Further Reading
13th April 2023
The violinist talks about his recent album of ensemble music by Biber - twelve sonatas for various combinations of instruments, interleaved with twelve duos for trumpets, all coming from Biber's time in the service of the Salzburg court.
The Salzburg court conductor Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber is known today as a composer of excellent violin literature. His works are appreciated by violinists for their great artistry and virtuosity. Max Gandolf, the art-minded prince archbishop of Salzburg, also appreciated the violin virtuoso at the time and brought Biber to his court.
In public, Biber was mainly active at the cathedral in Salzburg, but Baroque splendour and representation were also in demand at the nearby residence: the same festive instrumental music was heard in the liturgy as well as at courtly ceremonies and banquets. Biber's collection of twelve magnificent sonatas therefore bears the title Sonat Tam Aris, quam Aulis Servientes - "to be used both at the altars and in the banquet halls". The instrumentation of strings with two trumpets indicate festive occasions in the presence of the prince - in Salzburg it was customary for two trumpeters to blow fanfare pieces during the princely table in the Residenzhof.
The twelve short trumpet duets from Biber's pen, which the Ensemble Harmonie Universelle placed between the twelve princely sonatas, are probably also related to this.
Harmonie Universelle brings together international musicians in order to explore the vast repertoire of seventeenth and eighteenth century music. Leading the ensemble are German violinist Florian Deuter and Argentine violinist Mnica Waisman. Since its creation, the ensemble has been a regular guest at leading music festivals and on concert stages throughout Europe, including the Utrecht Festival of Early Music, the Leipzig Bach Festival, the Musikfest Bremen, the Festival d'Ambronay, the Festival de Msica Antigua de Barcelona, Styriarte in Graz, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Versailles, the Cologne Philharmonic, and many more. The outstanding interpretations of Harmonie Universelle can be heard on CD recordings by the French label Eloquentia and the German label Accent, which have garnered numerous awards from the international press.
