Jazz Articles about Salzburger Bachchoir / Salzburger Barockensemble, Howard Arman

Salzburger Bachchoir / Salzburger Barockensemble, Howard Arman: Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber - Marienvesper 1693

by C. Michael Bailey
December 6, 2010

Heinrich Biber (1644-1704) was a Bohemian fiddler with a serious Marian fixation (or at least his supporters had such a fixation). He is best known for a series of 16 violin sonatas, Mysterien Sonaten, Die Rosenkranz-Sonaten (Mystery Sonatas, Rosary Sonatas), dedicated to the Catholic Archbishop of Salzburg, that he composed between 1670 and 1676. Biber--a show-off predating meister-show-off Nicolo Paganini--originally composed these sonatas so devilishly that only he could perform them. Not so his sacred choral music. His Marian Vespers, ...