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"Buxtehude, hans by og hans orgel",1960, Translated from text: "Buxtehude, his town and his
organ"

Elsinore, at the entrance to the Sound, is the Danish town which, after Copenhagen, the Capital, is best known elsewhere in the world. Commerce and shipping have contributed to its fame, but its renown is also due to Shakespeare's connection with the legend of Hamlet and the Castle of Kronborg, and to the fact that the great Baroque composer, Diderik Buxtehude grew up here and in his younger days was the organist of Sct. Mariae Church in the town.

The history of the organ of this church goes back more than 300 years. It dates from the time of the Renaissance and was built during 1634-36 by Johan Lorentz, privileged organ builder to the music-loving King Christian IV. This craftsman was born in Saxony, but was called in to Denmark where he built several instruments during the period when big organs became usual in Danish churches. The organ of the Chapel at Kronborg was also built by him.

At the age of five Diderik Buxtehude came to live in Elsinore together with his father, whose family had connections with both Elsinore and Oldesloe in Holstein, and the son soon made great progress. When twentyone years old he was appointed organist in Helsingborg across the Sound at the time when this Danish town became Swedish after a war. Already two years later he returned to Elsinore.

His parents and his brothers and sisters were living in this town, so it was only natural that he himself should want to live and work here. In the autumn of 1660 the opportunity came. The position of organist at Sct. Mariae Church in Elsingore became vacant; it was an old abbey church at the time being used by the German congregation in the town, consisting mostly of officers of the garrison. On 6 October 1660 Buxtehude competed with an organist from Landskrona in Scania. Buxtehude won the competition and was immediately appointed.

Thus an important period in the history of the Sct.Mariae organ began. Shortly after his appointment, Buxtehude succeeded in having the organ rebuilt and improved, the church management presumably realizing his greatness as an artist. The rebuild took place in 1663 and was carried out by Hans Christoff Frietzsch, the Hamburg Master, then living in Denmark. The instrument now contained 24 stops in the Hauptwerk, Ruckpositiv and Pedal, and must without doubt have been constructed in full accordance with Buxtehude's wishes.

For eight years he played this organ at devine services as well as on other occasions. It may be supposed that it was at this instrument he achieved perfect mastery of the organ. He had good working conditions at the church and a collection of music was placed at his disposal. He was in charge of the organ music only, the choir and hymn-singing being led by a precentor.

A young bachelor, Did. Buxtehude lived with his father at the residence of the organist of Sct. Olai Church. This building, the Danish House of Buxtehude, still stands. He was a prominent citizen of the town and often acted as godfather at christenings in Danish families. He wrote perfect Danish and undoubtedly also spoke this language. Four brief letters from his hand have been preserved, more than a few compositions are known with certainty to date from his time in Elsinore.

In the spring of 1668 Buxtehude left Elsinore on his way to further fame. His name was now so well-known that he was offered the important position of organist at St. Maria Church in Lubeck upon the death of Franz Tunder. He accepted the offer with the reservation that he might return to Elsinore - although he never did. For the rest of his life he lived in Lubeck where, for nearly thirty years, he was the much admired master of the organ and an outstanding composer of cantatas. But his origin was never forgotten. At his death in 1707 the obituaries in Lubeck contained the passage" patriam agnoscit Daniam.
He acknowledged Denmark as his native country.

For many years Buxtehude's organ in Sct. Mariae Church in Elsinore remained practically unaltered as he had built it. Abbe Vogler who gave a concert on it in 1798 advocated and made certain changes with regard to the sound, but on the whole the instrument fell into a state of utter disrepair. In 1854 it was in such a poor condition that a restoration would be possible only with great difficulties and, the Romantic taste being prevalent at the time and calling for quite another style, a completely new organ was built by the firm of Marcussen and Son, Aabenraa. The old facade was kept, but the Ruckpositiv was made silent.

It did not occur to anybody to deal leniently with the old organ in commemoration of its great time under Buxtehude's hands; he was completely forgotten and was only later 'rediscovered' together with other great composers of the Baroque period, the most prominent of them being J.S. Bach. But at this event a new era began for the organ of Sct. Mariae Church in Elsinore, expecially when the havoc caused by the Second World War in Lubeck left it as the best perserved organ relic of Buxtehude.

On the occasion of the 300 years' anniversary of the appointment of Diderik Buxtehude as organist of Sct.
Mariae Church in Elsinore the present church management ordered a new organ to be built behind the fine old Rennaissance facade and in accordance with the spirit and style of Buxtehude's time. Being constructed by the organ building firm of Th.Frobenius, Lyngby, it has 29 stops in the Hauptwerk, Ruckpositiv, Brustwerk and Pedal, 27 pibes of Diapason 4', preserved in the facade of the Ruckpositiv and part of the original Lorentz-Frietzsch organ, are included in the new organ, thus forming a link with the great traditions which have made this instrument the Danish Buxtehude Organ.