Dietrich Buxtehude

Dietrich Buxtehude at Viol

Painting: 'The Musical Party' by Johannes Voorhout   1674

Source: Wikipedia

Born about 1638, Dietrich Buxtehude hailed from Helsingborg when it was part of Denmark rather than Sweden. Others think he was born in Holstein when it was part of Denmark instead of Germany. Either way he was Dane with a name Germanized by himself (Diderich to Dietrich). Buxtehude composed largely for organ, harpsichord and voice in a broad variety of forms, though he preferred cantatas, preludes, sonatas and fugues. The librettos to his oratorios survive, but the scores do not.

As Buxtehude's father was a church organist in Helsingør he likely studied music as a youth. Buxtehude is thought to have been employed as an organist in 1657 in Helsingborg, then at Helsingør in 1660. In 1668 he succeeded Franz Tunder as organist at St. Mary's Church in Lübeck, there to remain throughout his career. St. Mary's was at first a wooden building constructed by Henry the Lion in 1160. It gradually acquired Gothic architecture in brick and was a major Lutheran house of worship where to be employed as Tunder and Buxtehude were described prestige. St. Mary's was destroyed by fire in 1942 along with much of Lübeck, having been rebuilt since then.

The works of Buxtehude are known from manuscripts, as he published only two volumes of sonatas during his lifetime, those his Op 1 and Op 2, none to follow. His compositions are otherwise catalogued by "BuxWV" numbers 1 through 275, 274 and 275 lost. Those are from Georg Karstädt's 'Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Dietrich Buxtehude' of 1974 and 1985. Examples of Buxtehude below are not stacked chronologically, but by BuxWV number as assigned by Karstädt. As dates with Buxtehude are difficult in general, most examples below must come with none. Those with dates approximate his peak career in the eighties and nineties. Since we're going by theme the stack below concentrates on cantatas where Karstädt's directory begins with BuxWV1 through 112, and sonatas for chamber where Karstädt ends with BuxWV252-275 (the last two lost). As Buxtehude wrote numerous works for solo organ and harpsichord, a couple of his better-known pieces for solo keyboard are squeezed between.

Cantatas

'Accedite gentes, accurite populi'   BuxWV1   Cantata by Dieterich Buxtehude

Composed in C major for SSATB / 2 violins / continuo

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir directed by Ton Koopman

'Das neugeborne Kindelein, das herzeliebe Jesulein'   BuxWV13   Cantata by Dieterich Buxtehude

'The little newborn child, the beloved Jesus'   Text: Cyriacus Schneegass 1597

Composed in A minor for SATB / 3 violins / violone or bassoon / continuo

Purcell Quartet   Soprano: Emma Kirkby   Bass: Peter Harvey

'Alleluia' from 'Der Herr is mit mir'   BuxWV15   Cantata by Dieterich Buxtehude

'The Lord is with me'   Text from Psalm 118: 6-7

Composed in C major for SATB / 2 violins / violone / continuo

Collegium Vocale w the Orchestra Anima Eterna & the Royal Consort

'Jubilate Domino Omnis Terra'   BuxWV64   Cantata by Dieterich Buxtehude

'Rejoice In the Lord All Earth'   Text from Psalm 97: 4-5 (Vulgate) / Psalm 98: 4-6 (King James)

Composed no later than 1690  in D major for alto / viola de gamba / continuo

Aradia Ensemble

'Membra Jesu Nostri' is a Passion cantata with seven sections each addressing part of the anatomy of Jesus in crucifixion such as his feet, hands, heart, et al. This is BuxWV75 of 112 cantatas. BuxWV75a is 'Ad pedes' (the feet); BuxWV75g is 'Ad faciem' (the face) with other parts of Jesus' broken body between.

'Membra Jesu Nostri'   BuxWV75 (75a-75g)   7 Passion cantatas by Dieterich Buxtehude

Composed 1680 from various Biblical texts for various vocal & instrumental parts

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir directed by Ton Koopman

Solo Ostinato Keyboard

Among Buxtehude's pieces for keyboard are a few incorporating ostinato. An ostinato is a persistent pattern of repetition merging well with (basso) continuo, the latter basic to baroque from its begin around 1600 as a metering device. One very famous example of an ostinato by a contemporary of Buxtehude is the ground bass of Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' written sometime 1680 to 1706. In more contemporary music ostinati are easy to recognize in such as Henri Mancini's 'Theme From Peter Gunn' of 1958, The Who's 'Baba O'Riley' of 1971 and Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' of 1978. An ostinato can simply keep to a constant pitch or be written in variations.

'Chaconne in E minor'   BuxWV160   Solo organ by Dieterich Buxtehude

Organ: Rainer Oster

'Passacaglia in D minor'   BuxWV161   Solo organ by Dieterich Buxtehude

Organ: Pierre Thimus

Chamber Trio Sonatas

The last 23 works in Karstädt's 'Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis' are sonatas. These begin with '7 Trio Sonatas' Op 1 (BuxWV 252-58) and 7 'Trio Sonatas' Op 2 (BuxWV 259-65), those ascribed opus numbers as books, the only that he published in his lifetime. Sonatas below were written for trio consisting of violin, viola da gamba and basso continuo.

'7 Trio Sonatas' Op 1 & '7 Trio Sonatas' Op 2   Trio sonatas by Dieterich Buxtehude

Op 1 consisting of BuxWV 252-58 pub in Hamburg 1694

Op 2 consisting of BuxWV 259-65 pub in Hamburg 1696

Members of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra directed by Ton Koopman

'Sonata in A minor'   BuxWV272   Trio sonata by Dieterich Buxtehude

Ensemble Fantasticus:

Baroque violin: Rie Kimura   Viola da gamba: Robert Smith   Harpsichord: Guillermo Brachetta

Wishing to retire in 1703, Buxtehude offered his station to both Johann Mattheson and George Handel (the pair traveling to visit him together) on condition that it come with betrothal to one of his daughters, Anna Margareta. Both declined, leaving the next day. Buxtehude's daughter was apparently too uncomely to attract a husband. In 1705 Johann Sebastian Bach was twenty years old when he walked more than 250 miles to study under Buxtehude. Though he stayed three months he left a bachelor as well. Buxtehude died two years later on 9 May 1707. His position along with Anna Margareta went to Johann Christian Schieferdecker.