When Franz xaver Richter became member of the famous Mannheim Orchestra in 1746, he found himself in the very centre of the progressive European music...

When Franz xaver Richter became member of the famous Mannheim Orchestra in 1746, he found himself in the very centre of the progressive European music scene where a new era was being born in a proverbial melting pot of various influences. However, Richter never gave up his traditional baroque ''craftsmanship'' and after making himself acquainted with the most successful oratorio libretto by G.C. Pasquini, he set it to music entirely within the boundaries of his characteristic style, combining baroque composition principles with the achievements of the nascent classicist style. For this he used the new 1744 version of the lbiretto intended fo J.A. Hasse. La Deposizione, Richter's only Italian oratorio is a Good Friday pondering of Jesus's disciples over God's unconditional love and Christ's suffering on the cross. For the first time it was performed on the Good Friday of 1748 in the Mannheim court church of The Visitation of Our Lady. After the Strassbourg Requiem, this premiere recording is another gemstone that the Czech Ensemble Baroque have added to the mosaic of Richter's remarkable, still little-researched oeuvre.