Pontaumur (France) (AFP)
What is the common point between Combrailles and Bach's music? A priori, none. However, churches and bistros in this rural area of Auvergne live for twenty years at the rhythm of the composer on the occasion of a festival.
In Pontaumur (Puy-de-Dôme), commune of the Hautes Combrailles of some 600 souls, the inhabitants of the region mingle with specialists sometimes coming from abroad to attend the concerts given in the church during the event "Bach en Combrailles ".
"It is thanks to this festival that I discovered the music of Bach, I came to listen to a first concert, then a second and quickly all the concerts, I became a passionate Bach!", S? Enthusiastic Marie Claire Givelet, who lives about twenty kilometers away.
The small Romanesque church houses since 2004 the only replica in Europe of the Arnstadt organ in Germany, on which Bach composed in its early days.
Specially created for the festival, the instrument is famous among organists who sometimes have to adapt to its particularities.
"Do not be afraid of a very demanding project in rural areas, the success is not to compromise with the repertoire." It's important to hear Bach's work was playing, "said Vincent Morel, artistic director of the festival that ends Saturday.
Originally, the idea "crazy" of a young veterinarian campaign, Jean-Marc Thiallier, in love with his land and his peasants with whom he wanted to share his passion for the baroque composer.
"He had this desire to create a festival dedicated to Bach in this impossible region, where there are few means of transport, but he was able to convince of everything, he had this nerve," says his friend Patrick Ayrton, organist and harpsichordist, artistic director of the festival for many years.
"One day he asked me to follow him for a calving, and when he got to the farm, he opened the windows of his car to let Bach's notes escape while he was working," says the musician. describing a man "magnetic, with dazzling intelligence".
-Creation of a cantata-
In the early 2000s, Jean-Marc Thiallier launched a new challenge: build an organ for the festival. It will be that of Pontaumur. But the story ends badly, the vet tragically disappears shortly after its inauguration.
Since then, friends, family and artists have not stopped developing his project. To celebrate its twentieth anniversary, the festival is hosting this year for the first time a creation: a cantata, commissioned by the French composer Philippe Hersant and played Saturday in closing.
Churches, communal café, village hall, cinema, theater: more than twenty events are offered to 5,000 festival-goers in different places of the region.
The "Bach cafés" allow this eclectic audience to meet and share around the music: "What interested us beyond Bach is the idea of making the Combrailles live (...), we participated in other festivals where there was no project to make a region live, "says Bernadette Pradalié, coming from Clermont-Ferrand to enjoy a maximum of concerts.
Free organ auditions are scheduled throughout the week: "The most important thing is to know how to talk to people who do not listen to Bach all day," says Morel, who also organizes upstream meetings with local college students.
The stake now, "it is to go further with the actors of the territory".
Is Jean-Marc Thiallier's bet successful? "Yes, but it's still a fight", he admits: "We are not here to support a 12th century building, a 15th century castle, an abbey ... We are here for and only for the directory, in this territory. "
© 2019 AFP