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Jan
Pieterszoon Sweelinck
(1562-1621) achieved in his
works for keyboard
instruments a combination of
English and Italian
influences, and formed a
style which brings the
technical resources of the
instrument to the force, and
at the same time follows the
rules of “classical“
counterpoint. The importance
of his works rests in these
aspects.
Our recording offers a
selection from his
compositions which includes
all the main types of
composition in
representative works (with
the exception of secular
song variations intended
mainly for the harpsichord).
The organ of the “Grote of
St. Jacobskerk“ in the
Hague, (built in 1971 by
Metzler & Son, Zürich)
achieves the principles of
the 17th century organ
building both in its
disposition and in the
technical aspects of its
construction, and seems
particularly suited to
performances of Sweelinck’s
organ works.
The three Fantasias
represent different types of
composition. In his Echo
Fantasias Sweelinck
transfers the long
established imitation of the
echo of vocal music to
keyboard instruments,
whereby the echo effect is
achieved by the repetition
of a phrase on a different
manual, or played an octave
lower. The middle section of
the Echo Fantasia in A (side
A, no. 1) makes use of the
afore-mentioned
possibilities, its opening
section using free
imitations, the final part
being built up from
toccata-like passage work.
The attraction of a
Hexachord-Fantasia lies in
the fact that the simple
almost featureless theme
(melodic rise and fall of
six steps) forces the
composer to employ all the
resources of composition in
order to write a richly
varied piece. Sweelinck
achieves variety in his
hexachord Fantasia (side A,
no. 3) by using different
rhythms in the main theme;
he adds a diversity of
different secondary motifs
and gradually increases the
use of contrapuntal devices
and virtuosity. The Fantasia
in A-Phrygian mode (side B,
no. 1) is written on a theme
characterized by the steps
at the end. The theme is
treated in a series of
developement sections which
can by divided into three
main parts - in the first
part the theme is played in
minims, in the second it is
augmented and developed as a
cantus firmus of a chorale,
and the third part has a
rhythmic diminution of a
half or even a quarter of
the original time-values. In
the end, in the coda, the
theme appears in its
original form. Sweelinck
builds his toccatas on
Venetian models. Their main
characteristic feature is a
combination of held chords
and virtuoso passages. In
the Toccata in A (side B,
no. 3) he places a fugato
episode between the two
toccata-like sections. The
whole work opens with a
solemn five-part section.
Similarly as in his Chorale
Variations, Sweelinck
achieves the creation of new
forms, but in this case his
achievement has a greater
historical and musical
importance. For the first
time he devised artistic
solutions to the various
problems of this type of
composition, which became
the basis of the German art
of choral variation in the
17th century.
Our recording presents us
with two examples of this
type of work. The antiphon
“Da pacem“ is written with
four variations (Side A, no.
2). These are carefully
devised according to the
principle of change and
gradation (growing number of
voices, changing of the
position of the cantus
firmus). The Christmas carol
“Ons is gheboren een
kindekijn“ (“Puer nobis
nascitur“) also has four
variations, each in three
voices (side B, no. 2). In
contrast to “Da pacem“ in
this Christmas carol, the
chorale melody is brought
into the figuration. The
melody is in the 1-3
variations in the descant,
and in the tenor variation
4.
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