SWEELINCK: CHORAL WORKS, VOL. 2 - Netherlands Chamber Choir

At the time of his death on the 16th of October 1621, the fifty-nine-year-old Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was renowned throughout Europe. Although Sweelinck never travelled abroad, he had achieved celebrity status. His music led not only his contemporaries, but provided an example for later generations, although they used other compositional devises. And all of the compositional techniques which had been developed during the Renaissance were masterfully adapted and integrated by him. His chansons and madrigals along with the 2- and 3-part ‘Rimes’ are rare jewels in vocal chamber music literature. They show us how cultivated Sweelinck was. It is of paramount importance to emphasize that Sweelinck was Dutch par excellence. His works replace spectacular dramatic effects and monumental forms with a love for detail, picturesque expression and balance – characteristics found also in Dutch painting and poetry. As melodious as his compositions sound, their beauty lies far from the surface and un