Pieter Bustijn (1649-1722) - Suitte (V, g-moll) pour le Clavessin (c.1712)
Performers: Bob van Asperen (harpsichord)
Painting: Isaac de Moucheron (1667-1744) - An italianate landscape with figures resting by a fountain
Further info: The Harpsichord In The Netherlands (1580-1712)
---
Dutch organist, carillonneur and composer. His family were
French-speaking. He may have studied with Remigius Schrijver (?-1681), a
Middelburg organist; he completed the music for 'Uitbreidinge over het
Bouk der Psalmen' (1682, lost), begun by Schrijver, who had died before
completion of the work. In 1681 he was appointed organist of the Nieuwe
Kerk, and carillonneur of the abbey bell tower in Middelburg. He served
as organ adviser in Middelburg and Goes and may have been director of
the Middelburg collegium musicum during the period 1681-1729. In 1712
the carillon of the Middleburg abbey tower was destroyed; its
replacement, constructed by the famous bellfounders Jan Albert de Grave
and Claas Noorden of Amsterdam in 1714, was inspected by Bustijn and
Abraham de Coup, organist of the Walloon church and carillonneur of the
market bell-tower, and, according to various reports, was of outstanding
quality. Relatively little Dutch keyboard music of the time has
survived. Bustijn’s IX suittes pour le clavessin (Amsterdam, c.1712) are
of great importance to the history of the genre in the Netherlands.
Their balanced arrangement by key is reminiscent of the use of
symmetrical cycles culminating in the art of Bach. Their style points to
that of the keyboard works of Bach and Handel, as well as showing some
French influence.
