Life
Joachim van den Hove was a Flemish-born Dutch composer and lutenist, born in Antwerp around 1567 to the musician Peeter van den Hove. After the Fall of Antwerp in 1584–85 the family fled north, and by the early 1590s Joachim had settled in Leiden, where he married Anna Rodius in 1594 and worked as a lutenist and sought-after teacher, numbering the future princes Maurice and Frederick Henry of Orange among his pupils. Joachim van den Hove published three major collections—Florida (1601), Delitiae Musicae (1612), and Praeludia Testudinis (1616)—but financial troubles led to the confiscation of his property in 1616; he fled to The Hague, where he died in poverty in 1620.
Impact
Joachim van den Hove ranks alongside Emanuel Adriaenssen and Nicolas Vallet as one of the most important lutenist-composers of the early Dutch Golden Age, producing an extensive, carefully notated repertoire of solo dances, fantasias, and songs alongside skillful arrangements of Italian, French, English, and Flemish material. His three printed collections remain essential sources for lute technique and taste in the Netherlands around 1600, and his role teaching the princes of Orange placed Dutch lute culture at the heart of the House of Orange-Nassau’s court.
Repertoire
Chanson Flameng, 1601
A Flemish song arrangement from van den Hove’s Florida, sive cantiones (1601), reflecting his interest in setting Dutch/Flemish folk melodies for lute.
Joachim Van den Hove – Chanson Flameng – Lute — Performed by Luthval · lute
Canarie, c. 1612
A lively canarie dance from van den Hove’s published lute collections, reflecting the fashionable French court dance repertoire of the period.
Joachim van den Hove, Canarie. — Performed by Alexander Maev · lute
Joachim Van Den Hove – Canarie (Marcello Lo Presti, Lute) — Performed by Marcello Lo Presti · lute
Windeken, c. 1612
A gently lyrical piece from van den Hove’s lute output, notable for having been recorded by leading early-music lutenists.
Anthony Bailes | “Windeken” by Joachim van den Hove (1567-1620) — Performed by Anthony Bailes · lute
Windeken, van den Hove — Performed by Trond Bengtson · lute