Biber: Missa Christi resurgentis

Featuring

Andrew Manze
The English Concert
The Choir of the English Concert
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer

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Composition History

The Missa Christi resurgentis by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, the composer, was likely written for Easter celebrations in 1674 at Salzburg Cathedral.

Compositional Technique

Biber's Missa Christi resurgentis extensively uses antiphonal techniques, dividing the ensemble into smaller groups for 'dialogue' to heighten the effect, a common practice for music written for Salzburg Cathedral.

Recording & Production

This recording was made in London's Temple Church, which has a voluminous acoustic, allowing the four main 'choirs' of musicians to be placed at its corners to create the impression of Salzburg's grandeur.

Instruments

Trumpets were immensely important in late 17th-century Salzburg as an emblem of the Archbishop's nobility, who had no fewer than twelve trumpeters at his disposal.

Critical Reception

Paul Hindemith, a 20th-century composer, declared Biber to be the greatest composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, influenced by Biber's fondness for the viola, Hindemith's own instrument.

Performer Biography

Andrew Manze, the violinist and director, is described as 'the first modern superstar of the baroque violin' by the San Francisco Examiner.

Composer Biography

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, the composer, moved up the court hierarchy in Salzburg from a chamber servant to Kapellmeister and was knighted by Leopold I in Vienna in 1690.