BAROQUE MUSIC FROM AUSTRIA (2CD)

Works:

•anon.: Ave Maria
•anon.: Magnificat
•anon.: O du lieber Augustin
•Biber: Battalia
•Biber: Battalia à 10
•Biber: Die Pauernkirchfahrt
•Fux: Antiphon
•Fux: Litaniae Sancta Maria, K 121
•Fux: Magnificat (Gregorian)
•Fux: Magnificat, K 98
•Fux: Salve Regina (Gregorian)
•Fux: Stabat Mater K 268
•Fux: Te Deum, K 271
•Kerll: Battaglia
•Schmelzer: Ave Maria (Gregorian)
•Schmelzer: Gegrueßt seist Du
•Schmelzer: Polnische SackpfeiffenThe Habsburg lands were hit hard during the seventeenth century. Before they could fully recover from the Thirty Years' War, a new misfortune came their way in the form of the plague. The plague spread rapidly during the years following 1678, and alone in Vienna it soon claimed fifty thousand victims. The plague had hardly been brought under control when the suffering populace had to face yet another threat. This time it was the Turks, and in 1683, after having plundered and pillaged the surrounding countryside, they stood before the gates of Vienna. It was not until 1713 that the region experienced a certain measure of peace, following the final triumph over the Turks and the plague, which during the same year had returned in a devastating epidemic. All of this of course also found expression in music, whether in the songs of the tormented populace, the instrumental depiction of battles, or in sacred works with prayers for peace. With the song »Oh, du lieber Augustin, « battle depictions by Caspar Kerll and Heinrich Ignaz Biber, and Te Deum and Magnificat of Johann Joseph Fux, the Armonico Tributo renders vivid musical homage to these times.