Best Scordatura

Biber’s Rosary Sonata No. 10, ‘The Crucifixion,’ is a significant Baroque work for solo violin and continuo. It uniquely presents the Hail Mary prayers as intricate melodic passages within the violin's sound, utilizing scordatura – an alternative tuning system – to achieve this effect. This piece sh...

Biber’s Mystery Sonata No. 4 is a remarkable violin sonata from 1676. The work explores a unique scordatura technique—altering the violin's tuning—to evoke the dramatic events of the biblical Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Its innovative use of musical notation and unusual harmonies make it si...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Rosary Sonata No. 15, composed around 1676, is a significant work within his series of "Mystery Sonatas." This Austrian Baroque piece utilizes scordatura—a tuning technique that alters the violin's standard pitch—to create distinctive textures and effects. The sonata was...

Biber’s Rosary Sonata No. 14, ‘The Assumption of the Virgin,’ is a Baroque violin sonata composed around 1676. It's notable for its incorporation of scordatura—a tuning system demanding exceptional technical skill—and its devotional subject matter. The work was part of Biber’s larger Mystery Sonatas...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Rosary Sonata No. 9, ‘The Carrying of the Cross,’ is a significant Baroque violin sonata composed around 1676. It showcases Biber's innovative use of scordatura—a tuning technique that alters the violin’s sound—to vividly depict the biblical story of Jesus carrying the c...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Rosary Sonata No. 12, ‘The Ascension,’ is a remarkable violin sonata from his 1676 Mystery Sonatas cycle. The work utilizes complex scordatura techniques, employing varied tunings to represent the Hail Mary prayers of the rosary. Its programmatic structure reflects this...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's 'Rosary Sonata No. 6, The Agony in the Garden' is a Baroque violin sonata composed around 1676 in Austria. It is a segment of Biber's 'Mystery Sonatas', a collection of 15 pieces meditating on the Catholic Rosary mysteries. This specific sonata initiates the Sorrowful My...

The Annunciation is the first of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Rosary Sonatas, also called the Mystery Sonatas, a Baroque cycle for violin and continuo associated with episodes from the Rosary. Unlike most of the sonatas in the cycle, it uses the violin's normal tuning rather than scordatura. Its var...

Biber's Rosary Sonata No. 13, commonly titled "The Pentecost," is a Baroque work for violin and continuo associated with the descent of the Holy Spirit. It belongs to Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's cycle of fifteen Mystery Sonatas, composed around 1676 and organized around episodes in the lives of Chr...

The Rosary Sonata No. 3, "The Nativity," is a Baroque composition for violin and basso continuo by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. It belongs to his Mystery Sonatas, a collection of 16 works created around 1676 that correspond to the Catholic Rosary mysteries. This sonata employs scordatura, a technique...

Rosary Sonata No. 8, 'The Crowning with Thorns,' is a violin sonata by the Austrian Baroque composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, composed c. 1676 as part of his Mystery (or Rosary) Sonatas, a cycle of 15 works plus a closing Passacaglia meditating on the rosary mysteries. Each sonata uses a differen...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist who served at the Salzburg court. He is best known for his "Mystery Sonatas" (also known as the Rosary Sonatas), a collection of 16 pieces for violin and continuo that utilize scordatura, an alternate tuning of the...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704) was an Austro-Bohemian composer and violinist. His Rosary Sonatas, also called the Mystery Sonatas, are a set of 16 violin sonatas composed around 1676, each using a different scordatura tuning, followed by a closing Passacaglia in standard tuning. Sonata No. 7...

"Mystery Sonata No. 13: Pentecost" is a piece for violin and basso continuo composed by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber around 1676. It is part of his collection known as the "Mystery Sonatas," a set of 15 works dedicated to the Catholic rosary mysteries, and corresponds specifically to the Descent of th...

Rosary Sonata No. 2, "The Visitation," is a Baroque composition for violin and basso continuo by the Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Created around 1676, it belongs to his collection of Mystery Sonatas, which musically depict the traditional Catholic rosary mysteries. This particular s...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Rosary Sonata No. 5 is part of his Mystery Sonatas, a collection of 16 sonatas for violin and continuo composed around 1676. Each sonata corresponds to one of the Catholic rosary mysteries, with the fifth depicting the biblical story of finding the young Jesus in the tem...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery Sonata No. 10, The Crucifixion, is a Baroque work for violin and continuo from the cycle commonly called the Rosary or Mystery Sonatas. It concludes the five Sorrowful Mysteries and uses altered violin tuning, or scordatura, as do most sonatas in the collection....

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery Sonata No. 1, The Annunciation, opens the cycle commonly known as the Rosary or Mystery Sonatas. Written for violin and continuo, it is associated with the first Joyful Mystery of the Catholic rosary. Unlike the next fourteen violin sonatas in the cycle, it uses...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Rosary Sonata No. 4, commonly titled "The Presentation in the Temple," is a Baroque work for violin and basso continuo. It belongs to the collection known as the Mystery or Rosary Sonatas, whose individual pieces correspond to episodes contemplated in the Catholic Rosary...

Biber's Mystery Sonata No. 15, subtitled "The Coronation of the Virgin," is the final numbered work in his Rosary Sonatas collection, dating to approximately 1676. Representing the culmination of the Glorious Mysteries, the piece is scored for violin and basso continuo and utilizes a specialized sco...

Biber's Mystery Sonata No. 7, subtitled "The Scourging at the Pillar," is an early Baroque work for violin and continuo composed around 1676. As the second piece representing the Sorrowful Mysteries in his Rosary Sonatas cycle, it employs alternate scordatura tuning to create a darker, more dissonan...

The Agony in the Garden is the sixth of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery Sonatas, a cycle of 15 violin sonatas composed around 1676. It marks the beginning of the Sorrowful Mysteries within the rosary devotion. Like the other sonatas in the collection, it employs scordatura, a specialized altern...

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Mystery (or Rosary) Sonata No. 12, subtitled "The Ascension," was composed circa 1676 as part of a set of sixteen violin sonatas plus a closing Passacaglia. It corresponds to the second Glorious Mystery in the Rosary devotion. Like all sonatas in the cycle after the firs...

Walther's violin sonata in A major, by the German virtuoso (1650-1717) whose Scherzi musicali established new technical standards for violin playing in 17th-century German-speaking lands.