Charm, an artistic temperament, powerful musicality and technical bravura. Wunderkind Hungarian violinist Stefi Geyer had all of these attributes and was only in her teens when she and her playing both bewitched Europe and America. Béla Bartók, too, was touched, and he painted her musical portrait in his Violin Concerto No. 1 (1907). "We have already had the idealised musical portrait of Stefi Geyer, celestial and inward, and of course the vehement one which is humorous, ingenious and ente...rtaining. Right now we should construct the portrait of the indifferent, cold and mute Stefi. But this would be ugly music.” Bartók supposedly completed the two-movement piece on the same day that the girl wrote him a letter to inform him she was breaking up with him.
Stravinsky's Violin Concerto came about as the fruit of a joint effort between composer and performer. Samuel Dushkin initially judged the thematic concept outlined by Stravinsky to be unplayable, but, after much deliberation, they eventually hit on a solution. From that time on, he helped the composer with the violin's labyrinth of technical difficulties and possibilities, and the piece was completed quickly. It was not a traditionally structured concerto that Stravinsky had created, but a four-part cycle in which the two more stirring and virtuosic movements (Toccata and Capriccio) envelope two that are more serene and melodic (Arias I and II).
Had Leopold Auer, one of the most popular violinists of his era and another Hungarian, been asked to assist Tchaikovsky in creating his violin concerto, considered one of the most popular and difficult such works in the musical literature, he surely would not not have rejected the composer's request - deeming the work "unplayable” - to première the composition. Fortunately, posterity has not borne out Auer's opinion: the piece's popularity remains undiminished today.
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Refreshments – Without the Queue
Thanks to our new catering service at the Átrium Snack Bar, you can forget about waiting in line during intermissions for some refreshments and get your order prepped especially for you by the time the intermission actually starts. Find out more about pre-ordering here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.