The man in my avatar: Dieterich Buxtehude (1637/39–1707)

This is absolutely divine. Ensemble Fantasticus -- Rie Kimura (baroque violin), Robert Smith (viola da gamba) and Guillermo Brachetta (harpsichord) -- perform Buxte's Sonata a 2 (BuxWV 272):

As if Buxtehude's music isn't demanding enough! Well, if they can function this well wearing face coverings, we all can.

This is his Trio Sonata No. 3 in G minor (Op. 2), performed by Rebecca Nelson (baroque violin), Sydney ZumMallen (viola da gamba), Joshua Stauffer (theorbo) and David Belkovksi (harpsichord):

I. Vivace. Lento
II. Allegro. Lento
III. Andante
IV. Grave
V. Gigue

I was listening to my Dutch religious music programme this morning and they played a Baroque vocal work that gave me a great sense of warmth, the kind of warmth I felt at the height of my Beach Boys infatuation. When it was over, they confirmed my suspicions as to its composer: yes, of course -- it was the man in my avatar.

The gorgeous voice came courtesy of the soprano Maïlys de Villoutreys (a new name to me) and the accompanying ensemble was La Rêveuse. It was another piece from the album that produced this one, Herr, wenn ich nur dich hab (BuxWV 38). This is for JH, who gave me the initial push that propelled me down the Baroque trail: 



www.mailysdevilloutreys.fr/about

Tine to revive this fine topic -- and there's a good reason for it.

Well, I've always wanted to own what is regarded as the definitive book about Herr B by Kerala J. Snyder:

books.google.nl/books?id=qSXGOoambNcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=buxtehude&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix4rLt_tDoAhXB2KQKHTZICx0Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

But it wasn't cheap. So at my suggestion my wonderful family clubbed together and bought it for me for my birthday earlier in the month. (I fear I missed filledeplage 's birthday announcement at the time, for which my sincere apologies. I'm pathologically attached to my comfort zone these days.) Anyway, I'd borrowed the Buxtehude book from the local university library a year or two ago and decided I needed to have it in my possession. And now I do.

One of Buxte's principal influences in his early years as an organist and composer was Heinrich Scheidemann (c. 1595–1663). Scheidemann was a favoured pupil of the Netherlands' greatest composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621). I thought there was a Sweelinck connection there somewhere and now I know for sure.

This is Scheidemann’s festive "Galliarda & Variatio in D" played by Laurens de Man on the organ (completed 1651 by Theodorus Faber) of the Jacobuskerk at Zeerijp, in the far northeast of NL. I dedicate it to JH, who succeeded in getting me interested in the fascinating world of Baroque music (a genre the musical snob in me had always sneered at).    



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Scheidemann

And now this…

The fact that organs need tuning has raised enormous problems of intonation over the centuries. Today I read in Kerala J. Snyder's fascinating biography of Buxtehude (aided by several hours of online sleuthing) that one Harald Vogel constructed a "modified meantone temperament" for the restoration, led by Fritz Schild in the late 1970s, early 1980s of the organ (built 1650 by Kröger and Hus) of the St Laurentius Church in Langwarden, 60 miles west of Hamburg. Vogel's tuning was based partly on a 1618 description by Michael Praetorius and partly on some existing pipe lengths in the organ. KJS reports that its D# and Ab are marginally usable but one interval of a fifth (the "wolf fifth", pitches unknown) is woefully out of tune, an inevitable consequence of most meantone temperaments. Of importance to this thread is KJS's remark that Vogel recorded three works by Buxtehude on this organ, BuxWV 146, 182, and 246.

This is Harald Vogel playing one such piece on the Langwarden organ. Note that the work in question, a Prelude in G Major, is BuxWV 147 and not 146 (the Discogs link below only makes things worse). Detective work can be frustrating at times! 



www.discogs.com/release/19628419-Dietrich-Buxtehude-Harald-Vogel-Orgelwerke-Vol5

Buxtehude hardly travelled at all after moving to Lübeck in 1668, except for trips to Hamburg, where he met that city's foremost musicians, most notably the organist and composer Johann Reincken (more about him another time) and Christoph Bernhard. To quote KJS (p. 109):

"Buxtehude came to know Christoph Bernhard — or at any rate an obscure piece of his music — no later than 1671, the year Buxtehude composed the two elegantly constructed counterpoints on the chorale "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" (BuxWV 76-1) in memory of the Lübeck superintendent Meno Hanneken. Buxtehude undoubtedly modeled this piece on a similar work of invertible counterpoint by Bernhard, Prudentia prudentiana, which Bernhard had composed as a consolation to Rudolf Capell, his colleague at the Johanneum [Hamburg's Latin school and gymnasium], and had published in 1669. The striking resemblance between these two works is discussed in chapter 6. Bernhard's well-known treatise on composition, 'Tractatus compositionis augmentatus' (ca. 1660), contains an appendix on invertible counterpoint, but it was Bernhard's composition rather than his treatise that inspired Buxtehude."

Bernhard's Prudentia prudentiana is unavailable on YouTube so instead this is his Missa "Durch Adams Fall", performed by the Vаncouvеr Chamber Choir under their conductor Jοn Wаshburn (go to YouTube for a wealth of information about Bernhard):



"Mit Fried und Freund" (BuxWV 76-1), the piece Buxte clearly modelled on Prudentia, is played here by Marie-Ange Leurent and Eric Lebrun:

Here’s a brief divertimento for you: the painting featuring Buxtehude in the previous post "reveals a pleasure-loving facet of his personality that was almost unknown before this painting came to light in 1975. He had given a hint, however, that pleasure was to be found in Lübeck as well as Hamburg -- in the text of the canon he wrote for the young Meno Hanneken in 1670: 'Let us divert ourselves today, let us drink to the health of my friend' (BuxWV 124)."

Divertissons nous aujourd'hui is performed here by members of the Amsterdam Baroque Choir. You can almost hear the beer sloshing in their glasses as they sing:

This is a mess -- only this time I'm not even going to start trying to make any sense of it. To begin with, this work has two titles, Wacht! Euch Zum Streit Gefasset Macht and Das Jüngste Gericht -- take your pick. It has been touted by many as the only extant work by Buxtehude from his contribution to the celebrated Abendmusik series of concerts given at St Mary's Church (Marienkirche) in Lübeck, but also rejected by as many as not being by Buxtehude at all. KJS's book is itself a source of conflicting evidence on the matter.

Throwing all caution to the wind, Dutch keyboardist and Baroque music hero Ton Koopman has reconstructed the work in 85 (!) sections with The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and some key European vocal soloists (see link below). This is the first track on the second CD, the aria "Weg mit allen irdschen Schätzen", described as a tutti with soloists, in this case the sopranos Caroline Stam and Johannette Zomer and the bass-baritone Klaus Mertens, with TK manning the organ:



www.challengerecords.com/external/store/index.php?p=detail&s=1166022848150

I'm now back to reading my Buxtehude book, so you can expect some related posts from time to time. (Any additional information I may throw in is more for completeness' sake, and to try to get as much data on the subject in question in one place.)

On page 182 the author, Kerala J. Snyder, describes Schwingel euch himmelan (BuxWV 96) as a "hymn to the glory of Lübeck" -- it's Buxtehude's only choral work dedicated to that or any other city. (I've also seen it described as a Sacred Cantata for New Year's Day.) It's played here by the indefatigable Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra:



"Each of its eight versus consists of one of two recurring musical settings, producing the form AAABABAB. The A sections are completely aria-like: scored for one or three voices and continuo, in homophonic texture, with regular phrases reflecting the poetic lines, and followed by a ritornello.

"The B sections are more concerto-like, contrasting tutti portions in block homophony with phrases for solo voices and with instrumental interjections. This aria, entirely in 6/4 meter, concludes with an Amen section over an ostinato bass."

[Source]

(Five of the strophes can be found, also in translation, on page 66 of the above source.)

Its nine sections are as follows:

1. Sonata (no title): 3 baroque violins with violone [double bass viol] and organ continuo in all nine sections
2. Aria: Schwinget euch himmelan (solo tenor)
3. Trio: Laufen die Jahre zum endlichen Ende (soli: 2 sopranos and 1 bass)
4. Trio: Sehet, wie träufeln die Himmel von oben (soli: soprano, alto and tenor)
5. Tutti: Wütet, ihr Feinde, ihr rasenden Scharen (SSATB choir)
6. Aria: Bleibe, o Vater (solo tenor)
7. Tutti: Lasse die Obrigkeit glücklich regieren! (SSATB choir)
8. Trio: Häufe das Käufen mit reichlichem Segen (soli: 2 sopranos and 1 bass)
9. Tutti: Treibe ganz ferne des Krieges Getümmel! (SSATB choir)

[Source]

On our way south to take the shuttle to the UK, Belgian classical radio played Buxtehude's cantata Gen Himmel zu dem Vater mein (BuxWV 32). I later identified the performers as Greta de Reyghere (soprano) and the Ricercar Consort, in the version I've linked below.

Kerala S has only a little to say about it, describing it as a "true concerto" for soprano voice, violin and viola da gamba in its role as virtuoso instrument and that it is associated with the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven.

You can find the German texts here by clicking on the five aria titles.

"[One] of the finest examples of the late sacred concerto [is] the dramatic Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit, an intense and expressive setting of the passion theme which is remarkable for its stark dynamic contrasts and rests." This quote comes from the back cover of the album (see below) that yielded today's Buxtehude piece. It is scored for soprano solo, bass solo, mixed choir (SSATB), 2 violins, 2 violas da gamba, violone/bassoon and [keyboard] continuo. Once again the relevant pages in Kerala J. Snyder's book are missing in the online review! However, in the booklet accompanying this recording, she has this to say:

"The dramatic nature of Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit, BuxWV 31, is apparent from the first measures of the opening Sinfonia, with its stark dynamic contrasts and abrupt rests. Two sections for solo voice carry the main burden of the text of this sacred concerto, the bass in concertato style with the full corpus of instruments and the soprano in a dramatic recitative accompanied by gambas, whose parts are marked 'tremulo' for an especially expressive effect. Buxtehude dramatically renders the response of the community to Isaiah's suffering servant by lifting one line of text, 'Yet we esteemed him as one who was afflicted…,' and repeating it in rondo fashion and in ever-increasing intensity, from duet, to trio, to the entire ensemble. The close imitative counterpoint of the tutti refrain and of the final phrase, 'and with his wounds we are healed,' contrasts strongly with the block homophony to the words 'that we might have peace.' This remarkable work, one of the finest examples of the late sacred concerto, is preserved in Buxtehude's only surviving autograph manuscript score in the Düben Collection at Uppsala. In its intense and expressive setting of the passion theme it is reminiscent of the cantata cycle Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75, which Buxtehude dedicated to Gustav Düben in 1680." (KJS, 2001)

Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit is performed here by Johan Reuter (bass) and an as yet unidentified soprano, with the Dufay Collective and the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir conducted by Ebbe Munk:



www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.570494

Reading the library copy of Kerala Snyder's brilliant book three years ago (as originally reported at Smiley), I noticed that Schlagt, Künstler, die Pauken und Saiten (BuxWV 122), a cantata for the wedding of one Joachim von Dalen (Lübeck, 1681), is the only extant work of his that calls for two timpani. You can hear them in the opening seconds: