Johann Heinrich Schmelzer

La Stravaganza is a young baroque ensemble that was created around two musicians Gilon Domitille and Thomas Soltani. It brings together young musicians from one of the largest repositories of Europe (Conservatoire supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon, Conservatoire supérieur d'Amsterdam, Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris).

The ensemble was interested in the Habsburg court, where with the advent of Ferdinand III, music boomed, lifting hearts and bringing musicians and composers from all over Europe. This album brings back the jewels of this time, combining works by Schmelzer, Biber, Walther and Froberger.

A series of the finest and too rare recordings, re-edited for the first time

The one and only album ever recorded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt for EMI will now meet its first international CD release.

A wide-ranging and superb collection of tunes which will bring directly you at the Leopold I court in Vienna in the late XVIIth century.

The Freiburger BarockConsort has chosen to illustrate the compositions of Johann Heinrich Schmelzer as elements in a veritable little ‘world theatre', an ideal concept for exploring the multiple facets of one of the great masters of 17th-century Austrian instrumental music, whose sonatas and dance suites had such influence both at the Habsburg court for which they were written and with the composers who followed in his footsteps (notably Biber).

Ecco a darvi diletto
Amor, ch’è sì stimato,
Or schernito, oltraggiato
Co’ le disgrazie sue porge il soggetto
A i vaghi scherzi miei.
De’ favolosi Dei
Altre volte lo scherno anche s’udì.

So, for your enjoyment,
Love, who is so esteemed,
now ridiculed, insulted,
with his mishaps will provide the theme
for my delightful jests.
Even the fabled Gods
were ridiculed in olden times.

A delightful blend of slapstick and highly allusive banter, Cesti’s comic moral opera mocks the pagan gods and the morally reprehensible excesses caused by amorous passion.

Pietro Antonio Cesti (born in Arezzo, 1623; died in Florence, 1669) was, along with Francesco Cavalli, the most illustrious representative of the seventeenth-century Venetian school of opera composers. Like many Seicento artists, he had an eventful life embracing multiple activities, as singer, actor, composer and maestro di cappella; like Vivaldi he took holy orders; and, like the murdered Stradella, he died in murky circumstances (probably by poisoning) after an outstanding musical career. He was an itinerant composer, dividing his activity between Venice and the courts of Florence, Vienna and Innsbruck. The work recorded here dates from his period at the Viennese court, and the opera is characteristic of Viennese opera’s synthesis between the comical, parodic register typical of the Venetian aesthetic (of which Cavalli’s La Calisto is a remarkable example) and the moral, edifying dimension inherent to court opera.

Continuing its work with young artists, CORO has the pleasure of releasing Auf Wiener Art - the second recording by Le Jardin Secret, winners of both the first prize and audience prize at the Early Music Network Young Artists Competition 2007.

Following on from their debut album, Musique Pour Mazarin!, Auf Wiener Art is a fascinating pot-pourri of musical gems from the Habsburg Imperial Court. The house of Habsburg and its court lived and breathed music. Encouraged by the infectious musical appetites of the Italophile imperial family and in particular, Leopold I (the so-called “ Musikkaiser”), the court was fed a daily diet rich in vocal and instrumental music for stage and church. Given its vast geographic spread, the Austrian empire encompassed many cultures, elements of which enrich the music of this time. This, as well as the wave of Italian composers imported to service the imperial court, create a multi-faceted musical legacy which is both spirited and fresh.

"…there's a real vibrancy and freshness to these performances that compels one to hit the 'repeat' button for virtually every track…Musique pour Mazarin! Is an auspicious debut indeed." (Five Stars) GOLDBERG

“Campra, Charpentier, Couperin, Lully, Carissimi, Pasqualini and Rossi vie for supremacy in this confident and attractively programmed recording debut from Le Jardin Secret…The brief instrumental solos are delicious.” INDEPENDENT