THE DUTCH MASTERS OF MUSIC AND ART, VOLUME 2

AVAILABLE STARTING APR 21

Overview

In 2017, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts made international headlines with its acquisition of more than 100 masterworks of Dutch and Flemish art, including famed paintings by Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Frans Hals, and many more. The collection instantly made Boston the home of one of the finest collections of Netherlandish art in the world.

In the Fall of 2021, we shared Volume 1 of H+H’s recording of Dutch music performed in the newly opened suite of galleries of Dutch and Flemish art.

Now, H+H and the MFA celebrate with this second of two concerts of music from the time of Rembrandt, recorded at the MFA using period instruments from their collection, and including commentary from the MFA’s expert curators. Directed by Scott Metcalfe, a renowned specialist in Dutch repertoire of the time, the music is performed by members of the H+H Chorus with special soloists.

Volume 2 focuses on the expressive great tradition of vocal music from the 17th century Netherlands, and is a companion to Volume 1.

Enjoy this stellar marriage of music and art presented in partnership by two Boston institutions, offered free to all, on YouTube and H+H Plays On.

This recording was made possible through the generous support of two anonymous friends of H+H and the MFA.

Watch on H+H Plays On

Watch on YouTube

Featured Artworks

Hendrick ter Brugghen, Boy Singing, 1627. Oil on canvas. Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow Fund. 58.975.

Gerrit van Honthorst, A Merry Group behind a Balustrade, about 1623-24. Oil on canvas. Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art. 2019.2091.

Aelbert Cuyp, Orpheus Charming the Animals, about 1640. Oil on canvas. Promised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art.

Dirck van Baburen, The Procuress, 1622. Oil on canvas. M. Theresa B. Hopkins Fund. 50.2721.

Pieter Saenredam, The North Transept and Choir Chapel of Sint Janskerk, Utrecht, 1655. Oil on panel. Promised gift of Susan and Matthew Weatherbie, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art.

Pieter Saenredam, The Interior of the St. Bavo Church, Haarlem, 1660. Oil on panel. Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art. 2019.2096.

Pieter Saenredam, Church of Saint Odulphus, Assendelft, 1655. Oil on panel. Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection. 48.321.

Jan Steen, Twelfth-Night Feast, 1662. Oil on canvas. 1951 Purchase Fund. 54.102.

Jan Miense Molenaer, Figures by a Virginal in an Interior, 1634. Oil on panel. Museum purchase with funds donated by Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art. 2020.401.

Featured Instruments

Lute, made by Andreas Berr, Vienna, 1699. Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund. 1986.7.

For more information about the MFA’s galleries of Dutch and Flemish art, visit mfa.org.

 

MFA logo

 

The concert was filmed on location at and in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in Gallery 242: Art of Flanders and the Netherlands in the 17th Century.

Location

Online Stream

Dates

Available starting April 21, 2022

Music

Songs and psalm settings by:
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Geert van Turnhout
Cipriano de Rore
André Pevernage
Cornelis de Leeuw
Dirck Janszoon Sweelinck

Performed by

Scott Metcalfe, guest artistic director
Megan Chartrand, soprano
Kim Leeds, mezzo-soprano
Cody Bowers, countertenor
Aaron Sheehan, tenor
Sumner Thompson, tenor/baritone
David McFerrin, bass
Kevin Payne, lute

Introductions by MFA Curators

Antien Knaap, Assistant Curator, Art of Europe

Frederick Ilchman, Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings and Chair, Art of Europe

Christopher D.M. Atkins, Van Otterloo–Weatherbie Director, Center for Netherlandish Art

Recorded March 8-9, 2022 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston