[en] The main motivation behind this thesis has been to determine both the advantages and the disadvantages of the soft X-ray application of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The investigation of a well known system, Ag(001), enables us to discuss several questions such as the role of the photon momentum, the applicability of the free-electron-like final state approximation and the role of phonons. The polarisation of the incoming light has also been exploited. The choice of such a system also comes from our desire to compare the results with calculations of angle-resolved photoemission spectra in this energy range. The anomalous low temperature properties of Ce-based compounds are generally related to the Kondo effect. Original results have been obtained by investigating the valence band of three iso-structural single crystalline Ce compounds, CeCu₂Ge₂, CeNi₂Ge₂ and CeCo₂Ge₂. The location of the Ce M5 absorption edge within the soft X-ray energy range is exploited in order to isolate the 4f contribution to the spectra. Added to this, the use of relatively high incoming photon energies allows minimising the surface contribution. Temperature dependent, resonant, angle-resolved and angle-integrated photoemission measurements have been performed. The former are in qualitative agreement with the single impurity Anderson model, whereas the latter suggest the importance of taking the lattice into account. (author)