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Donald Macleod tries to piece together an impression of what Buxtehude was like as a man and he explores the composer’s rare excursions from Lübeck’s city walls.

Dietrich Buxtehude was a musical star in his own time, a legendary organist and composer who Johann Sebastian Bach walked almost 300 miles just to meet and learn from. Yet, the facts of Buxtehude’s own story are far from straightforward. Doubts remain over so many details in the composer’s life. We can’t even be sure when or where he was born, leading to three different countries claiming him as their own, and for a musician who perhaps above all was famed for his organ music, it is remarkable that not one single organ piece by him was published in his lifetime. In this Composer of the Week series, Donald Macleod pieces together what we do know about Buxtehude - the pre-eminent European composer before Bach, and finds a multifaceted personality and ground-breaking musician who worked his way across Europe via three different churches dedicated to St Mary, and who – once he settled in Lubeck - acted as a kind of centre of gravity for other musicians of his age.

In Friday’s programme, Donald pieces together an impression of what Buxtehude might actually have been like as a man, and he explores the composer’s life outside of Lübeck’s city walls. He also examines some of the musicians who came to visit the venerable organist in his home city.

Trio Sonata for violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord in E minor, BuxWV 258 (Op. 1, No. 7)
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen, conductor

Drei schone Dinge sind, BuxWV 19
Bettina Pahn, soprano
Klaus Mertens, bass
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
Ton Koopman, conductor

La Capricciosa - 32 variations in G major, BuxWV.250 for keyboard
Daniel-Ben Pienaar, piano

Divertissons nous aujourd’hui, BuxWV 124
Amsterdam Baroque Choir
Ton Koopman, conductor

Herr, wenn ich nur dich hab, BuxWV 38
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Manfredo Kraemer, violin
John Holloway, violin
Lars Ulrik Mortensen, organ

Prelude in E minor, BuxWV142
Bine Katrine Bryndorf, organ

Produced by Sam Phillips