Preludium of Vorspeel
Fantasia & Echo
d'Lof-zangh Marie
(Prelude, in Latin / Dutch). Renaissance
instrumentalists tuned and warmed up by improvising
preludes, and printed music collections often
opened with such pieces. No doubt Van
Eyck often announced his presence in the
Utrecht Janskerkhof with pieces such as this
one which opens the Lust-hof: a good introduction
in miniature to the flourishes, scales, and
echoes to come.
The echo-fantasia was a genre nurtured especially
by the Dutch, usually for organ. Van
Eyck's slow, mode-defining opening is typical;
the echoes arise once the piece is established.
The Lust-hof's only dynamic markings
are found here, accentuating the echo effect
caused naturally by the octave leaps in the
recorder's modest range.
[Mary's song of praise; the Magnificat; see
also #4]. The magnificent Dutch Calvinist
Magnificat begins "Myn ziel maeckt groot
den Heer / myn geest verheught hem seer"
(My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices
greatly). Not part of the Genevan Psalter,
it came from Dathenus' Dutch psalter of 1566.
Another great, dignified tune sung
continuously for centuries.
Psalm 9
[a psalm of praise: Lord I will praise you
everywhere]. It is difficult to realize how
important the Genevan psalms were in the
Calvinist Netherlands; an analogy might be
the Lutheran chorales, whose impact is clear
in the works of Bach. But Calvin was stricter
than Luther about texts ("one can sing
nothing worthy of God save what one has received
from Him") and also insisted that music
for God must have "the gravity and majesty
that befits its subject." So in the
Calvinist tradition (the 1562 Genevan Psalter,
translated into Dutch by Petrus Dathenus,
1566) all the weight was funneled into just
125 tunes setting only the 150 psalms and
a few other Biblical texts (the Lord's Prayer,
the Ten Commandments, and a few New Testament
canticles, including the Magnificat).
Dathenus' Dutch-Genevan Psalter was a publishing
phenomenon, going through over 300 editions
by 1700. Some churches sang through the whole
Psalter twice each year; countless cultural
references attest to the Dutch love for and
knowledge of the Calvinist psalms. Carillonneur's
contracts specified frequent psalm rotations
on city bells. The psalms had been sung unaccompanied
for over a century when, during Van Eyck's
time, organ harmonies began to be accepted
in major cities. Outside of church, the psalms
were household property, a national heritage,
a religious identity.The psalms Van Eyck
chose to set---with the interesting exception
of the ones which close Parts I & II
of the Lust-hof---are among the very best
known in the Dutch-Genevan tradition.
Frans Air
Nothing is known about the origins of this song.
Psalm 68
[a psalm of war: Arise O Lord and show your strength; see also #4]. One of the best-known and fiercely-loved of all the Genevan psalms, Psalm 68 became the battle-anthem of the rebel Calvinists in the religious struggles of the 16th century, because of its militant view of God's wrath toward the unrighteous. Longer-lasting fame (now with a penitent text) has come to the tune via Bach's settings of it as the Lutheran chorale "O Mensch bewein' dein' SEde gross" in the OrgelbEhlein and the St. Matthew Passion.
Doen Daphne d'over schoone Maeght
(³When Daphne the most beautiful maid²). Modern recordings have made Daphne one of the hits of the Lust-hof, but it was a 17th-century favorite as well. The text and tune come from a 1610s English ballad telling the classical tale of how Phoebus Apollo pursued Daphne so relentlessly that in desperation she cried out to the goddess Diana to turn her into a laurel tree.
2. Courant, of Harte diefje waerom zoo stil
2. Courant, of Harte diefje waerom zoo stil [Second Courant, or, Thief of my heart, why so quiet?]. Dowland's 1597 air "Now, o now, I needs must part" was ubiquitously popular in England and known in many instrumental arrangements as the "Frog Galliard." This is the ornamented version Van Eyck follows in his setting. The Lust-hof title is unknown elsewhere, but it fits the tune neatly, and the placing of this piece here, flanked by known theater tunes, is suggestive of a possible origin.
Si vous me voules guerir
Courante
(If you want me to recover). Most of
this French title made it to the Netherlands,
but Francois de Chancy's 1635 air really
read, "Si vous ne voulez me guerir."
In either case, it's a tale of frustrated
love, but Van Eyck's uncommon dotted-rhythm
variations remain sprightly and unaware of
it.
Baubles of French court life in the form
of courants, airs, ballets, and sarabandes
littered the landscape of Dutch bergeretttes
and instrumental music in the 17th century.
The source of the unnamed ones is as
hard to identify as the proverbial needle
in the haystack.
Psalm 134
[a psalm of praise: You servants of the Lord our God; see also #4]. No other Dutch instrumental setting or songbook citation (other than sets of all 150 Psalms) is known for this tune, yet it is used here for a masterful set of variations closing Book II of the Lust-hof. For many English-speaking Christians, this is by far the most familiar melody in the entire Lust-hof, known as Old Hundredth and used since 1693 for the doxology "Praise God from whom all Blessings Flow." Altogether, a fitting ending.
Text: Ruth van Baak Griffioen
A few words about the instruments: The g
altos have a dark, powerful sound which I
find suitable for some of the slow movements.
The construction priciples of the larger
instruments allow more differentiation in
tone color, providing interesting dynamics
for the slow, melodic themes.
The so-called Rosenborg soprano is one of
a small number of surviving instruments which
have been around in van Eyck¹s life-time.
The original instrument is kept in Rosenborg
Castle, a beautiful renaissance castle, a
couple of minutes' walk from where I used
to live in central Copenhagen. The recorder
is a precious instrument made of an exquisite
material: narwhale tooth.
All instruments by Fred Morgan, Daylesford,
Australia, and Paul Whinray, Te Henga, New
Zealand. None of my work would have been
possible without these unique artists. Thank
you both.
--------------------
A few words for the booklet about Jacob van
Eyck:
One of the most intriguing musical sources
from the late Renaissance is Jacob van Eyck's
Der Fluyten Lust-hof(The Recorder's Pleasure Garden). This the
largest collection of music for solo wind
instrument presents a selection of variations
based on themes as diverse as Calvinist psalms,
dances, the hits of the day and dirty songs.
For centuries, this kind of music belonged
to the repertoire of an instrument of ancient
origin which was played at the courts, in
the streets, churches, brothels and pubs:
the recorder.
For present-day recorder players, the work
is as unique as it was in the 17th century;
it holds a treasure of music which helped
establish the popularity of the recorder
in the 20th century. For the late renaissance
musician in the Netherlands, on the other
hand, it provided a charming, entertaining
mixture of secular and sacred music in times
of political unrest and religious conflicts.
Despite the 80 years' war with Spain, amongst
others, Der Fluyten Lust-hof is full of life, hope, joy and beauty. The
work gives us a rare insight into the musical
world of the late renaissance and the early
baroque with its intricate and abundant use
of variation techniques.
The composer was a blind nobleman, scientist
and bell player: Jacob van Eyck (1589-1657).
He used to improvise in the garden adjacent
to the Sint Janskerk in Utrecht, entertaining
by-passers and romancing young couples alike.
Someone then must have listened his way through
and transcribed what corresponds to almost
ten hours¹ of music, very much the way many
a jazz musician still work today. The apparent
popularity of van Eyck's music caused his
publisher Paul Matthysz to edit several collections
in van Eyck's lifetime. One can only imagine
the troublesome procedures foregoing a publication
of this kind, as the author couldn't write
himself. Der Fluyten Lust-hof is an outstanding proof of a craft which
is today a sadly neglected art form. To improvise
was the true core of all music long before
the invention of musical notation.