Constantijn Huygens is a big name in our national history. He was a diplomat, amateur musician and secretary to two princes of Orange. The scientist and music theorist Christiaan Huygens was his son. Who does not know the beautiful double portrait of Constantijn and his wife Suzanna van Baerle, which is flanked in the Mauritshuis by the Girl with a Pearl Earring and the View of Delft. Huygens was
… in contact with numerous cultural carriers, including Descartes, Rembrandt, Corneille, Francis Bacon and John Donne. He also corresponded with composers such as Luigi Rossi and Froberger. In Venice, which he visited as a diplomat in 1620, he heard Monteverdi at work in the Santi Geremia e Lucia. Huygens Pathodia Sacra Et Profana (Paris, 1647, with Latin psalms, Italian arias, French airs) contains a large part of Huygen's vocal oeuvre (voice, continuo). The French tenor Cyril Auvity presents a selection. This publication received four stars in the Volkskrant. (HJ)more
