Membra Jesu Nostri
Buxtehude composed the cantata cycle *Membra Jesu Nostri*, seven interconnected cantatas bearing the same BuxWV number, in 1680 as a gift and gesture to his “noble friend”—as he writes in the dedication—Gustav Düben, the royal Kapellmeister in Stockholm. The work’s full title is “Membra Jesu nostri patiantis sanctissima” – “The Holy Limbs of Our Suffering Jesus,” and it is a sacred homage to the Savior’s crucified body, addressing its individual parts, from foot to crown—ad pedes, ad genua, ad manus, ad latus, ad pectus, ad cor, ad faciem (feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart, and face).
It is a major work in Buxtehude’s vocal music and has been called the first Evangelical (Lutheran) oratorio. The Latin text is drawn from a series of medieval poems by unknown poets and structured into seven extensive sections under the heading Rhytmica oratio (or, using the title from the first stanza, Salve mundi salutare – Hail, Savior of the World). The seven-part structure follows the format of Rhytmica oratio, and in addition to being dedicated to the Body of Christ, each of the seven cantatas begins with a Bible verse related to the corresponding section of the poem.
Buxtehude makes it clear that the sixth cantata, *ad cor* (“for the heart”), is also the very heart of the work by replacing the violins and violone with five violas da gamba, an instrument associated with intense emotions—grief, pain, and the end of life. The cantata’s biblical text is taken from the Song of Solomon 4:9: “You have wounded my heart, my sister, my bride.” It is one of Buxtehude’s most moving works, and MON why an unknown hand on the title page of the sixth cantata has noted “for Easter or for any time.”
(from “Buxtehude,” by Karl Aage Ramussen, Multivers 2023)
Concerto Copenhagen’s performance of Buxtehude’s “Membra Jesu Nostri” marks the opening of the Stockholm Early Music Festival 2024.