Physical Release: 30 January 2026
Digital Release: 13 February 2026
| Artist(s) | Les Salonnières, Liane Sadler, Mirjam-Luise Münzel, Sophie Longmuir |
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| Composer(s) | Ali Ufkî, Ignaz Fränzl, Johann Baptist Wendling, Johann Stamitz |
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The framework story of “1001 nights” is a fascinating allegory for a strong, intelligent woman and the power of story-telling, which can outlast the cycle of life and death.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the orientalist Antoine Galland published his French edition of “1001 nights”, a mixture of texts based on written and oral traditions which he collected during his travels through the orient and whilst working for the French ambassador in Constantinople.
He was a careful translator and advocate for true cultural understanding and his edition of “1001 nights” became the key point of the wide dissemination and fascination for this work until today. Not only literature, but also all other art forms including music reflected this fascination in Europe during the Romantic period. These dynamics of exchange inspired the programme for this CD.
The Polish church musician Wojciech Bobowski (1610–1675), after his conversion to Islam known as Ali Ufqi, took a key role in this process of cultural understanding and exchange which is similar to Galland’s.
Known as “master of sixteen languages” he served as an interpreter and musician in the sultan’s seraglio and became one of the most important official guides between politics of the Middle-East and European embassies, a so-called dragoman.
Similar to Galland he saw the importance of collecting cultural pieces of oral and written traditions from the oriental world and making them accessible to the western world by transcribing and translating them.
His anthologies of Ottoman music preserved several hundred classical Ottoman songs and instrumental pieces which he transcribed into western staff notation. Two copies of his manuscripts survived in the British Library in London and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Elector Carl Theodor von der Pfalz (1724–1799), who is known as the founder and patron of the “Mannheimer Schule”, expressed his interest and fascination for oriental culture by building a mosque in the garden of the Schwetzingen Castle. The composer Christian Cannabich wrote “La Grande fête du Sérail” for its opening celebrations.
Carl Theodor created a flourishing cultural scene and a meeting point for musicians: W.A. Mozart taught his children and gave many concerts, Johann Stamitz led the court orchestra with virtuosos such as principal flutist Jean-Baptiste Wendling, and Ignaz Holzbauer was the Kapellmeister of the theatre.
Of course these musicians didn’t remain unimpressed by the oriental culture, as they could already profit from the travels and shared knowledge of those such as Galland and Bobowski/Ufqi.
These ways of fluent exchange of cultural traditions is a celebration of connecting the roots and the past to the present, of connecting continents and generations.
Les Salonnières
The musicians of the ensemble Les Salonnières met during their master's studies at the Institute for Early Music at the University of the Arts, Berlin. They were immediately united by a fascination for the salon culture of the 18th and early 19th centuries - the concept of communicating philosophical ideas about music, art, and poetry inspired them to create their own salon in Berlin. Liane Sadler, Sophie Longmuir, and Mirjam-Luise Münzel play historical instruments or their replicas, research deeply into historical performance practices, and create concert programmes that combine the music of the 18th and early 19th centuries with literature of the period. They often choose intimate concert venues with a special, audience-friendly atmosphere for their performances, such as historic residences or galleries. The young ensemble strives to create an open and authentic concert experience for the senses, in which both the audience and the musicians can gain a deeper understanding of the ideas hidden in the music and literature of the period. In doing so, they also celebrate the role of women in the salons of the 18th and early 19th centuries, where women enjoyed the freedom to express themselves intellectually and creatively and to take leading positions in cultural life – at a time when intellectual life in public was traditionally dominated by men.
From 2019-2024, Les Salonnières were the founders and directors of the Alte Musik Fest Friedenau, which took place annually in Berlin and combined early music with film, dance, theatre, literature, and painting in new concert formats. In 2020, the ensemble was a guest at the international early music conference REMA Early Music Summit – Our Future Past to report on their festival concept and discuss new forms of performing and communicating early music. Les Salonnières has performed internationally at festivals such as the Oude Muziek Utrecht Fringe, the MA Festival Brugge Fringe, Banchetto Musicale Vilnius Fringe, and extensively in the Berlin area in concert series such as Titan’s Rising, the Friedenauer Kammerkonzerte, and in alternative venues.
Liane Sadler uses historical flutes ranging from the Mediaeval to Romantic eras to unearth transtemporal musical worlds. Her curiosity leads her down multifaceted paths through the distinct and yet overlapping spheres of early, contemporary, and traditional music. Liane completed her orchestral and soloist masters degrees in Baroque, Classical, and Romantic flutes with Prof. Christoph Huntgeburth at the UdK Berlin. At the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, she gained a further masters in Baroque traverso with Prof. Marc Hantaï, and additional postgraduate studies with Johanna Bartz and Marc Lewon in Mediaeval and Renaissance flutes. Liane is a core member of early music ensembles Phaedrus, Sadler & Conrad, and pseudonym, as well as contemporary and jazz ensembles Hourglass and Aminth.
Mirjam-Luise Münzel studied recorder, baroque cello and viola da gamba in Bremen, Seville, London and Berlin. She is a winner of the int. Biagio Marini Competition, was Handel House Young Artist and Young Artist at the Brighton Early Music Festival, and was awarded 3rd prize at the international Moeck/SRP competition in London and the Concours international de la musique ancienne Paris. She performs internationally at venues and festivals such as the Wigmore Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palace of the Grand Dukes Vilnius, English National Opera, Thomaskirche Leipzig, Palace de Versailles, Musica Antica Brugge, Oude Muziek Utrecht, Felix! Festival of the Kölner Philharmonie, Ketevan Festival India, Bach Biennale Weimar and the London Festival of Baroque Music. Mirjam-Luise has created and led numerous interdisciplinary projects. She teaches recorder at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama London and the University of the Arts Bremen. www.mirjamluisemuenzel.com
Sophie Longmuir studied violin at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and baroque violin at the University of the Arts Berlin. Sophie is now internationally sought-after as a baroque violinist and regularly performs with Les Salonnières, the Q Ensemble Berlin, and Musica Colorata, as well as with the baroque orchestras Holland Baroque, Ensemble Wunderkammer, Aris & Aulis, the Göttingen Baroque Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Van Diemen's Band. Together with her ensemble, Les Salonnières, she co-founded and co-directed the early music festival in Berlin, Alte Musik Fest Friedenau.
Ali Ufkî
[Bobowski, Wojciech] (b Lwów, 1610; d c1675). Ottoman musician of Polish origin. He evidently received a sound classical as well as musical education. He was captured, presumably by raiding Tatars, and taken to Constantinople, where he became a court musician, performing on the santur. He converted to Islam and in later life was active as an official interpreter. He wrote extensively on religious topics, but also produced an account of life in the imperial palace which includes a brief but instructive account of musical activities. More crucially, he compiled for his own purposes three collections of notation: a small group of psalms, and a first draft (müsvedde) and a much enlarged and more finished final version of a collection of instrumental and vocal pieces (Mecmua-yi saz ü söz) which covers much of the music heard at court. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this collection as a historical document, for it provides a unique insight into the nature of the Ottoman tradition, hitherto recorded only in the form of song text collections. Of particular value is that in addition to the instrumental repertory ‘Alī Ufkī included a wide range of vocal forms, religious as well as secular, and covered folksong genres in addition to those of urban art music.
Ignaz Fränzl
(b Mannheim, bap. 4 June 1736; d Mannheim, 3 Sept 1811). Violinist and composer, son of (1) Ferdinand Rudolph Fränzl. He grew up under the influence of Johann Stamitz and in 1754 became a violinist in the Palatinate orchestra. At the age of 23 he was one of the highest-paid musicians in the orchestra, receiving an annual salary of 500 florins. He was applauded at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1768, and won enthusiastic praise from the Mercure de France. Mozart also paid his violin playing a great compliment in a letter dated 22 November 1777. Fränzl and his orchestra partner Giovanni Battista Toeschi were promoted to the joint leadership of the orchestra in 1773. After the court moved to Munich in 1778 Fränzl became musical director of the newly founded Nationaltheater in Mannheim. That autumn he assembled the remaining members of the court orchestra, together with some amateurs, to form the Akademie-Konzerte (which remains the centre of musical life in Mannheim); for it Mozart began composing, though never completed, his Concerto for Piano and Violin kAnh.56/315f. Fränzl may therefore be credited with the reorganization of the town’s musical life on a civic basis. As musical director of the Nationaltheater during its most flourishing period, under Dalberg, he was obliged to suspend his activities as a soloist and composer. He was, according to Lipowsky, one of the finest violinists of his day and through his pupils, who included Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis (i), exerted an influence on the style and technique of Rode and Kreutzer.
Johann Baptist Wendling
(bap. Rappoltsweiler [now Ribeauvillé], 17 June 1723; d Munich, 27 Nov 1797). Flautist and composer. His forebears originated from a region of Alsace with a strong musical tradition of fife playing and both his father and grandfather were musicians. From about 1745 to 1752 Wendling was the flute teacher of Duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken (ruled 1735–75), with whom he travelled to various European centres, achieving international fame; he performed successfully before King Frederick the Great in Berlin in 1749 and at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1751. On 9 January 1752 he married the soprano Dorothea Spurni (see (3) Dorothea Wendling (i)), and the couple performed together at the Concert Spirituel on 27 March. In the same year Wendling succeeded M.F. Cannabich as flute teacher to Elector Carl Theodor of the Palatinate; throughout his career at Mannheim he was one of the most highly paid members of the court orchestra, on a salary of 1000 florins by 1776. From April 1771 to May 1772 he was in London, not only performing as a soloist but also collaborating with J.C. Bach in chamber music concerts and in the presentation of Bach's serenata Endimione. He continued to visit Paris and also visited The Hague (1775), Vienna (1776, 1779), Italy and Prague. The extent of Wendling's influence in musical circles is revealed in the Mozart correspondence of 1777–8. He organized the commission from Ferdinand Dejean which resulted in Mozart's Mannheim flute works k285, k285a, k313–15/285c–e and possibly kAnh.171/285b and that from the Duke of Guines for the Concerto k299/297c, and in 1777 Mozart orchestrated one of his flute concertos k284e. According to Mozart, he was to have played in a performance of the lost Sinfonia concertante kAnh.9/297b. He became a founding member of the new Masonic lodge in Mannheim at the time of Mozart's visit (1778). Wendling accompanied the Mannheim court in its removal to Munich in 1778 and was first flautist at least until 1790. In his latter years he revisited Mannheim to perform at the Concerts de Mrs les Amateurs.
Johann Stamitz
(b Německý Brod [now Havlíčkův Brod], bap. 19 June 1717; d Mannheim, ?27 March, bur. 30 March 1757). Composer, violinist and teacher. He ranks among the most important early Classical symphonists and was influential in making the court of the Elector Palatine at Mannheim a leading centre of orchestral performance and composition.
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