Étienne Méhul (1763–1817), one of the most significant and influential opera composers during the French revolution and the politically turbulent decades thereafter, wrote some forty works for musical theatre. Enjoying the confidence of his friend and rival Luigi Cherubini, and even of Napoleon, Méhul expanded the range of themes adaptable to the opera genre, enriching its musical landscape. His works were regarded by his contemporaries as standard-bearers, and as models for those who followed, ...such as Weber, Berlioz and Wagner. In continuing the opera reforms begun by Gluck, he dared to write with a bolder use of dissonance than his contemporaries while deepening the depiction of his characters’ psychological states. In his creation of a dramatic unity of melody, harmony and timbre, he stepped to a higher level, and it is no accident that he was the first in the history of music to be termed “romantic”. Written in 1790-91 based on a libretto by Metastasio, the work tells the story of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and was regarded as likely to disturb the public peace by more than one political regime: the première was scheduled for March 1792, but banned to prevent a possible riot. A few years later Méhul wrote a new opera named Adrien in which he used extracts from the earlier version. This was premièred in 1799, but again banned after just a few performances. However, at the intervention of the minister of the interior, who was Napoleon’s younger brother, it was given one more performance in each of the years 1800 and 1801. This once controversial work will now be performed again at the Palace of Arts for the first time anywhere in the world in more than 200 years, interpreted by expert performers on authentic period instruments within the framework of a joint French-Hungarian project. Presented by: Palazzetto Bru Zane, Palace of Arts
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.