurdy thrown in. Kalamajka
Dance House (Belvárosi Ifjusági Mûvelodési
Ház), V Molnár utca 9 (telephone number: (01) 317
5928), combines dancing with teaching to the sound of kalamajka
bands, with regular guest performances from village bands. The Hungarian
State Folk Ensemble (Magyar Állami Népi Együttes),
I Corvin tér 8 (telephone number: (01) 201 5017), puts on
professional performances of traditional dancing and music.
Film
While Budapest has over thirty cinemas, only approximately 5 per
cent of films shown are Hungarian – a clear advantage for
the traveller, especially as foreign films are often subtitled.
For listings, visitors should check Budapest Week and Budapest Sun
(see above) or attempt to decipher the Hungarian and rather highbrow
Pesti Mûsor.
Pesti Est, found in cinema foyers and associated with the FM radio
station, EST, is more comprehensive, especially for English language
films, as is Open. There are many big mainstream cinemas and a wide
range of arthouse cinemas. The Atrium, II Margit
körút 55 (telephone number: (01) 212 5398), shows mainstream
Hollywood films, while Muvész, VI Teréz körút
30 (telephone number: (01) 332 6726), specialises in arthouse and
classic movies.
The major annual multicultural event is the Film Festival
(Magyar Filmszemle) during February. Because of shortages of financing,
joint productions are flourishing, such as the Hungarian-French
Simon Magus (1999), which caused a sensation at
the 1999 Hungarian Film Festival. Films shot in Budapest include
a short sequence in The Music Box (1989), for which
Jessica Lange won the Oscar for best actress, the funeral scene
in Evita (1996), directed by Alan Parker and starring
Madonna and, more recently, Underworld (2003),
a vampire meets werewolf movie starring Kate Beckinsale.
Literary Notes
Shakespeare
used the word ‘hungarian’ in The Merry Wives
of Windsor (circa 1600), as an adjective connoting beggarliness
and thievishness. Perceptions of Hungary and Budapest have changed
through the centuries but fascination has been an enduring factor.
As early as 1840, English visitor Julia Pardoe
wrote: ‘There is such a constant variety and movement in streets,
such a blending of the Oriental with the European and such a holiday
look about the whole population that it is impossible to feel ennui
in the chief city of the Magyars.’ Dictator Admiral Miklós
Horthy described 1920s Budapest simply as a ‘sinful city’.
British perceptions of modern Budapest are well described in Marion
Merrick’s Now You See It, Now You Don’t (1998),
while Michael Jacob’s Budapest: A Cultural Guide (1998)
offers a well-researched analysis of the city’s cultural history. |
