Souterliedekens

The Habsburgian Netherlands in 1548

Jacobus Clemens non Papa (ca. 1510- 1556) was a prolific composer of the Renaissance period in what was then the Habsburgian Netherlands. These were 17 provinces ruled by Karel V of Habsburg, who was also German emperor and king of Spain. Karel was born in Ghent and his 17 provinces, where he resided, covered what is now the Benelux plus a considerable chunk of territory that is now part of France. Soon the religious wars would make the northern 7 provinces and independent republic, dominated by the Calvinist church, while the south would remain under the -most Catholic- Habsburg king who resided in Spain. Wars between France and Spain would then lead to loss of territory to France. Apart from these French territories, the North and South would be briefly reunited from 1815-1830 to fall apart again into the Netherlands, Belgium an Luxemburg as they are today.

We do not know much about Clemens's personal life. He might have been born in Zeeland, north of today's border with Belgium. He certainly worked south of it in Brugge, but also north in 's-Hertogenbosch. He is probably buried in Diksmuide in Belgium.

Although most of his work is in Latin and quite polyphonic, Dutch was his mother tongue and he is particularly famous for writing the Souterliedekens (the little songs of the Psalter). He took melodies of popular folk songs and a Dutch translation of the Psalms and then made three part polyphonic pieces out of that. This video gives an example of his work. First the text of the 31st psalm ("Saligh sij zijn") is sung on a folk melody a cappella solo. Then the folk song itself ("Een lied eerbaer") is sung with accompaniment. Lastly the psalm returns, now in a three part a cappella setting. As you will hear, ij is not a diphthong yet but is still pronounced as a long [i:] sound in 16th century Dutch.

First study the text below. On the left is the original 16th century Dutch that differs quite a bit from the language today. On the right is the modern version