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Joachim van den Hove
b Antwerp 1567- d The Hague 1620
South Netherlands lutenist, composer, intabulator and teacher. His family moved from Antwerp
to the North Netherlands, probably for religous reasons, before 1585. After his marriage in
1594 he settled at Leiden. He was soon held in high regard there as a lutenist and a lute
teacher
: later that year he already had several pupils from the upper strata of society, including
Hendrik Frederik, Count of Nassau, who was a student of Leiden University and to whom he
dedicated
his Florida (1601); he also taught the count´s brother, Prince Maurits, to whom he
dedicatedDelitiæ Musicae (1612). He is several times mentioned as a lutenist in the
Leiden city archives, for example when he played at a banquet in honour of the Venetian
ambassador
on the occasion of his visit on 8 and 9 May 1610.
The mention of Frankfurt, Metz, Naples,
Paris and Venice, with dates between 1613 and 1616, in the Schele Lute Manuscript suggest that
he visited these cities during this period.
In 1615 or 1616 he moved to the Hague. He had meanwhile got into great financial difficulties;
in 1616 some of his property was confiscated, and in 1620 his house was compulsorily sold.
When he died later that year he was totally destitute.
Van den Hove´s collections show that he was an able and sensitive composer and intabulator.
With Emmanuel Adriænssen and Nicholas Vallet he was one of the most important figures in
Netherlands
lute music about 1600. Præludia testudinis is the only collection by Van den Hove that
contains exclusively his own music, comprising 19 preludes, two pavans and an echo piece. His
Florida and Delitiæ Musicae contain fantasias, dances, intabulations and vocal
pieces
for two voices and lute (three for two lutes), especially by Italian composers - Giovanni
Gabrieli
,Giovanni Maria Nanino, Vecchi and many others.
Other composers represented include Lassus,
Le Jeune, Monte and Sweelinck. The manuscript collections include fewer intabulations and no
vocal works, concentrating instead on preludes, toccatas, dances and pieces with such titles
as "Diminutio", "Contrapuncto" and "Tyrada"; Van den Hove drew on works by lute composers such
as Dowland, Vallet, Rude, Ballard and Bocquet. All the anthologies contain fine pieces by Van
den Hove himself.
Mijndert Jape