…musical depictions of nature from Persia and the West
by IMAGO MUNDI, in collaboration with NEUE HOFKAPELLE GRAZ
- Marie Friederike Schöder, soprano
- Maryam Akhondy, voice
- Lucia Froihofer, baroque violin
- Hadi Alizadeh, daf & tombak
- Liam Fennelly, viola da gamba
- Nariman Hojati, tar
- Sofie Vanden Eynde, lute and theorbo
- Michael Hell, flutes and harpsichord
In the cultures of the West and the Middle East, nature is frequently associated with concepts of being and creation. Handelʼs Nine German Arias are set to spiritual verse by B.H. Brockes, whose meditations on eternal life and self-sufficient wonders of nature examine the human tendency to see the hand of God in natural beauty.
The introduction to a Persian literary masterpiece, Saadiʼs Gulistan, how the poet and a fried spent a balmy spring night in a rose garden. The next morning, seeing his friend gathering roses to commemorate the evening, Saadi reminded him that fleeting beauty affords only fleeting pleasure, and instead promised to compile a rose garden in verse, a permanent garden of delights.
This programme is IMAGO MUNDIʼs (in collaboration with NEUE HOFKAPELLE GRAZ) attempt to unlock the secrets of the garden. We hope that its heady fragrances, birdsong and languid silence transport you to an earthly paradise.
Words and music by G. F. Handel, Saadi, J. Ph. Rameau, Attar, E. Moulinié, and others