Tuma was a renowned mid-18th-century Vienna musical figure. He was primarily lauded for his sacred works, written either in the strict polyphonic stile antico or in the more modern figural style.

The current album, a new instalment in Czech Ensemble Baroque's series of Tuma recordings, focuses on specific types of liturgical pieces from the composer's later creative period. The lustre of the vespers and litanies (Vesperae de confessore, Litaniae Reginae martyrum), designated for performance on major feast days, is enhanced by natural trumpets and timpani. The album includes one of Tuma's eight surviving settings of the famous medieval sequence Stabat Mater. Furthermore, the composer wrote a great many instrumental pieces in which he applied elements of the modern galant style, while also embracing techniques characteristic of Italian and French music.

The grandiose and lavishly instrumented Ouverture in C contrasts starkly with the more modest Sinfonia in D, based on the Neapolitan opera sinfonia, and the Partita in g, which, just like Stabat Mater, have survived within a music collection in Vienna. The pieces Tuma wrote during his late creative phase provide ample proof of his compositional mastery and ability to blend the old and new stylistic trends, with the result being remarkable sacred and instrumental music. With the exception of Stabat Mater, Czech Ensemble Baroque present all the works featured on this album in modern-day premiere.

"Listeners can let themselves be borne on the waves of Tůma’s diverse and, actually, entertaining style. His music does not feature tiringly long polyphony but elegantly mixes all the compositional elements of the time. What is more, owing in part to the top-notch musicians Tůma had available at the court of Empress Christine in Vienna, his accompanying lines and basso continuo are really luscious, creative and immensely impressive,” says Roman Válek.