Dietrich Buxtehude is probably most familiar to modern
classical music audiences as the man who inspired the
young Johann Sebastian Bach to make a lengthy
pilgrimage to Lubeck, Buxtehude's place of employment
and residence for most of his life, just to hear
Buxtehude play the organ. But Buxtehude was a major
figure among German Baroque composers in his own right.
Though we do not have copies of much of the work that
most impressed his contemporaries, Buxtehude
nonetheless left behind a body of v...(+)
Dietrich Buxtehude is probably most familiar to modern
classical music audiences as the man who inspired the
young Johann Sebastian Bach to make a lengthy
pilgrimage to Lubeck, Buxtehude's place of employment
and residence for most of his life, just to hear
Buxtehude play the organ. But Buxtehude was a major
figure among German Baroque composers in his own right.
Though we do not have copies of much of the work that
most impressed his contemporaries, Buxtehude
nonetheless left behind a body of vocal and
instrumental music which is distinguished by its
contrapuntal skill, devotional atmosphere, and raw
intensity. He helped develop the form of the church
cantata, later perfected by Bach, and he was just as
famous a virtuoso on the organ.
This is another of Buxtehude's chorale preludes with
the embellished chorale melody in the soprano. The
chorale deals with the subject of hypocrisy. The first
verse reads as follows, "The unwise tongue speaks
plenty, "We mean to belong to the righteous God." But
their heart is full of disbelief, and they deny him in
their deeds. Their existence is corrupted, and it is an
abomination before God, and doesn't achieve any good
for anybody." The embellishment of the chorale is
fairly active in this piece often lapsing into
continuous sixteenth notes. It is also curious in the
first half of the chorale how often the pedal stays out
of the texture.
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of the Choral Prelude: "Es spricht der
unweisen Mund wohl" (BuxWV 187) for Violin & Piano
using the Violin SoundFont provided by Arianna
Cunningham.
SHEET MUSIC