A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Sweelinck, Jan

SWEELINCK or SWELINCK,^[1] Jan Pieterszoon, the greatest of Dutch organists, was born of a Deventer family in the summer of 1562. His father, 'Mr. Pieter,' was organist of the Old Church at Amsterdam, which place disputes with Deventer the honour of having given the son birth.^[2] Of Sweelinck's boyhood we know nothing, except that he was taught by Jacob Buyck (Buchius) the pastor of the Old Church. There is a tradition that he was sent to Venice to study music under Zarlino and Gabrieli; but with this is connected a mistake of old standing, which places his birth in 1540, 22 years too early.^[3] Now, as we know that he was in Holland from 1577, at latest, onwards, it becomes barely credible that the lad of 15 could have followed the instruction of the Venetian masters to any important extent; and it is likely that the whole story is based upon the close study which his works prove him to have devoted to those of 'the apostle of musical ^[4] science,' whose 'Istituzioni harmoniche' he translated.^[5] Some time between 1577 and 1581 Sweelinck was appointed to the organistship previously held by his father (who died in 1573); and this post he filled until his death, Oct. 16, 1621. For a generation he was the glory of Amsterdam. When he played the organ there, says a contemporary, 'there was a wonderful concourse every day; every one was proud to have known, seen, heard the ^[6]man.' And when he died it was the greatest of Dutch poets, Vondel, who wrote his epitaph, and surnamed him 'Phoenix of Music.' He must also have been a distinguished figure in the society of Amsterdam, then in its greatest brilliancy, not only for his unmatched powers as an organist, but also for his skill, fancy, and charming versatility on the clavicymbel.^[7] The town bought him for public service a new 'clavecimpbel' from Antwerp at a cost of 200 gulden; and the instrument seems to have travelled with him all over the country.^[8]

What was published however by Sweelinck in his life-time was entirely vocal music, and includes—besides occasional canons, marriage-songs, etc., his 'Chansons françaises' (3 parts, Antwerp, 1592–4), 'Rimes françaises et italiennes' (Leyden 1612), and the great collections of sacred music on which, with his organ works, his fame chiefly rests. These are the 'Pseaumes mis en musique' for 4–8 voices (published in several editions at Leyden, Amsterdam, and Berlin), and the 'Cantiones Sacrae' (Antwerp 1619). A Regina Cœli from the latter, 3 Chansons, and 8 Psalms in 6 parts have been lately reprinted, in organ-score, by the Association for the History of Dutch Music (pts. i, v, vii, and vi; Utrecht and Amsterdam, 1869–1877); which has also published for the first time seven of Sweelinck's organ works^[9] (pt. iii.) [Vereeniging.]

The psalms make an interesting link between the tranquillity of the old polyphonists and the rhythm of modern music. Formally they stand nearest to the earlier style, but the strictness of their counterpoint, the abundance of imitation and fugue in them, does not hinder a general freedom of effect, very pure and full of melody, to a greater degree than is common in works of the time. The organ pieces are also historically of signal importance. Though they may not justify the claim made for Sweelinck as 'the founder of instrumental music,'^[10] they at all events present the first known example of an independent use of the pedal (entrusting it with a real part in a fugue), if not with the first example of a completely developed organ-fugue.

It is as an organist and the founder of a school of organists that Sweelinck had most influence, an influence which made itself felt through the whole length of northern Germany.^[11] In the next generation nearly all the leading organists there had been his scholars: his learning and method were carried by them from Hamburg to Danzig. His pupil Scheidemann handed down the tradition to the great Reincke^[12]—himself a Dutchman—from whom, if we accept a statement supported alike by unanimous testimony and by exhaustive analysis of their works, it turned to find its consummation in Sebastian Bach.^[13]

[ R. L. P. ]

1. Of the seven or more ways in which the name is spelled, these two have the warrant of the musician's own signature. The Germans of the time seem to have naturalised him as Schweling; in Amsterdam he was known as plain Jan Pietersz.
2. Deventer is consistently mentioned by Sweelinck's later biographers; but the Amsterdam claim has the support of the official entry of his marriage there in 1590, in which his birthplace is not stated. The omission was the rule when the person was a native of the city. Else documentary evidence is equally wanting on both sides.
3. The correction of this and the rest of the mistakes which confuse every single date in Sweelinck's life is due to the essay of F. H. J. Tiedeman, 'J. P. Sweelinck, een bio-bibliografische Schets,' published by the Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis (Amsterdam, 1876), which supersedes a shorter sketch published by the same writer as an introduction to the 'Regina Cœli' in 1869. Both are based upon a biography, which remains in MS. in the possession of the Vereeniging, by Robert Eitner, who has done good service by rescuing the works of Sweelinck from the obscurity of the Graue Kloster at Berlin.
4. So Zarlino is entitled by his modern biographer, F. Caffi, 'Della Vita e delle Opere del Prete G. Zarlino' (Venice 1836). Neither here nor in the chapters on Zarlino and Andrea Gabrieli contained in his 'Storia della Musica Sacra,' vol. i. p. 129 etc. (Venice 1854), does Caffi take any notice of the Dutch scholar. Nor have I been able to discover any trace of his residence at Venice in the MS. collections of S. Marco.
5. MS. at Hamburg, formerly belonging to the great organist Reincke.
6. Sweertius, in Tiedeman, p. 16. Sweelinck's portrait at Darmstadt gives his strong irregular features a kindly expression, with a touch of sadness in them. It is reproduced in photograph by Mr. Tiedeman.
7. On this he was the master of Christina van Erp, the famous lutenist, and wife of the more famous poet, Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. See the 'Bouwsteenen' of the Vereeniging, vol. i. pp. 13 f.
8. See an anecdote in Baudartius, 'Memoryen,' xiii. p. 163; cited by Tiedeman, p. 16.
9. The bibliography of Sweelinck is given at length by Tiedeman, pp. 43–75. To this should be added some supplementary particulars communicated by Dr. J. P. Heije in the 'Bouwsteeuen,' vol. i. pp. 39–46.
10. See Eitner's preface to the edition, and Tiedeman, pp. 54 ff.
11. The wide distribution of his works is shown by early transcripts existing in the British Museum, and by copies of the extremely rare printed works preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale. Curiously enough not a single MS. of Sweelinck remains in Holland.
12. Often erroneously known as Reinken.
13. Spitta, 'J. S. Bach,' i. 96, 192–213.