The achievement of Dietrich Buxtehude is in many ways comparable to that of Bach, who walked a few hundred miles as a young man to hear Buxtehude play. The present work, Membra Jesu Nostri (Body Parts of Our Jesus), illustrates both his talents and the reasons he has never reached Bach's stature among ordinary listeners: his vocal music, especially, has a sort of for-connoisseurs-only quality that contrasts sharply with Bach's stirring public faith. This work, completed in 1680, is a cycle of seven cantatas for a small ...
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The achievement of Dietrich Buxtehude is in many ways comparable to that of Bach, who walked a few hundred miles as a young man to hear Buxtehude play. The present work, Membra Jesu Nostri (Body Parts of Our Jesus), illustrates both his talents and the reasons he has never reached Bach's stature among ordinary listeners: his vocal music, especially, has a sort of for-connoisseurs-only quality that contrasts sharply with Bach's stirring public faith. This work, completed in 1680, is a cycle of seven cantatas for a small vocal-instrumental group, on Latin texts, each one addressed to a different body part of the crucified Christ (feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart, and face, if you were wondering). The texts were by a medieval poet; exactly who is under debate, but the prime candidate in the 17th century, Bernhard of Clairvaux, was apparently admired by Luther himself. Thus this rather curious but certainly proto-Pietistic work. Each cantata is introduced by an instrumental "concerto" concluded by a...
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