Jacob van eyck biography

Jacob van Eyck

Jonkheer Jacob van Eyck ( van EYEK, Dutch: [ˈjaːkɔp fɑn ˈɛik]; c. 1590 – 26 March 1657) was a Dutch nobleman, composer and blind musician. He was one of the best-known musicians of the Dutch Golden Age, working as a carillon player and technician, a recorder virtuoso, and a composer. He was an expert in bell casting and tuning, and taught Pieter and François Hemony how to tune a carillon. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jacob van Eyck has received more than 94,295 page views. His biography is available in 19 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 18 in 2019). Jacob van Eyck is the 662nd most popular composer (up from 744th in 2019), the 403rd most popular biography from Netherlands (up from 428th in 2019) and the 7th most popular Dutch Composer.

Jacob van Eyck (1589-1657) is undeniably one of the most important musical personalities of the Dutch Golden Age, perhaps the most important after Sweelinck. The blind-born squire was Utrecht's city carillonneur, campanologist, carillon technician, recorder virtuoso and composer (Der fluyten lust-hof). The curious thing is that until recently, nothing was known about the first half of his life (a period of thirty years!). The earliest sign of life dated from 1619. Van Eyck then lived in Heusden, where he manifested himself as an expert on carillon and bells.

Musicologist Thiemo Wind, who completed his PhD on Van Eyck's recorder music in 2006, has now reconstructed those first 30 years. He was able to do this after former Heusden archivist Hildo van Engen discovered that Jacob arrived in Heusden in 1618 with church attestation from Bergen op Zoom. This document led to the discovery of new facts: Van Eyck was almost certainly born in 1589, possibly in Heusden but more likely in The Hague. He grew up in Bergen-op-Zoom, presumably in