A Portrait

‘Gerryt de Hont’ worked between 1520 and 1547 as cantor in churches in Delft, Bruges and ´s Hertogenbosch, after which we loose his trace. In Bruges the musical standards were high and Gheerkin was in the company of many renowned composers. Songs, religious and dance music by the various cantors of Bruges were assembled (1540-1542) in an extraordinary collection of part-books, prepared by order of Zeghere van Male. The four part-books (superius, contratenor, tenor, bassus) contain the lion’s share of the compositions by Gheerkin that have come down to us. The part-books are unique for the fascinating and colourful drawings that Gheerkin put alongside his compositions. This unknown master composed five masses, each one having only one source and all of them being based on motets by contemporaries like Johannes Lupi and Lupus Hellinck. Three of the masses are included in Zeghere van Male’s part-books and the two others are in a choir book of the Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap in ´s Hertogenbosch. The Missa Caeciliam cantate pii is one of these final two; it is based on the motet Caeciliam cantate pii by Nicolaas Gombert. Furthermore, eight French chansons and one song in Dutch by Gheerkin are known to us in total.