Dietrich Buxtehude is probably most familiar to modern
classical music audiences as the man who inspired the
young Johann Sebastian Bach to make a lengthy
pilgrimage to Lubeck, Buxtehude's place of employment
and residence for most of his life, just to hear
Buxtehude play the organ. But Buxtehude was a major
figure among German Baroque composers in his own right.
Though we do not have copies of much of the work that
most impressed his contemporaries, Buxtehude
nonetheless left behind a body of v...(+)
Dietrich Buxtehude is probably most familiar to modern
classical music audiences as the man who inspired the
young Johann Sebastian Bach to make a lengthy
pilgrimage to Lubeck, Buxtehude's place of employment
and residence for most of his life, just to hear
Buxtehude play the organ. But Buxtehude was a major
figure among German Baroque composers in his own right.
Though we do not have copies of much of the work that
most impressed his contemporaries, Buxtehude
nonetheless left behind a body of vocal and
instrumental music which is distinguished by its
contrapuntal skill, devotional atmosphere, and raw
intensity. He helped develop the form of the church
cantata, later perfected by Bach, and he was just as
famous a virtuoso on the organ.
This toccata in D minor works much like a praeludium in
that there is an alternation of free passage work and
imitative polyphony. Altogether there are three
different imitative sections scattered in between
segments of free rhapsodic passage work; however, it
should be noted that the free passage work occurs more
in this piece than imitative material. The first
imitative portion of the toccata is fairly brief, and
only eight measures long leading into a much more
substantial imitative section. The third of the three
imitative portions is yet longer. None of the three
imitative portions of the toccata are thematically
related as was so common in the praeludia of Buxtehude.
The free rhapsodic portions of this toccata are quite
wild and chaotic, making this work one of Buxtehude's
most extreme examples of the stylus phantasticus, a
style characterized by unpredictable improvisatory
chaos. Also the free rhapsodic passages tend to pile
upon one another in this piece. Rather than turning to
imitative material after coming to a cadence at the end
of each free toccata section, Buxtehude twice (once at
the beginning, and again at the end) returns for more
free toccata material.
Source: AllMusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/toccata-for-organ
-in-d-minor-buxwv-155-mc0002367732 ).
I created this Transcription of the Toccata in D Minor
(BuxWV 155) for Pipe Organ (2 Manuals & Pedals).