Buxtehude Concert on Passion Sunday
Two back-to-back Lenten concerts comprise the newest in the ongoing series of sacred music concerts at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The first is scheduled for March 10, Laetare Sunday, featuring a variety of pieces performed by Shrine musicians; and the other for March 17, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, traditionally honored as Passion Sunday or the beginning of Passiontide, a two-week period at the end of Lent.
![A portrait of Dieterich Buxtehude.](https://fkxc7d.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/220x301-Dieterich-Buxtehude-portrait-passion-sunday-concert-Membra-Jesu-Nostri-patientis-sanctissima-guadalupe-shrine-organ-music.jpg)
Dieterich Buxtehude
For this concert, instruments, normally absent from the Shrine Church during Lent, return to accompany acclaimed singers Sarah Brailey, Clara Osowski, and Andrew Kane. The performance will be a composition of Dieterich Buxtehude, a seventeenth-century Danish composer whose work influenced Handel and Bach, among others.
Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima
The work to be performed is Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima (The Most Holy Limbs of Our Suffering Jesus), a cycle of seven movements, each devoted to a part of the suffering Body of Jesus. “The first movement is Ad pedes, ‘To the feet,’ ” explains Director of Sacred Music Scott Turkington. Subsequent movements honor Our Lord’s knees, hands, side, breast, heart, and face. “So these are all meditations. If you were in front of Christ crucified, you would probably have a similar meditation.” The cycle is thus ideally suited to lead listeners, through imaginative contemplation, into the days commemorating Christ’s Passion.
A Moving Experience
Entering musically and emotionally into an experience of standing before Christ crucified, in the grandeur of Baroque style, can certainly have an overwhelming aspect. “It’s not going to be dramatic in the sense that we would think of a nineteenth-century opera,” Turkington comments. “But in its own context it is quite dramatic. There are some hopeful moments; there are many loving moments, very beautiful, tender, loving moments, and of course, because of the subject matter, some very sad moments.” Those looking for ways to reawaken their hearts to Our Lord’s sacrifice may find that Buxtehude’s cycle stirs up their minds and hearts to that reality.
![A closeup of Jesus Christ and his pinned hand.](https://fkxc7d.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1024x585-good-friday-shrine-closed-christ-crucifixion-cross-nails-in-palm-hand.jpg)
Elements of Christ’s Suffering
The scope of the composition, seven movements that together last an hour, also allows for reflection in greater depth. Rather than focusing on a single, static image, the music follows an unfolding narrative, not of events but of the elements in Christ’s suffering. “The seven [movements] put together have a beginning and a middle and an end, just like a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end,” Turkington explains. “[Buxtehude] sets you up with a mood and a tone and the Scripture, and then he takes you into the journey … and then finally he brings you to an end, knowing that it’s not a conclusive end, just as Good Friday is not conclusive, or reading of the Passion is not conclusive, because you have to wait for Easter Sunday for the conclusion.”
Come and Listen!
This story is to be presented at the Passion Sunday concert in a sublime setting, in keeping with the Shrine’s tradition of maximizing sacred beauty. All those anticipating the story’s glorious conclusion on Easter are encouraged to come and immerse themselves in its opening drama through this journey of musical contemplation.
Like all the Shrine’s concerts, the event is from 3pm to 4pm and is free and open to all.
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Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima (The Most Holy Limbs of Our Suffering Jesus) contemplates seven parts of Christ’s crucified body – his pierced feet, bent knees, bleeding hands, wounded side, revered breast, loving heart, and thorn-crowned face.
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