Al Ayre Español: Una Noche que Los Reyes

As Al Ayre are in Paris this week with Handel's "Amadigi", I thought it's a good moment to remember some of their earlier recordings: From the CD "Quarenta Horas", 1999 Conducting: Eduardo López Banzo It's about abundant religious festivities (the CD is called 40 hours) at the Spanish Court The fact that the (French) Bourbons were on the Spanish throne from 1700 on didn't seem to have a major impact on these festivities As a baroque maniac, I find Madrid at that time quite exciting: With Philip V, the grandson of French Sun King Louis XIV and uncle of Louis XV entered the Spanish throne, after the Spanish Habsburg line had died out (Carlos II physically not having been able to produce a heir to the throne; he had due to "interfamiliar marriages" less ancestors than a non-degenerated human being should have). And this Philip V was exactly the king who suffered from severe depression, so that his Italian wife Elisabeth Farnese had the revolutionary idea to cheer her husband up by inviting Farinelli to the Spanish court. What had been planned as a 5 months visit, ended up in an over 20 years stay. Farinelli did not only sing for the king in (always) private performances, he soon was responsible for the entire musical life in Madrid and organized huge spectacles where he, however, never sang himself Not to forget that Domenico Scarlatti was as well in Madrid from 1737 on, writing his famous 555 Cembalo sonatas PS Normally I attach the lyrics to the videos I upload, but this is not a da capo aria with 5 lines, rather 5 pages I've uploaded another piece from this CD: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4Okec_z66uI&feature=related