What is Heinrich Biber?
[[File:Heinrich Biber.png|thumb|right|250px|A portrait of the composer, engraved by Paulus Seel for Biber's ''Sonatae Violino solo'' (1681)]] '''Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern''' ([[baptism|baptised]] 12 August 1644 – died 3 May 1704) was a [[Bohemia]]n-[[Austria]]n [[composer]] and [[violin]]ist. He was the most famous German violinist of his time. He is particularly famous for his violin [[sonata]]s. ==Life== Biber was born in a small Bohemian town near Reichenberg. Nothing is known about his music education. We know that in the mid-1660s he went to work for Prince-Bishop Karl, Count Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn of Olomouc. The prince loved music and kept many musicians at his court. During the winter of 1670-1671 Biber became a member of the Kapelle at [[Salzburg]] court. He was married there in 1672. There he played the violin and trained the choirboys and composed a lot of music. He probably had a lot of contact with other well-known musicians such as [[Georg Muffat]]. Although he was the greatest [[virtuoso]] of his time he hardly seems to have travelled about to play. In [[1690]] Biber was raised to the [[nobility]]. During his last years he seems to have spent much of his time composing works for the theatre as well as [[sacred music]]. ==Related pages== * [[Scordatura]] == References == * {{cite book| last1 = Hitchcock| first1 = Hugh Wiley| last2 = Sadie| first2 = Stanley| title = The New Grove Dictionary of American Music| year = 1986| publisher = Oxford University Press }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz}} [[Category:1644 births]] [[Category:1704 deaths]] [[Category:Baroque composers]] [[Category:Czech composers]] [[Category:Austrian composers]] [[Category:Austrian musicians]] [[Category:Austrian violinists]]