Biber: Mystery Sonatas Lina Tur Bonet

• Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704): Der freudenreiche Rosenkranz / Joyful Mysteries
• 1 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 1, The Annunciation 06:25
• 2 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 2, The Visitation 04:41
• 3 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 3, The Nativity 06:58
• 4 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 4, The Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple 07:39
• 5 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 5, The 12-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple 07:09
• Der Schmerzensreiche Rosenkranz / Sorrowful Mysteries
• 6 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 6, Christ on the Mount of Olives 07:27
• 7 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 7, The Scourging at the Pillar 08:47
• 8 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 8, The Crown of Thorns 07:09
• 9 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 9, Jesus Carries the Cross 08:22
• Der glorreiche Rosenkranz / Glorious Mysteries
• 10 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 10, The Crucifixion 09:09
• 11 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 11, The Resurrection 07:48
• 12 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 12, The Ascension 06:29
• 13 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 13, Pentecost 07:37
• 14 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 14, The Assumption of the Virgin 08:38
• 15 Mystery (Rosary) Sonata No. 15, The Beatification of the Virgin 11:49
• 16 Passagalia, The Guardian Angel 09:13
• Total Runtime 02:05:20

Info for Biber: Mystery Sonatas

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's 'Rosary Sonatas' (or Mystery Sonatas) were written about 1678 and dedicated to his employer the Archbishop of Salzburg. They are really unlike anything else in the violin literature. Scordatura, or unconventional tuning of an instrument's strings, was common enough during the Baroque era, but Biber's cycle of 15 pieces for violin and continuo explores the technique exhaustively: each of the 15 sonatas uses a different tuning.

The result is music of fearsome difficulty for the player and technical complexity generates spiritual intensity. Each sonata represents one of the Mysteries of the Catholic Rosary, which are divided into five Joyful Mysteries (the Annunciation …), five Sorrowful Mysteries (Christ's crucifixion …), and five Glorious Mysteries (centered on the Resurrection and on Mary's Assumption). As the music reaches its spiritual climax in the "Resurrection" sonata, Biber specifies that the violin be played with its two central strings crossed.

Lina Tur Bonet, (baroque violin, direction
Musica Alchemica

No biography found.

Booklet for Biber: Mystery Sonatas