An Ambitious Concertmaster

Donald Macleod explores Buxtehude’s “Abendmusiken” concerts, devised to entertain Lübeck’s population.

Dietrich Buxtehude was a musical star in his own time, a legendary organist and composer who Johann Sebastian Bach walked almost 300 miles just to meet and learn from. Yet, the facts of Buxtehude’s own story are far from straightforward. Doubts remain over so many details in the composer’s life. We can’t even be sure when or where he was born, leading to three different countries claiming him as their own, and for a musician who perhaps above all was famed for his organ music, it is remarkable that not one single organ piece by him was published in his lifetime. In this Composer of the Week series, Donald Macleod pieces together what we do know about Buxtehude - the pre-eminent European composer before Bach, and finds a multifaceted personality and ground-breaking musician who worked his way across Europe via three different churches dedicated to St Mary, and who – once he settled in Lübeck - acted as a kind of centre of gravity for other musicians of his age.

In Thursday’s programme, Donald explores the strict class system which regulated Lübeck society, and Buxtehude’s place within it. He also discovers the series of “Abendmusiken” concerts devised to entertain the public that Buxtehude would turn into a phenomenon.

Membra Jesu Nostri, BuxWV 75 - Ad Faciem "Illustra faciem tuam"
Jone Martínez, soprano
Lucía Gómez, soprano
Jesús García Aréjula, bass
Conductus Ensemble
Andoni Sierra, conductor

Chorale “Nun lob meine Seele den Herren”, BuxWV 213
René Saorgin, organ

Wie Wird erneuert, wie wird erfreuet, BuxWV 110 (Incl. Trumpets!!)
Musica Fiata
La Capella Ducale
Roland Wilson, conductor

Auf, Saiten, auf!, BuxWV 115
Gerlinde Samann, soprano
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Chorus
Ton Koopman, conductor

Wacht! Euch zum streit, 'Das jüngste Gericht'
Musica Fiata
La Capella Ducale
Roland Wilson, conductor

Schwinget euch himmelan, BuxWV 96
Amaryllis Dieltiens, soprano
Gerlinde Sämann, soprano
Maarten Engeltjes, alto
Tilman Lichdi, tenor
Klaus Mertens, bass
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Ton Koopman, conductor

Produced by Sam Phillips