Music from the court of Archduke Charles II in Graz and from the courts of his sons and daughters who married all over Europe by Lambert de Sayve, Annibale Padovano, Francesco Rovigo, Claudio Monteverdi etc.

“Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube“ – “Let others wage wars, thou, happy Austria, marry!” No other member of the dynasty took this motto of Habsburg family politics more to heart than Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria. After Queen Elizabeth I had put him off for a long time, he married Maria Anna of Bavaria in 1571 and – until his death in Graz in 1590 – had so many children with her that hardly any court in Europe could do without one of his offspring. His daughters became Queens of Spain and Poland, a Princess of Transylvania and a Duchess of Tuscany, and his son Ferdinand became Emperor. In his Mausoleum in Graz, the Ensemble Cinquecento sings the wonderful music written on the occasion of all these weddings.