page_title: Dieterich Buxtehude
section_title: Chorale settings
hierarchical_section_title: Dieterich Buxtehude / Works / Keyboard works / Chorale settings
caption_attribution_description: Español: Primeros compases de Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott BuxWV 184 Musical quotation from chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott by Dieterich Buxtehude (c1637–1707). Made using Sibelius 4 by Jashiin. The music quoted is in the public domain, and the image is hereby released into the public domain by Jashiin. The chorale in the upper voice is highlighted; original version of the melody included on separate staves above the main ones.
context_page_description: Dieterich Buxtehude was a Danish-German organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services. He composed in a wide variety of vocal and instrumental idioms, and his style strongly influenced many composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, his student. Today, Buxtehude is considered one of the most important composers in Germany of the mid-Baroque.
context_section_description: There are over 40 surviving chorale settings by Buxtehude, and they constitute the most important contributions to the genre in the 17th century. His settings include chorale variations, chorale ricercares, chorale fantasias and chorale preludes. Buxtehude's principal contributions to the organ chorale are his 30 short chorale preludes. The chorale preludes are usually four-part cantus firmus settings of one stanza of the chorale; the melody is presented in an elaborately ornamented version in the upper voice, the three lower parts engage in some form of counterpoint (not necessarily imitative). Most of Buxtehude's chorale settings are in this form. Here is an example from chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott BuxWV 184:
  The ornamented cantus firmus in these pieces represents a significant difference between the north German and the south German schools; Johann Pachelbel and his pupils would almost always leave the chorale melody unornamented.
  The chorale fantasias (a modern term) are large-scale virtuosic sectional compositions that cover a whole strophe of the text and are somewhat similar to chorale concertos in their treatment of the text: each verse is developed separately, allowing for technically and emotionally contrasting sections within one composition. The presence of contrasting textures makes these pieces reminiscent of Buxtehude's praeludia. Buxtehude was careful with correct word setting, paying particular attention to emphasis and interpretation. Each section is also closely related to the text of the corresponding lines (chromatic sections to express sadness, gigue fugues to express joy, etc.). Examples include fantasias on the [hymn]s Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ BuxWV 188, Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein BuxWV 210, Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren BuxWV 213 and Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BuxWV 223.
  Buxtehude's chorale variations are usually in two or three voices. They consist of around 3–4 variations of which only one may use the pedal. These pieces are not as important for the development of the form and not as advanced as Pachelbel's or Böhm's contributions to the genre. There are only a few chorale variations, and there are no distinctive qualities that characterize them.
  The pieces that do not fall into any of the three types are Auf meinen lieben Gott BuxWV 179, which is, quite unusually for the time, a dance suite based on the chorale, and the ones based on the chant (Magnificats BuxWV 203–5 and Te Deum laudamus, BuxWV 218), which are structurally similar to chorale fantasias.
caption: Opening bars of Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott BuxWV 184. The ornamented chorale in the upper voice is highlighted, original melody for the two lines present here is shown on separate staves. Note the basic imitative lines in bars 6–8 and 13–15.
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