Stepfather's Passacaglia

When Conductor Eugene Ormandy last week led the Philadelphia Orchestra through its final Manhattan performance of the season, listeners were pleasantly startled at Lucien Cailliet's transcription of a 17th Century passacaglia by Dietrich Buxtehude. Through its 28 melodic evolutions they could unmistakably recognize the theme Bach had later expanded and used in his great Passacaglia in C Minor.* But few in the audience had ever heard more about Buxtehude than his odd name. Important as is his niche in the history of music, Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) was a great organist whose works are rarely played in the concert hall.

As organist at St. Mary's in Liibeck, Dietrich Buxtehude held one of the best music posts in Germany. Listeners came from all over to hear his Abendmusiken, fertilely imagined concerts given on the five Sunday evenings before Christmas. For these concerts St. Mary's published the first program books in history.

At 20, Johann Sebastian Bach walked some 200 miles to hear the Abendmusiken.

He was so impressed he might have hung on and become Buxtehude's successor.

But unwritten law at St. Mary's required the new organist to marry his predecessor's wife or daughter. Buxtehude's daughter was so old and ugly that Bach went back to his organ post at Arnstadt. Authorities there began to complain that the congregation could not sing to his "many, wonderful variations" and "strange tonalities." Buxtehude had given Bach a technique instead of a bride.

*Passacaglia: a 17th Century organ form, usually constructed on a ground bass, using a theme of two, four or eight bars.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.