Handel wrote little for his native tongue, but what he did demonstrates a particular level of contemplative piety while still employing the familiar techniques of Italian opera.

Praise for the beauty of nature and eternal life are the subjects of the sacred poems by his contemporary Barthold Heinrich Brockes which Handel set to music in his 'Nine German Arias'. Each aria celebrates an aspect of nature, from the beauty of a flaming rose to the sweetness of silence, with extraordinary tenderness and sincerity. In these nine pieces for soprano and a small group of instruments, to be chosen at will, Handel drew often on music from his own operas, albeit with the voice part in the German arias adapted to be less virtuosic and more deeply expressive. The musical relationships with Handel’s opera arias are evident in the ingenuity of his characterisation and the expressive, articulate melodies with which the soprano and the violin obbligato create their vivid images.

The young German soprano Marie Friederike Schöder is accompanied in her beautiful interpretation of the arias by the specialist ensemble Batzdorfer Hofkapelle.