Release Date: 10 January 2005
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313224920
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BUXTEHUDE
Description
Dietrich Buxtehude (c.1637-1707): Complete Chamber Music 2Seven Trio Sonatas, Op. 2In 1668, when Buxtehude was about thirty years of age(neither the date nor the place of his birth are known), hewas appointed to the coveted post of organist at St Mary'sChurch in the free Hanseatic city of Lubeck on the Balticcoast of Germany. Up to that time the whole of hisupbringing, education, and musical career had taken placewithin the boundaries of the kingdom of Denmark. Hisfather had left the little town of Oldesloe in the duchy ofHolstein to serve as organist in Halsingborg, and fromthere he moved at the beginning of the 1640s toHelsingor; it was in those two cities on opposite sides ofthe Oresund that the younger Buxtehude took his firststeps as a professional organist, ultimately beingappointed in 1660 by the German congregation of StMary's in Helsingor. His early musical horizons,however, were not restricted to the immediate locality inwhich he lived: only forty kilometres south of Helsingorlay the Danish capital of Copenhagen, with its flourishingmusical environment both ecclesiastical and secular, andBuxtehude must have been familiar with developmentsthere. In the 1660s the Danish royal chapel was under thedirection of Kaspar Forster the Younger, and the organistsof the six churches in the city attracted pupils from allover Europe, including, for example, Johann Lorentz theYounger, who probably taught Buxtehude, and gavepublic recitals to large audiences in the church of StNicholas.Buxtehude's new position in Lubeck far exceeded StMary's, Helsingor, in both prestige and remuneration.Here he found a musical culture not far behind that ofCopenhagen; even courtly music was within his reach, fornot far away lay the palace of the Duke of Gottorp. StMary's, Lubeck, was the most important church in thecity by virtue of its status as the official place of worshipof the city council, and in the next forty years, until hisdeath in 1707, Buxtehude was to practice a range ofmusical activities there that went far beyond hisobligations as organist and book-keeper (Werkmeister).While the Kantor of the church bore the mainresponsibility for the musical establishment, and inparticular for directing the choir, the organist had to playat services and on important feasts and holidays, but therewas also a vigorous tradition of secular music, and themunicipal musicians, the so-called Ratsmusik, forged aclose link between ecclesiastical and municipal music.The Ratsmusik in Buxtehude's time comprised sevenhighly qualified musicians, retained, like the organisthimself, directly by the Senate. Their duties includedplaying in church when instruments were required there,as well as appearing at public and private functions at thecommand of the Senate and citizenry. The string playershad particularly proud traditions going back to thebeginning of the century; the violin and gamba virtuosi ofLubeck and Hamburg were famed throughout Europe.Not far from Lubeck lay Hamburg, a major
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
