11/20/11 A long walk
According to the old story, the young J.S. Bach walked 100 miles from Arnstadt to Lubeck to study with the great Danish-born organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. Well…there’s a bit more to it than that. Bach started out on foot, but almost certainly got rides from passing wagons and carts. Not unusual in those days. People don’t pick up hitch-hikers these days. That’s how I got to high school. But I digress. Bach actually went in search of a job. Buxtehude had announced his desire to retire from his very prestigious position of organist at St. Mary’s Church. Bach found out when he got there that to get the job, he had to agree to marry Buxtehude’s oldest daughter–the last one still single. Bach didn’t take the job (neither did Handel, who has passed through months earlier), but he did stay and study with Buxtehude for several months. There’s always more to the story. This week (November 20) we’ll hear some organ music by Buxtehude along with a 20th-century piano concerto on Toccata. Hope you can join me.
