It all began with a mysterious manuscript by the Swedish countess Maria Aurora von Königsmarck. A manuscript with no modern edition, no translation, or even a transcription, lying dormant in the Gothic cursive German that Aurora and her scribe Duben left it three hundred years before. Due to the notation, the work had never been heard on American soil–not until this past May when the Aurora Ensemble gave the New World premiere of the work in Cambridge, MA. 

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Bo Anderson, professor emeritus at the University of Uppsala where Aurora’s manuscript is preserved and one of Scandinavia’s most highly respected literary professors, is in the process of developing a transcription of Aurora’s book of poetry “Nordischer Werauch.” Certain that the text for O Großer Gott was included, we reached out to Professor Anderson. It was there, and the professor provided us with his unpublished transcription so we could premiere the piece. His transcription of Aurora's entire book is due to be published later this year. 

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After receiving a grant from the Scandinavian Society of Cincinnati for special instruments such as the viola d’amore and collaborating with several key players from the New Hampshire non-profit Silentwoods Collective, the Aurora Ensemble became the first group to play O Großer Gott in the New World–even using the original baroque instrumentation.