The social and cultural devastation wrought by the Thirty Years' War and the 'frenzy of despair' which took hold of the German speaking lands in its aftermath led to an unparalleled blossoming of the arts over the next few generations. In music, that emotional landscape expressed itself in the stylus fantasticus, described by 17th century polymath Athanasius Kircher (c. 1602–1680) in his 1650 book Musurgia Universalis as "the most free and unrestrained method of composing, it is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, it was instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues." With this new album, AGAVE returns to the shadow of the war, now turning their attention to the courts and cathedrals of the Holy Roman Empire and its seat of power, Vienna.
Read the Press Release
ALBUM DROP: Friday, July 8, 2026
Press Kit
HARMONY UNCHAINED: Biber, Schmelzer, and the 17th-century avant-garde
APL53943
UPC: 198004453943
Album time: 76:27
Album Release: July 8, 2026
TRACK LIST
Sonatae tam aris, quam aulis servientes: IV. Sonata a 5 in C Major, C. 117, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1640–1704)
- 6. Harmonia artificioso-ariosa: Partia I in D Minor, C.62, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
7. Sonata tribus Quadrantibus, Pavel Josef Vejvanovský (c. 1639–1693)
8. - 11. Armonico Tributo: Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Georg Muffat (1653–1704)
12. Sonata a 5 in C major, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c.1620–1680)
13. Apparatus musico-organisticus: Toccata prima, Georg Muffat
14. Sonatae tam aris, quam aulis servientes: X. Sonata a 5 in G Minor, C. 123, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
15. - 20. Harmonia artificioso-ariosa, Partia III in A Major, C 64, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
21. Sonata a 4, Pavel Josef Vejvanovský
Recorded July 7–10, 2021 St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, Washington, USA
Audio Engineer: Aaron Westman
Producer: Geoffrey Silver