Domine ad adiuvandum me festina
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei
Ave maris stella
Salve Regina

Although to be one of the most important composers for the violin in the history of the instrument, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber was also a prolific composer of sacred vocal works: masses, requiems, motets, etc. Many of those were polychoral and employing large instrumental forces, inspired by the possibilities of the spacious interior of the Salzburg Cathedral. Among the polychoral works, Missa Salisburgensis (1682) is the best known, an expansive setting of the mass for sixteen voices and 37 instrumentalists (i.e. 53 parts total). Other polychoral works include Plaudite tympana a 53 (1682), Vesperae a 32 (1674), Missa Bruxellensis (1696), Missa S Henrici (1697), and many others.

Simon Carrington, co-founder of the internationally acclaimed British vocal ensemble The King’s Singers, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in music. He was professor of choral conducting at the renowned Yale Institute of Sacred Music and director of the Yale Schola Cantorum, a 24-voice chamber choir which he has brought to national and international prominence. During this time the present performances of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s seldom heard Vesperae Longiores ac Breviores Unacum Litaniis Lauretanis (1693) were recorded.