What is Mit Fried und Freud (Buxtehude)?

Mit Fried und Freud , BuxWV 76, is the common name for a piece of funeral music composed by Dieterich Buxtehude as an homage to his father in 1674. The composer named the work Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfarth when he published it the same year. It is a bundle of two compositions, the earlier Mit Fried und Freud, BuxWV 76a, a setting of Luther's hymn Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin composed in 1671 reflecting the death of Menno Hanneken, and the elegy Klag-Lied , BuxWV 76b, an aria in seven stanzas. The incipit of the elegy, "Muß der Tod denn auch entbinden", translates roughly to "Even if death must separate us". It is one of few compositions published during Buxtehude's lifetime.