Relayed from
St. Michael's College, Tenbury
If every composer were judged strictty on his merits and we all refused to be hypnotised by the prestige of great names, the reputation of Dietrich 8uxtehude (1637-1707) would not be so far inferior to Bach's as it is. Admittedly, Bach was by far the greater man : but not so immeasurably greater as the disparity between their reputations would suggest. Did not the young Bach himself once tramp two hundred mites to hear and ta)k to the great Swedish organist ? (For Buxtchude was a Swede by birth, though son of a Danish father and a German by adoption). The great Lubeck organist exercised an enormous influence not only on Bach, but on a great number of the younger musicians of that generation. Much in Bach's tdiom that we look upon as speoally characteristic of him is actually derived from Buxtehude.