Gisbert Steenwick (also ''Gijsbert'') (

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

6 January 1642 – buried 20 August 1679) was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

composer, organist, and

carillonneur A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

. He was born in

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

, where already at 21 he was a member of the local

collegium musicum The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in Germany, German and German-Switzerland, Swiss cities and towns during the Protestant Reformation, Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century. Generally, whil ...

''Caecilia''. In January 1665 Steenwick was appointed organist of St Eusebiuskerk in Arnhem, and on 22 October that year he was made municipal organist. He left Arnhem in 1674 and went to Kampen, where on 6 June 1674 he was appointed organist and carillonneur at the Bovenkerk. He died some five years later in Kampen, at the age of 37.Tollefsen, Ten Bokum, Grove. Today Steenwick is known for a few keyboard pieces contained in a manuscript he compiled before 1674 for a pupil, Anna Maria van Eyl, daughter of an Arnhem patrician. The manuscript contains 33 pieces of music, including dances and arrangements of, and variations on, folksongs. Only nine compositions are signed by Steenwick, but more can be attributed to him on stylistic grounds. Among the securely attributed works are arrangements of popular songs such as ''More Palatino'', ''Puer natus in Bethleem'', and ''Heiligh saligh Bethlehem'', and dances (

sarabande The sarabande (from ) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called ''zara ...

allemande An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach ...

s) with variations. Opinions differ on the quality of Steenwick's writing: while some scholars have noted a sophisticated variation technique, others have dismissed it as quite ordinary.Apel 1972, 767. Some pieces of the collection (which also includes works by the otherwise unknown Georg Berff) display North German influence.Noske 1961.

Notes

References

* Apel, Willi. 1972. ''The History of Keyboard Music to 1700''. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press. . Originally published as ''Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700'' by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel * Noske, Frits R. ''Nadere gegerens over het Klavierboek Anna Maria van Eyl'', TVNM, xix (1961), 94–100 * Noske, Frits R. Article ''Steenwick, Gisbert van'', in: MGG 12 (1965). * Noske, Frits R. ''Klavierboek Anna Maria van Eijl'', in Monumenta Musica Neerlandica II, Amsterdam (1976) *

Scores

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steenwick, Gisbert 1642 births 1679 deaths 17th-century classical composers Carillonneurs Dutch Baroque composers Dutch male classical composers Dutch classical composers Dutch classical organists Dutch male classical organists Musicians from Arnhem 17th-century male musicians