Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was born in 1562. The commemoration of his
birth resulted in various concerts and recording projects. The main
project was the complete recording of his vocal oeuvre by the Gesualdo
Consort Amsterdam, directed by Harry van der Kamp, which was finished
in 2011. In 2012 the Camerata Trajectina gave a series of concerts
with music by Sweelinck and his contemporaries. Part of their programme
involved several sets of variations which have been preserved. This
disc is entirely devoted to this genre for which Sweelinck was especially
famous.
He was organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam for much of his life.
He was not in the service of the church as the organ was not used
during Sunday services. Sweelinck's employer was the city council
which expected him to play during weekdays when the church was open.
It was in fact a kind of market place where people met and did business.
Sweelinck had to play variations on the tunes of the Genevan psalter.
This way visitors could become acquainted with these relatively new
melodies which were sung during Sunday services. Whether Sweelinck
also played variations on secular tunes is hard to say. It is possible,
but he certainly will have played them at home, attended by members
of the upper echelon of society. The liner-notes include an eyewitness
report of Sweelinck's obsession with the art of variation.
The melodies he used were very popular and not only in the Netherlands.
Many of them originated from England or France, and were set to Dutch
texts by contemporary poets. The melody of Est-ce Mars, for
instance, is sung here with a text by the poet Jan Jansz Starter from
the province of Frisia, taken from a collection of 1621. Other melodies
which were varied by Sweelinck, are sung to anonymous texts. They
are sometimes mixed: the instruments play the variations, whereas
a singer performs the original melody with a Dutch text.
Sweelinck's keyboard works were never printed during his lifetime.
That was quite common: keyboard players usually improvised, and organists
were not expected to play music by others. The music which has come
down to us was either written down by pupils or by composers themselves
as pedagogical material. Therefore the variations by Sweelinck which
have been preserved represent only a small portion of what the master
himself must have played.
As he was a keyboard player his variations are mostly performed at
the harpsichord or the organ. However, since they were strictly polyphonic
and all parts are treated on equal terms, they can easily be played
on other instruments, as is the case here. The Brisk Recorder Quartet
treats them as consort music, whereas the Camerata Trajectina plays
some variations with a mixture of voice, recorder, viola da gamba
and lute. This is a perfectly legitimate option which could well reflect
the way music was played in the homes of wealthy citizens who used
whichever instruments were at hand.
The programme includes the famous variations on Mein junges Leben
hat ein End and one of Sweelinck's canons, Vanitas
vanitatum. Material from these two compositions is also used
by Daan Manneke, who composed Épitaphe-Double, commissioned
by the Brisk Recorder Quartet. The quotations from Sweelinck are clearly
discernable, and in general Manneke stays quite close to the Sweelinck
style. He has often conducted performances of early music and many
of his compositions show the influence of the music of the renaissance
and the baroque. That is quite different in the other contemporary
piece on this disc, Le tombeau de Sweelinck, by Klaas de
Vries. His idiom is entirely modern, and the references to Sweelinck
are not thateasy to discern. It is a piece for viola da gamba - symbolizing
the human voice - and a recorder quartet. This work was also commissioned
by the Brisk Recorder Quartet.
The cooperation of the two ensembles has resulted in an orginal and
interesting disc in which Sweelinck's music is approached from
a different angle. It makes much sense to present his music with texts
from poets of his own time, showing the dissemination of the melodies
which he used for variations. Both ensembles bring fine performances
to the table. It is a shame that the delivery isn't always
perfect. I am pretty sure that the singers get it wrong in the second
stanza from Mein junges Leben hat ein End. They sing "behilft"
where the booklet says "befihlt". The latter seems to me
correct, but unfortunately I couldn't find the complete lyrics
on the internet. The booklet includes explanations of the various
songs, but these are small compensation for the absence of translations.
Even so, this disc is an attractive proposition for everyone interested
in Sweelinck's music or more generally in the music of his
time. The man's genius is amply demonstrated here.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track listing
Jan Pieterszoon SWEELINCK/Samuel SCHEIDT (1587-1654)
Est-ce Mars/Had ick duysend ysere tongen [3:47]
Engelsche fortuin/Lieffd' int secreet [5:18]
anon
Silvia mijn Lief (tune: Malle Symen) [2:56]
Jan Pieterszoon SWEELINCK
Malle Symen [1:31]
Klaas DE VRIES (*1944)
Le tombeau de Sweelinck (2011) [8:09]
anon
Onder een linde groen [2:52]
Jan Pieterszoon SWEELINCK
Onder een linde groen [5:12]
Martin LUTHER (1483-1546)
Onse Vader in hemelrijck [2:16]
Jan Pieterszoon SWEELINCK
Onse Vader in hemelrijck [4:31]
Susanne un jour [3:20]
Vanitas vanitatum, canon a 4 [1:19]
Mein junges Leben hat ein End [4:06]
Daan MANNEKE (*1939)
Épitaphe-Double (2012) [4:53]
Jan Pieterszoon SWEELINCK
Ballo del granduca/O che nuovo miracolo [6:21]
