Lesson 72: Van Eyck Variations, Part 2 — Engels Nachtegaeltje

Play the theme and the first two variations of van Eyck's Engels Nachtegaeltje (“the English nightingale”).
Bring the altissimo register from Lesson 50 (Bb5 and C6) into a real piece, not just a drill.
Hear and play imitative gestures — the variations literally imitate birdsong, and the imitation is the point.

Lesson 50 — altissimo (Bb5 and C6).
Lesson 71 — the Doen Daphne variations.

Altissimo in real repertoire.
Imitative gesture (birdsong).
Increasing variation density into the high register.

Listen to the nightingale before you read the music. Van Eyck did.

Engels Nachtegaeltje — literally “the little English nightingale” — is van Eyck's most virtuosic piece in Der Fluyten Lust-hof and the recorder's most-played imitative piece. The theme is a popular Dutch song; the variations climb steadily into the altissimo, imitating the trills and turns of a nightingale's call. Lesson 71 set up the variation procedure; this lesson applies it to a more demanding example.

The theme

Simple, stepwise, almost square. The melody sits in the middle of the staff; the variations will leave that comfort behind.

Variation 1 — running figuration

The first variation breaks the theme's quarters into mixed eighth- and sixteenth-note figures — not the uniform diminution of Doen Daphne's V1, but irregular and bird-like. The contour climbs and dips inside each bar.

The high C (sometimes the high D in the later variations) is the nightingale's call. Use the altissimo procedure from Lesson 50: thumb pressure controlled, breath narrowed, no panic. The high notes must sound free, not pinched.

Variation 2 — into the altissimo

The second variation lives mostly above the staff. Sixteenth-note runs climb to the high C and beyond; the lower line answers in the middle register. The piece becomes virtuosic here; it is asking for the work you did in Lessons 49 and 50.

The imitation

The piece is called “the nightingale” for a reason. The trills, turns, and quick pitch jumps in the variations are van Eyck's transcription of birdsong he heard outside his house. The variations are not abstract decorations — they are an attempt to sound like a bird.

This matters for performance: if the variations sound like recorder exercises, the piece has failed. If they sound like a bird singing through a recorder, the piece succeeds. Play with the bird-image in your head, not with the page.

Practice plan

Week 1 — theme and Variation 1: The theme is easy; the variation is not. Slow practice for the running figuration. Tempo by end of week.
Week 2 — Variation 2, altissimo work: The high notes need their own warm-up. Spend ten minutes per session on Lesson 50's altissimo drills before practising the variation. Hardest-bar procedure on the high-C passages.
Week 3 — the complete arc: Theme + Variation 1 + Variation 2, end-to-end. Record. Listen for whether the high notes sound free or strained; that is the test of the piece.

Now play these

Van Eyck: Engels Nachtegaeltje: The piece of this lesson. The library entry has more variations than the lesson covers; learn through Variation 2, return for the rest after another month of altissimo work.
Van Eyck: Doen Daphne d'Over Schoone Maeght: From Lesson 71. Useful as comparison — the same composer, the same form, lower register, less virtuosic.
Van Eyck: Pavane Lachrymae: Van Eyck's variations on John Dowland's most famous pavane. Slower, more lamenting; useful contrast to the bird-piece.

When the high-C passages of Variation 2 speak freely, the bird-imitation gestures in Variation 1 sound bird-like rather than mechanical, and you can play the theme-plus-two-variations arc end-to-end without the altissimo cracking, move on to Lesson 73.