Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

Bohemian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704).
Virtuoso violinist and composer who spent the last 24 years of his life at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, after earlier service with the Prince-Bishop of Olmüz.
He is best known for his violin music, especially for writing pieces exploiting effects made possible through scordatura, or non-standard tuning of the violin. He also wrote two operas and a variety of religious music.
The two most famous works heavily reliant on scordatura for special tone colours are the Mystery Sonatas (on the Rosary) and Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa, a work for string ensemble.