Mandora

In campo operistico, il periodo storico tra Cavalli e Handel - quello, per capirci, che comprende giganti come Stradella, A. Scarlatti, Legrenzi… - è il più trascurato dalla discografia. Ed è un peccato, perché è il periodo nel quale si sviluppano le forme e gli stili che saranno tipici del Barocco maturo, come l'aria con il da-capo ed il virtuosismo belcantistico. Benvenuta quindi questa produzione dell'austriaca ORF, che documenta dal vivo l'esecuzione di questo rarissimo "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" del veneziano Antonio Sartorio, uno dei maggiori eredi di Cavalli nel florido operismo lagunare.

Among the entertainments with which the Bavarian nobles of the 18th century occupied their monotonous and idle daily life, in addition to gambling, tobacco smoking and reading, the mandora and calichon are often mentioned. The latter were lutes, with only 6- (or even 5-) courses of strings, which – being much less demanding than the contemporary German 13-course lute – became among the favourite instruments of the German, Austrian and Bohemian aristocracy, including women, who were generally excluded from professional instrumental music. The larger 8-course calichon, due to its versatility was widely used as a continuo-playing instrument in chamber ensembles and orchestras, especially in monasteries and among the clergy.

Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (also Bressonelli; ca. 1690, Bologna – 4 October 1758, Stuttgart) was an Italian Baroque composer and violinist. His name is mentioned for the first time in a document from 1715 in which the Maximilian II Emanuel appointed him violinist in his court orchestra in Munich. Soon after, in 1716, after the death of Johann Christoph Pez, he got the job of music director and as a maître des concerts de la chambre at the Württemberg court in Stuttgart. In 1717, he was appointed Hofkapellmeister.

Mirror of Light - Cantigas de Santa Maria, Vol. III - The Renaissance Players (1996) {Walsingham Classics WAL8035-2}
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© 1996 Walsingham Classics | WAL 8035-2
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 13th Century / Spanish

In order to better understand the continuous turmoil in the life of Alfonso X, and thence to wonder by what miracle he was able to devote so much time and energy to his vast creative-intellectual output, it may be beneficial to step back and consider what sort of man his father was and what was the nature of the problems he inherited on assuming the Castilian crown in 1252.

Songs for a Wise King - Cantigas de Santa Maria, Vol. I - The Renaissance Players (1996) {Walsingham Classics WAL8007-2}
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© 1996 Walsingham Classics | WAL 8007-2
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 13th Century / Spanish

In 13th century Spain, seven hundred years before anyone thought of using the term 'world music', a remarkable king named Alfonso the Wise was creating it. Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, filled his courts with the finest poets, musicians, artists and scientists he could find, from all three of the Iberian peninsula's great religions. Christian, Jews and Muslims worked side by side, creating a body of work that included groundbreaking scientific and astronomic treatises, translations of epic poems and scriptures from as far away as India—and some of the earliest and most sophisticated blends of European and Middle Eastern/Arabic music. The greatest of these was the enormous collection of songs in praise of the Virgin Mary now called Cantigas de Santa Maria.

David Munrow was a major British music historian who started The Early Music Consort of London with Christopher Hogwood. Monroe also published a number scholarly works on Early Music. One of Munrow's early passions was the study of early musical instruments which he collected until this his death, and are now part of his historical archives. Monroe began a project to make recordings of musical instruments from the Medieval and Renaissance Periods during 1973-74. Munrow was himself was a respected musician in own right on the instruments of the period, and played many of the included examples himself.

Various Artists - Guide des Instruments Anciens (A Guide to Period Instruments) (2009) {8CD Box Set Ricercar RIC100}
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© 2009 Ricercar / Outhere Music | RIC100
Classical / Early Music / Medieval / Renaissance / Baroque

A Guide to Period Instruments: 200 pages full colour book + 8 CDs. Languages: French/English/German. This Guide to Period Instruments endeavours to answer the questions that every lover of early music has about the instruments used in these periods of music history. Text and recorded excerpts describe the origin and the development of every musical instrument from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century and place them in their historical context. There is a completely new presentation booklet, over 200 pages long and abundantly illustrated, as well as eight CDs of recorded examples of the instruments that shed new light upon major periods of music history.