Music Monday: Membra Jesu Nostri 1680
Painting Author: Johannes Voorhout
Collection: Hamburg Museum
Image Credit: Wikipedia & Wikimedia
Three hundred, forty years ago, Danish-German Baroque composer and organist Dieterich Buxtehude composed Membra Jesu Nostri. Considered to be one of the most influential composers in Germany, his style is reflected in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, one of his students. [More] than 100 compositions of his survive […].
Membra Jesu Nostri [or The limbs of our Jesus], BuxWV 75, is a cycle of seven cantatas composed by Dieterich Buxtehude in 1680 and dedicated to Gustaf Düben. The full Latin title Membra Jesu Nostri Patientis Sanctissima translates to “The most holy limbs of our suffering Jesus”. This work is known as the first Lutheran oratorio. The main text are stanzas from the Medieval hymn Salve Mundi Salutare, also known as the Rhythmica Oratio, a poem formerly ascribed to Bernard of Clairvaux but, now thought more likely to have been written by Medieval poet Arnulf of Leuven […]. It is divided into seven parts, each addressed to a different part of Christ’s crucified body: feet, knees, hands, sides, breast, heart and face. In each part, biblical words referring to the limbs frame verses of the poem.
Sources:
Duke Vespers Ensemble (MSR Classics)
Salve Mundi Salutare (New Advent)
Buxtehude Composition List (Wikipedia)
Dieterich Buxtehude (Wikipedia)
Membra Jesu Nostri (Wikipedia)
The International Dieterich Buxtehude Society
December 2, 2020 at 3:23 PM
I couldn’t listen to it for hours on end but…I respect the hell out of it. He heard most of these parts in his head and put them on paper.
December 2, 2020 at 4:05 PM
As I built the post, I listened to the whole thing…all parts. It was quite relaxing and spiritual in a way. Kinda makes me think about divine intervention, esp. with the music already in his head.
December 2, 2020 at 4:15 PM
I don’t see how they did it. With no recorders of any kind back then…they had to write it on paper as soon as they got the inspiration.
December 2, 2020 at 11:38 PM
They didn’t have today’s bullshit distractions.Whole different world…
December 3, 2020 at 12:05 AM
Yea they could actually think straight! What a concept
December 3, 2020 at 1:50 AM
Exactly.