In his day Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656–1746) was renowned as one of the major musicians in southern Germany, especially for his distinctly French music for harpsichord and organ, on which instruments he was an outstanding performer. His vocal music, by contrast, which has been far less thoroughly explored, looked to Italy for its models, as his captivating 1701 setting of the Vespers reveals.

In keeping with the practice of the time, this first recording of Fischer’s Vespers includes music from elsewhere in his output, chiefly a series of organ preludes and fugues from his Ariadne Musica of 1702. This Vespers setting also includes two outstanding sonatas by another forgotten composer, the Munich-based Johann Christoph Pez (1664–1716).

This recording is the result of a collaboration of two of the finest early-music groups in North America, both based in Boston, Mass. Exsultemus was founded by soprano Shannon Canavin in 2003 to explore remarkable but seldom-performed Renaissance and Baroque vocal works. Newton Baroque, founded by keyboard specialist Andrus Madsen, is likewise committed to calling attention to fine music outside the Baroque canon. Andrus Madsen is an active performer on the organ, harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano.