How are the mighty fallen

The Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford, Academy of Ancient Music, and an outstanding array of soloists join forces to breathe new life into the choral works of Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747). Bononcini was Handel’s main rival in London, and with little to separate the two in terms of public status and reputation, they were dubbed the Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee of London’s music scene in the 1720s. Soon after his arrival in London Bononcini was afforded the honour of writing a grand orchestral anthem – When Saul was King – for the magnificent funeral of the Duke of Marlborough. Bononcini’s music was particularly highly prized by members of London’s original Academy of Ancient Music. Given this contemporary reputation and the quality of his works for voices and orchestra, it is surprising that Bononcini sacred music has now fallen into obscurity. This is the first recording not only of Ave maris stella and Laudate pueri but also of the original D-major version of Bononcini’s Te Deum, and these works have been newly edited here from their English eighteenth-century sources.