Vivaldi's Four Seasons in a Baroque church
The Danube String Orchestra plays Vivaldi's Four Seasons and shorter favourites in a historic church in Budapest's Inner City. You choose one of three seating categories.
Is it worth the evening?
Is a Vivaldi concert in a Budapest church worth it?
The short answer
Yes, if you want live strings in a Baroque church for about an hour. The booking page summarises recent verified reviews as praise for the skilled musicians and the strong acoustics, with the church setting adding to the concert. Some travellers find the seating uncomfortable. The music and the room are the draw, and the pews are the price.
- 01
What you are buying
A chamber concert of 70 minutes by the Danube String Orchestra. The Vivaldi programme on the booking page opens with shorter favourites, among them Pachelbel's Canon, Albinoni's Adagio and Schubert's Ave Maria, and closes with the four concertos of The Four Seasons.
- 02
What you will not get
No staged production, no full symphony orchestra and no dinner. It is a working church, with pews and an altar. The booking page lists concert tickets as the inclusion, so plan to eat and drink before or after.
- 03
Check the date
The same booking page also prints a Mozart Requiem programme and an organ concert. Look at which programme your chosen date carries, and look again in your confirmation, so that the evening you book is the one you want.
Four facts about the concert
- Where
- Váci utca 47/b, in Budapest's Inner City.
- On stage
- The Danube String Orchestra.
- Length
- 70 minutes, with the start time beside each date.
- Seats
- Three seating categories, chosen at booking.
The music, season by season
The four concertos, season by season
Vivaldi published each concerto with a sonnet that says what the season sounds like. Wikipedia describes each concerto as fast, slow, fast, and says a performance of all four runs to about 40 to 43 minutes.
- Spring
Birdsong, streams and a storm
The sonnet opens on birds celebrating the return of spring, murmuring streams and soft breezes, then thunderstorms that roar and die away. In the slow movement a goat-herd sleeps with his dog beside him, and Wikipedia says the barking dog can be heard in the viola section. The finale has nymphs and shepherds dancing to rustic bagpipes.
- Summer
Heat, a cuckoo and hail
Under a hard sun the man and the flock languish and the pine burns, while a cuckoo, a turtledove and a finch sing. A north wind sweeps the breezes aside and the shepherd fears a storm. Vivaldi marks the first movement as languor caused by the heat, Wikipedia notes, and the last ends in hail that cuts down the wheat.
- Autumn
Harvest, wine and the hunt
A peasant celebrates a bountiful harvest with songs and dances, and many end the revelry asleep. Vivaldi's note for the slow movement is that the drunkards have fallen asleep. In the finale hunters set out at dawn with horns, dogs and guns, and the hunted animal flees and dies.
- Winter
Ice, and a fire indoors
The sonnet begins in the cold: a bitter wind, stamping feet, teeth that will not stop chattering. The slow movement shifts indoors to a warm hearth while the rain falls on the street. In the finale, walkers edge across the ice, slip and tumble, then scramble on, and the sonnet ends by saying that winter has pleasures of its own.
Sonnets
Music with a story
Wikipedia says nobody knows who wrote the sonnets, though Vivaldi may have, since each has three sections that line up with the movements. That link is why the work counts as programme music, instrumental music meant to evoke something outside music.
Around
The shorter pieces beside them
Wikipedia says Pachelbel's Canon began as a piece for three violins with continuo, and that the Adagio credited to Albinoni dates from 1958 and was composed by the musicologist Remo Giazotto. It adds that Saint-Saëns wrote The Swan for solo cello and two pianos. The booking page lists all three in the Vivaldi programme.
Programmes change by date, so this describes the music the Vivaldi evenings centre on and is not a running order for your night.
The concert, in order
From Váci utca to the last chord
Trust the time shown next to the date you book.
- 01 Arrive
Find Váci utca 47/b
The church's own website gives its address as Váci utca 47/b, 1056 Budapest. A reviewer on the booking page advises arriving at least half an hour early to get good seats up front.
- 02 Sit
Take your category
Three seating categories are on offer, in pews. Reviewers describe the wooden pews as hard, and some brought small blow-up cushions.
- 03 Listen
Strings in a Baroque nave
The Danube String Orchestra plays the programme for your date. Reviewers single out the violin soloist and the acoustics, and one calls the setting small and intimate.
- 04 After
Plan the way home
One reviewer waited two hours for a taxi in the rain after the concert and advises booking a return taxi in advance if the weather is wet.
Ticket details
What the ticket settles
Six details to check before you pick a date.
- Seating
- Three seating categories, chosen when you book. The choice screen shows the names and the price of each for your date.
- Programme
- The booking page prints three programmes: Vivaldi's Four Seasons with shorter favourites, Mozart's Requiem and an organ concert. Check the one shown for your date.
- Length
- The booking page gives 70 minutes, with the start time beside each date.
- Comfort
- Church pews are wooden. Reviewers call them hard and some bring a small cushion.
- Access
- The booking page lists wheelchair access.
- Food and drink
- The booking page lists concert tickets as the inclusion, so eat and drink before or after.
Inside the church, and the street outside
The nave, the organ and Váci utca
The organ gallery, the facade on Váci utca, a ceiling fresco, the street that leads to the church, its doorway and an archive photograph of the interior from around 1892.
Four ways to book
Vivaldi in Budapest, and three more outings
In the row below, the first card is the Vivaldi concert this site covers. The other three are Budapest outings for another hour of the trip: a sightseeing cruise on the Danube, a walk through the caves under the Buda Castle District and a day at the thermal baths.
A night cruise on the Danube
A sightseeing cruise from the city centre with a welcome drink, with views of Parliament, Buda Castle and more.
The caves under Buda Castle
A guided walk through the cave system under the Buda Castle District, with the history and the geology of the caverns.
A day at Széchenyi Spa
A ticket to a thermal spring complex with three outdoor and fifteen indoor pools, with optional upgrades for spa extras.
Also worth booking in Budapest
Practical notes
Getting there and what to bring
Where it is
The church stands at Váci utca 47/b, 1056 Budapest, in the Inner City. Wikipedia equates the Inner City with the historic old town of Pest, which lies along the Danube's eastern shore.
The street
Váci utca is named after the town of Vác and is, says Wikipedia, one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares of central Budapest, lined with restaurants and shops for visitors.
Public transport
Wikipedia says the three Budapest metro lines converge at Deák Ferenc tér, in the Inner City. Put the church address into a map app for the walk from there.
Start time
Read the start time off the calendar for your date; your confirmation repeats it.
Seats
Arrive at least half an hour early, as one reviewer advises, to get good seats near the front of your category.
Rain and cushions
Take a small cushion for the pews, and arrange a return taxi in advance if rain is forecast.
If plans change
Cancelling a day ahead returns your money in full, and payment can wait until later.
More reading
Six guides to Vivaldi in Budapest
- Start here
Vivaldi in Budapest: worth it?
Is a Vivaldi Four Seasons concert in a Budapest church worth the evening? What it is, what it is not, who enjoys it and where to sit. Read the guide → - The tickets
Which seat should you book?
Three seating categories, one church. How to choose between them, why to arrive early and what to bring for the wooden pews. Read the guide → - The music
The Four Seasons, explained
What Vivaldi's four violin concertos depict, how the sonnets work and why a work from the 1720s still fills halls and churches today. Read the guide → - The venue
The church on Váci utca
The Szent Mihály church in Budapest's Inner City: from a medieval Dominican site to a Baroque building with a restored organ and ceiling frescoes. Read the guide → - Getting there
Finding the Váci utca church
Where the church stands in the Inner City, what to expect on Váci utca in the evening, and how to plan the walk, the taxi home and the hour before. Read the guide → - The programmes
Vivaldi, Requiem or organ?
The booking page carries three programmes: Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Mozart's Requiem and an organ concert. What each is, and how to pick the one you want. Read the guide →
FAQ
Questions before you book
Is a Vivaldi concert in a Budapest church worth it?
Yes, if you like classical music and want a quiet hour in a historic building. Reviewers praise the musicians and the acoustics. Some find the pews hard, so a small cushion is a sensible bring.
Where is the concert held?
In the Szent Mihály church at Váci utca 47/b, 1056 Budapest, in the Inner City.
Who plays?
The booking page names the Danube String Orchestra.
Which pieces will I hear?
The Vivaldi programme on the booking page ends with The Four Seasons and opens with shorter favourites. Other programmes share the page, so check which one your date carries.
How long is it?
The booking page gives 70 minutes, with the start time beside each date.
Which seat should I book?
Book by how close you want to sit. The booking page offers three seating categories, and a reviewer advises arriving at least half an hour early to get good seats.
Is food or a drink included?
The booking page lists concert tickets as the inclusion. Plan to eat and drink before or after.
Can I cancel?
Yes. A day's notice earns a full refund, and you may book now and pay at a later point.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons and other favourites, played by a string orchestra in a Baroque church in Budapest's Inner City.
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