Remembering Gabrielle Wunsch

Violinist Gabrielle Wunsch passed away on July 20 following a battle with cancer.

Wunsch was equally at home on period and modern violins. She was in demand as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America and Europe. For 16 summers, she performed at the Carmel Bach Festival. She was a member of the Fresno Philharmonic, and performed with the Marin, Oakland, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa Symphonies. As a Baroque violinist, she was affiliated with ensembles including Göttingen Händel-Festspiele, Philharmonia Baroque, and Voices of Music.

Gabrielle and I were students at the Eastman School of Music concurrently, and I remember her kindness and humility.

Here Gabrielle Wunsch performs the Passacaglia in G minor by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704). The recording was made in January of 2014 by Voices of Music.

Composed in Salzburg in 1676, the Passacaglia concludes Biber’s cycle of 15 Rosary Sonatas. Each of the untitled works is inscribed with a copper-engraved vignette related to the Christian Rosary. Unknown until their publication in 1905, the Sonatas come from a single surviving manuscript copy discovered in Munich. The Passacaglia is named “The Guardian Angel” because its image depicts a child guided by an angel. A series of 65 brilliant variations unfold over a repeating four-note descending bass line.