When, Baron van Swieten, known from Hungarian history as the head of the school programmes of Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II, commissioned Mozart to prepare arrangements of four works by Händel, no one could yet know that among them the Messiah would remain a festive delicacy for the world 250 years later.

Mozart shortened the work and enriched it with new instruments, yet in the spirit of the now-prevailing historical approach, everyone performs Händel’s original today.

Except for the Hungarian State Opera: they believe that with Mozart’s reverent touch the work could only be enriched, and may thus be offered to the public as the joint gift of two geniuses.

Place: Opera House Budapest

Address: 1061 Budapest, Andrássy út 22