Abendmusiken

Evening concerts given by Buxtehude at the Marienkirche in Lübeck on the five Sundays before Christmas — among the earliest public concerts in Europe. The young Bach walked 400km from Arnstadt to attend in 1705.

The vast reverberation of the Marienkirche demands slower tempos, clear articulation, and deliberate pacing of harmonic change than a drier modern acoustic. Modern performances often need slight tempo adjustments to preserve the clarity that Buxtehude's congregation would have heard.