Westfleth 15 buxtehude biography

The hypothesis advanced by Pedersen and by Stahl that he could be identified with a German schoolmaster named Johannes, present in Oldesloe in , and that Dieterich was therefore born in Oldesloe, appears questionable in the light of a review of the archives there. The death notice does not exclude Oldesloe as a birthplace, however, since Holstein was under Danish control at the time.

In or Johannes moved across the sound to Elsinore, Denmark, to become organist of the St Olai Kirke, a position he held until his retirement in A son, Peiter, was born there to him and his wife, Helle Jespers Daater, in ; it is unknown whether Helle was also the mother of Dieterich. There were two daughters in the family, Anna and Cathrine, both presumably older than Dieterich.

Dieterich Buxtehude most likely attended the Latin School at Elsinore and received his music education from his father. In terms of structure, Buxtehude's fugues are series of expositions, with non-thematic material appearing quite rarely, if ever. There is some variation, however, in the way they are constructed: in the first and last fugues of BuxWV the second voice does not state the subject as in enters during the initial exposition; in BuxWV the second exposition uses the subject in its inverted form, etc.

Fugue subjects of a particular prelude may be related as in Froberger 's and Frescobaldi 's ricercars and canzonas BuxWV , , etc. The fugal procedure dissolves at the end of the fugue when it is followed by a free section, as seen in Example Buxtehude's other pieces that employ free writing or sectional structure include works titled toccata , praeambulum , etc.

A well-known piece is BuxWV , in the rare key of F-sharp minor; it is believed that this prelude was written by Buxtehude especially for himself and his organ, and that he had an own way of tuning the instrument to allow for the tonality rarely used because of meantone temperament. There are over 40 surviving chorale settings by Buxtehude, and they constitute the most important contributions to the genre in the 17th century.

Buxtehude's principal contributions to the organ chorale are his 30 short chorale preludes. The chorale preludes are usually four-part cantus firmus settings of one stanza of the chorale; the melody is presented in an elaborately ornamented version in the upper voice, the three lower parts engage in some form of counterpoint not necessarily imitative.

The ornamented cantus firmus in these pieces represents a significant difference between the north German and the south German schools ; Pachelbel and his pupils would almost always leave the chorale melody unornamented. The chorale fantasias a modern term are large-scale virtuosic sectional compositions that cover a whole strophe of the text and are somewhat similar to chorale concertos in their treatment of the text: each verse is developed separately, allowing for technically and emotionally contrasting sections within one composition.

Buxtehude was careful with correct word setting, paying particular attention to emphasis and interpretation. Buxtehude's chorale variations are usually in two or three voices. They consist of around 3—4 variations of which only one may use the pedal. There are only a few chorale variations, and there are no distinctive qualities that characterize them.

The pieces that do not fall into any of the three types are Auf meinen lieben Gott BuxWV , which is, quite unusually for the time, a dance suite based on the chorale, and the ones based on the chant Magnificats BuxWV and Te Deum laudamus , BuxWV , which are structurally similar to chorale fantasias. The three ostinato bass works Buxtehude composed—two chaconnes BuxWV — and a passacaglia BuxWV — not only represent, along with Pachelbel's six organ chaconnes, a shift from the traditional chaconne style, but are also the first truly developed north German contributions to the development of the genre.

The pieces feature numerous connected sections, with many suspensions, changing meters, and even real modulation in which the ostinato pattern is transposed into another key. Some of the praeludia also make use of ostinato models. The praeludium in C major, BuxWV , begins with a lengthy and expressive pedal solo and concludes not with a postlude of arpeggios and scale runs, but with a fully legitimate if somewhat short chaconne built over a fairly complex three-bar ostinato pattern in the pedal:.

The praeludium in G minor, BuxWV , in which the ostinato pattern is derived from the subject of one of the fugal sections, also ends in a chaconne. In addition, another praeludium in G minor, BuxWV , employs a repeating bass pattern in the beginning. The rest of Buxtehude's keyboard music does not employ pedals. Of the organ works, a few keyboard canzonas are the only strictly contrapuntal pieces in Buxtehude's oeuvre and were probably composed with teaching purposes in mind [ 3 ] There are also three pieces labelled fugues : only the first, BuxWV , is a real fugue.

BuxWV is more of a canzona two sections, both fugal and on the same subject , while BuxWV is more like a typical Buxtehude prelude, only beginning with a fugue rather than an improvisatory section, and for manuals only. The praeludium in G minor, BuxWV , in which the ostinato pattern is derived from the subject of one of the fugal sections, also ends in a chaconne.

In addition, another praeludium in G minor, BuxWV , employs a repeating bass pattern in the beginning. The rest of Buxtehude's keyboard music does not employ pedals. Of the organ works, a few keyboard canzonas are the only strictly contrapuntal pieces in Buxtehude's oeuvre and were probably composed with teaching purposes in mind. BuxWV is more of a canzona two sections, both fugal and on the same subject , while BuxWV is more like a typical Buxtehude prelude, only beginning with a fugue rather than an improvisatory section, and for manuals only.

There are also 19 harpsichord suites and several variation sets. The suites follow the standard model Allemande — Sarabande — Courante — Gigue , sometimes excluding a movement and sometimes adding a second sarabande or a couple of doubles. The gigues employ basic imitative counterpoint but never go as far as the gigue fugues in the chorale fantasias or the fugal writing seen in organ preludes.

It may be that the more developed harpsichord writing by Buxtehude simply did not survive: in his writings, Johann Mattheson mentioned a cycle of seven suites by Buxtehude, depicting the nature of planets, but these pieces are lost. The several sets of arias with variations are much more developed than the organ chorale variations. BuxWV La Capricciosa may have inspired Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV both have 32 variations including the two arias of the Goldberg Variations ; there are a number of similarities in the structure of individual movements; both include variations in forms of various dances; both are in G major; and Bach was familiar with Buxtehude's work and admired him, as has been related above.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history.

Westfleth 15 buxtehude biography

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Danish-German organist and composer — The only surviving portrait of Buxtehude, playing a viol , from Musical Company by Johannes Voorhout Helsingborg , Scania , Denmark—Norway. Composer organist. Life [ edit ]. Early years in Denmark [ edit ].

Influence and legacy [ edit ]. Works [ edit ]. Main article: List of compositions by Dieterich Buxtehude. General introduction [ edit ]. Keyboard works [ edit ]. Preludes and toccatas [ edit ]. Chorale settings [ edit ]. Ostinato works [ edit ]. Other keyboard works [ edit ]. Recordings [ edit ]. Available media [ edit ]. Was frag ich nach der Welt BuxWV Variations on an Aria by Lully Rofilis.

Toccata in F BuxWV Cantate Domino BuxWV Ciaconna in E-moll BuxWV Problems playing these files? See media help. References [ edit ]. His obituary, in the 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.