Orchestra Concert

So, yesterday night I went downtown and went to the Hungarian State Opera House to hear an orchestra play Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. It was simply wonderful. What was especially exciting is that my friends and I bought the 400 forint tickets = $2.20. These tickets have limited view (and I mean limited), in that you can only see about 1/4 of the orchestra and that is if you are leaning forward. Sitting back you really can't see the orchestra, but you can hear the music. Several different people caught my eye. There was the box with 3 college boys, in their shirt and ties, as if they had come out for a bit of culture but weren't use to this style. Then there was the man in the box below them whose hand barely stopped moving. It was as if he knew or had played the piano part for these songs, or had conducted them at one time many years ago. As my eyes drifted across the rows and boxes on the opposite side of the tall auditorium, I was drawn to the box with 6 Hungarian ladies in it. They were probably in their late 60's and were dressed up and truly enjoying the music. The Hungarian people love music and are very intent listeners. They sit so still and focus on the players and conductor. To show how much they love the music they applaud and applaud. They never stand, but instead they all syncronize their claps into a very slow steady clap and then get faster and faster all together. At this point they break into normal clapping again. But pretty soon, they'll all find the beat again and start clapping together. This can go on for minutes. Last night they clapped for probably 4 minutes, then the orchestra did and encore. Then the audience began clapping all over again. They truly have a love for the arts. I have added two pictures for you. The first one is the outside of the Opera House. The second one is the inside. The stage, you can't see it, is to the right. I was sitting in the top row on the far right of the picture. The reason you can't see is because you face the other side of the room, not the stage. ENJOY!!!