Agostino Steffani is one of those multi-talented personalities one often encounters in the baroque era. He was a man of the church who made it as far as titular bishop and mediator between Pope and Emperor. He was a much-travelled diplomat and politician, as well, who held high state offices up to minister, and he was a composer who wrote operas for the courts in Munich, Hanover and Düsseldorf. The Italian soprano Silvia Frigato and the Castor Ensemble trace the stages of Steffani's life through a selection of arias from his operas. © Pan Classics