Gheerkin de Hondt may be classified as a fine representative of the large network of singers and composers contributing to one of the most significant periods in the history of music in the Low Countries. In this book Véronique Roelvink describes the career of this zangmeeester and composer, who was born in Bruges, probably around 1495. Based on a large number of archival sources, a reconstruction is made of Gheerkin's daily activities in churches in Delft, Bruges and 's-Hertogenbosch between 1521 and 1547 and of the status he achieved. The second part of this book provides the first examination of Gheerkin's Masses, motets, chansons and lied, which proves that he was widely acquainted with the works of his contemporaries, and that he developed his own unique style, making a clear musical setting of texts his own personal trademark.


Véronique Roelvink is a musicologist and a historian. She has previously published on the music history of the 's-Hertogenbosch Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap in the sixteenth century (Gegeven den sangeren, 2002). She has also transcribed the music and written the liner notes for a CD portrait with Gheerkin de Hondt's chansons, motets and four parts of the Missa Ceciliam cantate pii that was released by the Egidius Kwartet in 2005. This book is her Ph.D. dissertation (Leiden, 2015).