La Petite Bande was founded in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken at the request of the record company Harmonia Mundi (Germany) in order to record Lully's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, under the direction of Gustav Leonhardt. The orchestra takes its name and constitution from Lully's own orchestra at the court of Louis XIV. All its members are internationally renowned specialists in the early music field. Although originally La Petite Bande (LPB) was not meant to become a permanent orchestra, the success of the recordings was such that they began to give concerts regularly. Having initially concentrated mainly on French music, the orchestra's repertoire has expanded over the years to include music by the Italian masters and that of Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and others. There is a strong relationship between La Petite Bande/Sigiswald Kuijken and the Belgian label Accent that is documented in more than 30 recordings issued over the last 30 years. Accent celebrates the 50th anniversary of La Petite Bande among others with a reissue of Kuijken's famous cycle of Mozart's Da Ponte Operas (as 9-CD-set).