Dieterich Buxtehude exerted a profound influence on Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1705 the young Bach walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck, a journey of roughly 450 km, in order to hear Buxtehude’s Abendmusik concerts, study his organ playing, and learn “one thing and another about his art.” Bach stayed nearly three months, far exceeding the four‑week leave he had been granted, and later had to justify his long absence to the Arnstadt authorities. During this visit he listened to Buxtehude’s celebrated improvisations, observed his compositional methods, and absorbed the North German organ tradition at its height.
Buxtehude’s music left a lasting mark on Bach’s development as a composer, particularly in the areas of organ preludes, toccatas, fugues, and ostinato forms such as the chaconne and passacaglia. Many of Buxtehude’s organ works, with their alternation of improvisatory and fugal sections, served as models for Bach’s own organ compositions. Buxtehude’s lost oratorios were also believed to have influenced Bach’s approach to large-scale sacred works, and several surviving Buxtehude pieces were found in Bach’s personal music collection. Through both direct contact and sustained study of his works, Buxtehude became one of the key formative influences on Bach’s musical language.
