Join the Biber Music Newsletter

What a Typical Issue Explores

Each newsletter is built around a single thread from Biber's music, so that reading it feels less like a list of announcements and more like a short listening session. One issue might focus on the Rosary Sonatas (often called the Mystery Sonatas), explaining how Biber retuned the violin for almost every piece. This technique is known as scordatura, and it changes both the instrument's resonance and the fingering patterns the player must manage. Another issue might turn to the solo Passacaglia that closes that collection, one of the earliest substantial works for unaccompanied violin and a useful starting point before Bach's solo sonatas and partitas.

We also look beyond the violin. Biber spent much of his career in Salzburg, where he wrote large sacred works for the cathedral's multiple choirs and instrumental groups. He also wrote theatrical pieces such as the Battalia, whose deliberate clashes of key and imitations of drums and muskets still surprise first-time listeners. Recurring features include:

• Listening notes: what to listen for in a particular sonata or movement, written for curious listeners rather than specialists.
• Recording comparisons: how different period-instrument performers approach tempo, ornamentation and continuo, linked to our recordings guide.
• Source corners: short pieces on surviving manuscripts and early prints, drawn from our manuscripts pages.
• Local listening: reminders to check Nashville-area early music and chamber programs, with a pointer to our events page. Please always confirm dates and tickets with the organisers themselves.

We write at a calm pace and only send an issue when there is something worth reading. Your address is used only to send the newsletter, and every issue includes a simple way to unsubscribe. If you have a question about a work or a recording you would like us to cover, replies are welcome and often shape what we write next.