Biber's "Rosary" Sonatas present a great challenge to all violinists. The demands in terms of stamina, both physical and mental, along with Biber's familiar arsenal of technical fireworks, make the cycle a formidable undertaking. What interests me most, however, is the devotional aspect of the music, the spiritual journey for the listener and the performer.

If we assume that these compositions were used in some way to enhance or complement the devotions of the Confraternity of the Rosary in Salzburg or those of the Archbishop in private, how precisely do they relate? As James Clements has pointed out, attempts to read too literal a programme of the Rosary Mysteries into each sonata can lead us into many an interpretative cul de sac. It is far more useful to regard the pieces as abstract musical meditations (the engravings providing a focus for devotion) and, along with the Rosary, to see them as a tool for spiritual catharsis.

As a child attending recitations of the Rosary in church I remember being bewildered by the mechanical repetition of the prayers over and over, wondering what possible use they could serve. A later interest in Eastern religions and their meditative practices persuaded me of the power and uses of such mantra-like chanting, and also that there is more linking the spiritual practises of Christianity to the East than one might at first think. The Rosary prayers are far more than mere religious obeisance -they are a route to an altered state of mind, a condition of mental clarity which can be directed towards each specific Mystery and achieve a sort of spiritual transformation. Such zealous concentration seems to me to have a counterpart in the use of the koan in Zen Buddhism, and the devotee's hands joined in prayer or holding the Rosary to correspond to the mudra, the tactile focus of meditation in Indian Yoga. The use of Rosary Psalters shows us just how developed, even codified, Christian devotional practises had become by Biber's time and they demonstrate a deep understanding of the totally subjective nature of the meditative process, encouraging a uniquely personal response. The Psalters are spiritual "guidebooks " using techniques of visualization to facilitate the inner journey, while Biber's sonatas form a sort of musical psalter and could have been used as an aural analogue to the visual aspect.

This approach frees us to appreciate Biber's evocation of mood in the Rosary Sonatas -the portent of The Annunciation; the desolation, betrayal and resigned acceptance of The Agony in the Garden, conjured by the tortured harmony; the angular grotesquery evoking Golgotha in The Crucifixion -and their usefulness in conjunction with the spiritual exercises. While we do not know precisely how (or even if) these pieces may have been used in religious ceremony there is a meditative counterpart for the performer. All bar two of the pieces require a different scordatura tuning (alteration of the strings' pitch -by as much as a fifth in Sonata 8) creating a new palette of colours for each piece. The violin part, however, in a remarkable feat of compositional virtuosity is written as though the violin is tuned normally. For the player, then, the notes seen are not the notes heard. This engenders a certain dissociation from the music, as it is quite impossible to perform these pieces and make the mental calculations necessary to keep track of the real pitches at the same time. It is important, therefore, to "let go" and relinquish any habitual violinistic instincts; in effect, the performer takes on the role of an empty vessel, a conduit for the music rather than an interpreter. The most mind-scrambling instance of this must be Sonata 11, where, in the most audacious use of scordatura tuning before or since, Biber tunes the top two strings of the violin down a tone (putting the instrument into a particularly resonant G major) and then switches the position of the second and third strings (!), thus creating a "cross" behind the bridge and beyond the nut of the violin. This arrangement facilitates the playing of the hymn Surexit Christus hodie in octaves, but the 'string-cross' is more significant. With this configuration Biber is at once reminding us of Christ's joyful resurrection, his triumph over death (the cross) and his promise of eternal life by exhorting us to take up the cross (the violin) and, in the numerous figurations requiring skips over the two middle strings, to master it. In the Passagalia, the great monument of unaccompanied violin writing before Bach, Biber returns home. The violin, having been twisted and tortured through fourteen different tunings on its journey through Christ's life, returns to its normal tuning, the circle is closed, the Rosary completed. The sixty-five repetitions of the descending G - F- Eb -D evoke constancy, and the drawing prefacing the piece depicts an angel watching over a child, ever in attendance, the divine presence in everyday life.

- Pavlo Beznosiuk, 2004

MUSICIAN CREDITS:

Pavlo Beznosiuk: Violins
David Roblou: Harpsichord, Chamber Organ
Paula Chateauneuf: Theorbo, Archlute
Richard Tunnicliffe: Viola da Gamba, Violone
and Timothy West (reader)

Pavlo Beznosiuk, one of the most versatile musicians working on the early music scene, has been described as a virtuosic artist with 'star quality' whose 'playing is full of fantasy' and 'whose range of ideas seems every time more amazing'. Well known as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster, he has led and directed numerous period instrument orchestras including The Academy of Ancient Music, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Hanover Band. Pavlo's extensive list of recordings includes Bach's Brandenburg concertos with the New London Consort, Vivaldi's op.6 violin concertos with The AAM, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and Haffner Serenade, a much feted recording of the Schubert Octet with the ensemble Hausmusik and the world premiere recording of music by J J Walther and J P von Westhoff. These and his innumerable TV and radio broadcasts worldwide have established his pre-eminence in the field of early music. Pavlo teaches baroque violin at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague.

Paula Chateauneuf's playing has been described as "one of the most exciting things on the pre-classical concert circuit". She came to London as an American Fulbright Scholar and soon after established herself as one of early music's leading soloists and ensemble players. She performs with many of the finest early music ensembles, including the New London Consort, the Gabrieli Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music and with Jordi Savall. Paula is especially in demand as a chamber musician and continuo player for early opera. She has performed at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne and many major houses on the continent, and has coached singers for productions at the Bayerische Staatsoper, New Israeli Opera and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Paula has recorded for all the major European labels; notably, she researched, edited and recorded songs by Barbara Strozzi with Catherine Bott. She is the lute and basso continuo tutor at the University of Birmingham.

David Roblou is a conductor, harpsichordist, pianist and vocal coach. As conductor his repertoire includes 50 operas (from Caccini through baroque, classical and romantic standards to Alison Bauld - a world premiere) plus ballet, oratorio and orchestral works from all periods, touring the UK, Europe and the Americas. Founder Musical Director of Midsummer Opera, he became overall Artistic Director in 2000. As harpsichordist his repertoire ranges from 16th to 20th centuries, in recital, concerto and chamber music, in concert and on radio and CD throughout the world. As pianist he plays song cycles and cantatas by Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, Wagner, Liszt, Dvorak, Eben, Ullmann, Poulenc, Messiaen and Hakim. He has given world and UK premieres on both instruments. As vocal coach he has guested at the Royal Opera House, teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, gives masterclasses internationally and is consulted by singers enjoying careers worldwide.

Richard Tunnicliffe has been principal/continuo cellist for many leading groups, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Concert, Gabrieli Consort and Le Concert d'Astr?(Paris), performing in this capacity at major festivals and on many recordings. As chamber musician and soloist, his repertoire extends from sixteenth century viol music to contemporary works, and his recordings include Bach and Handel flute sonatas (with Lisa Beznosiuk), sonatas by J.J. Walther (Pavlo Beznosiuk), Buxtehude trio sonatas (E. Wallfisch, P. Nicholson), Rossini's string sonatas (soloists of the O.A.E.) and string trios by Beethoven and Buxton Orr (with the Beethoven String Trio of London). His many performances of Bach's six cello suites have met with critical acclaim.

In a career spanning over 50 years and involving all mediums Timothy West has established himself as one of England's best-loved and most respected actors. His appearances in London's West End have included The Homecoming, Beecham, Master Class, Twelve Angry Men and The Birthday Party. On film he has appeared in The Day Of the Jackal, Oliver Twist, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Cry Freedom and Iris and has made over 500 radio and television broadcasts as well as recording many talking books. Numerous seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and at the Old Vic have confirmed him as one of our finest Shakespearean actors and have seen him playing King Lear, Prospero, Shylock, Claudius and Enobarbus. He was made CBE in 1984 and is currently President of the London Academy of Dramatic Art, and of the Society for Theatre Research.

PROJECT NOTES:

In 1676 Heinrich Biber wrote of his 'faith in stringed instruments (fidem in fidibus)', demonstrating his love of rhetoric, probably imbued in him by his Jesuit education. Of all Biber's seven collections of music, however, the expression 'faith in stringed instruments' is most evident in the Mystery or Rosary Sonatas, which survive in a beautifully-written manuscript, compiled in the early 1670s, and now housed in the Bavarian State Library. The manuscript contains fifteen compositions for violin and bass, and a concluding Passacaglia for unaccompanied violin. In the absence of a title page, the various titles in use today derive from the fifteen engravings in the manuscript, one placed at the start of each of the first fifteen compositions depicting, in turn, the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. Similarly, the Passacaglia is preceded by a drawing of a Guardian Angel holding the hand of a child.

The engravings were probably cut from a Rosary psalter, the name given to the hundreds of devotional books published by Rosary confraternities active in central Europe at this time. These books contained detailed instruction on praying the Rosary, and frequently included biblical quotations, meditations, prayers, and engravings depicting the mysteries. Such books were produced by the Jesuits-a religious order who influenced education and devotional practices more than any other religious group in seventeenth-century Europe-and who were known for advocating Rosary devotion with music. One such confraternity existed in Salzburg during the seventeenth century. It met in the lecture hall-the Aula Academica-of Salzburg's University, which still contains fifteen paintings depicting the mysteries. The Rosary Sonatas were probably performed in this room. As Biber mentions in the Latin dedication of the Rosary Sonatas, Rosary devotion was promoted most ardently by the dedicatee of the collection and Biber's employer, Archbishop Maximilian Gandolph von Khuenberg, who may have attended meetings in the Aula Academica. The paintings in the Aula Academica, the engravings in Biber's manuscript and Rosary psalters exemplifiy the importance of imagery in Rosary devotion in the region at this time, which correlates with a principal concept of Jesuit devotion, namely, the use all five senses when praying. Thus, by contemplating the image, reading the texts, and hearing the music, individuals were supposed to create a mental picture of the mystery, often in minute detail and at great length.

Besides the images in the manuscript, another technique uniting the sonatas is the use of scordatura (the retuning of the violin strings to notes other than the conventional g, d', a', e'') in all but the first and last of the sonatas, requiring a total of fifteen different tunings in the whole collection. The compositions using scordatura are notated in the manner of certain tablatures in that the violinist is told where on the string to place the fingers, but the resulting pitch is different from the notated pitch. The requisite scordatura tuning is indicated at the start of each composition, along with a signature often including a curious mixture of sharp and flat signs. The most extraordinary scordatura tuning in the set is in Rosary Sonata XI ('The Resurrection'), which requires the violinist to interchange the middle two strings, crossing them before the bridge of the violin and again at the nut, resulting in a symbolic cross shape.

The Rosary is formed of three groups of five mysteries: the joyful mysteries (I-V), the sorrowful mysteries (VI-X), and the glorious mysteries (XI-XV), which are presented in this order in Biber's manuscript. Sonata I ('The Annunciation'), opens with rapid violin figuration, associated elsewhere in Biber's music with the idea that children are a gift from God. This is portrayed in contemporary art by the Holy Ghost (represented by a dove) whose light shines on the Virgin. In Sonata II ('The Visitation'), the first two movements reflect the discomfort of Mary's journey to visit Elizabeth. The brighter final movement, might reflect the mutual joy of the women. Sonata III ('The Nativity'), however, focuses on the suffering of Mary and Joseph during their journey to Bethlehem, and on Christ, who will suffer a life of hardship before dying on the cross for man's salvation. This is portrayed in some baroque art by including the crucifixion scene in the same picture as the nativity, and Biber refers to this in the Adagio with references to music from Sonata X ('The Crucifixion'). The same serious mood pervades the variations comprising Sonata IV ('The Presentation in the Temple'). The fifth variation is a direct reference to the Adagio variation of Sonata X, evoking the aged Simeon foreseeing the piercing of Christ's side at the Crucifixion. Sonata IV and Sonata X have similar scordatura tunings and violin figuration. The exuberance of Sonata V focuses on the joyous moment Mary and Joseph find Christ in the Temple.

In Sonata VI ('The Agony in the Garden') Biber evokes sympathy to Christ's despair with figuration he frequently used in laments. These include descending/ascending chromatic melodic lines, the tremolo (repeated double stops) and melodies with descending lines. The repeated downward leaps in the Adagio are often said to depict Christ sweating blood, as described in the Bible and portrayed in contemporary art. The Bible contains no descriptive details of the events of Sonatas VII and VIII, which were not witnessed by Mary in person, but in a vision, as depicted in the paintings in the Aula Academica. These events were often described in exhaustive detail in contemporary writings, however, which focused on the brutality of the whips and the spikes of the thorns, and the dreadful wounds they inflicted. This is depicted in the music through the use of Monteverdi's genera concitato, a procedure using rapid repetition of notes of the same pitch to express agitation or anger, combined here with sharply twisting melodic lines. Sonata IX ('The Carrying of the Cross') depicts Christ's struggle to Calvary through increasingly difficult figuration, and the thoughtful opening and closing movements allow reflection on Mary's grief. The dotted rhythms towards the end of the composition resemble a passage in Sonata X, and thus announce arrival at Calvary. The violent opening of Sonata X has been described as the hammering of the nails and the music of the final variation employs virtuosic figuration, perhaps representing the earthquake after Christ's death. The nails were an important focus of devotional art and writings, and the earthquake is portrayed in contemporary art, including the painting of the Crucifixion in the Aula academica.

The mood alters in Sonata XI ('The Resurrection') to celebration, with swirling circulatio figures (a musical-rhetorical device involving circular melodies) depicting the sun surrounding Christ the 'Sun of Justice (Soli Iustit? as Biber refers to him in the dedication. The second movement, headed Surexit Christus hodie in the manuscript, is likely to be based on a contemporary hymn tune, as suggested by the violin playing mainly in octaves, evoking singing in church. The Ascension (Sonata XII) opens with the violin imitating a trumpet fanfare, enhanced by multiple stopping. Trumpet fanfares often announced important people, and this style is often used at the text 'et ascendit' in Biber's masses. The opening figuration of Sonata XIII ('The Descent of the Holy Ghost') is sometimes described as the winds of Pentecost. The exuberance returns in Sonata XIV ('The Assumption of the Virgin'), which is full of ascending melodies depicting the happy event. In the final variation the violin stops mid phrase (a musical-rhetorical figure called abruptio), perhaps indicating the moment of assumption. The dignified Sonata XV ('The Coronation of the Virgin') uses the circulatio figure, this time depicting the crown. This is confirmed by the drawing, at the end of this work in the manuscript, of a crown inside a half moon-the Marian symbol Biber refers to with the phrase 'Immaculate Moon (Lun? sine macula)' in his dedication. One commentator referred to the variations of the Passacaglia which concludes the Rosary Sonatas as 'the constant watchfulness of the Guardian Angel', which is suggested by many of the paintings in the Aula academica in which Mary is shown comforted by an Angel. The image of an angel holding a child's hand and pointing towards heaven is sometimes seen in paintings in Jesuit churches in central Europe.

(c) Dr James Clements, January 2004