Slovenská filharmónia

[khiemtran]

So, you want to get a ticket to hear Slovak Philharmonica play the music of Bratislava-native Johann Nepomuk Hummel?




First of all, check the website (click the British flag on the top right, if it's in Slovak.) Next, click on the map on the bottom left labelled "Where to find us". Bonus marks if you've already noticed the first catch. Otherwise, if like me, you didn't, double check with google maps that you know how to find your way through the Old Town to the Reduta...

Next chance you get, head out on your lunch break...



This looks like the place. But all the doors are closed, even though the ticket office is supposed to be open after 12:30.



At least the poster looks encouraging.



Next, walk around the building looking for a way in. At last find a large open door on the Danube river side. You can see some sort of booth inside, so venture in and ask if they know where the ticket office is.

So, did you notice the problem earlier? The map on the website and the address of the ticket office didn't match up. It turns out that tickets are only sold at the Reduta itself within an hour of the concert and the other opening hours apply to an office at the National Theatre.

Get escorted through the Reduta by a nice young man, who then points you back towards the National Theatre and tells you to enter via a door on the same side as the McDonalds. There is a lady inside there selling tickets and she should be there now. "Good luck!" he says, mysteriously, as you head off...

Okay, so here's the National Theatre (Narodne Divadlo).



And here's the McDonald's side.



So, where's this door?



It turns out there's only one door on the side of the building. But zatvarájte dvere!



Here we go again! Try the door handle. It opens! And inside...

Another door. Tlačiť!



Try this door. It opens too.

But there's no-one around. Follow the signs to the pokladnica...



Don't mind me, I'm just trying to find the ticket office...



Around the corner with the safety marker, there's a small office where a lady sits in a booth waiting for customers. "I get you a very good seat!" she tells me, happily.

11 Euros later, and success!



Also, it might pay to double check that you know which building the concert is in...


Glossary (thanks to Google translate after the fact):

Zatvarájte dvere! - Close the door! (You'll notice in the next photo that I didn't.)
Tlačiť! - Push! (In this case, I did...)
Pokladnica - Ticket Office

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

This is very near to the kind of experience my son has in Prague all the time.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

BTW, I did end up spending some time learning Slovak, but not as much as I would have liked. I'm getting by as much on the Czech that I learnt in Prague as the Slovak I've picked up since then. I think the next time I end up in this part of the world, I'm going to need to splash out on a proper textbook that lays out all the grammar - it's quite frustrating trying to intuit all the inflections used in different phrases without a childhood's worth of immersion.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I'm studying very inefficiently. What I need is to break down and buy some filing cards and make myself flashcards. I've just been reciting words from the dicitonary and writing sentences using the verb book and dictionary. But all I'm getting is a kind of philological grokking, and I need to be able to actually say things.

But for inflections, I'm concentrating on the verbs. I'm not ignoring the nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, but there's less of a return with studying them, because there are two many conditions and the endings overlap so much and so unpredictably. For example, the possessive pronoun: for the possessor there are three persons, and the 3rd person has three genders and a fourth one (masculine inanimate) for certain cases but not others, and also a reflexive one (which fortunately is the same for all persons and genders), and then there are three genders and sometimes four for the possessed, and also singular and plural for both possessor and possessed. At least there are not two plurals. I counted 378 conditions for the possessive pronoun before you account for the maculine inanimate and the seemingly random alternate forms.

If I say tvoje when I'm supposed to say tvuj, I don't care. But I need some vocabulary!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, that sounds sensible. I'm ignoring possessive pronouns altogether. Basically, all I have so far is the nominative and the accusative and a handful of verbs and nouns, but at least that gets me a cup of coffee and gives me a fighting chance of reading menus.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

That's my original approach, and I'm trying to expand on it. How often do you expect to be going to Slovakia and Czech Republic?

I may only go to Prague one more time, as Frank and Hana will likely relocate after his graduation.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I'm likely to come again sooner or later, although I have no idea when. Slovak is just a little low on the cost-return curve to spend much time on until I know for sure though.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I want a concert report!

I've only discovered Hummel a couple of years ago, and have totally fallen in love with him - his music is light and funny and often unexpected, and I want to explore more of his output - but I have no idea what took me so long!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I've got a bit of time for Hummel. I've noticed that even though none of his pieces are among my absolute favourites, I've never heard a Hummel piece I didn't like.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

Wow. I hope the concert is worth all the headache involved in getting to it!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping that actually entering the theatre and finding my seat won't involve climbing through any windows.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I was so afraid, reading this, that you weren't going to get to the concert! So glad you did, in the end. [ETA: Oh wait--not yet? But at least you have the ticket, so that's something]

The business with the door on the McDonald's side reminds me of a scene in Ozma of Oz, where Dorothy is approaching the stately home of Langwidere, which directs people to a door in a nonexistent wing of the building. Maybe L. Frank Baum had traveled in Slovakia.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

At least everyone was very friendly.

I've noticed that the language of the doors is different here too. More than once I've actually walked past a restaurant and completely missed the way in. What I'd read in other contexts as "This is not the door you are looking for. We are dark and most likely closed" actually seems to be "Come in and join the crowd and let us stuff you full of dumplings and cabbage! (Just don't forget to zatvarájte dvere!)"

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

This reminds me so much of those text adventure computer games. So many obstacles to overcome before you get your ticket!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I made it through to the next level today when I went to visit the castle. I've come to the conclusion that doors in Slovakia are built to keep out draughts and let in customers, but in that order.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

If it's the same Hummel I've come across (famed for his trumpet concerto) then... I never knew he hailed from that part of the world which is now Bratislava!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the same one. Of course, Bratislava was called Preßburg and was part of Hungary in those days (it was even the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary at one stage).

Hummel's reputation suffers a bit because he came right at the end of the Classical era (he was taught by Mozart and alongside Beethoven) and he sort of got steam-rollered by the Romantic. Also, I was also very surprised to read that he wrote 22 operas. He must have been doing something right, but obviously none of them stayed in the repertoire.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much - I've now got the last movement of Hummel's Trumpet Concerto rattling around in my head like a demented earworm. The mad trumpeters I knew in my musician days (many, many moons ago!!) used to include the concerto in their repertoire - regularly!!

My dad'll probably know the operas - he's a big fan of really obscure late classical/early Romantic stuff from eastern Europe (I can't even spell half of them), with a special fondness for wind ensemble stuff and opera. I can't say I see eye to eye with him - I much prefer full on Romantic stuff like Mahler and Berlioz and Beethoven and Wagner...

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

The Classical Era is about my sweet spot, although I've gradually been progressing my way through to the Late Romantics. Strangely, I haven't actually heard much Berlioz. I'm not sure why.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

You should give Berlioz a go. Harold in Italy's a nice introduction - Symphonie Fantastique is a good bet, too. And the Grand Mess des Morts (pardon my lousy French!) is amazing!