Fiori

The Ensemble Fiori Musicali Austria was founded by the Italian harpsichordist and pianist Marinka Brecelj in 2002 to perform Renaissance and Baroque music from Italy. Over the years, crossover elements of traditional Italian, Sephardic, Oriental or South American music have also enriched the spectrum, as can be impressively experienced on the album "Baroque Arabesque".

Handel came to the city of Hamburg in the summer of 1703 and played as a violinist in the theatre at the Gänsemarkt, the local market place. On later occasions, he also played the harpsichord in the orchestra. His first opera – announced as a Singspiel although it has no spoken dialogue – was premiered on 8 January 1705, after being composed in the months directly preceding this. An Italian libretto was written by Giulio Pancieri in Venice in 1691 for Giuseppe Boniventi's opera L'Almira. The German translation used by Handel was made by Friedrich Christian Feustking. The recitatives of the opera are in German, while some of the arias are also in German, others in Italian, as was the custom at the opera house in Hamburg. Almira is the sole example among Handel's many operas with no role for a castrato.