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 chorale prelude sets the Lutheran chorale "Es ist
das Heil uns kommen her." The chorale originated in the
1520s and it clarifies the Lutheran doctrine of the
relationship between faith and works in receiving
forgiveness and salvation from Jesus Christ. The first
verse reads as follows, "Salvation comes to us through
mercy and true goodness; Works they don't really help
us, they cannot protect us. Faith pulls in Jesus
Christ, who has done enough for us already, he has
become our mediator." The other verse of the hymn
explain the Martin Luther's doctrine, that mankind
cannot avoid sin, sin brings man under condemnation
from God. Jesus Christ paid for this debt of sin, and
mankind can receive forgiveness through faith in Jesus
Christ. The chorale also posits that faith also lies at
the root of all good works and encourages the believer
to develop faith rather than obsessing about doing good
deeds.
Buxtehude places the chorale melody in the soprano
range, and uses some fairly elaborate ornamentation.
The music of the first two phrases of the chorale is
repeated with a different text, a common pattern in
Lutheran chorales, and Buxtehude subjects the repeated
music to more elaborate ornamentation the second time
around.
PARTITION