CHAPTER 8: IN THE CHURCH

As mentioned in Chapter 5.3, shawms sometimes had sacred connotations in stage works. Poetry and songs of the period are no different, such as in Cornelis van Eeke’s songbook, De Koninklyke Harp-Liederen^[1] (1698). Four songs in this collection refer to double-reed instruments, two with religious imagery. Number 98 claims that the one could be stirred to sing along with shawms and shrill flutes. This is followed by a booming trumpet blown at the sight of God. Number 118 instructs to play shawm and flute to sound God’s praise above all.^[2]

François Halma’s self-published Davids Harpzangen^[3] (1707) features a song based on the text of Psalm 68. The twelfth stanza of the song refers to a procession of God into a sanctuary where flutes and shawms are playing.^[4]

The second stanza of “Laudate Dominum in Sanctis”^[5] from Jan van Hoogstraten’s (1662–1736) Zedezangen En Stigtelyke Liederen^[6] (1708) refers to unusual instrumental combinations, including “hoboos, en cytersnaar”.^[7] The instruments listed in this stanza are supposed to praise God all around.^[8]

Hubert Korneliszoon Poot’s (1689–1733) poem, “Op de voortreflyke muzykoefening van den heere Dirk Schol, orgel- en klokspeler der Nieuwe Kerk te Delf”,^[9] references several instruments (bass [violin?], fiddle, harpsichord, flutes, shawms, and brass instruments) and singing. These instruments are not described as one instrumental group, but are described as producing a Godly sound altogether.^[10] Given that the poem concerns a church musician, the shawm inherits a Christian association both by its very mention and by being said to produce a Godly sound. Another poem from the same collection, Mars en Venus beddepraet,^[11] also has religious overtones, referring to shawms in association with “heiligh kerkgebaer”^[12] and hymns.^[13]

These religious ties are not isolated incidents, given that there are relatively sufficient examples to demonstrate a general cultural association between double-reed instruments and Christian worship; but this did not necessarily reflect reality. Music played only a minor role in the Republic’s main churches due to the overwhelming presence of Calvinist culture and the Reformed Church. The little music that was being performed was restricted largely to vocal and organ music.^[14] Music with other instruments took place in only four of Amsterdam’s 61 Catholic churches in 1656.^[15]

An undated eighteenth-century document details the use of the oboe in the collegium musicum of the Begijnhof’s schuilkerk in Amsterdam.^[16] In a complicated arrangement, Bregje Jacobs was the cantor and was replaced by Ariaan Reijerse when she was unavailable. Reijerse was also expected to play the oboe, at least until Ariaan Albertse would be able to play (alone). No one would be allowed to begin singing before the oboe “intoned”, or else they would be fined one stuiver.^[17]

One major piece of iconography of the kleine schalmei is Gerard de Lairesse’s (1641–1711) 1686 artwork on the rugwerk^[18] organ shutters of the Westerkerk in Amsterdam (Figure 8). Other oboe-like instruments are also painted, but there is no evidence to suggest that these instruments ever played in the Westerkerk. Moreover, in the second volume of de Lairesse’s book, Het Groot Schilderboek (1707), does not seem to indicate any particular accuracy regarding instrumental combinations and the setting of the painting — though it does suggest to include the reed of the oboe or bassoon.^[19]

Figure 8: The rugwerk organ shutters in Amsterdam’s Westerkerk (1686), painted by Gerard de Lairesse, featuring a kleine schalmei and several other oboe-like instruments.^[20]

The lack of an established culture of double-reed instruments playing in churches does not instil confidence in the reliability of the fictional portrayals of their inclusion in sacred rituals. Despite this, the instruments’ association with Christian spectacle cannot be denied, even if it is only the case in works of fiction.

Summary

To Chapter 9: Commentary on Repertoire