Composed when Napoleon’s armies were striding across Europe, Simon Mayr’s highly charged opera I Cherusci is set in ancient Germania in the time of Christ’s birth, its narrative focusing on the perils of the captured slave girl Tusnelda who has been chosen for a sacrificial ritual. The universal themes of freedom and patriotism in this pioneering tale of familial bonds, romance, jealousy and desperate misadventure would later attract the likes of Beethoven and Verdi. This world premiere recording of I Cherusci uses period instruments, presenting it as it would have been heard in 1808.