Merck toch hoe sterck

This piece came to me by accident. I was looking for a piece with a similar title, by a composer with a similar name, but this was what I received. To further my surprise, the edition they sent me was NOT in standard notation, but in "Klavarskribo", which is a modern Dutch tablature for keyboards. In this system, they don't tell what note to play (like C# or Db), but rather which key to strike (like "the black key just to the right of middle C"). There are no accidentals, no key signatures, and no time signatures. Furthermore, the notes do not come with different durations (like half notes, quarter notes, and such), but each one is to be held until the next following note on the same hand... unless cut short by a special mark, or unless extended further by carefully-placed dots. The position of notes within the measure (thankfully, the measures ARE shown) is given graphically, and not in terms of any specific time units. To top it all off... the score must be read vertically, from top to bottom... not from left to right. Well, good luck with all of that, I figured.

But upon looking into this further, it turns out that this notation is popular and actually widely used among organists in the Netherlands. Well, you can learn something new every day.

Seeing that such a puzzle had just landed in my lap, I was determined to learn how to interpret the script, and to produce an effective performance. So, here we are. Performed from a hand-crafted MIDi file using the Schiedam Flentrop Organ Sample Set. Enjoy!