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Dieterich Buxtehude (''Dietrich'', ''Diderich'') (ca. 1637 – May 9 , 1707 ) was a German-Danish Organist and a highly regarded composer of the Baroque period. His organ works comprise a central part of the standard Organ Repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and church services. He wrote in a wide variety of vocal and instrumental idioms, and his style strongly influenced many composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach . Organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck for most of his life, Buxtehude is considered today to be the leading German composer in the time between Heinrich Schütz and Bach. Life Early years in Denmark He was born with the name Diderik Buxtehude. Scholars dispute both the year and country of his birth, although most now accept it taking place in 1637 in Helsingborg , Skåne , at the time part of Denmark . His obituary, in the 1707 ''Nova literaria Maris Balthici'', stated that "he recognized Denmark as his native country, whence he came to our region; he lived about 70 years". Others, however, claim that he was born at Oldesloe in the Duchy of Holstein , (now Germany ), which at that time was a part of the Danish Monarchy. Later in his life he Germanized his name and began signing documents '''Dieterich Buxtehude'''. Lübeck: City life Lübeck: Marienkirche He was an organist, first in Helsingborg ( 1657 - 1658 ), then at Elsinore ( 1660 - 1668 ), and last from 1668 at the Marienkirche in Lübeck . His post in the free Imperial city of Lübeck afforded him considerable latitude in his musical career and his autonomy was a model for the careers of later Baroque masters such as George Frideric Handel , Johann Mattheson , Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach . In 1673 he organized a series of evening musical performances known as Abendmusik , which attracted musicians from divers parts and remained a feature of the church until 1810. In 1705 , Bach traveled 200 Mile s on foot from Arnstadt to hear the Abendmusik, meet the pre-eminent Lübeck organist, and hear him play. Buxtehude was old, and ready to retire, by the time he met both Bach and Handel. He was deeply impressed by the skills of both men to the extent that he offered his position in Lübeck to both Bach and Handel. But a condition of the post was that the organist who ascended to it must marry his eldest daughter, Anna Margareta. Both Bach and Handel turned the offer down. Unfortunately, many of Buxtehude's musical works have been lost. The Libretto s for his Oratorio s, for example, survive, but none of their scores have survived, which is particularly unfortunate, because his German oratorios seem to be the model for later works by Bach and Telemann. Bach's collection of seminal works preserved some of Buxtehude's organ masterpieces, though, and the publication of two volumes of Buxtehude's chamber Sonatas during his lifetime facilitated their transmission through the years. Additionally, a number of his Cantata s, also used by other composers as models, have survived. Influence and legacy Keyboard works Buxtehude's most often performed music is his organ works. He wrote in several genres, with most of his keyboard output in the form of praeludia and chorale settings. Buxtehude is believed to have written in a form of notation called Organ Tablature . These manuscripts are all lost, leaving early transcriptions to standard notation as the best available sources. Praeludia Chorale settings Other genres ''Stylus phantasticus'' and rhetoric Several musicologists, most notably Sharon Lee Gorman, have made an argument for the use of Rhetoric in Buxtehude's works, in both the organ praeludia and chorales, such as ''Nun freut euch''. Interspersion of free, improvisatory sections with tightly controlled short fugues follows closely the classical model of rhetoric as set down by Quintilian . However, Buxtehude never indicated that he was consciously following the rules of rhetoric, making research into this matter consist largely of speculation. The rules of rhetoric may simply have coincided with Buxtehude's musical goals for the ''stylus phantasticus''. Vocal works Sacred Secular Other instrumental music References Further reading
: The most comprehensive life-and-works study of Buxtehude; this book is considered to be the definitive biography by most musicologists. Contains an extensive, valuable bibliography. Written for both the casual reader as well as the serious scholar. : Per usual for articles in ''The New Grove'', this one contains a bibliography, a complete works and sources list, and a concise but informative summary of Buxtehude's life and works.
: An in-depth study of the presence of rhetorical argument in Buxtehude's music.
: Analysis of Buxtehude's organ praeludia; a significant study.
: A collection of essays on a wide variety of topics concerning Buxtehude.
: A study of the sources of Buxtehude's free organ works, along with a suggested chronology. Complete works list Buxtehude's music is catalogued according to Georg Karstädt's ''Buxtehude-Werke-Verzeichnis'' (BuxWV), which contains 275 individual pieces and an additional 13 in the supplement. See List Of Compositions By Dieterich Buxtehude for details. Editions External links
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