Les Voix Humaines

At the heart of the program are two defining worlds of Baroque music: the French and the German musical traditions. The works of Marin Marais — including Plainte, Les Voix humaines, and Le Labyrinthe — explore the possibilities of instrumental expression closest to the human voice. In contrast, excerpts from the viola da gamba sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach evoke the deeply felt, faith-driven musical world of the German Baroque, where music is not merely form, but a bearer of inner content and spiritual presence.

The arc of the program guides the listener through different layers of expression and introspection. The delicate, speech-like gestures, ornamentation, and rhetoric of the French pieces convey the immediacy of human expression, while in Bach’s music the interweaving of voices reveals a sense of inner order and direction. In this alternation, there is no opposition but rather complementarity: the music speaks both directly and contemplatively, opening a unique space for the listener’s personal attention and inner presence.

 

The performed works lead into the profound mirror of the soul, where sound is not merely an aesthetic phenomenon but a presence filled with meaning. In this environment, listening becomes not passive reception but a heightened state of attention, in which the subtle nuances and inner movements of the music gradually reveal their own order.

 

Performers:

• Katalin Kovács – harpsichord
• Sándor Szászvárosi – viola da gamba

 

Ticket sales start on March 20 at 17:00 online via the TIXA.

Tickets will also be available at the venue before the program, subject to capacity.

The program is part of the Five Churches Festival, organized by the Karzat Theatre Nonprofit Ltd.

 

The full festival program is available here: https://ottemplom.hu/programok/

The festival is supported by the National Cultural Fund and the Municipality of the City of Győr.