The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

Jan Lievens, Lute Player, c. 1627, revised c. 1628, The Walters Art Museum,

Baltimore, Maryland, Gift ofthe Dr. Francis D. Mumaghan Fund, 1973

The Sixty-seventh Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,690th Concert

Musica ad Rhenum

Jed Wentz,flute traversiere

Cassandra L. Luckhardt, viola da gamba

Michael Borgstede, harpsichord

October 29, 2008

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

Admissionfree
Program

Performed without intermission

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)

Meinjunges Lehen hat ein End’ (Harpsichord)

Anonymous

Dafne (Leningrad Manuscript)

Philip Hacquart (1645-1691)

Suite d minor (Viola da gamba solo)

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Gigue

Michel Lambert (1610-1696)

Rochers vous etes sourds (Flute traversiere solo)

Anonymous

Ah! dat ick 00k een hondje was

Johannes Schenck (1660-c. 1710)

Sonata d minor (Viola da gamba and basso continuo) 

Adagio

Ciacone

Allemande 

Courante 

Sarabande 

Gigue
Sybrand van Noordt (1660-1705)

Sonata a cimbalo solo (Harpsichord)

Adagio

Allegro

Adagio-Allegro 

Adagio 

Vivace

(Gigue)

Charles Dieupart (c. 1670-c. 1740)

Suite in G Minor (Flauto traverso and basso continuo)

Ouverture

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Gavotte 

Gigue

The Musicians

Founded in 1992, the baroque ensemble Musica ad Rhenum advocates a

performance style that is not only based on extensive research, but also

reflects the conviction that the music ofthe past must be interpreted in a

lively and creative way. Critics have remarked on the ensemble’s “exhilarating

freshness” (The Times, London), “refreshing sense offreedom” (Milwaukee

Journal Sentinel), and “infectious, daring, and joyful style ofmusic making”

(Numberger Zeitung). The group has toured extensively in Europe and North

and South America and has appeared at numerous festivals, including the

Bachtage in Berlin, the Handel Festspiele in Halle, the Lufthansa Festival in

London, and the Styriarte Festival in Graz, Austria.

Musica ad Rhenum has recorded more than fifteen cds for the Vanguard and nm Classic labels, including two that have won the Cini Prize.

Fonoforum wrote of one these recordings, “Musica ad Rhenum lets musicmaking be always an exciting adventure. It is fun, it grants joy oflife, gives

courage to be spontaneous, and awakens one’s own creativity.” Fonoforum

also praised Musica ad Rhenum’s seven-CD set ofthe chamber music of

Francois Couperin, writing, “And herein can be found the strength of

Musica ad Rhenum’s interpretation: seldom is French Baroque music

offered with so much irresistible elan, can the structure be heard so clearly,

and are the melodies brought out with so much love for and attention to 

detail. Every measure makes it clear that the musicians are obviously very

familiar with the complicated world ofthe agremens, the embellishments.”

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Program Notes

The Franco-Flemish composers ofthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

were internationally admired and respected. In the course ofthe Renaissance

and early baroque periods they created a cornucopia ofmusical gems in two

traditions—the refined sacred and chamber music ofthe region that eventually became known as The Netherlands during the period when it was ruled

by the Spanish Hapsburgs (1518-1581) and the household music that expressed

the independence and folk traditions ofthe Dutch nation that emerged as the

period of Spanish domination ended. A great many ofthe songs ofthe period

deal with the same themes—love, deceit, vanity, and aberrations ofhuman

behavior—that Jan Lievens (1607-1674) depicts in paintings that are included

in the exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, currently on view at 

the National Gallery. Like the paintings, the songs and the instrumental pieces 

they inspired are intimate in scale. They were commonly played by the Dutch

middle class, frequently as background music for banquets or as entertainment in taverns, but also in the context ofhouse concerts. The popularity of

this music lasted for well over one hundred years, through the lifetime ofJan

Lievens and beyond.

The southern part ofThe Netherlands, which eventually became known

as Belgium, was admired as a cosmopolitan center already in the mid-sixteenth century. Francesco Giucciardini, a nobleman from the ducal court in

Florence, wrote while visiting the region in 1567: “In Antwerp one can see

at almost every hour ofthe day weddings, dancing, and musical groups....

There is hardly a corner ofthe streets not filled with the joyous sounds of

instrumental music and singing. The majority ofthe people understand

grammar and nearly all, even the peasants, can read and write.... An infinite

number, even those that never were out ofthe country, besides their native

language, are able to speak several foreign languages, especially French,

with which they are most familiar; many speak German, English, Italian,

Spanish, and others speak languages even more remote.”

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As the United Provinces in the northern part ofThe Netherlands gained

independence, they became known among continental Protestants, English

Puritans, and Jews for their relative tolerance and became a refuge and

temporary home for victims ofreligious persecution. Indeed, the population

ofAmsterdam in the early seventeenth century was evenly divided between

Dutch-born and foreign-born persons. This program reflects the broad

variety ofmusical styles that would have been heard in the churches, homes,

and streets ofboth the northern and southern parts ofThe Netherlands in

the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is believed to have spent his entire life in

Amsterdam, playing from his teen years until his death, at the Oude Kerk,

(the Old Church), where his father had been organist before him. Sweelinck

was born Catholic, but his family converted to Calvinism in the late sixteenth century, along with the congregation ofthe Oude Kerk and much

ofthe population ofAmsterdam. He was a master ofkeyboard variations

on tunes that would have been well known to his audiences, such as Mein

junges Leben hat ein End’.

One ofthe major figures ofthe early seventeenth century in The Netherlands was Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), whose portrait by Lievens is

included in the exhibition. Huygens was a statesman, scholar, and art patron

ofnote as well as a composer. He promoted the publication and dissemination

in The Netherlands ofworks by his contemporaries, including those of Philip

and Carolus Hacquart, brothers in a prominent musical family in Amsterdam.

Philip performed on and wrote for the lute and the viol. Carolus achieved 

greater fame in his lifetime, partly because a published collection ofhis works, 

Harmonia Pamassia, became an important counterpart to collections published at about the same time by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) and Archangelo

Corelli (1653-1713).

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Michel Lambert was known in his lifetime primarily as a singer and 

composer ofvocal music. His fame increased when his daughter married

Jean Baptiste Lully, who was already famous throughout Europe as the

master ofthe king’s music in the court of Louis xiv and a composer of

operas. Lambert also occupied an important post among the king’s musicians and is known to have danced in at least one ofthe many ballets that

were produced in his court.

Johannes Schenck was a Dutch composer and viol player of German

descent. With the support ofConstantijn Huygens and other wealthy

Amsterdam citizens, he was able to publish his music in fine editions, 

which enhanced his standing among Dutch composers ofthe second half

ofthe seventeenth century. His viol playing was extolled in numerous

poems. In 1696 he secured a post at the Diisseldorf court ofthe Palatine 

Elector Johann Wilhelm 11, himself an amateur viol player. Schenck’s viol

music faithfully reflects the important stylistic changes taking place in

northern Europe at the time. His first published collection, the Tyd en 

konst-oeffeningen (1688), contains technically demanding sonatas, most

ofwhich are followed by a suite. Unfortunately, many of Schenck’s known

works, including his last published work, a volume oftwelve sonatas for

viol and continuo, have been lost.

Sybrandus van Noordt was the organist ofthe Oude Kerk in Amsterdam

from 1679 t0 *692, and ofthe Grote Kerk in Haarlem from 1692 to 1694. Like

many Dutch organists, he was also the town carillonneur. When he retired 

from active performing in 1694, he served as an advisor in the Amsterdam

bell and gun foundry. His sonatas for treble recorder, violin, and harpsichord

are his only known compositions. His Sonata a cimbalo solo is the first solo

harpsichord sonata composed in the Netherlands.

Charles Dieupart was a French harpsichordist, violinist, and composer,

active mainly in England. His suites for flauto traverso and continuo (1701)

are dedicated to the Countess of Sandwich, daughter ofthe Earl of Rochester,

who studied with Dieupart during a long sojourn in France. The suites are

among the works that Johann Sebastian Bach copied for his own study

purposes, and their influence can be detected in Bach’s English Suites. The 

first English music historian, Sir John Hawkins (1719-1789) wrote extensively about Dieupart in his A General History ofthe Science and Practice

ofMusic (London, 1776). He reported that Dieupart “betook himselfwholly

to teaching the harpsichord, and in the capacity of a master ofthat instrument, had admission into some ofthe best families in the kingdom.” This 

good fortune was short-lived, however, as Hawkins would also describe,

“[Dieupart] grew negligent towards the end of his life and frequented concerts performed in ale-houses, in obscure parts ofthe town, and distinguished himself not more there, than he would have done in an assembly 

ofthe best judges, by his neat and elegant manner of playing the solos of

Corelli.... He died far advanced in years, and in very necessitated circumstances, about the year 1740.”

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Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble

Music by Huygens, Sweelinck, and other composers of

the “golden age” in The Netherlands (1585-1700)

Presented in honor ofJan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered

November 2, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

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