Erik Bosgraaf & Cordevento - Adriana: Her Portrait, Her Life, Her Music (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

The forgotten figure of a 17th-century Dutch recorder virtuoso, illuminated by a unique synthesis of art history, scholarship and modern musicianship.

Der Fluyten Lust-hof (The Recorder's Pleasure Garden, or Garden of Delights) is a famous collection of music for recorder composed by Jacob van Eyck and published in Amsterdam by Paulus Matthijsz. The same Matthijsz published a parallel recorder edition in 1644 that he dedicated to a certain Adriana vanden Bergh: Der goden fluit-hemel (The Gods’ Recorder Heaven). Her identity remained obscure for centuries, until the musicologist Thiemo Wind discovered that she was portrayed as the muse Euterpe by the painter Jacob Backer, an illustrious contemporary of Rembrandt.

In his dedication, Matthijsz compared Adriana to the muse Euterpe in a four-line poem: ‘Euterpe’s spirit was reborn, or so it did appear, / Whene’er the sound of ADRIANA’s Fluyt I chanced to hear: / A wonder of our century, that such a youthful lass / Wears in the name of all the maidens laurels on Parnas.’

Who was Adriana vanden Bergh? This book and album tells the full and fascinating story, shedding light along the way on many aspects of culture, religion and everyday life in Amsterdam during the 17th century. As both a musicologist and art historian, Thiemo Wind is uniquely placed to tell this story. He has identified Adriana as the subject of a famous painting by Jacob Adriaensz Backer (1608/09–1651), hitherto anonymous but considered one of the most beautiful portraits of the Dutch Golden Age.

Through original research, Thiemo Wind has assembled an eventful biography, which moves in short and lively chapters, each of them illustrated with a telling image, from Adriana’s family background to her birth in 1631, her complex religious inheritance of both Protestant and Catholic observance, her apparently rapid mastery of the recorder, her participation in Amsterdam’s lively performing culture and her status as a musical celebrity even as a teenager, to her marriage in 1650, which probably occasioned the commission of Backer’s portrait. Thereafter the story turns darker, with a tale of bankruptcy, child-birth and -death, family splits and reconciliations, obscurity and ultimately Adriana’s death in 1668, having given birth to her ninth child.

The accompanying album takes its cue from Der goden fluit-hemel, and from the music publications featured in Backer’s portrait, to present new recordings of music with which Adriana would have delighted audiences in her time. There are tunes and hymns adapted by Van Eyck, an air by Matthijsz, sonata movements by Dutch and Italian masters such as Sweelinck, Rossi, Merula and Uccellini, and more besides. Performed by the internationally renowned virtuoso Erik Bosgraaf, in company with his ensemble Cordevento, the recording complements Thiemo Wind’s scholarship to present Adriana’s life and music in the round.

Tracklist:
01. Helmbreecker: Voorspel, 't Uitnemend kabinet II, 1649
02. Eyck: Malsimmes/Malle Symes, Euterpe oft speel-goddinne, 1644, 't Uitnemend kabinet II, 1649
03. Schop: Lachrime Pavaen, 't Uitnemend kabinet I, 1646
04. Vois: Brande Yrlandt, 't Uitnemend kabinet I, 1646
05. Huygens: Allemande Mr. Zuilekom, Schloss Ebenthal, MS A
06. Schop: Ballet, 't Uitnemend kabinet I, 1646
07. Eyck: Puer nobis nascitur, Der fluyten lust-hof II, 1646
08. Eyck: Comagain a 2, Der goden fluit-hemel, 1644
09. Kempis: Symphonia octava 'Den lustelijcken Mey', Symphoniae opus 3, 1649
10. Merula: Canzona 'La Gallina', Canzoni overo sonate concertate… libro XII, 1637, 't Uitnemend kabinet I, 1646
11. Matthijsz: Courante Monsieur, Der goden fluit-hemel, 1644
12. Rossi: Sonata quarta sopra l'Aria di Ruggiero, Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro III, 1623
13. Padbrué: Synphonia in nuptias D. J. Everswyn et Luciae Buys (Haarlem, 9 May 1641), Pavane
14. Padbrué: Synphonia in nuptias D. J. Everswyn et Luciae Buys (Haarlem, 9 May 1641), Gailliarde
15. Buonamente: Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro IV, 1629, Avanti Brando / Brando
16. Buonamente: Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro IV, 1629, Gagliarda
17. Buonamente: Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro IV, 1629, Corrente
18. Vois: Fantasia in F Major, 't Uitnemend kabinet I, 1646
19. Herwich: Concerto, 't Uitnemend kabinet II, 1649
20. Vois: Pavane de Spanje, Der goden fluit-hemel, 1644
21. Rossi: Sonata decima sopra l'Aria della Romanesca, Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro IV, R1642
22. Sweelinck: Fantasia Cromatica
23. Constantin: Allemande (Pavane) a 3, 't Uitnemend kabinet II, 1649
24. Rossi: Sonata terza sopra l'Aria della Romanesca, Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro III, 1623
25. Eyck: Lanterlu, Der fluyten lust-hof II, 1646
26. Uccellini: Aria quarta sopra la Ciaccona, Sonate, arie et correnti libro III, 1642
27. Matthijsz: (Air), Der goden fluit-hemel, 1644
28. Rossi: Sinfonia quinta, Varie sonate, sinfonie… libro IV, R1642
29. Eyck: Blydschap van myn vliedt, Der fluyten lust-hof II, 1646
30. Uccellini: Aria quinta sopra la Bergamasca, Sonate, arie et correnti libro III, 1642
31. Eyck: Stemme Nova, Der goden fluit-hemel, 1644


Thanks to the Original customer!