Quirinus van Blankenburg (1654-1739) - Duplicata Ratio Musices, ou La Double Harmonie (1733)
Channel: Pau NG
Date: 2023-02-27

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Composer: Quirinus van Blankenburg (1654-1739)
Work: Duplicata Ratio Musices, ou La Double Harmonie (1733)
Performers: Gerard Dekker (1931-2010, clavecimbel)

Painting: Hendrick van Vliet (c.1612-1675) - The interior of St Janskerk at Gouda
HD image: https://flic.kr/p/2ofcGEK
Engraving: Ernst Ludwig Creite (fl. 1728-1765) - Portret van Quirinus van Blankenburg
HD image: https://flic.kr/p/2ocMkNa

Further info: https://rism.online/sources/990005596
Listen free: https://youtu.be/U6ABlTo-EHo

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Quirinus (Quirijn, Gideon) Gerbrandszoon van Blankenburg [Blanckenburg, Blanckenburgh]
(Gouda, 1654 - The Hague, 12 May 1739)

Dutch composer, organist, theorist and poet. He was the son of Gerbrant Quirijnszoon van Blankenburg (c.1620-1707), organist in Zevenbergen and Gouda. He probably received his first instruction in music from his father. He started his musical career at an early age, as an organist in Rotterdam (1670-75, at the Remonstrantse Kerk) and at Gorinchem (1675-79). For some years from 1679 he studied at the University of Leiden (he was registered under the name Gideon van Blankenburg). In the mid-1680s he settled at The Hague, where he stayed for the rest of his life. He was organist of the Walloon church from 1687 to 1702. In 1699 he was appointed to the Nieuwe Kerk but was active there only after the new organ had been completed in 1702. Because of his old age his pupil Frans Piton deputized for him from 1720. He was sought after as a music teacher by the nobility of The Hague: his pupils included Willem Bentinck, Ludwig Friedrich, Prince of Württemberg, and probably Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. Blankenburg was considered a proficient keyboard player and a first-class expert on carillon and organ building. His advice was requested as early as 1676 in connection with the carillon newly ordered from Pieter Hemony for the tower of the St Janskerk, Gouda, where his father was organist. He proposed the inclusion of C  and D  in the lowest octave but was strongly opposed by other advisers and by Hemony himself. He published a defence of his position (De nootsakelijkheid van Cis en Dis in de bassen der klokken, c.1677, now lost). Hemony replied with De onnoodsakelijkheid en ondienstigheid van Cis en Dis in de bassen der klokken (Delft, 1678/R1927), but Blankenburg's proposal eventually prevailed. Later on he was asked to try out newly built or restored organs and carillons in various towns and cities, but his judgments, which may have been influenced by financial interests, drew him into controversy several times.

Blankenburg's printed music consists entirely of keyboard pieces. The Clavicimbel- en orgelboek der Gereformeerde Psalmen en kerkzangen comprises essentially homophonic settings for organ or harpsichord of all the psalms and hymns of the Dutch Protestant Church. The rhythm and harmony of the original 16th-century melodies are adapted to 18th-century taste, with many ornaments added. A few of the settings are preceded by a fugal prelude. De verdubbelde harmony is a little volume written in honour of the marriage of Prince Willem Carel Hendrik Friso and Princess Anna of Hanover. It contains a number of small, unpretentious pieces of various kinds. Some were printed on transparent silk and could be played when viewed from either side. A volume announced in 1739 as Fugues, allemande, courante, sarabande, bourée, gavotte, menuets, gigue et autre pièces de clavecin apparently never appeared, possibly because of Blankenburg's death. Three autograph manuscripts (D-ROu) include vocal and harpsichord pieces (see Praetorius). Some are by Blankenburg himself, others are arrangements by him of vocal extracts from operas by Handel and Destouches and from a cantata by J.G.C. Störl. The remainder of the pieces are anonymous or can be attributed to other composers. Blankenburg's curious treatise Elementa musica is principally a textbook on thoroughbass but also includes many autobiographical remarks. He accused François Campion and Handel of the unauthorized use of some of his musical ideas. One was the theme for a fugue, and he included in the book his own fuga obligata based on it. He dated his theme 1725, and accused Handel of using it in his Six fugues or voluntaries (1735). We now know, however, that Handel wrote these pieces around 1720.