The monophonic music from Der Fluyten Lust-hof by Jacob van Eyck (c.1590–1657) is the stock-in-trade of professional recorder players worldwide. The compositions bear unmistakable witness to Van Eyck’s own virtuosity: Utrecht’s blind municipal carillonneur played his recorder variations on summer evenings in the Janskerkhof, the St. John’s churchyard. In the present book the repertoire is scrutinized from a variety of perspectives: sources, transmission, interpretation, and the boundaries between improvisation and composition, to name but a few. A revealing section of this study is Chapter 5, which explores the relationship between Van Eyck’s recorder and carillon practices. In order to place Van Eyck’s oeuvre in a broader context, the author has chosen to extend the scope of his research to include comparable works by Dutch contemporaries (Paulus Matthijsz, Jacob van Noordt, Johan Dicx and Pieter de Vois), from the anthologies Der Goden Fluit-hemel and ’t Uitnemend Kabinet. Inclusion of these ‘others’ avoids presenting Van Eyck as a lone figure: he was, after all, a child of his time. The last four chapters focus on various aspects of performance practice, including instruments, time, ornamentation and delivery. The future of this repertoire is entrusted not to musicologists but primarily to performers themselves. It is on them that Jacob van Eyck – and ‘the others’ – will have to rely.
Thiemo Wind (1961) graduated from Utrecht University with a degree in musicology. He is also a professionally-trained recorder player and oboist. The present book is a revised and appended translation of his doctoral thesis, completed in 2006. Wind has published widely on early woodwinds, Haydn, Bach and other musicological subjects, and has given lectures and masterclasses at the conservatories of Utrecht, The Hague, Salzburg and Bremen. His music publications include the first complete modern edition of Jacob van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-hof and the recorder sonatas of Diogenio Bigaglia. Thiemo Wind is currently employed as music editor of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
www.thiemowind.nl
(2011) 754 pages; full color; 362 music examples
'A brilliant survey of the life and work of Holland’s most famous open-air musician.’
Frans Brüggen
‘A comprehensive examination of one of the most important figures in the history of the recorder, not to mention the other 17th-century Dutch composers who wrote solo works for the instrument. Provides stimulating insights into the importance of the recorder in Dutch life as well as the care with which Van Eyck crafted his compositions and how we might perform them in a historically informed manner.’
David Lasocki
‘For any recorder player who is moved by the simplicity of the melodies or enjoys the virtuosity of the fast variations, this book offers unparalleled insight into the performance of Jacob van Eyck’s music.’
Erik Bosgraaf
