Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz: O dulcis Jesu (Violino discordato, Canto solo, Basso Continuo)

The anonymous sacred concerto O dulcis Jesu is a setting of a text of baroque mysticism. The music very probably originated among the circle associated with Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Especially noteworthy is the close relationship between the meaning of the words and the music: the mystical topos, the “bitter sweetness” of the desire to be wounded by the arrow of divine love and to die with Jesus, is represented ideally by the pale, basic tonality of E minor and the contrast provided by the scordatura, the unusual tuning of the violin. This is a bold, extravagant, highly “baroque” piece!