Hungarian Rhapsodies Classical Music Walking Tours Budapest

16/07/2023

We are experiencing technical issues with the booking module of the Hungarian Rhapsodies website. Please, send your booking inquiries through mail ([email protected]) or here on Facebook. Thank you, and we apologise for the inconvenience.

28/05/2023

Today we remember György Ligeti, one of the most influential and versatile composers of the 20th century on the 100th anniversary of his birth. A famous alumnus of Liszt Academy of Music who also had taught there for a few years before he left Hungary and made an outstanding career in Western Europe. His self-definition: “My passport? Austrian. I am a Hungarian Jew born in Transylvania. After having Romanian nationality, I got my Hungarian nationality in Budapest. I fled after the revolution of ’56 to Vienna. I have roots in both worlds. I belong everywhere. That’s how one should be considered: a citizen of the world.”
Our Prelude and Andante Tours reveal many more stories and anecdotes on his incredible life.

Artwork: Ferenc Frigya Szabó

10/04/2023

8th of April is the International Romani Day, a day when we celebrate the culture of the Romani people, the largest ethnic minority in Europe. This day raises awareness of the discrimination these people still often suffer. Our unique Gypsy Culture Tour invites you to learn more about the rich artistic heritage and the music of the Budapest Romani community with the help of UCCU Foundation, a local NGO.

25/03/2023

Today we remember Béla Bartók, one of the greatest composers and pianists of the 20th century. His legacy is nurtured in the Bartók Archives in Budapest, where his invaluable research on folk music is kept. His Alma Mater, the Liszt Academy of Music Budapest, where he was a professor of piano (interestingly he never taught composition!) from 1907 to 1934 is keeping his legacy through the piano faculty, through a dedicated classroom named after him in the Main Building and the Bartók World Competition that is organised annually https://bartokworldcompetition.hu/en.
In Budapest two of Bartók's former homes have been converted into a memorial house.

01/01/2023

Today we remember the internationally celebrated Hungarian operatic star, bassist László Polgár's birthday. Read how The Guardian remembered him: "...Polgár, the definitive Bluebeard of our time, implacably dark-toned and inscrutable. Yet, dark-hued as his voice was, Polgár could also conjure up a tone of velvety beauty – a true basso cantante – which when harnessed to impressive declamation enabled him to shine in lieder and oratorio as well as opera repertoire as varied as Mozart and Wagner. Having won the Kossuth prize, Hungary's most prestigious cultural award, in 1990, he moved to Zurich, of whose opera he was a member from 1991. There he earned an income 20 times that of the wage he had been paid in Hungary, a point he alluded to in an interview in a Hungarian newspaper in 1994: "I do not expect the Hungarian Opera to compete with it," he said of his fee. "What I expect is respect and affection. If I get these two, I happily go home and sing there." Love and affection were, for Polgár, "the most important things in life", without which a career would be intolerable."
László Polgár was born on the 1st of January in 1947 in Somogyszentpál (Hungary) and died in Zürich on the 19th of September in 2010. We wish to you a prosperous New Year to be filled with great music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLbPI6mW72U

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)Bluebeard's Castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára), op. 11, Sz. 48 (1918)Opera in one act Libretto by Béla BalázsLászló Polgár (Bluebeard)...

16/12/2022

Today we celebrate the birthday of Zoltán Kodály, composer, music educator, ethnomusicologist and linguist, one of the most influential figures of the 20th century Hungarian history, who had a vision of a singing and educated nation. His credo "let music belong to everyone" still informs the Hungarian music education. As a respect to his art, the mosaics in the Kálvin tér station of Metro Line 4 depict some notes and texts from his famous piece, Psalmus Hungaricus which was commissioned to celebrate the anniversary of Budapest.

14/12/2022

”Music was and is an essential part of daily life in Hungary: the folk music of the various regions, the gypsy music that was absorbed into the national bloodstream, the native and foreign art-music, and the café music that was a combination of all these elements and others as well. All this explains why a country whose population, even today, is barely over ten million has produced so many musicians and so much outstanding music. I am grateful for having been born and trained there.” (Sir Georg Solti - citation from the book Solti on Solti - a memoir of Sir Georg Solti)
Join one of our tours to discover this wonderful heritage, consult the website about the tours. budapestmusictours.com/

Photo credit: Andrea Felvégi

09/12/2022

Budapest Basilica Xmas Fair again voted as Best in Europe for the third time in a row based on the online voters of Best Destinations in Europe. https://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/christmas-markets/

Which are the Best Christmas Markets in Europe for 2023? Like every year, hundreds of thousands of you have voted for their most beautiful Christmas markets.

07/12/2022

Why are the tours special? the Gypsy Culture Tour shows you the Romani or Gypsy (musicians) minority landscape of Budapest and highlights how classical music interferes with the music of gypsies. Have a sneak peak here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkz7UCXypMQ

Photo credit: Andrea Felvégi

The guides will come from UCCU Foundation, a local civil organization, a recent European Heritage awardee. Follow us and explore our website https://budapestmusictours.com

06/12/2022

Did you know? What Tom is playing in the famous Oscar winning (1946) cartoon "The Cat Concerto" is indeed Hungarian Rhapsody No.2.by Liszt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpEfHVFilRc

04/12/2022

What was the biggest compliment Hungarian operetta composer Lehár received? Puccini described his talent this way: if Lehár had turned to composing operas, he could have become my biggest rival. Learn more about the famous Hungarian operetta composers, and take a seat next to Emmerich Kálmán for a selfie! Choose the Prelude or the Andante Tour, and follow us on Facebook!

01/12/2022

Liszt was a great promoter of the full-bodied red-wine from the Szekszard region (in the mid-south part of Hungary), where his closest Hungarian friend, Baron Augusz lived. Liszt made this wine famous across the aristocracy in Europe, legend says for example the Grand Duke of Weimar, the King of the Netherlands or Pope Pius the Ninth insisted of having sufficient amount of bottles in the cellars all times. How many wine regions do you think Hungary have and what are the special local grape varietals? Register for the Liszt&Wine Tour and get a full understanding of Hungary and wine from the owners of Tasting Table Wine Bar, and learn suprising stories about Liszt while unwrapping the highlights of his life and oeuvre. Follow us and explore our website https://budapestmusictours.com

Photo credit: NickyPe