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As I mentioned in my last post, I was impressed by the Van Eyck piece for solo recorder. So, as one does in Bologna, I walked into the Ut Orpheus music shop today and asked whether the sheet music might be available. Ut Orpheus has a very strong selection of "early music," and they have the entire 143 pieces of van Eyck solo recorder music in three volumes. I bought volume 1, which has the piece "Amarilli mia Bella," based on the famous (at least to singers) aria of that name by Caccini.
Here's the thing: Jacob van Eyck (died in 1657) was a "chime master," an organist, and a flute player. He was also blind, and someone else wrote down the 143 pieces as he played them, or improvised them. van Eyck must have had quite a memory, and his scribe must have been pretty skillful, too. The 1984 edition of "Der Fluyten Lust-hof" by Amadeus Verlag has a lot of wonderful notes and song texts, since a lot of the pieces are based on popular songs. It's a treasure trove of lively tunes, some psalms, and a few fantasias.
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We arrived in Bologna on April 30, and we had a lot of shopping and other work to do on our mostly empty apartment. But last night our friend Cinzia told us about a concert of 16/17th century music for recorder, viola da gamba, and harpsichord, and we went out to the Chiesa dei San Vitale e Agricola to hear it. We were very glad that we went. We sat perhaps 10 feet away from the performers, and they were all complete professionals, very well rehearsed and very expressive players. The program was divided into an English half and an Italian half. I was familiar with many of the English composers (Lawes, Purcell, Locke, Hume), but all of the Italians were new to me except Frescobaldi. The ensemble works were wonderful, but I liked the solo pieces best, oddly enough. Gamba - Pavan and Soldier's Galliard by Tobias Hume Recorder - Amarilli Mia Bella by Jacob van Eyck Harpsichord - La Monica by Bernardo Storace Below is a snapshot of the performers, not very flattering, From the left, Luciana Elizondo (gamba), Maria Luisa Baldassari (harpsichord), and Pamela Monkobodzky (recorder).  |
Nancy Rexford
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