Several years ago, I wrote an article for Touchstone about Membra Jesu Nostri (“The Limbs of Our Jesus”), a work by Dieterich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707). The article — “Made Clean by His Body” — explained the background to this collection of seven short works based on a medieval poem and designed to encourage meditation on the significance of the suffering of Christ on the Cross. On this page, I’ve placed the Latin text for this unique work, along with an English translation and an embedded recording.
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Dieterich Buxtehude, Membra Jesu Nostri
Membra Jesu Nostri (“The Limbs of Our Jesus”) is an hour-long cycle of seven cantatas written in about 1680 by Dieterich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707). The text is from a poem called Salve mundi salutare (“Hail, Salvation of the World”), most likely written by an early-thirteenth-century monk. The article “Made Clean by His Body” explains the background to this work. Below is a performance by Concerto Vocale, directed by René Jacobs. The soloists are: Marina Bovet, soprano; Maria Christine Kiehr, soprano; Andreas Scholl, counter tenor; Gerd Türk, tenor; and Ulrich Messthaler, bass. The text and translation are below the embedded video. Cantata I — Ad pedes (To the feet, based on…
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Dieterich Buxtehude:
Wachet auf, ruft uns die StimmeOn the third Sunday of Advent, our parish sang the hymn, “Wake, awake, for night is flying.” The remarkable text and tune behind this hymn have served as the starting point for a number of compositions that I’ve highlighted in the past week or so. Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata Wachet auf, ruf uns die Stimme is the best known of these works. But a much smaller scale cantata by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) is also worth repeated listenings. Buxtehude’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BuxWV 100) is in four short movements: a brief introductory instrumental Sinfonia, with four violins and continuo; Verse 1 of the hymn sung by a soprano…
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“Do you come, O light of the nations?”
Kommst du, Licht der Heiden?An Advent cantata byDieterich Buxtehude (1637–1708) Dieterich Buxtehude was born half a century after Heinrich Schütz, the “father of German musicians,” and a little less than half a century before Johann Sebastian Bach. Employed his whole life as an organist, his compositional skills were long under-appreciated. Schütz and Bach both held positions in which they were expected to compose vocal music, but Buxtehude seems to have produced a sizable catalog of music for voices motivated by sheer enthusiasm. During his long tenure as organist of the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) in Lübeck, Buxtehude maintained a Sunday afternoon concert series called Abendmusiken, held on the five successive…