''Membra Jesu nostri'',

BuxWV The Buxtehude-Werke-Verzeichnis ("Buxtehude Works Catalogue", commonly abbreviated to BuxWV) is the catalogue and the numbering system used to identify musical works by the German-Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 – 9 May 17 ...

75, is a cycle of seven

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s composed in 1680 by Dieterich Buxtehude and dedicated to Gustaf Düben. More specifically and fully it is, in Buxtehude’s phrase, a ''�
devotione
decantata,”'' or “sung devotion,” titled ''Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima'', which translates from the Latin as ''Limbs Most Holy of Our Suffering Jesus''. Regarding genre, the cycle consists in seven concerto-aria cantatas, a form that had emerged in Germany in the 1660s. The stanzas of its main text are drawn from the medieval hymn ''Salve mundi salutare'',
/ref> also known as the ''Rhythmica oratio'', formerly ascribed to Bernard of Clairvaux but now thought to be by

Arnulf of Leuven Arnulf of Leuven (c. 1200–1250) was the abbot of the Cistercian abbey in Villers-la-Ville. After serving in this office for ten years, he abdicated, hoping to pursue a life devoted to study and asceticism. He died within a year. Little else ...

. Each cantata addresses a part of Jesus’ crucified body: feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and face; in each,

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

words referring to the limb frame verses of the hymn’s text.

Structure

Each cantata in ''Membra Jesu nostri'' is divided into six sections; an instrumental introduction; a

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

for instruments and five voices ( SSATB), with the exception of the fifth and sixth cantatas where only three voices are used; three arias for one or three voices, each followed by an instrumental ritornello; and an exact reprise of the concerto. The first and the last cantata of the cycle deviate from this pattern. In the first cantata the choir repeats the first aria after the reprise, in the last one, '' Ad faciem'', 5 parts sing the last aria, and then a final '' Amen'' instead of the reprise concludes the cycle. The structure of ''Membra'' is dictated by its text. Buxtehude selected biblical verses for the concertos, and three strophes from each part of the poem ''Salve mundi salutare'' for the arias in each cantata. The biblical words are chosen for mentioning the member of the cantata and taken mostly from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. The metre of the poetry unifies the arias' rhythmic patterns. :Example 1 (in

bold In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech. Methods and use The most common methods in W ...

are stressed

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

s): :: ''I Ad pedes'': :: Sal-ve mun-di sa-lu-ta-re :: ''II Ad genua'': :: Quid sum ti-bi re-spon-su-rus :: ''III Ad manus'': :: In cru-o-re tu-o lo-tum :: ''V Ad pectus'': :: Pec-tus mi-hi con-fer mun-dum

Scoring

''Membra Jesu nostri'' is scored for five voices SSATB, two violins, consort of viols, and a

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

of double bass, theorbo and organ. The voices sing solos, duets, trios, and as a choir. The viols play in the sixth cantata only, with the middle two choir voices removed. In the table, S2 refers to the second soprano. For each "concerto" section, the Biblical text source is given; for the arias, it is always ''Salve mundi salutare''.

Texts

I ''Ad pedes''

(To the feet) Buxtehude-Ad-Pedes-I

II ''Ad genua''

(To the knees)

III ''Ad manus''

(To the hands)

IV ''Ad latus''

(To the sides)

V ''Ad pectus''

(To the breast)

VI ''Ad cor''

(To the heart) In this part a consort of violas da gamba replaces the violins.

VII ''Ad faciem''

(To the face) Buxtehude-Ad-Faciem-Amen

Recordings

* Jan-Feb 1987 – Ton Koopman; Schlick sI, Frimmer sII, Chance a, Prégardien t, Kooy b; Hannover Knabenchor – Erato ECD 75378 * Sept 1988 – John Eliot Gardiner; Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists – Archiv 447 298-2 * March 4, 1994 –

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; Caterina Trogu soprano I,

Roberta Invernizzi Roberta Invernizzi (born 1966, in Milan) is an Italian soprano. She originally studied piano and double bass before turning to singing. She specialises in early music from the baroque and classical period of music. She has sung in many operas ...

soprano II, Roberto Balconi alto, Mario Cecchetti tenor, Daniele Carnovich bass; Choir of Radio Svizzera Lugano, Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca, Accademia Strumentale Italiana Verona – Naxos 8.553787 * 1997 – Masaaki Suzuki; Yoshie Hida, Midori Suzuki, Aki Yanagisawa and Yuko Anazawa sopranos, Yoshikazu Mera alto, Makoto Sakurada tenor, Yoshitaka Ogasawara bass; Bach Collegium Japan – BIS CD-871 * 1999 –

Erik van Nevel Erik Van Nevel (1956) is a Belgian singer and conductor. He is the nephew of Paul Van Nevel. He pursued instrumental and vocal studies at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven, the Koninklijk Conservatorium (Brussels) and the Koninklijk Conservatorium ...

; Johannette Zomer soprano I, Anne-Marie Buyle soprano II, Vincent Darras alto, Jan Caals tenor, Conor Biggs bass; Capella Currende, Currende Consort – Eufoda CD 1294 * 2000 –

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;

Carolyn Sampson Carolyn Sampson (born 18 May 1974) is an English soprano in opera and concert. Specialising in historically informed performance, she has sung in Masaaki Suzuki's recording project of Bach cantatas and has appeared at the English National Opera. ...

soprano I, Libby Crabtree soprano II,

Robin Blaze Robin Blaze (born 1971 in Manchester) is an English countertenor. Early life The son of Peter Blaze, a professional golfer, and Christine, Blaze and his brother Mark grew up in Shadwell, near Leeds, and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, ...

alto, James Gilchrist tenor, Simon Birchall bass; soloists serve as choir, The Sixteen – Chandos CKD 141 * 2003 – René Jacobs;

María Cristina Kiehr María Cristina Kiehr (born in Tandil, Argentina) is a soprano vocalist associated with Baroque music. After receiving her early musical training in Argentina, she moved in 1983 to Europe and studied under René Jacobs at the Schola Cantorum Basil ...

soprano I, Rosa Dominguez soprano II,

Andreas Scholl Andreas Scholl (born 10 November 1967) is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music. Born into a family of singers, Scholl was enrolled at the age of seven into the Kiedricher Chorbuben ...

alto,

Gerd Türk Gerd Türk is a German classical tenor. Biography Gerd Türk received his first musical training as a choir boy at the cathedral of Limburg. He studied in Frankfurt and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Richard Levitt and René Jaco ...

tenor, Ulrich Messenthaler bass; soloists serve as choir, Concerto Vocale – Harmonia Mundi; this recording served as the soundtrack of a later DVD * 2005 –

Konrad Junghänel Konrad Junghänel (born 27 February 1953) is a German lutenist and conductor in the field of historically informed performance, the founder and director of the vocal ensemble Cantus Cölln. Career Junghänel studied at the Hochschule für Musi ...

;

Cantus Cölln A cantus (Latin for "singing", derived from ''cantare''), is an activity organised by Belgian, Dutch, French, and Baltic fraternities. A cantus mainly involves singing traditional songs and drinking beer. It is governed by strict traditional ru ...

– Harmonia Mundi HMC 901912 * 2005 –

Jos van Veldhoven Josephus Maria Martinus van Veldhoven (born 1952 in Den Bosch) is a Dutch choral conductor. He studied musicology at the Rijksuniversiteit of Utrecht, and choral and orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague. He was artistic dire ...

; Anne Grimm soprano I, Johannette Zomer soprano II, Peter de Groot alto, Andrew Tortise tenor, Bas Ramselaar bass; soloists serve as choir, Netherlands Bach Society –

Channel Classics Channel Classics Records is a record label from the Netherlands, specializing in classical music. The managing director and producer is C. Jared Sacks, who grew up in Boston. Sacks was schooled as a professional horn player at the Oberlin Conserva ...

CCS SA 24006 * Dec 3-5, 2009 – no conductor; Kirkby et al; Purcell Quartet, Fretwork – Chaconne CHAN 0775 * Nov 10-12, 2010 – Sigiswald Kuijken; La Petite Bande – Accent ACC 24243 * 2014 – Daniel Hyde; Robin Blaze alto, John Mark Ainsley tenor, Giles Underwood bass; Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, viol consort Phantasm – Opus Arte OACD 9023-D * 2018 – Philippe Pierlot; Hanna Bayodi soprano I, Maria Keohane soprano II, Carlos Mena alto, Jeffrey Thompson tenor, Matthias Vieweg bass;

Ricercar Consort The Ricercar Consort is a Belgian instrumental ensemble founded in 1980 together with the Ricercar record label of Jérôme Lejeune. The founding members were violinist François Fernandez, organist Bernard Foccroulle, and viola da gamba player ...

– Mirare MIR 444 * March 10-15, 2021 – Tymen Jan Bronda; Witmer sI, Caihuela sII, Kullmann a, Knight t, Baker b; – Brilliant Classics

References

Patrologia Latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between ...

at Bibliotheca Augustana {{Authority control 1680 compositions Church cantatas Compositions by Dieterich Buxtehude category:Music based on the Crucifixion of Jesus