Ruckers me fecit Antverpiae
Music for Antwerp harpsichords & virginals, 1560-1660
- Anonymus
- Claudin De Sermisy (C1490-1562)
- Antonio De Cebazón (1510-1566)
- Thomas Crecquillon (1505/15-1557)
- Peter Philips (1560/1-1628)
- Orlando di Lasso (c.1532-1594)
- John Bull (ca. 1562-1628)
- Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
- John Dowland (c.1563-1626)
- Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1696)
- Michel Lambert (1610-1696)
- Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (c.1602-1672)
Antwerp, city of harpsichords
Antwerp, around the middle of the 17th century. Music issues from an imposing house on the Meir. Inside the house, paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Brueghel, Vermeer and Tintoretto hang everywhere. A small but international group seated close to the fireplace is listening to a concert arranged especially for them. Francisca Duarte (1619-1678), who lives in the house, plays one of the many Ruckers-Couchet harpsichords and virginals owned by the Duarte family. She has chosen the music carefully: there are works from old collections of manuscripts compiled for and by the Duarte family, including music by John Bull and arrangements of dances and songs, as well as new repertoire by harpsichord virtuosos such as Jacques Champion de Chambonnières and Johann Jakob Froberger who have shared their recent compositions with the family. One of the guests, Béatrix de Cusance, noted in a letter ‘Dear Francisca lets us hear unusual and extraordinary things. She plays a thousand times better from day to day’. Francisca’s father Gaspar, and her sister Leonora frequently perform with her; he is a lutenist and she is a singer. Heavenly music continues to resound in Antwerp until well after midnight.
The music on this CD is structured like a concert that Francisca Duarte might have given. Although Francisca’s talent was exceptional, she was just one of many Antwerp citizens who could play the harpsichord well; competence on the harpsichord was an important part of the education of the daughters of the wealthy middle-class in the 16th and 17th centuries. Music created harmony in life, and its playing encouraged elegance.
Mario Sarrechia harpsichord, virginal, ottavino
(a) Virginal (muselar, 6 foot), collection Korneel Bernolet, by Walter Maene (1976) after Joannes Couchet
(Antwerp, 1650), Museum Vleeshuis | Sound of the City, Antwerp
(b) Ottavino (child virginal), collection Korneel Bernolet, by Walter Maene (2018) after Andreas Ruckers
(Antwerp, c.1626), Museum Vleeshuis | Sound of the City, Antwerp
Note: (a) and (b) can be used together as a mother-and-child virginal
(c) Virginal (spinet virginal, 4½ foot), collection Christophe Bursens, by Matthias Griewisch (2014) after Joannes Ruckers (Antwerp, 1629), MIM, Brussels
(d) Harpsichord (1 keyboard), collection Museum Vleeshuis | Sound of the City, by Jean-Pierre Hemmeryckx (2018), after Andreas Ruckers (Antwerp, 1644), Museum Vleeshuis | Sound of the City
(e) Harpsichord (2 keyboards), collection Mario Sarrechia, by Titus Crijnen (2017) after Joannes Ruckers (Antwerp, 1624 and later ravalements), Musée Unterlinden, Colmar
Lieselot De Wilde soprano
(tracks 2, 6, 10, 14, 17, 19, 24)
Justin Glaie lute
(tracks 2, 6, 13, 19)
7-course Renaissance lute, by Ivo Magherini (2005), after Wendelin Tieffenbrucker (Vendelio Venere)
(Padua, late 16th century)

Track listing
1 | Brande champanje (a+b) | 02:04 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' | |||
2 | Dont vient cela | 01:55 | |
artists: composers: 'Claudin De Sermisy (C1490-1562)' | |||
3 | Duuiensela (a) | 03:08 | |
artists: composers: 'Antonio De Cebazón (1510-1566)' | |||
4 | De frans galliard (a+b) | 00:57 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' | |||
5 | Almande de La nonette (b) | 01:10 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' | |||
6 | Ung gay bergier | 01:42 | |
artists: composers: 'Thomas Crecquillon (1505/15-1557)' | |||
7 | Un gai bergeir (d) | 02:33 | |
artists: composers: 'Antonio De Cebazón (1510-1566)' | |||
8 | Pavana Dolorosa (d) | 07:10 | |
artists: composers: 'Peter Philips (1560/1-1628)' | |||
9 | Galiarda Dolorosa (d) | 02:00 | |
artists: composers: 'Peter Philips (1560/1-1628)' | |||
10 | Susanna (v)ung jour (a) | 02:27 | |
artists: composers: 'Orlando di Lasso (c.1532-1594)' | |||
11 | Daphne (c) | 04:35 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' | |||
12 | The King’s Hunt (d) | 03:49 | |
artists: composers: 'John Bull (ca. 1562-1628)' | |||
13 | Pavana Hispanica (d) | 02:37 | |
artists: composers: 'Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)' | |||
14 | Wt de diepte o Heere (Psalm 130) (a) | 02:07 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' | |||
15 | Galliarde quÿ passe (a) | 00:48 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' | |||
16 | Dutch Dance (c) | 01:24 | |
artists: composers: 'John Bull (ca. 1562-1628)' | |||
17 | Bonjour mon cœur (c) | 01:14 | |
artists: composers: 'Orlando di Lasso (c.1532-1594)' | |||
18 | Bon Jour mõ cueur di Orlando (c) | 04:14 | |
artists: composers: 'Peter Philips (1560/1-1628)' | |||
19 | Flow my tears (d) | 03:58 | |
artists: composers: 'John Dowland (c.1563-1626)' | |||
20 | Paduana Lachrymae | 05:29 | |
artists: composers: 'Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)' | |||
21 | Partita V in C (FbWV 605) - Allemande (e) | 02:29 | |
artists: composers: 'Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1696)' | |||
22 | Partita V in C (FbWV 605) - Courante (e) | 01:05 | |
artists: composers: 'Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1696)' | |||
23 | Partita V in C (FbWV 605) - Sarabande (e) | 01:21 | |
artists: composers: 'Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1696)' | |||
24 | Ma bergère est tendre et fidèle (e) | 02:18 | |
artists: composers: 'Michel Lambert (1610-1696)' | |||
25 | Chaconne en Fa (e) | 03:24 | |
artists: composers: 'Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (c.1602-1672)' | |||
26 | Pavane dan Vers (a+b) | 02:14 | |
artists: composers: ' Anonymus' |