Schmelzer: Sonate e Balletti

Emperor Leopold I loved his court ballet composer and Vice-Kapellmeister Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620 / 23-1680) so much that he elevated him to the peerage in 1673. From then on, the composer was allowed to bear the epithet "von Ehrenruef" - as a reward, so to speak, for having ennobled the dance and folk music he had known since childhood in his works by placing it on an equal footing with more "learned" elements. His entire instrumental music, which is by no means limited to string instruments, is based on this principle. The Vienna Hofkapelle was an exceptionally colourful ensemble in which wind instruments were frequently used. Both in his two- to five-part sonatas and in his numerous ballet music Schmelzer made full use of the available colours, displaying an outstanding feeling for unusual instrumental combinations and subtle shades of colour. Roland Wilson has now recorded a selection of these sonorous sonatas and ballets with his ensemble Musica Fiata for cpo.