The English Concert - The English Concert Choir - Andrew Manze

Still relatively little is known about the musical education and background of the Austrian composer and violin virtuoso Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704). What is certain is that he created a furore in northern and central Europe. Around 1665, he started his career in the court of Prince-Bishop Karl van Olomouc, at the prince's castle in Kromeriz. Five years later, in 1670, he was appointed Kapellmeister at the court of Archbishop Maximilian Gandolph. Although his music for string instruments is the most well-known, he also wrote various operas and musical dramas as well as a large body of religious music. The composer's profound devoutness is expressed in his vocal work, including his 'Missa Christi Resurgentis', which is a high point of seventeenth-century polyphonic music. In this concert programme, the mass is being performed for the first time since Biber's era. It is a reconstruction of how the mass might have sounded at the time. Biber's 'Mysteriensonaten', which he dedicated to Archbishop Gandolph, also had a deeply religious influence: they are full of musical references to the Holy Trinity. His 'Sonata a 6' musically depicts a rural church visit.