Franz Schubert: Arias and Romances from:
Adrast D 137 (1819-21), Die Zauberharfe D 644 (1820), Lazarus D 689 (1820),
Alfonso und Estrella D 732 (1821-22) and Fierabras D 796 (1823)
Symphony No. 2 in B flat major D 125 (1814-15)

Daniel Behle, tenor
L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg, conductor

“To embark on this excursion with Behle’s wonderfully luminous and elegantly lavish tenor is like a journey through lush greenery and light-flooded summer freshness.” (BR Klassik) The programme sounds as poetic as this review – the titles of Schubert’s Singspiels and operas alone let the imagination run wild: “Die Zauberharfe”, “Alfonso and Estrella” or “Fierabras”. These enchanting gems of the opera repertoire have rarely been heard on German stages. And it is undoubtedly to the credit of Hamburg tenor Daniel Behle that he is bringing Schubert’s astonishingly extensive stage works, which with few exceptions were never performed even during his lifetime, back to life.

Johann Stamitz: Sinfonia I [in D major] from: Sei Sinfonie a piu istrumenti intitolate La Melodia Germanica Op. XI (1758)
Antonio Rosetti: Concerto in G a Oboe principale (c. 1780)
Anton Fils: Symphonia II [in G minor] from: Six Simphonies à quatre parties obligées Œuvre IIme (1760)
Franz Xaver Richter: Sinfonia IV [in D minor] from: Sei Sinfonie a più strumenti opera IIIa (1760)
Carl Stamitz: Simphonie concertante [in E flat major] à plusieurs instruments et exécutée au Concert spirituel
for violin, oboe, viola and bassoon solo (1775)
Ignaz Holzbauer: Sinfonia I [in E flat major] from: Six Simphonies à huit parties obligées Œuvre IIIe (1769)

Carin van Heerden & Philipp Wagner, oboe
Julia Huber-Warzecha, violin
Lucas Schurig-Breuß, viola
Makiko Kurabayashi, bassoon
L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg, conductor

What would they have been, the masters of the Mannheim School – first and foremost Johann Stamitz as its founder, his sons Carl and Anton, the Kapellmeister of Viennese origin, Ignaz Holzbauer, who was appointed to him in 1753, the supposed outsider and lateral thinker Franz Xaver Richter or their congenial, early deceased comrade-in-arms Anton Fils, without the European musical capital of the time, Paris, and its lively and broad-based publishing scene? It was precisely these minds and their innovative musical creations that decisively shaped concert life there from the late 1750s to the 1780s – an outstanding position that was only to be disputed by the works of a certain Joseph Haydn.

Music by Leopold & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Jakob Kajetan Hofbauer, T_ _ t_ _ us
Gabriel Federspieler, Mozart

Upper Austrian Dance Academy
Ilja van den Bosch, concept & choreography

L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg, conductor

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, that’s my favourite composer!!! Is he supposed to have been a child prodigy? He is said to have written well over 600 works? That would be one, two, three, oh dear, tens of millions of notes! Something can’t have gone right. This is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of music, I have to solve it! Maybe he simply copied from others … or even from himself? I’ll find out, again from the stage, of course.

Music by Leopold & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Jakob Kajetan Hofbauer, T_ _ t_ _ us
Gabriel Federspieler, Mozart

Upper Austrian Dance Academy
Ilja van den Bosch, concept & choreography

L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg, conductor

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, that’s my favourite composer!!! Is he supposed to have been a child prodigy? He is said to have written well over 600 works? That would be one, two, three, oh dear, tens of millions of notes! Something can’t have gone right. This is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of music, I have to solve it! Maybe he simply copied from others … or even from himself? I’ll find out, again from the stage, of course.

Johann Sebastian Bach:
Orchestra Suite No. 2 in B minor BWV 1067
Cantata “Ich habe genung” BWV 82.2
Concerto in A major for Oboe d’amore, Strings and B.c. BWV 1055a
Cantata “Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht” BWV 55

Anders J. Dahlin, tenor
Marcello Gatti, traverso
Carin van Heerden, oboe d’amore
L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg, direction

In 1723 Johann Sebastian Bach became cantor at the Thomas Church in Leipzig, a position he held for 27 years until his death in 1750. Bach’s foremost task was to provide music on a weekly basis for the city’s four churches. It was during this period that he composed all the great Passions, the four cantata cycles, the B minor Mass and a number of other church music masterpieces. L’Orfeo Barockorchester, directed by Michi Gaigg, performs two cantatas written in the years 1726–1727: “Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht”, BWV 55 and “Ich habe genung”, BWV 82. Bach didn’t only compose church music during this period though: in fact, he wrote instrumental music, orchestral works, solo concerts and chamber music during his whole lifetime. In addition to all his obligations in Leipzig he also directed the weekly concert series of the Collegium Musicum that performed to a paying audience. A substantial amount of instrumental music was composed for these occasions. L’Orfeo Barockorchester performs the second Orchestral Suite (BWV 1067) and his Concerto in A major for oboe d’amore (BWV 1055a), better known for its later arrangement for harpsichord.