The title of Johann Sebastian Bach’s manuscript from 1720, containing three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin – Sei Solo a Violino senza basso accompagnato – still remains enigmatic and thus inspiring for many performers and researchers. Sei solo instead of sei soli – in the literal translation: you are alone instead of six solo pieces – is, according to a widespread hypothesis, rather an intended ambiguity than just a scribal error.
Both the separation of those two words from the rest of the title and the circumstances of creating this manuscript – written not long after the death of Bach’s first wife, Maria Barbara – may be seen as the arguments for such an interpretation.
The Festival will touch different approaches to the solitude – intrinsically inscribed into a human life.
SEI SOLO / SEI SOLI is, moreover, the form of the Festival this year. We have invited six (sei) artists to give solo recitals, which will take place on the first six days of the Festival. The seventh and last concert, “Bogarodzica”, will be performed by Jerycho, joined by other musicians and the Festival Choir.
Taking SEI SOLO as a point of departure for the Festival this year, we see it also as a homage for Maciej Kaziński, its artistic director for many years, who passed away in September 2018.