For a long time, a large portion of Handel’s early opera Rodrigo was thought to have been lost. It was back in 1707 in Rome that George Frideric Handel wrote Rodrigo, but it was not until 1974 that the printed libretto turned up again, and nine years later the third act was found in the Earl of Shaftesbury’s Handel collection. On August 29, 1984, finally, the work was revived during the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, and in 2019 it’s on the programme at the Göttingen International Handel Festival. The opera narrates a freely adapted version of the end to the regency of the Last Visigoth King Roderich. In the libretto by Francesco Silvani, however, the reason behind it is less the lust for power on the part of his opponents than the thirst for vengeance of his spurned mistress.

The Viennese Court Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) is regarded in music history as the forefather of modern counterpoint, and his instructional work "Gradus ad parnassum" continues to influence education in this subject to the present day. But the many compositions Fux wrote for the Viennese court are largely forgotten. If at all, one still knows of sacred compositions in which Fux followed this strict, academic style. On the other hand, the composer was able to free himself from this in his opera and in his "Componimenti sacri", which are operatic oratorios for Holy Week (during which no operas were allowed to be performed). Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria present such a Fux's "Componimento sacro": after 300 years the oratorio Gesu Cristo negato da Pietro was performed for the first time in January 2020, now it is also available on album. At the centre of the plot is the biblical passion scene about Peter's denial of Christ, which is theologically examined in dramatic disputes between various allegorical figures. Fux translates this drama into his music, showing that he was not just a good counterpoint artist!

When the cantor Johann Sebastian Bach performed sacred cantatas in Leipzig on Sundays and public holidays, his colleagues did the same in many other places in Lutheran Germany. Among them was Christoph Graupner, the court conductor of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1709, the music-loving Landgraf Ernst Ludwig from Darmstadt had discovered him as a harpsichordist at the Hamburg Opera in 1709 and had hired him on the spot. The Landgraf had made a real stroke of luck with Graupner, because he was not only an outstanding musician but also a perfect organizer of the courtly musical life and especially for the church music which had to be performed weekly. Over the years, more than 1,400 works of sacred music and many concertos and orchestral works have gathered from his pen and paper. Dorothee Mields and Harmonie Universelle have put together an exquisite selection from this repertoire for the present release: three cantatas from Graupner's early years as kapellmeister, complemented by two orchestral works. All three cantatas contain "Herz" [heart] as a central theme and Graupner has put the sacred texts into music with a never-ending fantasy.

Carl Heinrich Graun, like other Italian-influenced or Italian-trained German composers of his time, composed Italian cantatas throughout his entire creative period. The three cantatas belong to a small group in Graun’s output, for soprano. The greater part of his 38 positively attributed Italian cantatas were composed for tenor, and thus probably for his own voice. Graun's soprano cantatas were probably written in his Berlin years after Friedrich's accession to the throne in 1740, when virtuoso castrati and singers were available for the demanding solo parts. After successful albums with music by Fasch, Hertel and Molter, the ensemble Main-Barockorchester has now joined the Accent label. Hannah Morrison is regarded as one of the most promising young sopranos of the early music scene.

This recording from the 2018 Göttingen Handel Festival presents two rarely heard works by George Frideric Handel: "The Choice of Hercules" and the "Te Deum for the Victory of Dettingen". In "The Choice of Hercules" from 1751, Handel musically processes the mythical theme of Hercules at the crossroads, whereby Hercules' vacillation between virtue and lust is ideal for the back and forth in the search for the right path in life. The "Dettingen Te Deum" (HWV 283) is a cantata composed by Handel in 1743. On 27 June 1743, the British army and its allies under the command of King George II had defeated the French army at the Battle of Dettingen. Handel was commissioned to write a Te Deum "with timpani and trumpets" for the victory celebrations. Laurence Cummings, the Handel Festival Orchestra, outstanding soloists and the legendary Christ Church Cathedral Choir from Oxford provide the successful performance.

The bassoon was only able to establish itself as a solo instrument towards the end of the 17th century. The first virtuosos came from France, where the bassoon was used as a bass instrument in military orchestras and the outstanding bassoonists were also able to establish themselves in concert. The American bassoonist Danny Bond, who is active in many of Europe's leading early music ensembles, dedicated 3 albums, released on the Accent label between 1983 and 2000, to the French repertoire for solo bassoon. The first album highlights the French Baroque with works by Michel Corrette and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, the other two albums present works by François Devienne and Etienne Ozi, who stand on the threshold from the Baroque to the Classical period.

The 18th century was a time when deportment and noble behavior were essential for people of quality. Dance formed a major part of all social ceremonies and theatrical presentations. Nowhere was dancing more highly regarded than in France, where ballets de cour assumed great importance, and the Lullian tragedie en musique had its counterpart in the ballet en action of the opera-ballet. The Fantaisie (1729) and Plaisirs champetres (1734) of Jean-Fiery Rebel, reflecting the differing personalities of their prima ballerinas Camargo and Salle, have been called “choreographic symphonies”. Bucolic pastimes were a favorite subject for these courtly entertainments: Rameau’s “heroic pastoral” Daphnis et Égle (1753) is represented by a large number of movements which illustrate its rich orchestration and expressive depth. “Sigiswald Kuijken’s Petite Bande play with brisk rhythmicality, clean-cut precision and an engaging stylishness, at the same time not ignoring dynamic contrast. Howard Crook rises to the pathos of Acis’s air in Lully’s “heroic pastoral”, but is heard at his best in ornate fast-moving airs by Rameau.”

– Gramophone (1997)

Gregor Joseph Werner (1693-1766) was Kapellmeister at the Eszterházy court in Eisenstadt, and on his death he was succeeded by Joseph Haydn. A surviving manuscript score of his oratorio “Der gute Hirt” (The Good Shepherd) is preserved in the music collection of the National Library of Hungary in Budapest. Werner’s oratorio is a “sepolcro” oratorio originating from the Viennese court tradition. This particular musical-dramatic form of the Holy Week oratorio performed around the holy sepulcher of Catholic churches, became fashionable throughout the Habsburg empire during the last third of the 17th century. This genre, a staged musical performance presenting the burial of Jesus Christ, was a part of church music practice in Central Europe as late as the 1730s. On 28 March 1739, the Good Friday service held in the Palace Chapel in Eisenstadt was centered around a musical drama setting of Gregor Werner’s own text based on the Parable of the Good Shepherd in the Gospel of Luke, thereby commemorating Jesus Christ’s death on the cross at Golgotha. The single lost sheep is the symbol of man who, having revolted and lost his secure place in Paradise, can be guided back to the path of salvation only through the sacrifice of the all-forgiving Good Shepherd/Jesus, the Father’s only son, who will never leave him.

During the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras under the reigns of Elizabeth I and her successor James I, extensive patronage of the arts was undertaken by cultured aristocrats; this was a unique and adventurous age of professional and independently operating theatre companies who catered for the taste of elevated and humble levels of society alike alongside the final blossoming of the Renaissance which was already in the process of fading in continental Europe. This program demonstrates the music of English composers of the era. The countertenor Benno Schachtner is widely regarded as one of the most promising singers in his field. With a special focus on music of the German Baroque period, he is much in demand as a soloist with some of the best ensembles committed to historic performance practice. Conductors such as René Jacobs or Christoph Spering regularly enjoy working with him. For this English program of songs by Dowland, Purcell, Johnson and Blow, Schachtner teams up with a small instrumental ensemble which provides an exquisite instrumental background to the rising star’s fine singing.

The Habsburg dynasty was one of the most powerful in Europe from the early 13th to the early 19th century. It was also a major power in cultural artistic matters and attracted the best musicians and composers to serve at its courts. The musical life at the imperial court in Vienna had a strong Italian flavor: Italians held the position of court Kapellmeister, with but one short break, from 1619 to 1715, and the position of court composer continued to be dominated by Italians. The Catholic Church music began to take on an Italian flair, with obbligato instrumental parts accompanying solo portions of the Mass and other liturgical items. In the second half of the 17th century oratorios became an important feature of musical and religious life at the Habsburg court. Oratorios were customarily presented only during Lent, when the court opera was closed. During Holy Week, however, a variant of this genre, the sepolcro, was often performed. The trombone, though hardly known in some parts of Europe at this time, flourished in Vienna. More than 40 arias with trombone obbligatos appeared in sacred dramatic works between the 1680s and the 1740s. This body of repertoire stands out in the history of the trombone for its florid writing, replete with trills, and with rapid passagework that often rivals that of the voices and the strings. Antonio Caldara figures prominently in this program with three arias, but the release includes also music by lesser-known or even unknown composers as the Ziani brothers, F. B. Conti and the emperor Joseph I himself.

Even after the completion of the highly praised Bach cantata series, which was released between 2004 and 2014, and in which La Petite Bande recorded cantatas for every Sunday of the liturgical year, Sigiswald Kuijken still does not let go of his great passion for Johann Sebastian Bach. He turns once again to the cantatas and presents on his new recording three works that Bach wrote for the end of January and the beginning of February, and that he performed in Leipzig at St Thomas' Church between 1725 and 1729. Two of these cantatas - BWV 72 "Alles nur nach Gottes Willen" (1726) and BWV 156 "Ich stehe mit einem Fuß im Grabe" (1729) - were composed for the third Sunday after Epiphany, and the other one - BWV 92 "Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn" (1725) - for the Sunday Septuagesima, i.e. for two weeks later. Kuijken remains true to his performing decisions for the cantata series: all instrumental and vocal parts are occupied only by soloists, which results in a very transparent sound and makes the structures and layers of Bach's sometimes highly complex works always easily audible.

Anyone who believes that everything has already been said about the Brandenburg Concertos will be proven wrong by this recording. Even those who believe that they have always heard the concertos on historically correct instruments will be proven wrong by this recording. As a rule, the parts of the trumpets and horns are played on instruments without keys and valves, but these have a modern aid: bores that make playing the delicate parts immensely easier. For his recording, Sigiswald Kuijken uses pure natural instruments without these modern auxiliary bores, as he has excellent musicians at his disposal for this venture in Jean-Francois Madeuf and colleagues. The result is convincing all round and once again underlines the artistic standing of Kuijken and his ensemble La Petite Bande.

In the beginning there was great skepticism towards the thesis of Joshua Rifkin that Bach’s sacred vocal works were originally written for solo voices. Now this interpretation is establishing itself more and more. With this edition Sigiswald Kuijken and his ensemble La Petite Bande want to strengthen this new approach and prove it right by their excellent performances. The project of recording one cantata composed for each Sunday and high feast of the liturgical year has been spread over several concert seasons, during each of which three to four cantatas were given concert performances and were recorded. As far as possible this was made during the relevant time of the year for which the cantatas were written. "Among current cantata series Sigiswald Kuijken‘s has a distinctive place, his one-to-a-part voices and few instruments achieving striking delicacy. His vocal soloists sing with disarming simplicity and ease in arias, and blend superbly in ensemble. A rare treat, Kuijken – and Bach – at their very best.” (BBC Music Magazine, March 2010, review vol. 9)

In the 18th century, Dresden developed into a magnificent baroque residence, which was soon given the nickname "Florence on the Elbe". Music played a special role in the representation of political power, and the "Dresden Court Orchestra" was famous throughout Europe. Dresden court life was Protestant in character, despite the politically motivated conversion of Elector August "the Strong" and his son, Elector Prince Friedrich August II, to the Catholic faith. This changed with the marriage of the Elector Prince to the strictly Catholic daughter of Emperor Joseph I, Maria Josepha. A new court had to be established and Catholic church music had to be built up along the lines of the Viennese imperial court. From then on, the Protestant court conductor Johann David Heinichen had to write splendid church music. The "Vespers for the Feast of St. Xavier" honored the favorite saint of the new Electress, who appointed him special patron saint for Dresden. Heinichen's magnificent setting, available here as a premiere recording, once again demonstrates the importance of Dresden court music in this period.

A famous violinist and an outstanding trumpeter - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky. The two already knew each other from their education at the Jesuit College in Troppau, Silesia, and both musicians came to the episcopal court in Kromeríž. While Biber did not return from a business trip without permission after only a short time and made a career as a violinist in Salzburg, Vejvanovsky remained in Kromeríž for the rest of his life and worked there as a Kapellmeister (although as a trumpeter he was never officially given this title). The two seem to have continued to be in contact, for the Kremsier library contains several of Biber's works that were written during his Salzburg period. The fruitful collaboration between the two musicians led to a series of chamber music works in which the trumpet is used on an equal footing with the violin. These works show that Vejvanovsky must have been an outstanding trumpeter, for in his time the only instrument available was the natural trumpet, in which the player had to produce all the notes with his lips alone. In these pieces, the trumpet sometimes plays in keys in which not all the notes are contained in the trumpet's natural tone row and the trumpeter has to resort to special techniques to produce these "fake" notes. Jean-François Madeuf is one of the very few trumpeters today who have mastered playing on the natural trumpet (without auxiliary holes) and presents this special repertoire from Kromeríž /Salzburg on this instrument for the first time.