Mensa Sonora (The Sonorous Table): Banquet Music Suites

Composer: BIBER, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von
  • Mensa sonora, seu musica instrumentalis is a set of six partitas for strings & harpsichord.1
    • The collection’s full name translates as, “The Sonorous Table, or Instrumental Table-Music with the lively sound of the violin.”2
  • The set was published in Salzburg in 1680, and dedicated to Maximilian Gandolph von Kuenburg, the Archbishop of Salzburg (1622–1687)
    • Biber entered service at the Archbishop’s court in 1670. The Archbishop enjoyed string music, and as a virtuoso violinist and string composer, Biber became very successful in position. This collection is one of four that Biber dedicated to the Archbishop between 1676–84. 3
    • When Biber visited Salzburg in 1670, he wasn’t technically supposed to be applying for (and starting) a new job. He had actually been sent there by his then-current employer, Count Maximilian Liechtenstein-Castelcorno, to purchase new stringed instruments from a violinmaker. When the Count found out that Biber had instead ditched him to work for the Archbishop of Salzburg, he wasn’t thrilled, but he was friends with the Archbishop, so he had to keep his irritation to himself.4
  • These partitas were intended as “table music” or “dinner music,” to be played in the background during a dinner or other social occasion5 Like most Baroque suites, they are composed mostly of stylized dance movements.6
  • Full list of suites and movements

Sources

  1. Elias Dann and Jiří Sehnal, “Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed July 25, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000003037.
  2. Reinhard Goebel, “Biber: ‘Mensa Sonora,’” liner notes to Biber: Mensa sonora; Sonata representative, Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel, Archiv 423 701-2, CD, 1988.
  3. Elias Dann and Jiří Sehnal, “Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed July 29, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000003037.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid.
  6. “Mensa sonora (Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von,” IMSLP, accessed July 29, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Mensa_sonora_(Biber,_Heinrich_Ignaz_Franz_von).

Cut IDs

46176 46177 46178 46179 46180 46181