Sweelinck held the organist's post at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, a position controlled by the town's Protestant magistracy, not the church.
Instruments
The Theewes claviorgan, a harpsichord-organ combination from 1579, is the only signed and dated 16th-century harpsichord from northern Europe that survives today.
Compositional Technique
Sweelinck's keyboard works show influences from Italian, especially Venetian, keyboard music, and from English composers like Blitheman, Bull, and Philips.
Composer Biography
Sweelinck was a renowned organ expert and teacher, particularly known as the 'hamburgischen Organistenmacher' for training organists who filled posts in Hamburg.
Instruments
The claviorgan by Lodewijk Theewes, though built in London, was made by a Dutch native who likely fled religious persecution in the Catholic Netherlands.
Instruments
The claviorgan was originally owned by Anthony Roper, grandson of Sir Thomas More, and has close links to prominent Elizabethan composers Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
Composer Biography
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, born in 1562, took his mother's family name and was known as the 'Orpheus of Amsterdam'.
