Not to be confused with a famous beer, Johann Heinichen was a composer, born in 1683. “He was involved in the Dresden Court, and he studied for seven years in Italy,” violist Aliye Cornish explained. “For much of that time he was in Venice, and he may have had lessons with Vivaldi. We’re not sure, but we think he may well have done, partly because of the style of his writing. He was a contemporary of J. S. Bach, and seems to be a composer who history has glossed over slightly.”

And that’s something Aliye Cornish is hoping to put right. Brought up in Oxford, she is still based in the city, and is now general manager of the International Baroque Players. On February 24 in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, IBP will play a violin concerto by Heinichen, prior to making the first ever CD of the work.

How, I asked Aliye, was the score discovered?

“Our artistic director, Johannes Pramsohler, has contacts with libraries in London, Paris, Berlin and Kassel. He’s been going through a lot of the Dresden music, because there is so much that hasn’t been recorded, or people don’t really know about.

‘We did a Heinichen concerto in our last project, and it was just astonishingly vibrant — really exciting, interesting music. We couldn’t believe that it doesn’t get played more often: in the same programme we had well-known works by Bach, but at the end people came up to us and said: ‘The Bach was fine, but tell us about Heinichen.’ So hopefully we’re meeting a demand, and showing there’s more to baroque music than the familiar favourites.”

The concert also includes music by Bach, Telemann, Vivaldi, and a rarely heard concerto for lute by Fasch. Tickets are available online from Tickets Oxford and We Got Tickets, also by phone on 01865 305305.