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 Praeludium in C major is a classic seven-section
Buxtehude praeludium, consisting of four toccata-like
free sections alternating with three fugal imitative
sections. The opening free section is the longest of
the toccata-like sections, and the interior free
sections grow out of the fugues as if the strict
imitative counterpoint is decaying into a free chaos
that eventually makes some sort of brief riot before
another fugue starts again. In this praeludium each of
the fugue subjects is thematically related. Each one
begins on G', ascends to A', and then drops down to E'.
The second fugue embellishes the basic scaffolding of
the first fugue with added sixteenth notes, the third
fugue embellishes the first with added triplets. For
the most part the fugues are in four-voice
counterpoint; however, the last fugue also includes a
brief moment of five-voice polyphony.
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of the Prelude (w/3 Fugues) in C Major
(BuxWV 136) for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
