Margot Kalse, Earl Christy, Sebastiaan Ammerlaan, Esther Kronenburg, Ilil Danin - TOP OF THE POPS, Dutch Golden Age Edition (2022) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. 1. O zalig heilig Bethlehem
02. 2a. Wilhelmus
03. 2b. Het Nederlandse Volkslied
04. 3b. Psalm 24, Aen Jan Jacobsz. Visscher
05. 4. O kerstnacht schoner dan de dagen
06. 5. Psalm 68
07. 6. Tien geboden
08. 7. Si c'est pour mon pucelage
09. 8a. Schoonste nimf van het woud
10. 8b. Amaril de deeken sacht
11. 9. Engelse fortuin
12. 10b. Lofzang van Maria, Ick schouw de Werelt aen
13. 11. Fortuin helaas
14. 12a. De lustelijke mei is nu in de tijd
15. 13a. Sei tanto graziosa
16. 14. Psalm 100
17. 15. De tijd is hier
18. 16a. Psalm 8
19. 17. Belle Iris
20. 18. Ik drink de nieuwe most
21. 19. Courante monsieur
22. 20. Te mei als alle vogels zingen
23. 21. Polyphemus aan de stranden
24. 22. Rozemond die lag gedoken
25. 23. Nerea schoonste van uw geburen
26. 24a. Sarabande Pinel
27. 25. Schoon lief wil mij troost geven
28. 26. O nacht jaloerse nacht
29. 27. Onze vader in hemelrijk
30. 28. Psalm 118
31. 29. Psalm 23
32. 30. Cette cruelle
33. 31. Het daagt in de oosten
34. 32a. Het vinnige stralen van de zon
35. 33. Zal ik nog langer in hete tranen
36. 34b. Het viel eens hemels douwe (Antwerps liedboek)
37. 35. Amarilli mia bella
38. 36. Een amoureus fier gelaat
39. 37a. Psalm 6
40. 38. Psalm 116
41. 39b. Psalm 103, Wel op myn luth
42. 40. Allez ou le sort vous conduit

Everyone has the natural ability and need to make and listen to music. We experience this every day, whether we are working or are looking for relaxation, are in church or in a bar, are at a party or putting children to bed. The easiest way to make music is by singing songs, especially if you have the tune in your head.

Songs – with tunes that everyone knows or quickly learns – provide the best means of connecting people to one another, particularly if they can enjoy it together. It has been shown by science that singing makes you happy – singing produces endorphins, oxytocin and dopamine which are hormones and neurotransmitters that constitute the most important triggers of pleasure in our brains.

Why this Top 40? The collection of melodies combines something useful with something agreeable: a historical heritage is preserved, made accessible, all in an attractive fashion, and at the same time passed on. Knowledge of historical songs is generally limited. For this reason, it is of great importance to allow modern-day speakers of Dutch to experience the richness of this cultural inheritance and to sing the old songs again themselves. This end is served by the Liedboek van de Top 40 van de Gouden Eeuw (Primavera Pers), where the songs are given in musical notation beneath which is set the text of the first two verses.

The website http://top40vandegoudeneeuw.nl offers additional midi files to learn the 40 melodies. This triple album with professional recordings of the songs is of use both for enjoyment and as an aid to learning the songs. In this way we can become familiar with the music which for centuries lay close to the hearts of the Netherlanders.

The Top 40 not only offers the possibility of singing the texts that have been selected for this song book. Every melody was in its time a point of departure for innumerable new song texts. For example, the most commonly used melody, no. 1 in the Top 40, ‘O zalig heilig Bethlehem’, gives rise to 379 contrafacts from the period 1535-1750. We know of 283 contrafacts for number 11 in the Top 40, ‘Fortuin helaas’, and 181 for number 40, ‘Allez où le sort vous conduit’. That means that anyone who knows all the tunes of the Top 40 can sing thousands of songs.

Margot Kalse – Alto, Mezzo-Soprano
Earl Christy – Lute
Ilil Danin – Virginal
Sebastiaan Ammerlaan – Baritone
Esther Kronenburg – Soprano

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