Fairy figure, minstrel or holy virgin? Elizabeth I used all these role models as if in a masquerade to legitimize her position as monarch. Female rulers were not actually envisaged in the structures of the 16th century. They contradicted the passive, obedient and silent image of women of the time. With masque music by Byrd, Dowland, Morley, Parsons and others, ensemble feuervogel looks behind these royal masks, breaks through courtly facades and explores how the problem of role models was solved under Elizabeth I.

Den Comte de St. Germain (ca. 1710–1784) – übrigens nur einer seiner zahlreichen Namen – als »schillernden Charakter« zu bezeichnen, trifft das Leben, Wirken und die kaum fassbare Person nicht einmal im Ansatz! Die Einspielung bei COVIELLO beschäftigt sich hier mit dem Geiger und Komponisten (zweifellos eine seiner seriöseren biografischen Facetten) und kombiniert seine in den 1750 bzw. 1758 bei John Walsh in London publizierten Violinsonaten mit Musik eines anderen komponierenden Geigers, Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770), dessen Leben ebenfalls von Legenden umwoben ist.

Love can transcend borders in many different ways – in this case, between countries and centuries. The French baroque master Antoine Forqueray and the Berlin church musician Peter Uehling are united by their love of a special instrument, the viola da gamba. In their compositions, both push the possibilities of the viola da gamba to the limit and demand the highest virtuosity from the performer. The third of the viola da gamba lovers is Sarah Perl, who has been making a name for herself for years with her ensemble Wunderkammer. Making the works of the two composers sound sometimes feels like a “high-performance sports competition”, says Sarah Perl. She traces the music with the utmost intensity and elicits a fascinating variety of sounds from the instrument. Photographs by Sabine Wild printed in the booklet open up an additional associative horizon and a new world of experience.