Johann Sigismund Kusser, Adonis

The Wuerttembergische Landesbibliothek holds a rare treasure from the early history of German-language opera. Rediscovered in 2005, the manuscript performance materials for ‘Adonis’ can be explicitly linked to a series of dramatic entertainments produced at the Wuerttemberg court in Stuttgart between 1698-1702, under the musical direction of Johann Sigismund Kusser (1660-1727). Attribution of the opera to Kusser is based on evidence from the composer’s own commonplace book and on concordances between two of the dances in ‘Adonis’ and movements from Kusser’s published orchestral suites. The ‘Adonis’ manuscripts are of tremendous importance for the study of historical performance practice, since as a full set of instrumental parts for early German-language opera they appear to be unique. Scored for a five-part oboe band, four-part string ensemble, and continuo, the individual parts, which are labelled with the original instrumentalists’ names, feature frequent performance annotations (including many in Kusser’s hand), making this edition of broad appeal to both scholars and performers alike