Couverture Rigide. Par GADE NIELS WILHELM. The four works presented in this volume – 'Frühlings-Phantasie” op. 23, 'Frühlings-Botschaft” op. 35, 'Die heilige Nacht' op. 40 and „ Beim Sonnenuntergang' op. 46 – were composed between 1852 and 1870. All of these works belong to the 'concert piece” genre, as the title pages of the respective first editions suggest. The works' instrumentation is varied: While „ Frühlings-Botschaft ' and „ Beim Sonnenuntergang' are composed for mixed choir and orchestra, 'Die heilige Nacht” calls for an additional solo alto. 'Frühlings-Phantasie” is not scored for choir at all, juxtaposing the orchestra with four solo voices and piano. Gade based his texts on poems by Edmund Lobedanz (op. 23), Emanuel Geibel (op. 35), August von Platen (op. 40), and Andreas Munch (op. 46)./ Répertoire / Conducteur

Opera in three parts-The libretto of Handels shortest opera is based on Plutarchs account of the life of the cruel Roman consul and dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. He was a figure who went down in history above all for his reign of terror his libertine life-style andhis unexpected abdication and withdrawal to private life. As Sulla voluntarily declined his rulership Handel was able to provide a lieto fine - the happy ending typical of Baroque opera.