Composed in 1673, this highly unusual piece "mit Arien imitirt undt Baccho dedieirt" (imitated with Airs and dedicated to Bacchus) depicts the goings-on at an army camp. It opens with strings and continuo (harpsichord and bass) playing military, trumpet- and drum-like motifs, during which the bodies of the instruments are tapped for a drum-like effect (!). Then, true to Biber's ever inventive and humorous spirit, there follows a section called "Das liederliche Schwärmen der Musquetier" [The Dissolute Revelling of Musketeers] in which 8 drunken musketeers are depicted as singing songs from their homelands: it is remarked (in Latin) in the score that "here all parts are dissonant, for various songs are shouted together at the same time", and in fact all 8 tunes are played in a cacophony of 8 different keys at the same time (!). In the next section depicting a gentlemen's fencing match, two pizzicato notes (a fifth apart) sound like polite lunges with clashes of metal on metal. As if these weren't illustrative enough, the next section "Mars" [March] is for "prepared" bass (!) with violin solo - to imitate the sound of a marching drum, a piece of paper is stuck between the strings of the bass. [This march originally appeared in Biber's violin sonata "Repraesentatio Avium".] Next comes a rhythmically spirited piece in triple meter, a horse riding tune. A lovely melody follows, a farewell of a warrior to his family, which both sings in steady notes, and then sobs slightly in dotted figures. Next comes "Die Schlacht" [The Battle], which features heavily snapped strings (á la Bartok) (!) to imitate artillery, with the higher strings playing fast repeated propulsive figures, like riding into battle. Naturally, there next appears a "Lamento der Verwundten" [Lament of the Wounded], which includes high notes played with little vibrato (indicating pain) and very unusual chord progressions, just before the cadential points, giving the impression of a musketeer slowly losing his life energy.

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