Giovanni Domenico Ferrandini was Director of Chamber Music at the Munich Court. A contemporary of far better-known masters such as Galuppi, Pergolesi and Gluck, he developed his very own variant of the gallant style. Ferrandini also enjoyed international fame as a vocal pedagogue. This collection of secular cantatas featuring mezzo soprano Olivia Vermeulen accompanied by Florian Deuter and Harmonie Universelle provides eloquent testimony to his special affinity for vocal music. The fact that his passion cantata Il pianto di Maria was long considered a work of Handel's demonstrates the depth of Ferrandini's compositional skill.