abstract: Dieterich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707) is known for his many organ works. However, no significant portion of his choral music is in the standard performing repertoire. Buxtehude's large-scale choral work Membra Jesu Nostri should be considered a seminal "passion" composition in part because of its historic position in early German Lutheran church music. It also serves as an example of the heightened levels of affect in a seventeenth century devotional passion. To better understand Buxtehude and his music, an overview of his life, career and religious beliefs are discussed, including the incorporation of pietism and mysticism in his cantata, Membra Jesu Nostri. Details of the composition's structure, unifying thematic elements and text sources with translations are included. Historical performance practices are discussed, including the composer's probable intent of having one of the seven cantatas performed every day before Easter. This research study also provides conductors with a variety of practical performance considerations. Through these observations, it will be shown that Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri is one of the most well-conceived and well-constructed choral works of the early Baroque era. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2012

The thesis deals with the birth of the Baroque cantata in Northern and Central Germany. It introduces musical forms that led to the creation of cantata and thus significantly influenced its form, which crystalized during the Late Baroque period. The picture of Early Baroque German music is completed with profiles of three principal composers, on a selection of whose works the gradual development of this new musical form - the German Baroque cantata - is demonstrated. The second part is devoted to an analysis of a work representative of this style, Dietrich Buxtehude's Membra Jesu nostri, which is a supreme example of this musical form.