The Irish Baroque Orchestra and its musical director Peter Whelan continue their investigation into the wealth of forgotten Baroque music from Ireland, now exploring music by Cousser and Purcell.
Johann Sigismund Kusser or Cousser was a Hungarian composer who travelled to Dublin, via Germany, France and London. He was one of Europe's most skilled and respected opera directors and spent the last twenty years of his life in Dublin, where he was 'Chappel-Master of Trinity-Colledge' and 'Master of the Irish State Musick' at Dublin Castle. His Serenata 'The Universal Applause of Mount Parnassus', which will have its premiere here, is an enormously colourful work, composed for the birthday celebrations of Queen Anne in 1711. It is also the earliest surviving example of opera music composed in Dublin for an Irish audience. Purcell wrote his Ode 'Great parent, hail!' for the three-hundredth anniversary of Trinity College Dublin in 1694 with a libretto by his collaborator and Trinity alum, Nahum Tate. This fascinating, little-known work contains beautiful music by Purcell. Its cautious tone navigates delicately through the fragile political atmosphere in Dublin after the Glorious Revolution - the College had recently fallen prey to the Jacobites for a time.
This recording will again prove a great surprise for those unfamiliar with Ireland's forgotten heritage in art music.
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