Wiener Flötenwerke des Biedermeier. Szenen und Arien aus Opern

While the CD published in 2002 featured the flute clock around 1800, this CD presents the larger flute works of the Biedermeier period. . With their collections of barrels these flute works document a pronounced fondness of the public for the opera. The musical performance of the instruments had exceeded the limits of the small flute clocks, and with the possibility of playing barrels of up to 4 ½ minutes’ duration, arias could now be played at full length, and whole scenes – with some appropriate cuts – were set onto the barrels. The repertoire of the typical Viennese flute organ is dominated by Rossini in the early Biedermeier, although also composers like Boieldieu and others were in high esteem. From later composers, the CD presents works by Pacini, Bellini, Meyerbeer, Donizetti, and Mercadante. There are a number of indications that the arrangements were not done by just mechanically transferring the notes onto the barrels. Connecting passages are treated in very freely, while ritardandi and solo cadenzas within the arias and duets provide further details of the historical performance, which have not been preserved in the printed sources.