Amazing pieces of classical music - 41
Diderich Hansen Buxtehude's Toccata in F Major, BuxWV 157, performed by Edward Power Biggs on the magnificent organ of the Gothic Johanniskirche in Lüneburg in 1967. The Renaissance pipe organ of that church in Northern Germany was built in 1553 by the Dutch organ builders Hendrik Niehoff and Jasper Johansen.
The description of the Danish-German Buxtehude (born in Helsingborg, Scania, Denmark–Norway) as the "North German precursor of Bach" is well-known, but it's twice a misnomer. It was J.S. Bach who was oh so deeply inspired by the Danish Buxtehude's own organ playing. The many magnificent toccata movements with virtuoso scale figures still demonstrate this.
It’s ironic that the world’s greatest composer of organ music never had at his disposal an instrument that he considered first-rate. A lot of his work was even eventually lost; the surviving Jubilate Domino being probably his most well-known cantata. The great composer and organist died at the age of 70 in 1707, some nine years into his last post at the Marienkirche, Lübeck.
In 1705 a twenty year old Bach walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck (a distance of more than 250 miles) and stayed nearly three months to hear the so-called Abendmusiken (Evening Concerts), meet the pre-eminent Lübeck organist and hear him play. A very innovative Buxtehude established there concerts on the five Sundays preceding Christmas. Starting this Sunday in the liturgical year.
The best part of Buxtehude organ works are the Preludes and Fugues, the Passacaglia and the two Chacones. His cantata cycle 'Membra Jesu nostri' is an odd, totally unique, and strangely compelling work. Conceived around the idea of an observer contemplating various parts of Christ’s crucified body, the seven cantatas are based on texts from a medieval Latin hymn, “Salve mundi salutare”.
Incidentally, triads and chord repetitions form an extremely charming fugue-like central section in this chosen piece. The revival of organ playing during the last century is largely due to the efforts of Power Biggs, a fact evidenced by the rediscovery of the latest 18th-century technology, particularly in the United States
[media=https://youtu.be/p7D4LxqngWM]
The description of the Danish-German Buxtehude (born in Helsingborg, Scania, Denmark–Norway) as the "North German precursor of Bach" is well-known, but it's twice a misnomer. It was J.S. Bach who was oh so deeply inspired by the Danish Buxtehude's own organ playing. The many magnificent toccata movements with virtuoso scale figures still demonstrate this.
It’s ironic that the world’s greatest composer of organ music never had at his disposal an instrument that he considered first-rate. A lot of his work was even eventually lost; the surviving Jubilate Domino being probably his most well-known cantata. The great composer and organist died at the age of 70 in 1707, some nine years into his last post at the Marienkirche, Lübeck.
In 1705 a twenty year old Bach walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck (a distance of more than 250 miles) and stayed nearly three months to hear the so-called Abendmusiken (Evening Concerts), meet the pre-eminent Lübeck organist and hear him play. A very innovative Buxtehude established there concerts on the five Sundays preceding Christmas. Starting this Sunday in the liturgical year.
The best part of Buxtehude organ works are the Preludes and Fugues, the Passacaglia and the two Chacones. His cantata cycle 'Membra Jesu nostri' is an odd, totally unique, and strangely compelling work. Conceived around the idea of an observer contemplating various parts of Christ’s crucified body, the seven cantatas are based on texts from a medieval Latin hymn, “Salve mundi salutare”.
Incidentally, triads and chord repetitions form an extremely charming fugue-like central section in this chosen piece. The revival of organ playing during the last century is largely due to the efforts of Power Biggs, a fact evidenced by the rediscovery of the latest 18th-century technology, particularly in the United States
[media=https://youtu.be/p7D4LxqngWM]
