Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber was born on December 8, 1644 — or almost exactly three hundred and seventy six years ago — in a part of Bohemia that is now the Czech Republic. He spent most of his life in Salzburg composing operas and ensemble works as well as purely sacred music. The four sonatas we are performing from the Sonatae tam Aris quam Aulis Servientes (meaning pieces suitable for performance in church as well as in a chamber music setting) are composed in a style that was already beginning to be old-fashioned, involving short and fluidly connected sections, as opposed to the sonata with distinct movements, such as Biber’s contemporaries in Italy had begun to employ.

—Michael Sand

Free (a Shinkoskey Noon Concert)