Composer of the Week: Biber

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Composer of the Week

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An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704): Preserved in Print

Preserved in Print

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704), Preserved in Print

Donald Macleod on Biber. Today, the printed collections that spread Biber’s European fame.

Donald Macleod explores the music, and what is known of the life, of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Today, the five printed collections that spread Biber’s name across Europe.

Donald Macleod explores the music, and what little is known of the life, of Baroque master Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Today, the five remarkable printed collections of instrumental music that spread Biber’s name across Europe.

That music in the western classical tradition has enjoyed, by and large, a relatively good survival rate, is down to the fact that unlike improvised music, it has a system of notation that allows it to be written down. Even so, much music from the past has been lost – a prime example being Bach’s cantatas, of which it’s been estimated that around 40 per cent have gone missing in action. That’s because they existed only in manuscript – often just in a single copy, which could easily be inadvertently mislaid, damaged or destroyed. The manuscript score of Biber’s great Missa Salisburgensis, which is the focus of tomorrow’s programme, nearly ended up as wrapping paper in a Salzburg grocer’s shop; if a local choirmaster hadn’t happened to be dropping by for some groceries at just the right moment, the huge – that’s to say, 82 by 57 cm! – folios of Biber’s magnum opus might very well have been split up and dispersed among dozens of peckish customers, bundled around their Bratwurst, Pumpernickel and Apfelkuchen. The odds of survival are immeasurably lengthened for music that gets into print, ensuring a wide distribution of multiple copies. Only six collections of Biber’s music appeared in print during his lifetime, five of them instrumental; so it was his instrumental music, and particularly his music for violin, that formed the basis of his reputation, both among his contemporaries and for many years after his death.

Sonata No 11 in A (Sonatae tam Aris, quam Aulis servientes)
Freiburger Barockorchester Consort

Partita No 3 in A minor (Mensa sonoris, seu Musica instrumentalis) 
Purcell Quartet

Sonata No 3 in F (Sonatae violino solo)
Monica Huggett, violin
Sonnerie

Sonata No 12 in A major (Fidicinium sacro-profanum)
Ars Antiqua Austria
Gunar Letzbor, violin 1 and direction

Partita No 1 in D minor (Harmonia artificioso-ariosa)
Rebel

Producer: Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

Composer of the Week: Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)

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Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Baroque master Heinrich Biber.

Donald Macleod explores the music, and what little is known of the life, of Baroque master Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber.

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