At the start of the last century - as the youthful Bartók was just starting his career as a composer - it seemed to many people that the three-century-long great era of musical history had come to a close, and that a great synthesis was in progress. The "only” dispute was with regard to who had created this synthesis in the most perfect form. There were those who voted for Brahms, while others favoured Bruckner. The two "camps” were worlds apart even during the composers' lives. Today, it ...is difficult to imagine how audiences of the time found themselves so opposed exclusively to the stylistic elements emerging from the different thinking in the music of the other of the two composers, and scarcely felt the kinship, if any at all, between the music of Brahms and Bruckner. Nowadays, we feel in both composers the final great burst of pathos, we imagine seeing the marked glow of twilight and hearing the sounds of farewell. For the young generation at the end of the century, this naturally might have been quite alarming. In the shadow of Brahms and Bruckner's monumental masterpieces, the question was unavoidable: was there any way to move forward?
Bartók was all too familiar with the answers to this question that were available at the time (from Richard Strauss to Debussy), although the key inspiration came, as it often does, from outside. Folk music - whether it was Hungarian, Romanian, or even North African Arab, opened up an entirely new perspective for him. Especially in the recognition that this musicality was suitable for raising modern man's most burning questions. The Miraculous Mandarin, in its expression of these questions, is one of Bartók's most radical compositions.
Presented by: MR Music Groups
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.