Abraham van den Kerckhoven

Abraham van den Kerckhoven (* 1618 in Mechelen, † January 9, 1702 in Brussels) was a Belgian organist and composer.

Life and work

Kerckhoven came from a Belgian family of musicians from the 16th to the 18th century. More musically active members of the family were Antoine, Jean, Pierre, Philip and Melchior van den Kerckhoven. Phylogenetic relationships of the family are currently still unclear. Abraham van den Kerckhoven itself should be baptized 1627 in Brussels to older view on May 2, but it is now thought that this baptism entry refers to a namesake and Kerckhoven was almost a decade older.

1633 was Abraham van den Kerckhoven organist at the Sainte Catherine Church (Sint - Katharinakerk ) in Brussels. 1647 he was appointed as successor to Johann Caspar von Kerll court musician and organist of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. Since 1656 he was the first organist of the Chapel Royal for at least 14 years.

Kerckhoven's organ works are preserved in Brussels mainly through a manuscript ( Ms. II 3326 ) of the Bibliothèque Royale. It is a handwritten collection of organ notes compiled JIJ Cocquiel, organist and priest of the Sint- Vincentiuskerk in Soignies, 1741. The manuscript, also called Cocquiel - manuscript contains 365 pieces, but they are explicitly labeled only to a small extent with Kerckhoven's name. Most are short versettes for liturgical use, besides the manuscript also contains eight fantasies, a fugue and three preludes and fugues. The Cocquiel - Manuscript was first edited in 1933 by Joseph Watelet musicae as the second volume of the Monumenta Belgicae; 1982, a facsimile of Godelieve Spiessens has been published. Like many of the pieces are not marked by name of Cocquiel - manuscript of Kerckhoven originate is unclear; some pieces of the collection are in any case by other composers ( Christian Erbach, Peter Papen and others).

Compositionally Kerckhoven be oriented to its predecessor at the Sainte Catherine Church, Pieter Cornet, in addition to Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Jakob Froberger and the figuration Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck art. Some pieces contain typical French Registered names, while the alternating free or imitative counterpoint of several preludes reminiscent of the north German organ school.