Buxtehude was a distinguished composer and organist who greatly influenced the young composers of his time.
Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach travelled to Lübeck to hear Buxtehude perform at the Marienkirche, where he served as organist for forty years, from 1667 until his death in 1707.
He wrote a considerable amount of choral and instrumental music for church use, as well as chamber music and keyboard music of a more secular kind.
