Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas

Description

Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)Sacred CantatasAt the time of his death on 9th May 1707 DieterichBuxtehude was said to be about seventy years old. Wecan, therefore, estimate his birth date as 1637. Hisfather, Johannes, was an organist and held positions atSt Mary's Church in Helsingborg, and later in St Olai innearby Helsing?©r. It is likely that Dieterich was born inthe Danish town of Helsingborg, now part of Sweden.Although we have little information about his training, itis probable that he studied the organ with his father, andit is mainly as a composer of organ works that he isremembered today. His skills as a performer, however,were widely known, a fact exemplified by the youngJohann Sebastian Bach, who in 1707 walked 260 milesto hear Buxtehude play \in order to comprehend onething and another about his art.Dietrich Buxtehude was still a young man when, in1657 or 1658, he took on his father's former position asorganist at St Mary's Church in Helsingborg. In October1660, again like his father, he moved to Helsing?©r tobecome organist at St Mary's Church there. In this laterpost his responsibilities included writing instrumentaland vocal music. This would have given him the trainingto consider the position of organist and Werkmeister atSt Mary's in L??beck, a position that had become vacanton the death of the organist Franz Tunder, who, as wellas being Buxtehude's father-in-law, may also have beenone of his teachers. Buxtehude applied for the place andwas successful.Buxtehude's new position in L??beck was prestigiousand highly paid. The position of Werkmeister wasadministrative and also included responsibility astreasurer of the church. For the next 35 years he madeSt Mary's the centre of his musical life. He clearlyrelished the opportunity to continue the performingtraditions established by Franz Tunder. As well asplaying during the services, he gave concerts on thelarge organ, and regularly performed with a violinist andlutenist. (Buxtehude's only major publication in hislifetime were two collections of violin sonatas.) He alsoinaugurated a series of concerts called Abendmusiken,which gave him the opportunity to present concerts ofhis larger scale vocal and instrumental compositions.In 1703 Buxtehude began to look for a successor.He was 66 and had three unmarried daughters, andfollowing current practice he wanted to make as acondition of acceptance of the position that thesuccessful candidate would also marry his eldestdaughter Anna Margreta, then aged 28. Two eminentand famous composers, Johann Mattheson and GeorgFrederich Handel, who were both in the employ of theOpera in Hamburg, travelled together to be interviewedfor the position. Apparently they listened to Buxtehude"with dignified attention". Their swift return toHamburg the next day is witness to the fact that theywere not impressed with the marriage conditionsinvolved in the appointment.The greatest portion of Buxtehude's music is largerscale sacred cantatas written for St Mary's, L?