When Conductor Eugene Ormandy last week led the Philadelphia Orchestra through its final Manhattan performance of the season, listeners were pleasantly startled at Lucien Cailliet's transcription of a 17th Century passacaglia by Dietrich Buxtehude. Through its 28 melodic evolutions they could unmistakably recognize the theme Bach had later expanded and used in his great Passacaglia in C Minor.* But few in the audience had ever heard more about Buxtehude than his odd name. Important as is his niche in the history of music, Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) was a great organist whose works are...
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