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Jacob van Eyck: Der Fluyten Lust-Hof (The Flute's Garden of Delights) 64:20
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Album Notes
Jonkheer Jacob van Eyck (c. 1590-1657), the 'Orpheus of Utrecht", was
probably born in Brabant, The Netherlands. Though blind from birth, he was the
carillonneur of the Utrecht Dom Cathedral from 1625-1657 and director of all
the bells and clock-chimes of the city. Also an expert bell tuner, van Eyck was
the first to tune for partials, and the tuning technique he developed is essentially
still in use today. He was also such a good recorder player that in 1648 his
salary was raised by 20 guilders on the condition that he play for the people
strolling in the St. Jans kerkhof (church grounds).
Der Fluyten Lust-Hof [The Flute's Garden of Delights] contains almost all van
Eyck's work. Volume I, which was essentially a reprint of an earlier book,
Euterpe (1644), appeared in 1649; Volume II was published in 1646.
This printed collection of 17th-century European popular tunes contains in
its two volumes some 150 pieces or sets of variations based on 120 tunes.
BOCKXVOETJE. "Goat-foot" is Pan, who plays on his pipe to entice the nymphs
to the satyrs. The text is found in the Dutch poet Stribee's Chaos (pre-1643).
He set it to a popular tune, "Mooren-dans", known in England as "The
Spanyard", which appears in Playford's Dancing Master.
QUESTA DOLCE SIRENA [LA SIRENA] [THIS SWEET SIREN]. Found in Gastoldi's Balletti
a cinque voce (Venice, 1591). The Dutch translation ("Dees meermin") turns the
siren calming the sea into a mermaid.
WAT ZAL MEN OP DEN AVOND DOEN. The Dutch title of this secular lute song (found
in several German manuscripts from 1575) asks the question "What shall we do
this evening?" The rowdy answer is just what may be expected!
DOEN DAPHNE D'OVER SCHOONE MAEGHT [WHEN DAPHNE, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MA1DEN] The
English text, and the tune, can be found as early as the Earle songbook, from
around 1615. Van Eyck's nine variations show that this popular tune was a favorite
of his.
BRAVADE. This English dance tune was used in Jan Starter's Friesche Lust-hof
[Frisian pleasure garden] (1621-1634) for the setting of an untitled text in
praise of wine.
HARTE DIEFJE, WAEROM ZOO STIL (2. COURANT) [LITTLE THIEF OF MY HEART; WHY
SO STlLL? (2ND COURANTE)]. The tune is John Dowland's "Now, o now I needs
must part", from The First Booke of Songes or Ayres (1597); it is also called the
Frog Galliard.
O SLAEP, O ZOETE SLAEP [O SLEEP, O SWEET SLEEP]. This is the refrain of
"Wanneer ick slaep" [When I sleep] added to the ayre "Farewell dear love"
from Robert Jones' First Book of Songes and Ayres (1600). As the original
words appear in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (III.2. 102 ff. adapted to the
play), which is contemporaneous, the tune was presumably used there.
ENGELS NACHTEGAELTJE [€ENGLISH NIGHTINGALE]. The nightingale is called
"English" because the tune is found in English songbooks from the 1 630s.
ONDER DE LINDE GROENE [UNDER THE GREEN LINDEN TREE]. Known in England as
Lord Zouche's Masque (from Morley's Consort Lessons of 1599). The title may
be a misnomer, resulting from a mix-up of "All in a garden greene" with
this tune, then known in The Netherlands as "Branle d'Irlande".
PAVANE LACRYME. Dowland "... regarded [this] as his greatest composition",
according to Poulton. The known versions include the Lachrimae Pavan for
solo lute (1595) and the song "Flow my teares", found in The Second Booke
of Songes or Ayres (1600). Van Eyck's settings are the only ones known for
solo instrument without harmonic accompaniment.
L'AMIE CILLAE [MY FRIEND CELIA]. An unidentified courant (not found in any
other Dutch or French source) with a single variation.
VERDWAELDE KONINGIN. This tune is about a lost queen, according to the text
found in a 1627 songbook Minnaers Harten-jacbt [Lovers heart hunt]. It was
known in England as "Tom o' Bedlam".
AMARILLI MIA BELLA [AMARYLLIS MY BEAUTY]. Caccini's most famous piece (from
Le nuove musiche, Florence, 1601) exists in many versions; van Eyck's Euterpe
and FLH I include three solo settings.
PRINS ROBBERT[s] MASCO, MET 2 [DUET]. This masque is for Prince Rupert of Bohemia,
a nephew of Charles I of England and an army leader during the English Civil
War. Dutch sources for once predate English ones, as Rupert spent many years
in Holland; the first known English sources are John Playford's first Dancing
Master and A Musicall Banquet (both 1651). The top line of the duet is taken
from Modo 2 of the solo variation (FLH I 1649:89b90a).
MORE PALATINO, MET 2 [DUET]. The tune's French title was "En revenant" (1597,
Le Roy & Ballard's Airs de cour). It later became a German student drinking
song with Latin text. Many famous 17th-century composers, including Sweelinck,
used it as a theme for variations. Van Lyck also set it as a solo tune under
the name "Vande Lombart".
BOFFONS [BUFFOONS]. The only group of variations on a bass-line, rather than
a melody, in Book II of van Eyck's publication. The dance from which the bass
pattern originates seems to have been a sword dance, serious in origin but
having become "buffoonish".
MALLE SYMEN. "Crazy Simon" has no text. The earliest setting found is in
Rosseter's Lessons for Consort of 1609. Efforts have been made to link the
tune to the nursery rhyme "Simple Simon".
WEL OP, WEL OP, ICK GAE TER JAGHT [GET UP, I'M GOING HUNTING]. A French air
de cour (Le Roy & Ballard) called "J'aymeray tousiours ma Phyllis".
ENGELS LIED. Though the designation "English song" was frequently used in
Holland in the l7th-century, this bourree has not yet been found in other
sources, and it lacks the characteristic upbeat usually found in this dance
form.
EEN SCHOTS LIETJEN [A LITTLE SCOTTISH SONG]. This 64-measure Scottish tune
is the longest in the hook. The second half, according to Ruth van Baak
Griffioen (1988), is "buried in Modo 2 mm. 32-64 in between the various
repeats of the first and second halves of the melody".
- Dr. JULIA MULLER
The Instruments
The fingering described in Der Fluyten Lust-Hof did not match any known Renaissance
recorder until 1980 when two soprano instruments of the van Eyck type were discovered
in the collection of Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. The soprano recorder used here
by Marion Verbruggen was modelled on that design by the Australian builder Frederick
Morgan around 1982. The G alto recorder, also built by Morgan, is based on a Ganassi
now to be found in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna; the instrument has an
unusual range of two and a half octaves.
harmonia mundi usa 3364 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90034 (p)(c) 1993
Recording: October 16-17, 1991, Skywalker Sound, a division of
LucasArts Entertainment Company, Nicasio, CA
Producer: Robina G. Young
Engineer: Brad Michel (SOUNDMIRROR, Inc.)
Editing: Anneke Boeke and Paul F. Witt
Cover: Photo of Marion Verbruggen by Catrien Ariens, Amsterdam;
Booklet layout and design: Dennis Bade;
Recorded and Produced in the USA
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