MARIN MARAIS 290

On the Anniversary of the Death of the Composer

Sándor Szászvárosi - viola da gamba
Réka Nagy - continuo viola da gamba
Igor Davidovics - lute
Zoltán Tegyei - harpsichord

Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre II
   No. 1 – Prelude
   No. 20 – Couplets de Folies (Les Folies d’Espagne)
Marais: e-moll szvit - Suite in E minor
Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre II
   No. 83 – Prelude
   No. 85 – Allemande
   No. 91 – Gigue
   No. 95 – Tombeau pour Mr de Lully
   No. 64 – Chaconne
Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre IV
   No. 33 – Prelude (A-dúr szvit • Suite in A major)
   No. 74 – Labyrinte (Suite d’un Goût Etranger)
   No. 61 – Feste Champêtre (Suite d’un Goût Etranger)
Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre V
   No. 108 – Le Tableau de l’Opération de la Taille
Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre IV
   No. 64 – Le Tourbillon
Marais: Pièces de viole, Livre II
   No. 63 – Les Voix Humaines

Marin Marais's work was graciously supported by Louis XIV. As a composer for, as well as virtuoso of, his instrument Marais left behind a great body of work with the aid of the king. He released five volumes of pieces composed for his instrument, which were very popular in the royal court. In addition to his operas, he impressed the Versailles audience by religious and secular pieces as well. In his life, but even in the decades following his death, he was regarded, in the words of contemporary instrumentalist Hubert de Blanc, as someone who "founded the empire of the gamba."

Marin Marais' art has opened up tremendous opportunities for all viola da gamba players. Besides the fact that his works serve as an introduction to the French style, much of the composer's legacy will be remembered by the audience and for good reason. His works carry the stylistic features of the mature Baroque period. Another special trait is the detectable influence of the early program music in the court of the Sun King. They paint pictures not only in their title but also through the musical process of the Versailles labyrinth (Labyrinte), a whirlwind (Tourbillion), or a village festival (Feste Champetre). This expressivity is also present in the tombeaus written to the memory of Marais' deceased masters or his daughter. Perhaps most intriguing among his program music pieces is one which, through accompanying narration, specifically describes his gallstone surgery, the primitive remedies of the age, the surgical pain, and then the recovery at the end of the piece. Thus, the composition Le Tableau de l'Opération de la Taille goes beyond art as it is also an "artifact" of medicine, an early report about a then major and risky operation.

Sándor Szászvárosi

Tickets: 1800 Ft, Senior and Student tickets: 900 Ft

A Joint Program with the Budapest Spring Festival

Sponsor: National Cultural Fund