
Biber – 1712 reprint
Paper from my research and bib class, July 08. Sorry the footnotes didn’t all transfer…. will work on that!
Music History: A Comparison
Of Heinrich Biber and Arcangelo Corelli
Music history, as a process of creating categories (periods, styles, and so on) and then fitting individual composers into those categories, is highly selective. A composer’s reception has as much to do with larger cultural forces as it does with the composer’s “innate” value. This hypothesis will be explored by comparing the reputations over the course of time of two Baroque composers for violin, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Van Biber and Arcangelo Corelli.
Heinrich Biber (1644-1704) was a Bohemian composer and violinist during what we call the Baroque era. Biber, who spent most of his career in Salzburg as a Kapellmeister, was a violin virtuoso and composed many pieces for the violin, as well as works for other instruments, ensembles, and voices, including operas. Listening to even a sample of his work makes it clear that Biber was intrigued by the technical difficulty and opportunities his instrument provided. Biber is now considered to be one of the most ingenuous composers because of his special tunings for the violin and it is likely that his skill in using “scordatura” (or nonstandard tuning) has rarely been equaled. Fourteen of his 16 “Mystery Sonatas” for the violin require scordatura. Theodore Russell explains that “our present system of tuning by perfect fifths was once subject to many variations.” He continues:
For the violin, the scordatura was employed to produce three different results, often achieved simultaneously: (1) to make certain types of passages easier to play, such as those involving large intervals, rapid passages in double-stops of various intervals, and even whole compositions written in difficult keys; (2) to vary the tone color of the instrument by changing considerably the tension of one or more strings; (3) to extend the range of the instrument by lowering the G string, thus oftentimes providing a fair bass for chords.[1]
The use of scordatura can create dissonances, such as in Biber’s “Sonata Representativa,” that may have been unwelcome to ears accustomed to harmony. Another notable work by Biber, “Battalia” for string ensemble and continuo, was composed in 1673 for carnival celebrations in the court of the Archibishop of Salzburg. Imitating gunfire and drunken soldiers, using a range of techniques to create “special effects” to sound like a battle scene, and “quoting” folk tunes, it is an unusual composition for its time. It has taken several centuries for Biber to reach “open” ears again. A recent writer sees Biber as something of a “17th century Paganini, a formidably talented and innovative violinist. He seems to have been even more highly valued as a composer in his day though, and it’s thanks to the extraordinary music he wrote for the violin that we can build up a vivid picture of the heights to which he took the art of violin playing at that time…. The sad fact is that much of Biber’s music is still oddly overlooked.”[2]
Until recently, Biber was either ignored or mentioned only briefly in historical surveys, encyclopedias, baroque style books and other resources. The model composer for the Baroque violin genres is Biber’s Italian contemporary, Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713). What follows is an annotated bibliographical survey of the treatment of Biber and Corelli.
Pre-20th Century:
1703 Brossard, Sebastian. Dictionnaire de musique, 1703.
- No mention of Biber or Corelli who were both alive at publication date.
1766-89 Burney, Charles. A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period, vol. 2. Republished with critical and historical notes by Frank Mercer 1935. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company)
Biber treated favorably: “of all the violin players of the last century, Biber seems to have been the best, and his solos are the most difficult and most fanciful of any music I have seen of the same period.” (p. 462).
Corelli mentioned on 22 pages, including the following assessment:, “a memorable era for the violin, tenor, and violoncello; when the works and performance of the admirable Arcangelo Corelli, rendered them respectable, and fixed their use and reputation, in all probability, as long as the present system of Music shall continue to delight the ears of mankind” (p. 437; emphasis added).
1835 Hogarth, George. Musical History, Biography, and Criticism. London: John W. Parker.
Biber is not mentioned; 11-page section on Corelli (“the father of the violin,” followed by a discussion of his disciples).
1895 Clarke, Mason A. A Biographical Dictionary of Fiddlers. London: W.M Reeves, Reprinted in 1972.
No mention of Biber. Corelli covered on pages 48-56, one of most extensive entries (“at once the greatest and earliest landmark in the annals of violin history of which we have account”).
Early 20th Century:
1905 Winton James. A Complete History of Music for Schools, Clubs and Private Readings. Theodore Presser.
One sentence mentioning Biber in 17th century violin composers section versus several pages on Corelli.
1907 Knowles, John Paine, and Andrew Howard Albert. The History of Music to the Death of Schubert. Boston and London: Ginn and Co.
Mentions Biber positively: “Biber was a composer and violinist of high merit. He had great warmth of feeling and considerable technic, as his works show. His sonatas for violins and bass compare favorably with Corelli’s.” (p. 209). Biber’s compositions are also, however, presented primarily as derivative of Corelli: “But the most eminent violin master of the seventeenth century was Corelli. He improved the technic of the instrument, and gave a classical style to the art of composition. His sonatas . . . have conciseness and logical structure, his harmonies and modulations are in good taste; pathos, expression, and vivacity are the main characteristics of his music. He was looked on as the true father of violin playing by his contemporaries and followers. The violin sonatas by Purcell and Biber, the German composer, were suggested no doubt by those of Corelli, who is rightly considered as the founder of the classical chamber style” (pp. 205-206; emphasis added).
1908 Dickinson, Edward. The Study of the History of Music. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons.
No mention of Biber. Corelli mentioned extensively, including the following assessment: “The first stage in the development of the violin sonata and its allied forms ends with Corelli, the first violin composer whose works are regular and tuneful enough to give pleasure at the present day. The works before him were crude and experimental; little beauty or expression had been attained. Corelli’s [works] indicated the establishment of the essential principles of modern instrumental music in their concentration and definiteness of structure, logical system of tonality and appropriateness of style to the nature of the medium employed” (p. 8).
1911 Baltzell, Winton James. Dictionary of Musicians. Boston: Oliver Ditson Company.
Biber, short entry (“apparently a skillful performer, judging by technical difficulty of his writings, and a composer of more artistic and deeper feeling than any German contemporary). Corelli, a paragraph longer than Biber (“without being an innovator, he established violin technic [sic] upon a firm basis”; emphasis added).
Mid- to Late 20th Century and Beyond
1955 Moser, Hans Joachim. Musik Lexicon. Hamburg: Musikverlag Hans Sikorski, 1955.
Biber, two paragraphs (p. 119), comparable to length of other entries; Corelli, pp. 221-222.
1960 Lang, Paul Henry and Otto Bettman. A Pictorial History of Music. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Antiquity through the 20th century (up to 1960s). No coverage of Biber. Corelli is “the composer who came to embody the ideals of classical Italian music, and the man who united all the threads developed by his eminent colleagues” (p. 32; emphasis added).
1963 Ulrich, Homer and Paul A. Pisk. A History of Music and Musical Style. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Brief discussion of Biber: “Sixteen of his sonatas and a number of other works have survived. Biber was one of the most important German violinists of Baroque period. He is known primarily for advancing the technical possibilities of the violin, and he was among the first to use scordatura to facilitate the playing of certain chords and double stops” (p. 292); Biber’s name also appears in discussion of Bach (p. 308). Corelli is given 8 pages, including “texture of concerto style was developed, embodied the principle of a polarity between the melody and the bass, which moved in stereotyped but vigorous figures in a fast harmonic rhythm and a firmly established key” (p. 308; emphasis added).
1966 Ewen, David, ed., Great Composers: 1300-1900. New York: H.W. Wilson Company,.
No mention of Biber. Corelli (“one of the great pioneers in establishing a modern style and technique of violin playing and in creating the sonata and concerto forms”) discussed pp 97-99.
1971 Borroff, Edith. Music in Europe and the United States. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Biber given 8 lines (p. 319), nothing significant. Eleven pages/mentions of Corelli; “it was Corelli, above all others, who served to reconcile the forces of instrumental technique with the developing concepts of meter and key” (p. 274; emphasis added).
1983 Arnold, Denis, ed. The New Oxford Companion to Music. New York: Oxford University Press,.
Two paragraph entry on Biber (p. 218), typical for this dictionary. States that he was important precursor of J.S. Bach.
1987 Fuller, Sarah. The European Musical Heritage: 800-1750. New York: McGraw Hill.
Score for Biber’s Rosary Sonata X (p. 454) and 2 paragraph description of Biber violin technique and Rosary Sonatas (p. 458). Discussion of Corelli and scores for Corelli’s Sonata da camera a tre, Op. 4, No. 5, and Sonata for violin and violone or cembalo, Op. 5, No. 1 (p. 450).
1994-2007 Blume, Friedrich, ed. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Kassel and New York: Bärenreiter; Stuttgart, Metzler. Originally published 1949-86.
Volume 2 includes 2-page biography and bibliography for Biber; 5 full pages with music and photos for Corelli.
2001 Slonimsky, Nicolas and Laura Diane Kuhn. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. New York: Schirmer Books.
Biber is given a paragraph (“outstanding Bohemian composer and violinist,” vol. 1, p. 337, and bibliography contains 4 sources. Corelli receives half a page (“Sonatas and concerti grossi became paradigms of the Baroque era, being particularly esteemed for their assured command of counterpoint and harmony, and for their idiomatic string writing,” vol. 2, p. 728’ emphasis added) and, 6 bibliography sources.
As you can see from this collection of sources, Biber is either not included in historical surveys or given only very slight attention, with Burney’s early assessment as a significant exception. In these mentions of Biber there is very little to “study”; Biber was left playing second fiddle to Corelli. Corelli, even well into the 20th century, is characterized as the “uniter” and “reconciler,” the “father” and embodiment of “good taste” who makes the violin “respectable” and who writes “regular” and “tuneful” music. Corelli receives more attention than Biber, the “challenging”, “innovative” composer (“experimental” turns out to be a negative term).
A growing interest in Biber can be found in recorded performances in the second half of the 20th century. Biber’s total output of works is approximately sixty-six and includes two operas, fifteen school dramas, three large cantatas, ten masses, twelve other sacred works, six solo violin sonatas, and eighteen ensemble works. Another way to investigate Biber’s reputation is to look at discographies.
1955 Sackville-West, Edward and Desmond Shawe-Taylor. The Record Guide, Revised Edition. Reprinted in 1978 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press).
One mention: SP Collection, 1: The History of Music in Sound, record vi, piece 12, Biber violin sonata, No. 4, D Major-Movements 1-3, Roberts/Jones. G.HMS 62.
1966 Clough, Francis F. and G.J. Cuming. The World’s Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. Wesport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Publishers.
Two mentions: Sonata, C minor, vln & cnt. (“Leiden Christi am Oelberg”). G Strauss (vln), P. Aubert (hpsi.) AS.94; Sonata pro tabula, C major, strings. Sudeten-deutsch Cha.-Nowak (2ss) U.A. 12355
1975 Cooper, David Edwin. International Bibliography of Discographies. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
No mention
1977 Gray, Michael H. and Gerald D. Gibson. Bibliography of Discographies: Classical Music, 1925-1975, Volume 1. New York and London: R.R. Bowker Company.
No mention.
1981 Croucher, Trevor. Early Music Discography: From Plainsong to the Sons of Bach. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, 2nd edition.
Twenty-nine recordings listed.
1989 Gray, Michael. Classical Music Discographies: 1976-1988, A Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press.
No mention.
Overall, these discographies do not appear to tell a significantly different story from the published histories. One needs to turn to the Internet to discover the vast change in Biber’s fortunes. The most comprehensive Biber discography appears on the official online resource on Biber, http://www.bluntinstrument.org.uk/biber/discography/. The discography starts back in 1962 with one CD and continues year by year, momentum builds in the 1990s with forty-one CDs and twenty-seven from 2000-2005!
Why is Corelli more acknowledged than Biber? Let’s return to Burney’s early appreciation of Biber. The current Grove entry on Biber notes that “when Burney saw the Biber sonatas, 100 years after they had been written, interest in them was mainly historical” and then makes the Corelli connection:
Quite early in the 18th century German violinists had turned towards the more formal and fully tonal compositions of Corelli and his followers. Burney’s opinion of Biber was based mainly upon the Sonatae violino solo, eight sonatas for violin and continuo published in 1681. These sonatas are elaborately developed, show a keen sense of formal structure and are completely uninhibited in their virtuosity. While they differ from one another to some extent in form and choice of movements, sets of variations are to be found in all of them. It was in the free preludes, in equally free and elaborate finales, in brilliant passage-work over ostinato basses and in polyphonic passages (in which multiple stops seem never to have been a problem) that Biber was able to give full rein to a formidable violin technique. In range he was able to reach the 6th and 7th positions and return from them with an ease and abandon which set him apart even from his only peer, Johann Jakob Walther. (In both left-hand technique and bowing these two men from the north far outstripped their Italian contemporaries.)[3]
The contrast between Italian and “Northern” (German and Austrian) composers also interested David Boyden in the mid-1960s, who argues that, from a “purely musical point of view, Italy still held the center of stage, although the German virtuosi surpassed the Italians in the development of violin technique. The Italians seemed more interested in solidifying their gains musically and technically than in expanding the technique of the instrument itself. In their music a clearer understanding of tonality is noticeable in the use of themes and chord progressions to clarify key.”[4] Most music historians (including Boyden), focus not on Biber’s virtuosity and innovation but on Corelli as “the first violin composer to attain lasting stature in the world of music, and in his works violin music reached a point of genuine maturity where musical and technical considerations were in perfect unison.”[5]
Unlike Biber, Corelli was not a virtuoso. Corelli deliberately limited the range of the violin and rarely exceeded the third position (though other players had reached the sixth and seventh positions). Corelli “avoided flashy passages moving rapidly up and down the fingerboard…and disdained the bird imitations so popular in his day.”[6] From the earlier survey of historical references, it is apparent that Corelli is an exemplar of Baroque style. He was appreciated in his own time for qualities that were valued culturally at the time and carried along historically as a prime example. Corelli pleased an audience that valued order, harmony, strong structure, repetition, recurrence, and is remembered today for “having normalized harmonic practice, mostly by codifying and selecting from among elements already in use.”[7] Or, as another historian asserts: “It was not Corelli’s virtuosity but his style that conquered Europe: music of balanced beauty, vigorous clarity, noble emotions, and a sense of graceful perfection.”[8] Biber may have composed music that could be described this way as well, but he had an inclination to explore the possibilities of his instrument with different tunings, high positions, bouncing staccato, rapid string crossings, and double stops–in ways that may have challenged the performers and perplexed the mainstream audience of his time.
We should remember that Biber was a court musician. He was a violin virtuoso in his own time and was well received during his lifetime; in fact, he was knighted Biber von Bibern. A recent comment emphasizes Biber’s status during his own time: “Surprisingly, when compared with other Baroque musical figures such as Bach and Vivaldi, Heinrich Franz Biber, considered a distinguished composer and one of the most highly honoured violin virtuosos of the 17th century, is unknown today.”[9] We have also seen, however, that Biber’s music–and its neglect–has come into the limelight. A recent reviewer argues that “when performed capably, one cannot own too much of this music. Biber is well ignored by the majority of pedestrian classical listeners, a fact that must be reversed.”[10] Another writer claims that “when one of the most colourful, interesting and important violinist-composers before Corelli publishes a set of solo sonatas, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he is presenting to the world at large a musical, technical, even philosophical manifesto. And yet (his Sonatas) have until now received little more than cursory interest from performers, a shameful neglect….”[11]
Another notable work by Biber, Battalia, composed in 1673 for carnival celebrations in the court of the Archibishop of Salzburg, is quite an unusual Baroque suite, scored for string ensemble and continuo. Battalia, with its imitation of gunfire and drunken soldiers, encompasses a variety of instrumental techniques to create unique effects, unusual arrangements of the parts, as well as the clever use of folk tunes in order to produce a programmatic depiction of a battle.
What accounts for changes in a composer’s reception? People rioted at the premiere of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” but Stravinsky’s importance is now acknowledged. It’s not the music that changes, so it must be something else–perhaps the listener. The challenge of Biber’s music and its experimentalism may be more attractive to contemporary performers and listeners than it has been in the past in ways that music historians have not yet caught up with.
The contemporary ear is less dependent on harmony and less jarred by dissonance. We can appreciate Biber’s “Sonata Representativa,” which risks “imitating” animal sounds as Corelli would not. Going beyond pretty birdsongs, Biber creates yowling cats, squawking hens and croaking frogs through a variety of techniques. In addition, contemporary performers are ready to rise to Biber’s challenges; his most difficult compositions would be at home on a Kronos Quartet program. Often violin students receiving musical training, such as Suzuki, can reach positions higher than Corelli used.
The history of music–as a succession of texts that establish a “standard” for evaluating composers–tends to keep repeating itself, but there are other forces at work that can change or renew the reputation of individual composers that historians have passed by.
Bibliography
Project-specific annotations for asterisked entries appear within the body of the paper.
Sound Recording:
Biber Violin Sonatas, 2 cd set, Romanesca: baroque violin, lute & theorbo, harpsichord & organ. Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907344.45 CD, 1994, 2002.
2 CD set, with baroque violin, lute, theorbo, harpsichord and organ
*Review of this recording: Rogers, Clair. “If You Love Everything That’s Weird and Wonderful About Early Violin Music, These Recordings Are For You…” CD Review, BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/wgw6/ November 20, 2002.
Periodicals:
Pulver, Jeffery. “Violin Methods Old and New.” Proceedings of the Musical Association, 50th Sess., (1923 – 1924), pp. 101-127 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Musical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/765783 Accessed: 17/07/2008 16:14
Exploration of violin techniques and teaching beginning with the second half of the sixteenth century
Frank, Paul L. “Historical or Stylistic Periods?” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 13, No. 4, (Jun., 1955), pp. 451-457 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/426932 Accessed: 22/07/2008 15:23
Criticizes the diving of music and art history into well-defined periods
*Russell, Theodore. “The Violin Scordatura.” The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1, (Jan., 1938), pp. 84-96 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/738786 Accessed: 17/07/2008 16:17
Online resources:
*Bailey, Micheal C., Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Online CD Review, http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=11169. Unam Ceylum-John Holloway, ECM Records, 2002.
“Biber, Heinrich.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. July 22, 2008 <http://0-search.eb.com.unistar.uni.edu:80/eb/article-9079094>.
General entry about Biber, biographical.
*Dann, Elias and Jiří Sehnal. “Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von.” In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.unistar.uni.edu:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/03037 (accessed July 16, 2008).
*Melville Anna. Orchestra Concert, January 20th, National Music Camp,
http://www.nationalmusiccamp.com.au/index.php?option, 2007.
*Rogers, Clair. “If You Love Everything That’s Weird and Wonderful About Early Violin Music, These Recordings Are For You…” CD Review, BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/wgw6/ November 20, 2002.
Discography resources:
*Clough, Francis F. and G.J. Cuming. The World’s Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. Wesport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1966.
*Cooper, David Edwin. International Bibliography of Discographies. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, Inc., 1975.
*Croucher, Trevor. Early Music Discography: From Plainsong to the Sons of Bach. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, 1981 edition.
*Gray, Michael H. and Gerald D. Gibson. Bibliography of Discographies: Classical Music, 1925-1975, Volume 1. New York and London: R.R. Bowker Company, 1977.
*Gray, Michael. Classical Music Discographies: 1976-1988, A Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
*Sackville-West, Edward and Desmond Shawe-Taylor. The Record Guide, Revised Edition. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Publishers, reprint of 1955 edition, 1978.
*Heinrich Biber Discography: http://www.bluntinstrument.org.uk/biber/discography/
Books:
*Arnold, Denis, ed. The New Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press, 1983. P. 218.
*Baltzell, Winton James. A Complete History of Music for Schools, Clubs and Private Readings. Theodore Presser, 1905.
*Baltzell, Winton James. Dictionary of Musicians. Boston: Oliver Ditson Company, 1911.
*Blume, Begründet von Friedric. Die Musik In Geschichte Und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzykopadie Der Musik, Band 1. Unter Mitarbeit zahlreicher Musikforscher des In- und Auslandes, hrsg. von Friedrich Blume Column 1828-1831. Kassel, Bärenreiter-Verlag, 1949-1986.
*Blume, Begründet von Friedric. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegnwart (MGG), volume 2.. Kassel ; New York : Bärenreiter ; Stuttgart : Metzler, c1994-
*Borroff, Edith. Music in Europe and the United States. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971. P. 319
*Boyden, David D. The History of Violin Playing From Its Origins to 1761 And Its Relationship to the Violin And Violin Music. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.
*Brossard, Sebastian. Dictionarie de muique, 1703. Translated and edited by Albion Gruber. Henryville, Pa.: Institute of Mediaeval Music, c1982
*Burney, Charles. A General History of Music, From the Earliest Ages To the Present Period (1789). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company [re published with critical and historical notes by Frank Mercer 1935]
*Clarke, Mason A. A Biographical Dictionary of Fiddlers. London: W.M Reeves, 1972 reprinted, originally 1895.
*Dickinson, Edward. The Study of the History of Music. C. Scribner’s Sons, 1908.
Donington, Robert. Baroque Music: Style and Performance, A Handbook. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1982.
Explores performance practices as well as techniques involved with commonly known Baroque music.
*Ewen, David, ed., Great Composers: 1300-1900. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1966.
*Fuller, Sarah. The European Musical Heritage: 800-1750. New York: McGraw Hill, 1987. Page 454-458.
Hill, John Walter. The Norton Introduction to Music History, Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580-1750. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2005.
Discussion of Baroque music, instrumental and vocal, regions, sacred and secular.
*Hogarth, George. Musical History, Biography, and Criticism. London: John W. Parker, 1835.
*Knowles, John Paine and Andrew Howard Albert. The History of Music to the Death of Schubert. Ginn and Co, 1907.
*Lang, Paul Henry and Otto Bettman. A Pictorial History of Music. W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1960.
*Moser, Hans Joachim. Musik Lexicon. Hamburg: Musikverlag Hans Sikorski, 1955, page 119.
Palisca, Claude V. Baroque Music, Third Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991.
Genres, prominent composers of Baroque explored, chronological.
*Schwarz, Boris. Great Masters of the Violin: From Corelli and Vivaldi to Stern, Zukerman and Perlman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.
*Slonimsky, Nicolas and Laura Diane Kuhn. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Centennial Edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. Page 337.
*Ulrich, Homer and Paul A. Pisk. A History of Music and Musical Style. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1963.
* Winton James. A Complete History of Music for Schools, Clubs and Private Readings. Theodore Presser, 1905.
[1] Theodore Russell, “The Violin Scordatura”. The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1, (Jan., 1938), p. 84. Published by: Oxford University Press
[2] Clair Rogers, “If You Love Everything That’s Weird and Wonderful About Early Violin Music, These Recordings Are For You…” CD Review, BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/wgw6/ November 20, 2002.
[3] Elias Dann and Jiří Sehnal. “Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von.” In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.unistar.uni.edu:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/03037 (accessed July 27, 2008).
[4] Ibid., 216.
[5] David D Boyden. The History of Violin Playing From Its Origins to 1761 And Its Relationship to the Violin And Violin Music. (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), 212.
[6] Schwarz, Boris, Great Masters of the Violin (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 54.
[7] John Walter Hill, The Norton Introduction to Music History, Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580-1750 (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2005), 329.
[8] Schwarz, 55.
[9] Anna Melville, Orchestra Concert, http://www.nationalmusiccamp.com.au/index.php?option, 2007.
[10] C. Michael Bailey, CD Review: Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber–Unam Ceylum, John Holloway. ECM Records (2002). http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=11169
[11] Biber Violin Sonatas, 2 cd set, Romanesca: baroque violin, lute & theorbo, harpsichord & organ. Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907344.45 CD, 1994, 2002.
Filed under: scordatura | Tagged: biber, corelli, scordatura | Leave a Comment »