The National Romantic era in Russia essentially began with the music of Mikhail Glinka, whose greatest domestic success came with the première of his opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (1836). Both thematically and musically, this was the first truly Russian opera, the tempestuous overture to which has lost none of its power to this day. Boris Asafyev composed his most famous ballet The Fountain of Bakhchisarai in 1934, based on the poem of the same name by Pushkin. The artistic principles of Glink...a, focusing on the importance of folk music, were taken to fruition by the composers known as "the Five” in Russia. One of the most exciting talents among these was Modest Mussorgsky, whose orchestral fantasy Night on the Bare Mountain (1866) was the first major work to evoke the witches' Sabbath within a palpable four-part programmatic structure.
Another important member of the Russian Five, Alexander Borodin, cherished a desire to set the great early Russian epic The Song of Igor's Campaign to music. Eventually remaining unfinished, the opera recounts the campaign of Prince Igor of Novgorod-Seversk against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185, its most famous section being the Polovtsian Dances, the hugely powerful dance interlude in the second act which is often performed as a standalone piece. Music for the ballet Térzene (1948) was compiled from the works of Johann Strauss Jnr. by Jenő Kenessey, with the story - which takes place in period Vienna - supplied by Gyula Harangozó, one of the greatest Hungarian ballet dancers and choreographers.
Presented by: Zugló Philharmonia
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.
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.