| There are 15 Rosary Sonatas (also known as the Mystery Sonatas) by the Austrian Baroque composer Heinrich Biber. He is best known today for these sonatas but they were not well-known in his own time and were only ‘discovered’ around 1905. It was Paul Hindemith who acknowledged Biber as ‘the most important Baroque composer before Bach’.
The sonatas are divided into three equal parts: The Joyful Mysteries (dealing with the Annunciation and the birth and childhood of Christ); The Sorrowful Mysteries (from the Agony in the Garden to the Crucifixion); The Glorious Mysteries (Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost and the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin). Each is treated with sensitivity by all three players but the violin is the most significant instrument throughout as indicated by the notation ‘for violin scordatura and basso continuo’.
It is a beautifully presented set with excellent notes which encourage us to ‘approach each sonata as music to accompany meditation rather than to try to tie too closely its actual music details to its particular mystery’. These sonatas are recommended for quiet times when one needs peace, solace or the gentle beauty of music for the soul. – Elaine Siversen
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