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Living either side of the fabled 'Baroque' watershed moment of 1600, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562 -1621) plied his musical trade as an organist and composer. Nicknamed the 'Orpheus of Amsterdam' by his contemporaries, his stand-out skill was improvising at the keyboard, a talent certainly nurtured by Calvinist protocol whereby an organist's role was to embellish simple psalm tunes for congregations to hear before and after services.
Here we have a famous student drinking song - 'More palatino' - being embellished in flamboyant ways, Sweelinck demonstrating how games can be played within the lines, how instinct can rule whilst still obeying the rules. We can imagine him doing this when improvising for a congregation or gathering of admirers. Think of a jazz musician today impressing us with a witty version of a standard song we all know, then think of 'J P' doing just the same. Given the song text, perhaps listen with a beer...
We drink in palatial style. Let not a drop remain by which a fly could quench his thirst. Thus we drink, and thus we live while we are students.
Jonathan Darbourne
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