In 1868, Richard Wagner settled in Switzerland with his new lover Cosima, the daughter of Franz Liszt (and, more significantly, the wife of Hans von Bülow at the time). Their relationship was looked on disapprovingly in Bavaria, and even the composer’s great patron, King Ludwig II, turned against him as a consequence. The couple rented a house in Tribschen not far from Lucerne, where the composer completed Siegfried, the third opera in The Ring of the Nibelung cycle, in 1870 – the same year that... he eventually married Cosima. The Siegfried Idyll, an independent piece for small orchestra which uses some of the motifs from the opera’s final scene, was composed for Cosima’s birthday and was played as a serenade conducted by the composer himself on Christmas morning of 1870. Behind its restrained dynamics and dramatic character, the vivid power and tone of the stage works can be felt throughout. From May 1948 onwards, at a rate of roughly one a month, Richard Strauss composed a number of songs with orchestral accompaniment. These later became known as the Four Last Songs, with vocal parts probably inspired by the voice of the composer’s wife. These are the swan-songs of an 84-year-old master, composed to the verse of Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff, and – with the exception of the first song (Spring) – take mortality as their theme (September, Going to Sleep, and At Sunset), while the theme of his earlier Death and Transfiguration is invoked in the last song. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 is the apotheosis of Vienna. Despite this, it was not given an easy reception by the Viennese; indeed, its first public performance took place not in Vienna but in Munich on 25 November 1901. The composer certainly provided sufficient material for arguments over the composition. An audience accustomed to works written for symphony orchestra by Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss might have been put off at discovering the lack of deeper brass instruments (trombones and tubas), the generally light, chamber music-like orchestration and, above all, the extraordinarily uniform mood of the composition as a whole. It lacks contrast between light and shadow, the four movements seeming to carry a single heavenly vision throughout.
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.