# Biber "Missa Salisburgensis a 54" *(1682)



## Guest

I watched a performance of this yesterday on Sky Arts; it was recorded in the Salzburger Dom for the 2016 Salzburg Festival. It's a work that was previously unknown to me so I spent the entire performance trying to guess the composer. Finally I nailed it down to circa the middle of the 17th century, influenced by Giovanni Gabrieli and his "cori spezzati". I reasoned it had to be either Schutz or Biber, but I opted for the latter; I was out on my dates by about 25 years. The huge forces confused me, I have to admit. The orchestration at the "Gloria" could have been from none other than Biber.






Beautiful, diaphanous textures from those baroque instruments.

I'll never get off my knees thanking the deity for Christianity and its sublime music.


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## Dimace

The Czech was an excellent composer and certainly this Missa one of his best works. Impressive acoustic of the Dom. Very nice video. Thanks.


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## Josquin13

Biber's Missa Salisburgensis is one of my favorite Baroque choral works!! It tricky to record well though, since is requires such a gigantic space with two orchestras & so many singers. Unfortunately, I've never heard it live, but on recordings there is a tendency for the ensembles to all sound a bit too distant or engulfed within a huge space.

My two favorite recordings are by (1) Musica Antiqua Köln and the Gabrieli Consort & Players, led by Reinhard Goebel (who's a very seasoned Biber conductor & violin player) & Paul McCreesh, respectively, and (2) Jordi Savall with Le Concert des Nations and La Capella a Reial de Catalunya. (By the way, Savall has made two other excellent Biber choral recordings.) The McCreesh/Goebel recording was initially issued on hybrid SACD, but I don't know if the hybrid SACD is still obtainable. As you might imagine, it was a particular treat to hear this music on a hybrid SACD (& even on a conventional player it sounded great, as I used to play the disc often in my car).

McCreesh/Goebel:





Savall: 




Ton Koopman has also recorded the Missa Salisburgensis with the Amsterdam Baroque Soloists on Virgin Veritas/now Erato, but I've not heard that recording. It's on You Tube though, if anyone's interested: 



. The Luks recording has been commercially released as well. EDIT: Oh yes, there's also a recording on a NCA hybrid SACD by La Stagione Armonica & Tibicines, led by Sergio Balestracci, which I've heard is very good, but I haven't heard it myself: https://www.amazon.com/Missa-Salisb...burgensis+biber&qid=1596075233&s=music&sr=1-6.

Since all of these recordings are by period instrument ensembles & conductors, including the Luks DVD, & I don't know of a single recording that was ever made on modern instruments, it has me wondering if this is yet another extraordinary piece of music that the period revival has rescued from obscurity and brought back to life for us? If so, I am very grateful.

Here are links to the other two Savall Biber recordings, which are very recommendable, as well--especially if you are looking to explore Biber's choral output further:

Biber, Missa Bruxellensis, Savall, Les Concert des Nations:





Biber, Battalia & Requiem, Savall:





https://www.amazon.com/Biber-Missa-...ds=biber+savall&qid=1596073294&s=music&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Heinrich-Ign...ds=biber+savall&qid=1596073294&s=music&sr=1-2


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## Guest

Thanks for this excellent information and your recommendations. I'm very familiar with HIP, being a fan since before university - decades ago. "Battalia" - such fun. The flourish at the beginning of Biber's Requiem (I hadn't heard this particular section before)...are these instruments Chalumeaux (mock trumpets)? Jordi Savall is a master in this repertoire, and Monteverdi.

This is music that is very easy to love; the transparency, clarity, balance between voice and instruments, use of dissonance and counterpoint were a high water mark of the baroque.

Biber's Missa Bruxellensis *seems* like an earlier work which looks back more directly to G. Gabrieli and Monteverdi - still having that density of texture between voices and orchestra that you'd find in the late renaissance/early baroque (though the vocalizations have that idiosyncratic Italianate style). Similar in some respects to this , from 1589: but it is listed as composed AFTER Salisburgensis.






I hasten to add that I didn't listen to very much of this work by Biber.


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## Josquin13

Christabel writes, "The flourish at the beginning of Biber's Requiem (I hadn't heard this particular section before)...are these instruments Chalumeaux (mock trumpets)?"

No, I think they're authentic brass (& timpani). The Requiem was recorded in Salzburg Cathedral--which is the actual space that Biber composed the music for; so it is possible that the brass may sound thinner due to the sheer size of the cathedral & the number of Savall's musicians. However, to my ears they don't have a 'woodwind' sound.

This is the only recording I've heard of Biber's Requiem. Have you heard another? & did it not have brass? If memory serves, Biber's instrumentation included both cornets & trumpets (& timpani), so I don't think that Savall has added them at his own discretion. But I suppose it is possible that there is some scholarly argument against their use in a church. However, the brass figure quite prominently in Savall's other recording of the Missa Bruxellenisis, as well. Though I do recall that some of Biber's other masses were sung a cappella, with the composer providing only the continuo part. I'd be curious to know if the "Gabrieli effect" that we're hearing here is the result of a direct influence from the more opulent, lavish Italians, or if that influence wasn't recycled through the teachings of the Italian influenced German/Austrian School, & perhaps came down to Biber more directly from Michael Praetorius (or Heinrich Schutz, who can also sound Italian at times)?--possibly via Biber's teacher, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (who like Biber was another brilliant violin virtuoso: 



). Here's a link to some of Praetorius's choral music, for example: 



. In any event, it is surprising to hear such grand music coming from a violin virtuoso like Biber. Obviously, he was much more than just a composer of instrumental works.

By the way, Savall's recording of Biber's Requiem was the 'world premiere'. So, we have Savall to thank for rescuing this brilliant choral work from obscurity. The scholars, musicians, & conductors of the period revival don't get the credit they deserve for having unearthed so many great musical masterpieces!--such as these three Biber masses, which prior to their premiere recordings had not been heard in centuries, I gather. What a limited record catalogue it must have been before the advent of the period movement. We are so lucky.


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## Guest

Yes, I knew that Biber had composed that work specifically for Salzburg performance. He lived there.

Your comments are interesting. It's the G. Gabrieli "sound" that I hear in this work, with it's brassy sound world that made me think of the influences there, but you are perfectly right to suggest that even then these would have passed through the hands of the composers you mention. It's a fascinating topic; we could start one called "under the influence":lol:


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## CnC Bartok

Dimace said:


> The Czech was an excellent composer and certainly this Missa one of his best works. Impressive acoustic of the Dom. Very nice video. Thanks.


Indeed, certainly better than his cringeworthy Canadian namesake, Justin :angel::devil:

Never heard this Mass, will give it a try. The obvious star work has to be the Mystery Sonatas, which I have found need the right frame of mind for a listen....


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## Guest

CnC Bartok said:


> Indeed, certainly better than his cringeworthy Canadian namesake, Justin :angel::devil:
> 
> Never heard this Mass, will give it a try. The obvious star work has to be the Mystery Sonatas, which I have found need the right frame of mind for a listen....


Only that's Beiber; I thought you meant Trudeau at first (and I'd agree!).


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## Allegro Con Brio

Saw this thread yesterday and listened to a couple movements from the work. Wow! Might not be the most musically profound choral work ever written, but that’s some mighty power! Seeing this live in a cathedral would certainly be a most special experience.


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