Concert "Recorder recital"

Preludium of Vorspeel
Fantasia & Echo
Geswinde Bode van de Min

(GPrelude, in Latin/Dutchg). 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.

(GSwift Messenger of Loveg). The source of this tune is obscure, but it was widely known in the Netherlands, beginning in the 1630s with a pastoral text of a shepherd bewailing his lost-love cause to Cupid. In the Lust-hof however, the tune has been altered so that the original text is no longer singable.

Psalm 68

(A psalm of war: Arise O Lord and show your strength). 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 the16th 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 GO Mensch bewein' dein' Sünde grossg in the Orgelbüchlein and the St. Matthew Passion.

Almande prime roses

(GPrimrose almandeg). Another Dutch setting of this tune is paired with a GBrande Mr Primrose,g suggesting a link to an obscure English composer by that name, but a Dutch songbook calls it GBeaux jeux agreable Tiransg (which fits the opening melody well), suggesting an air de cour origin.

Ach Morderesse
La Bergere

(GAlas, murderessg). The murderess is the shepherdess Galathea whose flinty heart slays her faithful shepherd suitor Tyter, or so he claims. A Dutch songbook staple for several decades after the 1620s.

(GThe shepherdg). The tune is Pierre Guédron's 1620 air de cour GSus, sus, sus, Bergers et Bergeretttesg (Come, come, shepherds and shepherdesses), cited in several Dutch songbooks. Marin Mersenne printed a setting of this tune (untitled and misattributed) for flute quartet in his Harmonie Universelle of 1636.

Derde Carileen

(GThird Carolineg). There were in all five tunes named for the shepherdess Carileen in the mid-century Dutch repertoire; they are found both separately and as a set. At least the first three come from English theater. This tune was written by William Lawes as a sinfonia for a 1638 masque; it's the usual boy-wants-girl pastoral romp. Caroline texts have been found only for the first two in the set; presumably the last three had them also. To a lesser extent than the first two Carileens, the Third is found in various Dutch bergerettes and instrumental collections.

Doen Daphne d'over schoone Maeght
Stil, stil en reys

(GWhen Daphne the most beautiful maidg). 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.

(GHush, hush a momentg). A French court dance made famous by its inclusion in Michael Praetorius' monumental Terpsichore of 1612, this dance tune is found in sources from Rome to Scotland to Sweden throughout the 17th century. In the Netherlands, the tune was well-known for its text by Jan Starter praising the beauty of women-piece by piece, stanza by stanza.

Engels Nachtegaeltje

(GEnglish nightingaleg). Astonishingly, there are words to this quintessentially onomatopoetic tune, a 1630s English ballad about how the nightingale's sweet song refreshes the tired senses of city dwellers; the second half of the tune mimics the bird song with the words Gsweet sweet jug jug....g The tune is found in dozens of settings from all over northern Europe for a great variety of instruments, but Van Eyck was the only composer who had the idea of making the nightingale wax increasingly virtuosic.

Si vous me voules guerir
Courante

(GIf you want me to recoverg). Most of this French title made it to the Netherlands, but Francois de Chancy's 1635 air really read, GSi vous ne voulez me guerir.g 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 bergerettes and instrumentalmusic in the 17th century. The source of the unnamed ones is as hard to identify as the proverbial needle in the haystack.

Wat zalmen op den Avond doen

(GWhat shall we do in the evening?g). The only originally German secular song in the Lust-hof, this rowdy come-on ballad is found in many late 16th-century German lute manuscripts. Its very simplicity makes it a perfect base for variation; Van Eyck gives it a runaway high of thirteen times while also using a greater variety of rhythmic patterns than he used in any other piece.