Jacob Van Eyck

Blind Dutch recorder virtuoso, carilloneur, and composer Jacob van Eyck (ca. 1590-1657) created one of the major monuments to Western recorder music with his publication Der fluten Lust-Hof (1644). It is said to be the largest single instrument folio in history, containing 144 sets of variations on popular Dutch folk songs, ranging from relatively simple pieces to incredibly complex ones. As a carilloneur, the Utrecht-based van Eyck was one of the first theorists to relate a bell's shape to its sound and is credited with devising the minor overtone system used in bells for centuries hence. Van Eyck also worked as a busker.