UNGESTALT
Graindelavoix
In Plato’s Parmenides, Socrates denied that formless things such as mud, hair or rubbish are part of the truth of the idea or essential form. In the 15th century, the neo-Platonist Nicholas of Cusa called polyphony ‘excrement that sticks to the pavement’. Polyphony has always been crisis repertoire, and that had less to do with its content than its form. Polyphony lacks a clearly defined, closed form, and composers were all too well aware of that. In the 14th and 15th centuries, polyphonists took the geometry of polyphony and its shaping, shapeless and misshapen forms to unparalleled heights. To borrow a term from Albrecht Dürer, you might call these composers the masters of Ungestalt. Truth is not to be found in the perfectly defined Platonic forms, but in the moving, open and ever-changing forms of polyphony.
Truth as a play of forms, written by Björn Schmelzer
Line-up
Björn Schmelzer, artistic director
Florencia Menconi, soprano
Andrew Hallock, alto
André Pérez Muiño, tenor
Albert Riera, tenor
Andrés Miravete, tenor
Marius Peterson, tenor
Tomàs Maxé, baritone
Arnout Malfliet, bass
02.10.2026
20:15 — 21:45
tickets In collaboration with
De Warande
City of Turnhout
Address
St Peter’s Church
Grote Markt 80, Turnhout
Tickets
€22 (under 26: €12)
Including introduction and reception