Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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588 SONG
The Netherland masters, however, rarely gave
the whole melody even to the leading part,
and seldom more than one couplet of the words,
and hence the fragmentary character of the
songs they bequeathed to us. But gradually
the spii-it of the folk-song began to Influence
then" highest forms of composition, and they
realised that in their chansons, vUlanelles, and
canzmiettes, written in four, five, six, seven, or
'
eight parts, mechanical invention must be
subservient to idea, and euphony and expression
should equally be the objects of the composer.
^ ' Amongst the works of Dufay, Binchois,
Faugiies, Busnois, and in Petrucci'a 'Canti
cento cinquanta,' there are songs which, in
middle of the 15th century the early Rederykers^
(who correspond with the German Meistersinger)
substituted for the harshly realistic secular
songs of the day their own carefully prepared
sacred songs.' For these they either altered
the words of the secular songs to give them a
sacred meaning, or they adapted totally new
religious words, retaining the secular tune unchanged.'*
And this practice prevailed in the
Netherlands throughout the 16th and 17th
centuries. In 1561 Tylman Susato published
his Souterliedekens, ' ' consisting of portions of
the Psalms according to the rhymed Flemish
version, set unaltered to the popular song-tunes
1 Naumann's ffist. of Mm*, i. 368.
2 In Willaert we clearly aee the modem apirit, not only in what
he did for harmony but also for his recognition of the value of the
solo-Toice. tn 15S6 he arranged soma of Verdelot's madrigals for
Bolo-BODg with accompaniment of lute.
3 Wooldridge gives a lovely little song. 'Ce Moys de Mai,' by
Janneqain, showing the transition between the two styles, where
the harmony is in plain chords, but 'the polyphonic element is
atill present in the melodious flow and independent Interest of the
separate parts.' Oxford HUt, of MvMo, ii.^,
1 See W. Biimnker, Siederl&ndUrihe geUtlbihe LiadertViert^ahragchrift,
1888.
5 AH these songs deal with Christ as the Bridegroom for Whom
the loving soul yearns.
6 For information on the guilds of poets and musicians in the
Ketherlauds, see Motley's Rise of the Dutch ReptMtc, 1. 76 etteq.
' For examples from the later red^ryker, M. van Castelyn's songs
{tiiveriehe Liederkens), see Duyse, ii. 1530 et aeq. One of Caatelyu's
'
songs, Ghepeys, Ghepeys, vol van euvijen,' is included in most
collections.
B In this manner many secular songs have been preserved intact,
instead of only in a fragmentary or mutilated form, such as we
have seen the polyphonic writers reduced them to.
of the day. This publication was succeeded
by Fruytier's ' Ecclesiasticus ' (1565) and the
various Roman Catholic song -books, such as
'Theodotus,' ' Het Paradijs ' (Antwerp, 1621),
which similarly contained a mass of secular
melodies. Whilst the Church scales were still
in use the greater part of the earlier melodies
were in the Dorian mode, though the Phrygian
and Lydian were also represented.'
Very different in character from the sacred
songs of the mystics, of the rederykers, of the
Roman Catholics, or those which the Reformation
produced, were the songs of liberty and
patriotism sung a generation later dui'ing the
Spanish oppression. Amongst other collections
regularity of form and simplicity of character, the famous song-book of the Gueux i" ('Geusenrival
the folk-songs. Nor are examples wanting
in the minor works of Okeghem, Pierre de 'Gedenck-Clanck' (1621-26)" (see Valeritts),
Liedenboecxkens,' 1588), and Adrianus Valerius'
la Rue, Josquin des Pr&, Gtombert, Willaert,^ contain the classics of Dutch musical hterature,
Goudimel, Clemens non Papa, Jannequin,^ and are historically of inestimable value.
Arcadelt, and Orlandus Lassus, of secular They give us the ballads of 'Egmont and
melodies conceived in a strain of freshness, Horn,' the 'Storm of Leyden'; the splendid
naivete, humour, and brightness, or marked by political songs of satire on the Spanish generals,
a power of lyric expression belonging to a much such as the ' Spotlied op de Bossu,
'
' SpotUed
later time.
op de Alva,' or the patriotic songs such as
The picture of an age and its culture is always 'Bin Liedje op den Briel,' or 'De Geuzen bij
vividly reflected inits folk-songs ; itwas therefore Antwerpen,' and WUhelmus van Nassonwe '
'
the natural result of the intensity of the impulse the Dutch national anthem. (See Wilhelmtts
given to religious life by the mystics ' ' that so VAN Nassotjwe.) These grand old Netherland
great a number of sacred songs were created songs breathe a spirit of protest against tyranny,
during the 14th century.* The ground had and of warlike determination tempered with
already been prepared by the celebrated ascetics resignation under disaster, which sets them on
Greert Groote and Johann Ruysbrock, and the a distinct plane of their own. In many of the
numerous sacred Minne-songs ^ were the 'especial collections only the name of the tune {stem) is
outcome of the mystic movement. About the mentioned to which the song was sung. Such
is the case with those in the Geusen ' Liedenboecxkens,'
but Valerius has given the actual
melodies as well. Many tunes are derived from
foreign sources, and especial interest is attached
to those of English origin, of which the following
collections contain the most: 'Friesche Lusthof
'
(1621) ;12 'Gedenck-Clanck' (1621-26) ;13
'Den singende Zwaen' (1664) ; ' Stichtelycke
Rymen' (1624):" 'Bellerophon' (1633) ;15 and
Thysius's and Vallet's lute-books. At the time
of Queen Elizabeth, when the cultivation of
music in England was at its height, intercourse
between this country and the Netherlands was
most frequent. Jhiglish traders arrived in
Dutch harbours, English students studied at
Leyden, English actors played in Amsterdam,'^
B BSnmker has given examples.of these interchangeable sacred
and secular songs from two old MS. coUections : one is in the K. K.
Fideikoinmisbibliothek in Vienna, and the other in the Kdnigllche
Bibllothek in Berlin. The tunes are nearly all to be found in
'
Btthme's Altdeutsches Liederbuch,' and frequently occur again in
'
Duiich collections. See also GeisUiche nnd Weltliche Composltionen
des XV. Jahrhunderts,' bearbeitet von Guide Adler und
Oswald KoUer,
10 Or ' Gentlemen beggars.' Forthe origin of the word see Motley's
Rise ofthe Itutch Republic, i. 432 ct aeq.
11 Dr. A. Loman has harmonised a selection from the Geusenliedeiiboecxkens
' and the ' Gedenck'Glanck.' Both, with his interesting
prefaces and notes, were published by the Ma-itschappij tot
bevoidering der Toonkimst for 1^1 and 1872. (See Verebnioikg.)
i» J. Starter.
13 See J.P. Land's article on Valerius's'Qedenck-Clanck'invol. i.
of the Tvdachrift der veroettiging vmrr Noerd-Nederlamds ifuzickgeschiedenes.
(Land's references are to the let edition of Chappell's
Pop. Music.) 1* Camphnysen. 16 l>. p. pei^
13 Die SinffSpiete der engliecAen KomSdianten, Dr. J. Bolte, 189S.