At the age of twenty-two, Heinrich Ignaz Biber was already a well-trained and experienced musician as well as a virtuoso violinist and composer and had been appointed Kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn in Olmuetz, Morazia. In this capacity he was required to write works for use in the church (Masses, litanies, etc.), as well as secular instrumental and vocal compositions.
The pressure of keeping up with the musical needs of his employer and of acting as a diplomat on behalf of the royal court was apparently too much for Biber, so that one day he took permanent unofficial leave. A warrant for his arrest was issued, but Biber was never apprehended.
There was a well-known violin maker in Absam, Jacobus Stainer, from whom Biber had ordered violins while in the service of the Prince-Bishop of Oelmuetz. After his sudden departure from the court, Biber stayed with Stainer until such time as he could find a new position. He soon received an appointment as musician in the court orchestra at Salzburg. He married the daughter of a Salzburg merchant and became a highly esteemed citizen and musician of the city. We can get some idea of Biber's status in the Salzburg community from the text of  his promotion in 1679:

"In most gracious recognition of his faithful services, we hareby propitiously bestow upon our Vice-Kapellmeister and servant, the dear and faithful Heinrich Franz Biber, the honor of occupying the official rank immediately below that of our superintendents and judges of the superior court in Chiembsee, St. Peter and Numberg, who are not members of the council."

The "von" in Biber's name was added in 1690. The official announcement tells us that this was because of his:

"Honesty, sincerity, good breeding, virtue and common sense, especially as applies to his music which he brought to the highest perfection... and his manifold artistic compositions have spread his fame widely."

In 1740 (alomost forty years after his death in 1704), Biber's compositions were still highly thought of and he was considered one of the greatest if not the greatest violinist of his time. Johann Mattheson, generally regarded as the first music critic, wrote about Biberìs works:

"In the Emperor's patrimonial dominios, as well as in France and Italy, his compositions have earned him the highest esteem wherever they were played."

As an exceptionally fine violinist, Biber was able to experiment with different types of writing for the violin, and the different sonorities of which it was capable as a solo and ensemble instrument. Among the more interesting works he wrote are a duet for violin and viola da braccio with a continuo, and the fifteen "Mystery" (or Rosary) sonatas for violin and continuo.
Most of Biber's works for strings require special tuning, calied scordatura. This means that instead of tuning the violin in the conventinal manner (G, D, A, E, from bottom to up), Biber might indicate that the violin be tuned (from low to high) A, D, A, D, or A-flat, E-flat, G, A, These tunings make it possible to acheeved special effects and to perform passages in double and triple stops which might be impossible on a violin tuned in the conventional manner.
The four suites on this recording are from a collection of seven such works Biber called "Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa". Each of the suites are for violin and continuo.
In the PARTIA No. I, the violins are tuned (from bottom to top) A, E, A, D. The first thing that strikes the listener about the opening of the first suite is that it doesn't sound as though two violins and a harpsichord constitute the entire ensemble. There is a rich, full-sounding texture which is caused by the violins playing double and triple stops (two or three note chords), with, of course, the ever-present continuo. Not only do the violins play chordal harmonies, but Biber has constructed the first movement in such a fashion that while one violin is playing chords, the other is frequently playing some form of melody, so that in effect it sounds almost as though one were listening to music for a small orchestra of violins with harpsichord.
The second movement, Allemande, is also written for the violins in a fashion which conveys the illusion that more than two instruments are playing. The Gigue is a lively dance which, towards the end of the second strain, generates considerable tension. The sudden changes from loud to soft and vece-versa are indicated in the original manuscript. Following the Gigue are two variations, the first of which consists of 16th notes played in either first or second violin, while the other generally plays eighth or quarter notes in double or triple stops. The result, with the added continuo, is remarkably sonorus. The second variation is not as full-sounding as the first, and as a result appears to have a thinner, almost Italianate quality, reminiscent of Corelli's trio sonatas. The Aria is not a dance at all, but rather a purely instrumental selectionwich the composer no doubt added for variety between some of the other dances. There is a fine, rich sound about the sarabande, which is to some ectent continued in the first variation. For the most part, the second variation justaposes the slow original melody against running notes in one of the violins. The finale is actually an extension, a kind of coda, to the second variation.
In the PARTIA No. III, the violins are tuned (reading up) A, E, A, E, the changes in the normal tuning occuring on the two lower strings.
The first movement sounds almost as though Biber bad the orchestra in mind, and was contrasting the instrumental timbres. The fanfare like beginning sounds almost like trumpets while the faster notes, in scales, might represent the strings (doubled with oboes, of course). The contrast between chordal sonorities and single, running notes is highlighted even more in the middle of the movement, when after the full sounds of the violins playing in two and three-part harmony we have short bravura passages played by the violins and the full sounds of the opening chords return. In structure, il not instrumentation, the entire movement is not unrelated to the concerto grosso, that is: Tutti (full chords)vs. soli (running notes).
The Allemande, like that in the first Partia, is also short if not perfunctory. The Amener is one of the more unusual dances of the Baroque Era, although it was used occasionally in the orchestral suites of J. K.F. Fischer, among other of Biber's contemporaries It is a fast dance in 3/4 time and as used here, it is basen on a kind of hopping ehythm. The Balletto was originally a form of vocal composition, although by the beginning of the 16th century balletti were sung and played on instruments. There are two Balletti by Francesco Antonio Bomporti for violin and continuo (these were originally attributed to J. S. Bach) - and other composers sometimes called movements of their suites by this title. Biber's Balletto is in three short sections, each of which is played twice. The short Gigue is followed by a long Ciacona.
The later movements is not onsly a set of variation over a constantly repeated melodi bass, but it is also a canon on the unison between the violins. The coda to this interesting movement consists of melodic allusions to the preceding Gigue played by the violins (still in canon) over the original bass melody.
In the PARTIA V the violins are tuned G, D, A, D, the only string not tuned in the conventional maneer being the E string, which is one tone lower than normal.
The first movement to the Partia is an intrada     , a march. The short Aria is followed by a Balletto, which unlike the Balletto in the third Partia, consists of only two short straits euch of which is played twice. The Gigue, like that in the first Partia, is very Italianate. An interesting feature of this Gigue is that the second strain begins with an inversion of the melody played at the beginning of the movement. The long Passacaglia which closes the Partia contains an excellent canon at the unison for the violins. The canon itself is melodically so different from what preceded it that it gives the impression of being a second Gigue. The one feature that reminds us that it is all part of the Passacaglia is the repeated melody in the bass.
PARTIA VI is the only suite in the "Harmonia-artificiosa-ariosa" which makes use the standard tuning for the violins.
The Praeludium is plainly an attempt on Biber's part to exploit the sound of the violins playing arpeggios. There is little or no "melody" to the movement and the continuo has a very simple non-melodic part, designed to supply an harmonic underpinning of the chords played by the violins. The bulk of the Partia consists of an aria and thirteen variations. Among the more interesting are the following: Variation VII, in which the melody is played by the continuo; Variation IX, which is a kind of free canon for violins at the unison at eighth notes apart, with the original melody played by the continuo. The other variations are generally interesting but lack the special features mentioned above. The finale is a kind of long postlude, in which the music gives the impression of gradually getting faster because the composer wrote notes of increasingly shorter duration; that is, 8th notes, 16th notes (triplets) and 64th notes.

Douglas Townsend