Pieter Bustijn (1649 – 1729) was a Dutch composer,
organist, harpsichordist and carillon player of the
Baroque period. Bustijn occupies a very minor place in
music literature: only one of his works, in fact, has
been discovered, the IX Suittes pour le Clavessin. This
work, one opus number, was printed in Amsterdam in 1712
by the famous publisher Estienne Roger. The reason for
the lack of biographical details about Bustijn's life
and music can be attributed to the loss of the greater
part of th...(+)
Pieter Bustijn (1649 – 1729) was a Dutch composer,
organist, harpsichordist and carillon player of the
Baroque period. Bustijn occupies a very minor place in
music literature: only one of his works, in fact, has
been discovered, the IX Suittes pour le Clavessin. This
work, one opus number, was printed in Amsterdam in 1712
by the famous publisher Estienne Roger. The reason for
the lack of biographical details about Bustijn's life
and music can be attributed to the loss of the greater
part of the Middelburg archives in 1940.
The IX Suittes pour le Clavessin occupy a unique
position in Dutch music history. Little music composed
in the Netherlands in the late 17th and the early 18th
century was in fact printed and therefore many of these
works have been lost in the course of time. Bustijn's
suites offer us an amazing look at Dutch musical life
during the Baroque period and they are of great
importance to the history of keyboard music in the
Netherlands. Even Bach had a copy of Bustijn's
work.
The printed edition of the Suites was very well known
in the first half of the 18th century, enough to be
cited in some catalogs as "The Hague" (1759). Even in
an anthology of keyboard music, compiled by none other
than Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748), appeared
the name of Bustijn alongside names such as Buxtehude,
J.L. Krebs, Bach, and the French Clérambault and
Nivers.
According to the historian Albert Clement, the style of
IX Suittes pour le Clavessin is placed between the
works of earlier French masters and later German
composers.
The beginning of the Prelude of the Suitte VI in A
Minor is most identical with the theme of Praeambulum 6
(BWV 784); the beginning of the Prelude of Suitte II
(in D major) of the Dutch composer is similar to the
beginning of the Fantasia BWV 787 (from
Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, better
known as Inventions and Sinfonias). One could
hypothesize that Bustijn had some influence even on the
greatest of composers of the Baroque era.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Bustijn).
Although originally written for keyboard, I created
this Interpretation of the Suitte I from IX Suittes
pour le Clavessin for String Trio (Violin, Viola &
Cello).