Those attending the Szent István Philharmonic's concert on 2 October will witness two separate worlds embracing two completely different eras and musical styles. This is true in spite of the fact that, despite their differences, the two composers on the programme share more similarities than just the first letter of their surnames. One example is their mutual love for Vienna, which brought a great deal of both of joy and sorrow to each of them. Another commonality was their tremendous enthusiasm for opera. Although Mahler never wrote one himself, as an opera conductor and an opera house director, his achievements in both Budapest and Vienna are still influential to this day.
Mahler was fond of of conducting Mozart's operas, including Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Alma Mahler said that her husband "signalled the Mozart renaissance to the entire world.” The Salzburgian master's concerto for flute and harp in C major was crafted in Paris in the summer of 1778 for the duke of Guînes, an accomplished flutist, and his daughter Marie-Louise-Philippine, a skilful harpist. The composition is one of Mozart's most popular concertos. Mahler wrote his cantata Song of Lamentatio...n as he was preparing to graduate from the Vienna Conservatory. "My first work in which I can see myself as Mahler, a tale for choir, soloists and orchestra: Das klagende Lied! I regard this as my opus 1,” wrote the composer. Mahler compiled the text for the cantata from a collection of German legends: the story is based on the Brothers Grimm tale The Singing Bone, about a musician who carves a flute from a human bone he found in the forest. When he blows into it, the instrument laments in a human voice that it comes from the body of a man who was murdered by his brother out of lust for gain to seize both the widowed queen's hand in marriage and the throne. The musician reveals the misdeed at the wedding feast! The original, three-movement version of the work was first broadcast on Viennese radio in 1935, 24 years after Mahler's death, and its first public performance took place in 1970, in London, where it was conducted by Pierre Boulez to enormous acclaim. This concert at Müpa Budapest serves as compensation for a huge oversight, as now, 142 years after the work's genesis, the original version of Song of Lamentation will be presented in Hungary as well, this time including the magical movement entitled Forest tale, which was omitted from previous performances.
Presented by: Szent István Philharmonic
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.
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