麻豆社

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鈥檚 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 鈥� a prime example being Bach鈥檚 cantatas, of which it鈥檚 been estimated that around 40 per cent have gone missing in action. That鈥檚 because they existed only in manuscript 鈥� often just in a single copy, which could easily be inadvertently mislaid, damaged or destroyed. The manuscript score of Biber鈥檚 great Missa Salisburgensis, which is the focus of tomorrow鈥檚 programme, nearly ended up as wrapping paper in a Salzburg grocer鈥檚 shop; if a local choirmaster hadn鈥檛 happened to be dropping by for some groceries at just the right moment, the huge 鈥� that鈥檚 to say, 82 by 57 cm! 鈥� folios of Biber鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 麻豆社 Wales