Dieterich Buxtehude

Early years in Denmark in Helsingør . The spire of St. Olaf's is in the background. He is thought to have been born with the name Diderich Buxtehude. His parents were Johannes (Hans Jensen) Buxtehude and Helle Jespersdatter. His father originated from Oldesloe in the Duchy of Holstein, which at that time was a part of the Danish realms in Northern Germany. Scholars dispute both the year and country of Dieterich's birth, although most now accept that he was born in 1637 in Helsingborg in the province of Scania/Skåne, which was part of Denmark at the time (but it is now part of Sweden). His obituary stated that "he recognized Denmark as his native country, whence he came to our region; he lived about 70 years". Others, however, claim that he was born at Oldesloe. Later in his life he Germanized his name and began signing documents Dieterich Buxtehude. Lübeck: Marienkirche Buxtehude's last post, from 1668, was at the Marienkirche, Lübeck which had two organs, a large one for big services and a small one for devotionals and funerals. There he succeeded Franz Tunder and followed in many of the footsteps of his predecessor. He married Tunder's daughter Anna Margarethe in 1668 – it was not uncommon practice that a man marry the daughter of his predecessor in his occupation. Buxtehude and Anna Margarethe had seven daughters who were baptized at the Marienkirche; however, his first daughter died as an infant. After his retirement as organist at St Olaf's Church, his father joined the family in Lübeck in 1673. Johannes died a year later, and Dieterich composed his funeral music. Dieterich's brother Peter, a barber, joined them in 1677. In addition to his musical duties, Buxtehude, like his predecessor Tunder, served as church treasurer. Influence and legacy Although more than 100 vocal compositions by Buxtehude survive, very few of them were included in the important German manuscript collections of the period, and until the early twentieth century, Buxtehude was regarded primarily as a keyboard composer. His surviving church music is praised for its high musical qualities rather than its progressive elements. ==Works==

General introduction The bulk of Buxtehude's oeuvre consists of vocal music, which covers a wide variety of styles, Gustaf Düben's collection and the so-called Lübeck tablature A373 are the two most important sources for Buxtehude's vocal music. The former includes several autographs, both in German organ tablature and in score. Both collections were probably created during Buxtehude's lifetime and with his permission. Copies made by various composers are the only extant sources for the organ works: chorale settings are mostly transmitted in copies by Johann Gottfried Walther, while Gottfried Lindemann's and others' copies concentrate on free works. Johann Christoph Bach's manuscript is particularly important, as it includes the three known ostinato works and the famous Prelude and Chaconne in C major, BuxWV 137. Although Buxtehude himself most probably wrote in organ tablature, the majority of the copies are in standard staff notation. Keyboard works Preludes and toccatas The nineteen organ praeludia (or preludes) form the core of Buxtehude's work and are ultimately considered his most important contributions to the music literature of the seventeenth century. They are sectional compositions that alternate between free improvisation and strict counterpoint. They are usually either fugues or pieces written in fugal manner; all make heavy use of pedal and are idiomatic to the organ. These preludes, together with pieces by Nicolaus Bruhns, represent the highest point in the evolution of the north German organ prelude, and the so-called stylus phantasticus. They were undoubtedly among the influences of J.S. Bach, whose organ preludes, toccatas and fugues frequently employ similar techniques. The preludes are quite varied in style and structure, and are therefore hard to categorize, as no two praeludia are alike. They consist of strict diatonic harmony and secondary dominants. Chorale settings There are over 40 surviving chorale settings by Buxtehude, and they constitute the most important contributions to the genre in the 17th century. and the ones based on the chant (Magnificats BuxWV 203–5 and Te Deum laudamus, BuxWV 218), which are structurally similar to chorale fantasias. Ostinato works The three ostinato bass works Buxtehude composed—two chaconnes (BuxWV 159–160) and a passacaglia (BuxWV 161)—not only represent, along with Pachelbel's six organ chaconnes, a shift from the traditional chaconne style, but are also the first truly developed north German contributions to the development of the genre. They are among Buxtehude's best-known works and have influenced numerous composers after him, most notably Bach (whose organ passacaglia is modeled after Buxtehude's) and Johannes Brahms. The pieces feature numerous connected sections, with many suspensions, changing meters, and even real modulation (in which the ostinato pattern is transposed into another key). Some of the praeludia also make use of ostinato models. The praeludium in C major, BuxWV 137, begins with a lengthy pedal solo and concludes not with a postlude of arpeggios and scale runs, but with a comparatively short chaconne built over a three-bar ostinato pattern in the pedal: The praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 148, in which the ostinato pattern is derived from the subject of one of the fugal sections, also ends in a chaconne. In addition, another praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 149, employs a repeating bass pattern in the beginning. Other keyboard works The rest of Buxtehude's keyboard music does not employ pedals. Of the organ works, a few keyboard canzonas are the only strictly contrapuntal pieces in Buxtehude's oeuvre and were probably composed with teaching purposes in mind. There are also three pieces labelled fugues: only the first, BuxWV 174, is a real fugue. BuxWV 175 is more of a canzona (two sections, both fugal and on the same subject), while BuxWV 176 is more like a typical Buxtehude prelude, only beginning with a fugue rather than an improvisatory section, and for manuals only. There are also 19 harpsichord suites and several variation sets. The suites follow the standard model (Allemande – Sarabande – Courante – Gigue), sometimes excluding a movement and sometimes adding a second sarabande or a couple of doubles. Like Froberger's, all dances except the gigues employ the French lute style brisé, sarabandes and courantes frequently being variations on the allemande. The gigues employ basic imitative counterpoint but never go as far as the gigue fugues in the chorale fantasias or the fugal writing seen in organ preludes. It may be that the more developed harpsichord writing by Buxtehude simply did not survive: in his writings, Johann Mattheson mentioned a cycle of seven suites by Buxtehude, depicting the nature of planets, but these pieces are lost. The several sets of arias with variations are much more developed than the organ chorale variations. BuxWV 250 La Capricciosa may have inspired Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988: both have 32 variations (including the two arias of the Goldberg Variations); there are a number of similarities in the structure of individual movements; both include variations in forms of various dances; both are in G major; and Bach was familiar with Buxtehude's work and admired him, as has been related above. ==Recordings==

Available media • Organ works • Lionel Rogg (EMI - 2-CD set; now only available as an mp3 download) • Simone Stella (Complete Organ Music – 6-CD set), OnClassical (OC61-66B) 2012 also licensed for Brilliant Classics (BC 94422), 2012 • Ulrik Spang-Hanssen (complete – recorded 1990/93) • René Saorgin (complete) • Michel Chapuis (complete) • Peter Hurford • David Kinsela • Harald Vogel (complete - 7 CDs on the MD&G label) • Jean-Charles Ablitzer (complete - 5 CDs on the Harmonic Records label - recorded 1987–1989) • • Bine Katrine Bryndorf (complete – 3 CDs & 3 SACDs on the Dacapo label, also available as 6 CDs bundle ) • Walter Kraft (Complete – six CDs on the VoxBox label cd6x 3613 – recorded 1957, remastered 1999 – Marienkirche, Lübeck) • Hans Davidsson (complete organ works – Volume 1: Dieterich Buxtehude and the Mean-Tone Organ, Volume 2: The Bach Perspective, and Volume 3: Dieterich Buxtehude and the Schnitger Organ) • Christopher Herrick (to be recorded from 2007) • Helga Schauerte-Maubouet : (Complete Organ Works), Syrius (SYR 141.347/348/359/366/371), 2000–2002, • Ton Koopman (complete) – Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia series; Vol III, Organ works 1 (BuxWV 139, 141, 146, 156, 160, 162, 169, 178, 197, 210, 213, 220), Coci/Klapmeyer organ Altenbruch, Antoine Marchand Records, CC72242 – Vol IV, Organ works 2 (BuxWV 157, 161, 163, 164, 170, 173–175, 177, 180–182, 184, 188, 211, 217, 223), Wilde/Schnitger organ Ludingworth, Antoine Marchand Records, CC72243 – Vol VIII, Organ works 3 (BuxWV 149, 179, 225, 140, 185, 159, 148, 187, 176, 145, 183, 213–5, 137, 193, 200), Schnitger organ Hamburg, Antoine Marchand Records, CC72247 – Vol IX, Organ works 4 (BuxWV 138, 199, 172, 202, 224, 147, 196, 171, 219, 203, 144, 212, 201, 167, 186, 198, 190, 207, 189), Gerke/Herbst organ Basedow, Antoine Marchand Records, CC72248 – Vol X, Organ works 5 (BuxWV 142, 209, 218, 136, 222, 155, 221, 151, 152, 191, 158, 204, 205, 150, 153, 194, 192, 143, 206, 208 plus preludes in e (2) and G and a chorale prelude on "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" by Nicolaus Bruhns), Bielefeld organ Stade, Antoine Marchand Records, CC72249 (complete) • Bernard Foccroulle (complete) Ricercar RIC250. Awarded the Diapason d'Or and the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros in 2007 in addition to other prizes. On 5 CDs and performed on 5 different organs: Groningen, Martinikerk, Schnitger Organ; Helsingor, Sct. Mariae Kirke, Lorentz-Frietzsch organ; Norden, Ludgeri Kirche, Schnitger Organ; Stockholm, St. Getruds Gemeinde, Gronlunds Organ; Hoogstraten, Sint Katharinakerk, Thomas Organ. Recorded between 2003 and 2006. • various organists – Naxos (7 CDs) – Vol 1, Volker Ellenberger, Lutheran City Church, Bueckeburg, Germany, BuxWV 203, 191, 147, 205, 192, 139, 178, 224, 198, 152, 190, 149, 8.554543 – Vol 2 (Julia Brown, Brombaugh organ, Central Lutheran Church, Eugene, Oregon, USA), BuxWV 137, 199, 221, 207, 208, 164, 212, 197, 174, 160, 75, 223, 153, 8.555775 – Vol 3 (Wolfgang Rubsam, Brombaugh organ, Central Lutheran Church, Eugene, Oregon, USA), BuxWV 146, 180, 182, 159, 184, 185, 218, 183, 161, 186, 142, 8.555991 – Vol 4 (Craig Cramer, Fritts organ, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, USA), BuxWV 140, 208, 200, 193, 171, 141, 177, 181, 168, 143, 189, 211, 217, 169, 202, 187, 155, 8.557195 – Vol 5 (Julia Brown, Pasi organ, St Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha, Nebraska, USA), BuxWV 157, 220, 151, 210, 172, 201, 175, 206, 148, 196, 176, 219, 156, 8.557555 – Vol 6 (Julia Brown, Pasi organ, St Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha, Nebraska, USA), BuxWV 150, 166, 215, 213, 204, 145, 194, 225, 222, 136, 179, 165, 162, 8.570311 – Vol 7 (Julia Brown, Pasi organ, St Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha, Nebraska, USA), BuxWV 158, 138, 188, 173, 214, 147, 249, 195, 245, 144, 154, 170, 163, 8.570312 • Harpsichord music • Huguette Grémy-Chauliac - L'Œuvre pour clavecin (3-CD set - CD 1: BuxWV 249, 236, 229, 235, Suite in G minor, 226, 233, 247; CD 2: BuxWV 241, 244, 242, 232, 227, Suite in D minor, 246, 240, 238, 230; CD 3: BuxWV 237, 243, 245, 234, 228, 248, 250), Solstice (éditeur phonographique) (FYCD035-37) • Lionel Rogg – Bach & Buxtehude on the Pedal Harpsichord (baroquecds.com – BuxWV 137, 146, 149, 153, 160, 161) • Simone Stella – Dieterich Buxtehude – Complete Harpsichord Music (4-CD set – CD 1: BuxWV 248, 240, 237, Ahn. 6, 234, 232, 179, 230, 242, 166; CD 2: BuxWV 247, 241, 228, Suite in a (deest), 243, Suite in d (Ed. Roger 1710), 229, 163; CD 3: BuxWV 246, 235, 249, 239, 226, 168, 244, 231, 165; CD 4: 245, 238, 233, 227, 236, 250), OnClassical (OC51-54Bv) also licensed for Brilliant Classics (94312) • Ton Koopman – Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia series; Vol I, Harpsichord Works 1 (BuxWV 250, 230, 238, 233, 245, 235, 247, 228, 242, 226, 243, 234, 232), Antoine Marchand Records, CC74440 – Vol VI, Harpsichord Works 2 (BuxWV 246, 236, 249, 239, Suite in a (deest), 168, 244, 227, 165, 248, 240, 237, 166, Anh 6, 241, 229), Antoine Marchand Records, CC74445 (complete) • Rinaldo Alessandrini (BuxWV 163, 234, 164, 166, 226, 174, 248, 250) • Lars Ulrik Mortensen (BuxWV 243, 168, 238, 162, 250, 165, 223, 233, 176, 226, 249, 166, 179, 225, 247, 242, 174, 245, 171, 235, 170, 215) • Cantatas • 6 Cantatas (BuxWV 78, 62, 76, 31, 41, 15), Orchestra Anima Eterna & The Royal Consort, Collegium Vocale, Jos van Immerseel – 1994 – Channel Classics, CCS 7895 • Sacred Cantatas (BuxWV 47, 94, 56, 73, 174, 12, 48, 38, 60), Emma Kirkby et al., The Purcell Quartet – 2003 – Chandos Records Ltd, Chan 0691 • Sacred Cantatas Vol. 2 (BuxWV 13, 92, 77, 17, 6, 71, 58, 37, 57), Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartett – 2005 – Chandos Records Ltd, Chan 0723 • Sacred Cantatas (BuxWV 104, 59, 97, 161, 107, 53, 64, 108), Matthew White, Katherine Hill, Paul Grindlay, Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon – 2004 – Naxos 8.557041 • Geistliche Kantaten (Sacred cantatas), Cantus Cölln, Konrad Junghänel, Harmonia Mundi France HMC 901629 • O Gottes Stadt (BuxWV 87), Wo ist doch mein Freund geblieben? (BuxWV 111) and Herr, wenn ich nur dich hab (BuxWV 38), sung by Johannette Zomer and Peter Harvey on "Death and Devotion", Netherlands Bach Society, Jos van Veldhoven, Channel Classics, CCS SA 20804 • Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia, Volume 2, Vocal Works 1, Wacht! Euch zum Streit gefasset macht (Das jüngste Gericht) (BuxWV Anh.3) Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Caroline Stam and Orlanda Velez Isidro (soprano), Robin Blaze (alto), Andreas Karasiak (tenor), Klaus Mertens (bass), Antoine Marchand Records, CC72241 • Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia, Volume 5, Vocal Works 2 (BuxWV 2, 10, 12, 19, 20, 40, 43, 50–52, 64, 70, 81, 110, 113, 114, 120, 123, 124, Anh 1) Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bettina Pahn and Johannette Zomer (soprano), Bogna Bartosz, Patrick Van Goethem and Daniel Taylor (alto), Jörg Dürmüller and Andreas Karasiak (tenor), Donald Pentvelsen, and Klaus Mertens (bass), Antoine Marchand Records, CC72244 • Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia, Volume 7, Vocal Works 3 (BuxWV Anh.4, 7, 24, 25, 41, 47, 62, 63, 68, 72, 77, 79, 116, 119 A, 119 B, 122) Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Miriam Meyer, Bettina Pahn and Johannette Zomer (soprano), Bogna Bartosz, Patrick van Goethem and Hugo Naessens (alto), Jörg Dürmüller and Andreas Karasiak (tenor), Donald Bentvelsen and Klaus Mertens (bass), Antoine Marchand Records, CC72246 • Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia, Volume 11, Vocal Works 4 (BuxWV 33, 56, 26, 71, 86, 11, 27, 8, anh2, 29, 112, 54, 5, 53, 37, 59, 13) Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bettina Pahn, Miriam Meyer, Siri Thornhill, Johannette Zomer (soprano), Patrick van Goethem, Bogna Bartosz (alto), Jörg Dürmüller, Andreas Karasiak (tenor) & Klaus Mertens (bass), Antoine Marchand Records, CC72250 • Membra Jesu Nostri, The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, CORO 16082 • Membra Jesu Nostri, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Fretwork, John Eliot Gardiner, Archiv Produktion 447 298–2 • Membra Jesu Nostri, Netherlands Bach Society, Jos van Veldhoven (cond), vocalists Anne Grimm, Johannette Zomer sopranos, Peter de Groot counter-tenor, Andrew Tortise tenor, Bas Ramselaar bass (the soloists act as the chorus), Channel Classics CCS SA 24006; this SACD also features the Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfarth (BuxWV 76), a series of 2 aria's, sung by Johannette Zomer • Membra Jesu Nostri, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Bis Records CD-871 • Membra Jesu Nostri, Konrad Junghänel, Cantus Cölln, Harmonia Mundi, HMC 901912 ==References==