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The idea for this recording originated from a direct comparison of the two songs “Cupido” and “Kupido” by the famous composer Joseph Haydn and the lesser-known Viennese composer Johann Holzer. Although both masters use the same text, the musical settings differ considerably in both nature and form. While Haydn’s tunes present the content with a twinkle in the eye and a great deal of subtlety, Holzer’s piece invites the listener to dance along, sparkling with joie de vivre and musicality. Joseph Haydn’s songs encompass a wide musical range and are of invaluable significance for the development of the genre: they represent a crucial part in the advancement of the Viennese lied, leading up to Franz Schubert. The connection to the nineteenth century is made by French songs, first issued in Vienna in 1810 by the Italian guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani. For this project, a historical string instrument was chosen to provide an even greater sense of intimacy. Erich Traxler played on a historic 1815 Innsbruck fortepiano by Johann Georg Gröber, and Christian Haimel played a gut-strung guitar of around 1850, inspired by Johann Anton Stauffer and built by an anonymous maker. All these special features are intended to breathe new life into the romantic songs about love, passion, tenderness, affection, loss, fidelity and infidelity, providing a genuine, unadulterated and natural character. They enchant and seduce us into an old Vienna full of longing, devotion, charm, wit and a musical zest for life!