• One of the most important composers of opera and sacred music between Mozart and Rossini, and Donizetti’s teacher, Johann Simon Mayr also composed several major oratorios, including David (8.570366-67) and The Marriage of Tobias.

• Like Haydn’s more famous Il Ritorno di Tobia (8.570300-02), Mayr’s work recounts how the archangel Raphael miraculously helps the boy Tobias to cure his aged father’s blindness.

• Conductor Franz Hauk prepared the performing edition for this exciting new recording.

• Mayr’s L’Amor coniugale (8.660198-99), and L’Armonia and Cantata sopra la morte di Beethoven (8.557958) are also available.

“This performance sounds like everyone has come together for the avowed purpose of rescuing Simon Mayr from the clutches of anonymity. The energy never flags…courtesy of Herr Hauk. The period orchestra performs handsomely, with 18th Century touches that are, for the most part, attractive and relatively subtle. Naxos offers excellent sound and informative notes. …Viva Mayr!” American Record Guide on 8.570366-67