The “muse” for the work Symphonic Minutes, which comprises five short movements, was Ernő Dohnányi’s second wife Elza Galafrès, who had earlier made a success of the mime The Veil of Pierrette in Vienna. Together with the movements of Ruralia Hungarica, it provided the music for the “dance legend,” The Holy Torch. Music critic Aladár Tóth wrote of Dohnányi’s composition: “This set of five delightful little bagatelles is harmonious, finely shaped and graceful throughout, and where it is mischievo...us or whimsical, there too it retains all of its sing-song character; its wit is at the same time impassioned, making it the kind of divertimento that both entertains the mind and invigorates the spirit. It captivates and liberates...” For his Variations on a Nursery Song, which Glenn Gould described as an “anti-concerto” for piano, Dohnányi used the French nursery song which begins with the line Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman, known already from a set of variations by Mozart (and familiar to English speakers for providing the tune to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). Ensconced in his beloved country villa in Vysoká, Dvořák began writing his Symphony No. 8 in August 1889. At the height of his artistic powers and financially secure, the composer had already achieved international fame with successful performances of his Stabat Mater and Symphony No. 7 in London, while his second set of Slavonic Dances, his violin concerto, Piano Quintet in A major and piano quartets were also all behind him. He completed the outline of the work in only two and a half weeks, and produced the finished composition by the 8th of November. The composer himself conducted the première in February 1890, and went on to conduct it again when receiving his honorary degree from the prestigious University of Cambridge in 1891.
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.