Erik Bosgraaf plays Preludium of Voorspel & Phantasia by Jacob van Eyck in concert

Описание: In addition to more than one hundred variation sets, “Der Fluyten Lust-hof” (The Recorder’s Garden of Delight) by Jacob van Eyck (1589/90–1657) contains a few other compositions. With the exception of a “Batali”, this repertoire consists of two preludia and three fantasias. Although their number is relatively modest, the particular importance of the preludia and fantasias can be considered significant. In his variation works, Van Eyck was tightly bound to the theme, which he ornamented according to an art which every professional musician of his time was expected to have mastered. In the other works, in contrast, Van Eyck is creating music which was not based on already existing material.
The number of two preludia is not fortuitous: each stands at the beginnings of one of the two books. This immediately indicates that the title must be taken literally. They are introductions, pieces which precede others. The term “preludium”, halfway through the seventeenth century, indicated a function more than a specific musical form. The function could be of many kinds. Preludia could be intended to set the tone of the following principal composition (intonatio), to capture the attention of the listener, or to find out whether the instrument was in good playing condition. Two characteristics link Van Eyck’s preludia to each other. In the first place, they are brief. The first, played here (New Vellekoop Edition, NVE 1), is eighteen measures. In the second place, they both have an exploratory, sequential character. Both, indeed, seem to be intended to test the condition of the instrument, limber up the fingers, and steady the player’s breathing.


The Preludium is immediately followed by a Phantasia (NVE 90). Widely varying types of composition were called “fantasia” in the seventeenth century. The Greek word fantasia means something like “thought, interior imagining”. For an instrumental fantasia, the main thing was the power of individual imagination, free from the constraint of existing models or text-based sources of inspiration. This freedom is one of the fantasia’s most basic characteristics. The available freedom means that the fantasia is an ideal medium for improvisation, for “fantasizing”. Its development is inextricably bound up with instrumental music’s emancipation from vocal models. “Der Fluyten Lust-hof” contains three solo fantasias, so different from each other that they suggest that Jacob van Eyck was actually setting down whatever came to his mind with the greatest of freedom, thereby expressing a fundamental principle. It was a recognized custom for musicians to develop their own clearly defined idea of what a fantasia meant in their personal musical practice. Such a clearly defined concept does not seem to have existed for Van Eyck. Perhaps he considered every free-form work which was not explicitly intended as a prelude to be a fantasia.
The “Phantasia” performed here begins impetuously with a rising sequence of sixteenths. What follows is a succession of mostly sequential, tonally wandering sections which invite the player to enjoy his own virtuosity. Given this characteristic, the title “Preludium” would seem more appropriate than “Phantasia”.


🔹 Literature: Thiemo Wind, “Jacob van Eyck and the Others – Dutch Solo Repertoire for Recorder in the Golden Age” (Utrecht: KVNM, 2011).

🔹 Instruments
These pieces are played on a Ganassi in F a'= 466 Hz by Monika Musch

🔹 Webshop
Buy all CD's here https://www.erikbosgraaf.com/webshop/

🔹 Let's connect
• Twitter:   / erikbosgraaf  
• Instagram:   / erikbosgraaf  
• Facebook Page:   / erikbosgraafofficial  
• Website: https://www.erikbosgraaf.com

🔹 Top 3 video's of last month
   • Erik Bosgraaf & Francesco Corti perform So...  
   • Gigue by Telemann with chalumeaus, gamba's...  
   • Superspreader performed by Erik Bosgraaf  

👉 THANK YOU for watching and don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE!