Joachim van den Hove: Florida In the first quarter of the 17th century, the Republic of the United Netherlands experienced a short but rich flowering of an indigenous lute culture, which generated a number of printed lute books and some important manuscripts. There were many lutenists active in the country, but only two of them, both of foreign descent, gained international stature: Nicolaes Vallet and Joachim van den Hove. Son of the esteemed city musician Peeter van den Hove, Joachim van den Hove was born in Antwerp in July 1567. In 1585, during the Dutch rebellion against the ruling Spanish king (Philip II), many Calvinists fled from Antwerp to the Northern Netherlands, among them Peeter van den Hove and his family. In January 1593 we find Joachim in the town of Leiden, in the province of Holland; his brother Hercules, also a lutenist, had already moved there the year before. Joachim settled in the town, married, and took an active part in the local music scene. He earned his living by playing at official banquets and private parties, and above all by giving lute lessons to students of Leiden University, both Dutch and foreign. He also let out rooms in his house to a number of students. Initially Van den Hove did very well, but in the 1610s his financial situation gradually deteriorated. His debts were rapidly accumulating, and in 1616 he fled his creditors and left for The Hague. There he died, a poor man, in February or March 1620. Van den Hove was a prolific composer and publisher of lute music; the recent edition of his collected works comes to 390 pieces, 316 of which are most probably of his own hand, with 24 of doubtful origin. This sizeable body of compositions has been handed down in manuscripts as well as printed books, all of which originated in close connection with Van den Hove. We have an autograph manuscript of his works (Berlin, Hove-1, dating from 1614–15), as well as two manuscripts that are direct copies of collections made by his lute pupils (the Herhold and Schele lute books, from 1602 and 1619 respectively). Moreover, Van den Hove published three important lute books: 2
Florida (Utrecht, 1601), Delitiae musicae (Utrecht, 1612) and Praeludia testudinis (Leiden, 1616). Praeludia is devoted to his own compositions, but the other two books are anthologies in which his own compositions and lute settings alternate with works by others. Many of the pieces in Delitiae and especially in Florida are anonymous, but a close analysis of the contents of the books and of the stylistic traits of the music reveals that the majority were composed or arranged by Van den Hove himself. The selection on this release is taken from Florida, Van den Hove’s first publication and the first of the lute books printed in Holland. In its design and outward appearance, it is very much reminiscent of the books published between 1584 and 1600 in Antwerp by Emanuel Adriaenssen, possibly Van den Hove’s former lute teacher. Florida opens with six Fantasias (track 13 is one such example), which are followed by a number of intabulations, lute arrangements of vocal music. After that come the Passemezzos, large-scale quasi-improvisations on a ground bass (4–5). These are followed by a section comprising various courtly dances: Pavanas (10–11, 16, 22), Gaillardes, Almandes (3, 7, 19–20, 24), Courantes, Voltes (6, 14, 18) and Bransles. The Passemezzos and the dances are based on music that had come to the Low Countries from various parts of Europe, mainly from Italy, France and England. Two Pavanas are in fact reworkings by Van den Hove of pieces by the famous English composers John Dowland and Peter Philips (10–11, 22). Some of the dances in Florida are also found in foreign lute sources – an indication that they are from a common European stock – but others, such as the Almandes, are unique to the collection and were probably set to the lute by Van den Hove himself. Florida concludes with a number of popular tunes. Again, these are from foreign countries, chiefly England (1, 12, 13), but Van den Hove also arranged some melodies and dance tunes from Holland (2, 8, 9, 17, 21) as a tribute to his adopted fatherland. The numbers of the pieces are taken from: Burgers, J.W.J., Joachim van den Hove. Life and works of a Leiden lutenist, 1567–1620 (Utrecht, 2013). 훿 Jan W.J. Burgers 3
Massimo Marchese was born in Savona, Italy, in 1965. He studied the lute with Jakob Lindberg and took his Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London, later graduating with a Masters in lute studies from the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali ‘Franco Vittadini’ in Pavia, Italy. He also attended masterclasses with renowned lutenist Paul O’Dette. Since 1980 he has had an active performing career both as a soloist and continuo player, collaborating with musicians such as Jakob Lindberg, Nigel Rogers, Danilo Costantini, Gaetano Nasillo, Patrizia Pace, Pietro Spagnoli, Enrico Gatti,
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Lorenzo Girodo and Flavio Emilio Scogna. He has also played with the Dodekachordon – Orchestra of Lutes ensemble, directed by Jakob Lindberg. He has given concerts throughout Italy – in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Parma, Genoa, Syracuse and Cagliari, among others – as well as internationally, in France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, South America and China. He has been invited to perform in major festivals including OudeMuziek in Utrecht, MITO SettembreMusica, Piemonte in Musica, Festival internazionale delle Arti Barocche in Genoa, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, Festival de Mùsica Sacra in Tenerife, and the Music Weeks in Sofia. He has recorded for the Italian broadcaster Rai (Radio 2, Radio 3’s Piazza Verdi and Suite – La Stanza della Musica) and the National Radio of Bulgaria, as well as the record labels RCA, Bongiovanni, Stradivarius, Tactus, Solstice, Concerto, Brilliant Classics, Calliope and Centaur Records. An enthusiastic teacher, Marchese has devoted himself to the study of various musical teaching methods such as those of Orff and Goitre, and part of his work involves training school music teachers. From 1993 to 2000 he was president of Alessandria’s Società Italiana per l’Educazione Musicale, and it was in this role that in 1997 he participated in the Landeskongress Schulmusik, a conference dedicated to the teaching of music in schools in Stuttgart. Marchese is also a musicologist and has been the keynote speaker at many conferences. He has served as artistic director of various early music festivals in Savona, Vigevano and Alessandria, and has taught lute at summer courses in Prato and Ravello, also assisting Ottavio Dantone in his ensemble music class at the international courses held in Pamparato. From 1993 to 1996 he both directed and taught at the Accademia di Musica Antica in San Giovannino, based in Alessandria; more recently he has taught lute at the ‘A. Vivaldi’ Conservatoire in Alessandria and at the ‘Lorenzo Perosi’ Conservatoire in Campobasso.
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More lute music on Brilliant Classics
Dedicated to Silvia Dall’Aquila: Music for lute 94805
Vita de la mia vita: Ricercares, dances, madrigals and villanellas on four lutes 95038
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Da Milano: Music for lute 94993
Zamboni: Lute Music 94767
Recording: March 2014, Alessandria, Italy Recording producer & editing: Massimo Marchese Recording engineer & mastering: Giovanni Caruso Instrument: eight-course lute by Paul Thomson, Bristol, 1992, after Vendelio Venere (1582) Artist photo: 훿 Photo Studio Massimiliano Ribelli, Savona, Italy & 훿 2015 Brilliant Classics
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