Spread the Word!
This website came about after several conversations with music directors across a variety of fields and in a variety of places. Much discussion has been had in the choral field in recent years about making Baroque works "accessible" to a wider variety of performing ensembles. Proposed solutions include the careful arrangement of works for many voices and instruments for ensembles with smaller forces, translating foreign language works into the native language of the performers, substituting uncommon instruments for those which are more familiar/readily available, and collaborating with local arts organizations and endowments to raise sufficient funds to mount more demanding works. Many conductors and educators who have voiced a desire to explore and perform Baroque works with their ensembles have identified three primary difficulties:
The technical demands of many well-known Baroque works were beyond the average capacity of their singers. A common observation was that many musicians are familiar with the works of Bach but are less familiar with the works of his predecessors/contemporaries. Many conductors of amateur and student ensembles note that the performance of Bach's works is beyond the ability level of their ensembles in many circumstances.
Many amateur ensembles no longer have consistent access to balanced SATB voices. Particularly in volunteer church and school settings, there has been a marked decrease in the availability of balanced numbers of equally-capable and experienced voices in all four voice parts.
The cost to employ instrumentalists for larger Baroque works is prohibitive for many organizations. Many much-loved works of the period require access to a small chamber orchestra, often with multiple players per instrument part.
These three challenges can make programming many of the more well-known works of the Baroque era difficult. However, Buxtehude's cantata output often accommodates these concerns:
With the exception of the monumental BuxWV 75 Membra Jesu Nostri, the average Buxtehude cantata has a duration of under 9:30. While not universal, when comparing the musical setting of a text by Buxtehude to that of Bach, the technical demands of Buxtehude's setting are fewer.
For ensembles with uneven distribution of treble to bass voices, Buxtehude wrote 33 cantatas for SSB, SB, and SAB voices, plus another 27 SS or S voices.
Many of Buxtehude's cantatas require no more than 4 instruments: 2 violins, 1 cello, and a continuo harmony instrument, with the substitution of bassoon or other instrument for cello in many circumstances.
buxtehudecantatas.com has an initial two-phase plan for development and growth.
A digital score in modern notation
A quality example recording
An accurate, literal English-language translation
Voicing, instrumentation, duration, language, date, and text source
Suggestions for use in the liturgical church year
When these materials have been assembled for each work, the project's primary/initial phase will be considered complete.
instrumental parts for each work
program notes for individual cantatas
Poetic English language translations of cantata texts
Translations of cantata texts in other languages
Forums or other interactive dialogue opportunities for site visitors
Translations on this site are literal, not poetic. If you would like to provide a poetic transcription in English or another language, please email it to buxtehudecantatas@gmail.com and cite the source of the translation.
Contemporary instrumental equivalents have been used in lieu of their historical counterparts. Thus, scores calling for violas da gamba are listed as cellos, cornetts as trumpets, etc.
Every effort has been made to keep hyperlinks active. If a hyperlink is broken, please email buxtehudecantatas@gmail.com.
Many cantatas do not have a known date of origin. The site has made a decision to place the approximate year 1675* with an asterisk in the "date" section of cantatas with unknown dating.
Rémy Claverie
Domonkos László Dergez
Roland Lopes
Christian Mondrup
Kurt Pages
Mirko Rechnitzer
Martin Straeten
Artur Wrona
Daryl Yoder
I hope that you find new music that helps you share Baroque repertoire with a wider audience!
Warmly,
Joseph Svendsen, DMA
September 2023