Still und lieblich

"The silent cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett but is integrated into the instrument, has a very soft and delicate sound. That is why it is called a silent cornett". Four of these instruments, which miraculously survived the loss of the great collections of the court in Kassel, are now preserved in Leipzig; these instruments formed the starting point for a dissertation by Lambert Colson. It is now possible to trace the entire history of these instruments, from their manufacture by great Venetian instrument makers, their purchase by Moritz von Hessen (the famous patron of the young Heinrich Schütz), the names of the musicians who played them, to the music composed for this mysterious cousin of the cornett. This recording makes use of copies of historical instruments in works composed for the court of Kassel, most of which are unpublished, in the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona.