The Legacy of Dietrich Buxtehude
Both Bach and Handel Learned From the North German Organ Master
Dec 13, 2008
In the earliest years of the18th century, the art of playing the organ was nearing its zenith. Men like J.S. Bach, who would come to exemplify the most profound flowering of this art, were drawn to the north German city of Lübeck to hear perhaps the most famous organist in Europe play at the magnificent Marien-Kirche.
Though a number of cities have called him their son, research supports the claim of Hälsingborg in Sweden as Buxtehude's birthplace. At the time however, Hälsingborg belonged to Denmark, so for this reason Buxtehude was often called 'the Great Dane,' a nickname which' has stuck throughout the intervening centuries.
Bach and Handel visit Buxtehude
in 1703 when he had been settled in his lucrative position at Lubeck for some decades, the maestro received a pair of visitors: the famous young virtuoso Georg Frederick Handel, and his friend Johann Mathesson. The occasion was much celebrated: despite being a mere eighteen years old, Handel was already known as a spectacular performer. Mathesson himself was no slouch, and would later go on to become one of the first true 'music critics' as we understand the term today.
The situation was very different two years later when Bach visited. Though a virtuoso whose performing genius exceeded even that of Handel, Bach was employed as organist at a rather unimportant post in provincial Arnstadt. He took about a month's leave to make the long journey north to Lubeck in hopes of hearing Buxtehude play at one of the famous Abendmusiken ('Evening Music') concerts which drew music lovers from all over Europe.
Buxtehude's Legacy
Bach arrived without any fanfare, tattered and travel worn. The particulars of what passed betwen Bach and Buxtehude are not known. What is a matter of history is that Bach stayed two to three months in Lubeck and when he returned, he had learned and absorbed various techniques and styles from the master. Bach biographer Albert Schweitzer noted the similarities between Bach's and Buxtehude's treatment of the chorale prelude to Ein Feste Burg. [1]
Buxtehude died in 1707, and passed the post on to Johann Schiefferdecker, after offering the post to Handel (and presumably Bach), who refused because accepting this most lucrative of organists positions also entailed marrying Buxtehude's daughter, who was quite a bit older than either of them.
Buxtehude's legacy lives on, then, by its influence on the music of J.S. Bach, who is almost certainly the greatest organist who ever lived. Buxtehude's music is still enjoyed in its own right as well, as the popularity of historically informed early music has skyrocketed in recent years.
Sources:
[1] Albert Schweitzer, J.S. Bach (Dover Publications Inc, 1966. © Eng. Trans. 1911, Ernest Newman, Breitkopf & Hartel) Vol. 1 p. 46
Also: Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685-1750 (Dover Publications Inc.©1951. Eng. Trans. Clara Bell & J.A. Fuller Maitland.)
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