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Nicholas Clapton first visited Budapest in a very snowy January 1996 to record a recently discovered mass by an almost unknown eighteenth-century Hungarian composer. Thus began an ongoing love affair with Hungary, its culture and its classical music-loving people. In this book, the author takes the reader on a discovery tour of the capital - to concerts in old churches, a hidden away restaurant, where the last great gipsy violinist still performs every night, and traditional Dance Halls, 'Táncház', established in the 1960s to preserve the Hungarian folk dance heritage. Clapton follows the footsteps of Liszt and Bartók, as well as less well-known Hungarian musicians and composers, recounts splendid and sometimes curious evenings in the Budapest Opera House and marvels at the opulent grandeur of Operett Színház, 'Budapest's Broadway'. Budapest is an engaging and affectionate musician's eye-view of a great European capital.
A personal, intelligently-written account of the Hungarian capital's history 'in music', enriched with tips on eating and drinking, sights and museums, to delight lovers of travel and music alike.
Sommario
Acknowledgements
Foreword
1. Introduction with (some) history
2. Music and lightning
3. The ‘pure source’
4. Halls of dance, halls of learning
5. Opera and operetta, inside and out
6. Music on high
7. On the trail of great composers
8. What, no singing? (Well, almost…)
9. A composer in Budapest
10. Eating and drinking, seeing and buying
Afterword
Appendix: A timeline
Suggestions for further reading
Endnotes
Info autore
Nicholas Clapton is a singer, writer, broadcaster, and teacher living in the United Kingdom. He is the author of Moreschi and the Voice of the Castrato, also published by Haus Publishing.
Riassunto
Singer Nicholas Clapton first visited Budapest to record a recently discovered mass by an almost unknown eighteenth-century Hungarian composer. There, he discovered a striking sense of otherness in spite of Hungary’s central geographical and cultural position within Europe. And with that, a deep passion for the city was born. Budapest offers an engaging and affectionate look at this beautiful capital from the perspective of a musician who lived and worked there for many years.
With rich musical traditions, both classical and folk, and possessing a language like almost no other, Hungary is in the process of abandoning the trappings of its communist past while attempting to preserve its culture from creeping globalization. Clapton delights in the fact that certain old-fashioned attitudes of courtesy, at times stemming from the very structures of the Magyar tongue, are still deeply ingrained in Hungarian society. At the same time, despite its association with world-famous composers such as Bartók, Liszt, and Kodály, music is far from an activity enjoyed only by the elite. Including plenty of tips on food, drink, and sites of interest, Budapest describes the capital in uniquely melodic terms and will delight lovers of travel and music alike.
