Dieterich Buxtehude was originally born as Diderich Buxtehude and both the date and the place of his birth were under dispute for several decades. Historians confirmed that he was born in Helsingborg in Skane, a part of Denmark then but now in Sweden. There have been countless theories suggesting that he was actually born at Odelsoe in Holstein, which was a part of the Danish Monarchy and is now modern Germany. With the confusion between the origins of his birth, Buxtehude Germanized his name and officially turned it to Dieterich Buxtehude.
His early life suggests that he developed an interest and passion for music from a very young age and was exposed to the organ by his father, Johannes Buxtehude, who was also an amateur organist at the St. Olai church situated at Helsingor. In the following years, young Buxtehude received whatever training he could from his organist father, and went on to debut as an organist in the year 1657 at Helsingborg. This was followed by a dramatic, repeat performance the following year in Helsingor. Buxtehude was employed at the St. Mary’s church in Helsingor that still has the remnants of the early Baroque period and the old organ which Buxtehude used for his performances. It was here that Buxtehude became the official organist at his father’s former church. He then moved to another congregation in Helsingor in the year 1660.