What Kind of Music was Played in Vermeers Time?
In the second half of the 17th century, the new, well-tuned chromatic carillons of the Hemony brothers, with their increasing range in size, marked a decisive step in the development of the carillon into a full-fledged musical instrument. Unfortunately, most of the music of past players has disappeared and for various reasons none was ever published. Private collections were lost or destroyed over the years, surviving examples are exceedingly rare. Indirect evidence of the choice of music may be suggested by a report of the Delft organist and carillonneur Dirck Scholl (1641-1727) during the famous dispute with Quirinus van Blankenburg (1654-1740) from Gouda. This report addresses the question of whether the Cis and Dis are necessary in the bass bells of a carillon.5 Scholl pointed to the fact that the bass notes do not occur in French or Italian compositions. Evidently, foreign music had found its way into the carillon repertoire in parallel to the keen interest in the French and Itali
