"...ad ostentandum ingenium, abditam harmoniae rationem, ingeniosumque...contextum docendum": Aspekte des Stylus phantasticus in den Orgelwerken und der Kammermusik Dietrich Buxtehudes

Abstract

Principles of order and regulation play an important role in Buxtehude's chamber sonatas, works marked by the stylus phantasticus. This agrees with Athanasius Kircher's definition of the aim of the stylus phantasticus as the exposure of the rationality concealed behind the ordered structure of music. Buxtehude, in his use of the stylus phantasticus, does not insist on freedom from rules; rather, he explores the relationship between freedom and certain principles of order, as may be seen also in examples drawn from his organ works.