World City Guide

Culture

Budapest has a grand history in music, ranging from virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt (whose playing frequently induced the ladies to swoon but who was not, in fact, Hungarian) to the operas of Ferenc Erkel. In the early 20th century, Béla Bartók (1881‐1945) and Zoltán Kodály (1882‐1967) scoured the country to capture its vanishing folk songs. Their work has enriched today’s vibrant Hungarian music scene. Following the shift from state‐funded to corporate‐sponsored orchestras, funding is tight. Some of the best singers and players have and are continuing to emigrate to the west. Players who stay are often under‐practised, frequently having to balance their playing with a second or third job. However, their spirit and passion for playing more than make up for any deficiencies in technical skill.

Tickets for the majority of concerts are available at the Nemzeti Filharmónia ticket office, V Vörösmarty tér 1 (tel: (01) 118 0281). Otherwise, these are available for purchase at the venue, an hour before the show. Tickets for the Hungarian State Opera (website: www.opera.hu) are available for purchase at the State Opera Ticket Office, VI Andrássy út 20 (tel: (01) 332 7914). The Petofi Csarnok, in Városliget (website: www.petoficsarnok.hu), and the Almássy téri Szabadido Központ (Almássy Square Leisure Centre), VII Almássy tér 6, are the two favourite venues for folk music. Tickets for most cultural, popular and sporting events in Budapest can also be ordered online from Ticket Express (website: www.tex.hu).

Listings in English are provided in Budapest Week (website: www.budapestweek.com) and Budapest Sun (website: www.budapestsun.com). The monthly Budapest Style (website: www.budapeststyle.com) also is very good for cultural listings. Tickets for most cultural and sports events can be booked online at www.tex.hu.

Music: The comparatively well funded Budapest Festival Orchestra (website: www.bfz.hu) is among the few to reach international standards and regularly features international soloists and conductors. One can usually rely upon the Hungarian State Orchestra for a decent performance. Formerly the Orchestra of the Hungarian Post Office, the MATÁV Symphony Orchestra (tel: (01) 215 5770; www.orchestra.matav.hu) is an up‐and‐coming orchestra backed by the Hungarian telephone company, MATÁV, performing in the recently renovated MATÁV Zeneház, IX Páva utca 10‐12, which seats 200 and has fine acoustics.

Zeneakadémia, VI Liszt Ferenc tér (tel: (01) 462 4600; website: www.zeneakademia.hu), is Hungary’s principal music venue and also houses the Ferenc (Franz) Liszt Music Academy – tickets are difficult to get, with most events being sold out many days in advance. Friday evening chamber concerts, given by Hungary’s best musicians, are performed in Bartók Memorial House, II Csalán utca 29 (tel: (01) 394 2100; website: www.bartokmuseum.hu), the former residence of the great composer and now a museum in his honour. The Hungarian State Opera (website: www.opera.hu) splits its repertoire between the prestigious Opera House, Magyar Állami Operaház, VI Andrássy út 22, and the enormous Social Realist Erkel Színház, VIII Köztársaság tér 30, which tends to be used for less popular productions. The late Hapsburg Fovárosi Operett Színház (Municipal Operetta Theatre), VI Nagymezo utca 17 (tel: (01) 269 3870), produces operettas, including the Hungarian favourite, Kálmán’s The Csárdás Princess.

Theatre: There are over 30 theatres in Budapest, in spite of a shortage of funding – most survive on a diet of Shakespeare, which the Magyars feel sounds better in Hungarian than in English, as well as the Hungarian classics. The Hungarian acting style is still very formalised and rather stiff. Shows commence at around 1900 and box offices are open all day or an hour prior to curtain up. Credit cards are often not accepted. The new Nemzeti Szinhaz (National Theatre), XI Bajor Gizi Park 1 (tel: (01) 476 6800; website: www.nemzetiszinhaz.hu) opened in 2002 in the new cultural centre of Budapest, and its construction gripped the locals, as Budapest had been without a national theatre for decades following the demolition of its ugly predecessor in 1968. The Nemzeti stages mainly domestic and international musicals/dramas. Katona József Szinház, V Petofi Sandor utca 5 (tel: (01) 318 6599), is reputed as showing the best Hungarian theatre.

Dance: The lifeless Hungarian National Ballet is to be avoided. A better choice is the vibrant Dance Houses (Táncház) for folk music and dance. Instruments include lead violin, kontra (a three‐string viola) and gut strung bass, with the odd hurdy‐gurdy thrown in. Kalamajka Dance House (Belvárosi Ifjusági Mûvelodési Ház), V Molnár utca 9 (tel: (01) 317 5928), combines dancing with teaching to the sound of kalamajka bands, with regular guest performances from village bands (closed mid‐June to mid‐September). The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble (Magyar Állami Népi Együttes), I Corvin tér 8 (tel: (01) 201 5017; website: www.hungariakoncert.hu), puts on professional performances of traditional dancing and music.

Film: While Budapest has over 30 cinemas, only approximately 5% of films shown are Hungarian – a clear advantage for the traveller, especially as foreign films are often subtitled (rather than dubbed). For listings, visitors should check Budapest Week and Budapest Sun (see above) or attempt to decipher the Hungarian and rather highbrow Pesti Mûsor (website: www.pestimusor.hu). Pesti Est, found in cinema foyers and associated with the FM radio station, EST, is more comprehensive, especially for English‐language films, as is Open. There are many large mainstream cinemas and a wide range of arthouse cinemas. The Atrium, II Margit körút 55 (tel: (01) 212 5398), shows mainstream Hollywood films, while Muvész, VI Teréz körút 30 (tel: (01) 332 6726), specialises in arthouse and classic movies.

The major annual multicultural, multi‐lingual event is the Film Festival (Magyar Filmszemle) in February. Because of shortages of financing, joint productions are flourishing, such as the Hungarian‐French Simon Magus (1999), which caused a sensation at the 1999 Hungarian Film Festival. Films shot in Budapest include a short sequence in The Music Box (1989), for which Jessica Lange won the Oscar for best actress; the funeral scene in Evita (1996), directed by Alan Parker and starring Madonna and, more recently, Underworld (2003), a vampire meets werewolf movie starring Kate Beckinsale.

Literary Notes: Shakespeare used the word ‘hungarian’ in The Merry Wives of Windsor (circa 1600), as an adjective connoting beggarliness and thievishness. Perceptions of Hungary and Budapest have changed over the centuries but fascination has been an enduring factor. As early as 1840, English visitor Julia Pardoe wrote: ‘There is such a constant variety and movement in (Pest’s) streets, such a blending of the Oriental with the European and such a holiday look about the whole population that it is impossible to feel ennui in the chief city of the Magyars.’ Dictator Admiral Miklós Horthy described 1920s Budapest simply but unforgettably as a ‘sinful city’. British perceptions of modern Budapest are well described in Marion Merrick’s Now You See It, Now You Don’t (1998), while Michael Jacob’s Budapest: A Cultural Guide (1998) offers a well‐researched analysis of the city’s cultural history.