Leopold I assigned music a central place in the cultural life of his times. He encouraged the production of music at his Vienna court and composed over 150 arias in Italian, some German-language oratorios and musical comedies, and many sacred works. His oratorio Il Sagrificio d’Abramo occupies a special place among Viennese Passion compositions because the figure of Isaac is described as a prefiguration of Christ. Since the librettist, Conte Caldana, places the sacrifice scene in the foreground in the first part of his text, an entirely new level of meaning is created. As a result, Ubidienza (Obedience) and Humanità (Humanity) become Abraham’s partners in dialogue from the very beginning.

A well-regarded composer in his own right, Leopold I transformed the Viennese court into a centre of European culture. The beautiful settings he wrote for the burials of his first two wives, as well as his music for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are testament to the Emperor’s musical talent.

Unsere Edition mit kirchenmusikalischen Schätzen aus der Wiener Hofkapelle mit der Wiener Akademie unter der Leitung von Marin Haselböck trägt den Titel MUSiCA IMPERIALIS. Dass man diesen Titel ganz wörtlich verstehen darf, macht unsere 2. CD in dieser Reihe deutlich: Sie enthält drei große Trauerkompositionen von Kaiser Leopold l. (1640-1705). Leopold regierte von 1658 bis zu seinem Tod als umstrittener, weil unentschlossener und weniger der Politik als der Musik und der Religion zugetaner Herrscher.

The Habsburg Imperial Court was a melting pot of many different cultures in which the zest for living of southerners, the Slav melancholy, French formalism, Spanish courtliness and the original German-speaking Alpine cultural region intermingled. Together with his Ars Antiqua Austria ensemble, Gunar Letzbor occupied himself over a ten year period to produce this 10CD "Klang der Kulturen" box, a musical tour of the individual countries that formed the roots of and influences on the music of baroque Vienna, documenting them in live recordings, with each CD representing one country.