Music and the Theatre
Singing was one of the principal social pastimes of the Dutch nation
during the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth century, and the North
Hollander was especially fond of vocal music. When young girls went to
spend the evening at the house of a friend they always carried with them
their 'Liederboek '--a volume beautifully bound in tortoise-shell covers
or mounted with gold or silver. The songs contained in these books were a
strange mixture of the gay and grave. Jovial drinking-songs or
'Kermisliedjes' would find a place next to a 'Christian's Meditation on
Death.' It was an _olla podrida_, in which everybody's tastes were
considered. Recitations were also a feature of these little gatherings.
Nowadays these national songs are rarely heard. French, Italian, and
German songs have taken their place, and it is but seldom one hears a real
Dutch song at any social gathering. The 'people,' too, seem to have
forgotten their natural gift of poetry, for the only songs now heard about
the streets are badly translated French or English ditties. If England
brings out a comic song of questionable art, six months later that song
will have made its way to Holland, and will have taken a popular place in
a Dutch street musician's _répertoire;_ it will be whistled in many
different keys by butcher and baker boys, and will be heard issuing
painfully from the wonderful mechanism of the superfluous concertina. For
almost every one in Holland possesses some musical instrument on which he
plays, well or otherwise, when his daily work is over, or on Sunday
evenings at home. And here a notable characteristic of the Dutch higher
classes must be mentioned by way of contrast. Musical though they are,
trained as they generally are both to play and sing well, they yet seldom
exercise their gifts in a friendly, social, after-dinner way in their own
homes. They become, in fact, so critical or so self-conscious that they
prefer to pay to hear music rendered by recognized artists, and so a by no
means inconsiderable element of geniality is lost to the social and
domestic circle.
The decay of folk-song is the more regrettable, since Holland is rich in
old ballads, some of which, handed down just as the people used to sing
them centuries ago, are quaint, _naïve,_ and exceedingly pretty. The
melodies have all been put to modern harmonies by able composers, and
published for the use of the public.
'Het daghet in het oosten,
Het lichtis overal,'
is a little jewel of poetic feeling, and the melody is very sweet. The
story, like most of the songs of the past troublous centuries, tells of
a battlefield where a young girl goes to seek her lover, but finds him
dead. So, after burying him with her own white hands, with his sword
and his banner by his side, she vows entrance into a convent. The story
is a picture in miniature of the times, and as a piece of literature it
ranks high.
Music of some sort finds a place in the homes of the poorest, and the
concert, theatre, and opera are as much frequented by the humble of the
land as by the wealthy and noble born. The servant class on their 'evening
out' frequently go to the French opera, and there is not a boy on the
street but is able to whistle some tune from the great modern operas, such
as 'Faust,' 'Lohengrin,' and other standard works. And no wonder, for the
choristers in the operas walk behind fruit-carts all day long, and often
call out their wares in the musical tones learnt while following their
more select profession as public singers. Some, of course, cannot read a
note of music, and the melodies they have to sing have to be drummed, or
rather trumpeted, into their ears. To this end they are placed in a row,
and a man with a large trumpet stands before them and plays the tune over
and over again until they know it off. In the summer-time whole parties of
these Jewish youths--for Jewish they chiefly are--go about the woods on
their Sabbath day singing the parts they take in the operas in the winter
season, and crowds of people flock to hear them, for their voices are
really well worth listening to.
Concerts are naturally not so largely patronized by the people as are
operas and theatres. In the larger towns of Holland especially theatricals
take a very prominent place in popular relaxation, and even the smaller
towns and villages, should they lack theatres and be unable to get good
theatrical companies to pay them periodical visits, arrange for dramatic
performances by local talent. The popularity of the opera may be judged
from the fact that at Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Arnhem
and Utrecht, operas in Dutch and French are regularly given, and
occasionally works in German and even Italian are produced. Money is
scarce in Holland, the people generally have little to spare, so grand
opera-houses, such as are thought necessary in most European cities of any
pretension to culture, are impossible, and the singers can seldom count on
liberal fees. But most of the best works are heard all the same--which,
after all, is the principal thing--and the enjoyment and edification which
result are not less genuine because of the simplicity of the properties
and the humble character of the entire surroundings.
Yet outdoor music possesses a powerful attraction for the Dutch humbler
classes, as for the same classes in most, if not all, countries; and when
in the summer-time there is music in the Wood at The Hague on Sunday
afternoons or Wednesday evenings, the walks round about the 'Tent' are
alive with servants and their lovers, parading decorously arm-in-arm.
Happy fathers, too, with their wives and children in Sunday best,
perambulate the grounds or rest on the seats amongst the trees and listen
to the 'Bosch-muziek.' People of the better class only are members of the
'Witte Societeit,' and sit inside the green paling to listen to the music
and drink something meanwhile. For it is strange but true, that a Dutchman
never seems thoroughly to enjoy himself unless he has liquid of some sort
at hand, and never feels really comfortable without his cigar. Indeed, if
smoking were abolished from places of public amusement, most Dutchmen
would frequent them no more. In winter concerts are given every other
Wednesday at The Hague--and what is true of The Hague applies to Amsterdam
and all other towns of any size in the country--and the Public Hall is
always packed; but besides these 'Diligentia' concerts there are others
given by various Singing Societies, so that there is variety enough to
choose from.
In the summer-time there is another attraction besides the Wood for the
people of The Hague, for the season at Scheveningen opens on the 1st of
June, and there is music at the Kurhaus twice a day--in the afternoon on
the terrace of that building, and in the evening in the great hall inside.
On Friday night is given what is called a 'Symphony Concert.' To this all
the world flocks, for no one who at all respects himself, or esteems the
opinion of society, would venture to miss it. Whether every one
understands or enjoys the high class music given is another question,
which it would be imprudent to press too urgently, but then it belongs to
'education' to go to concerts, and so all enjoy it in their own way. For
the townspeople and the working-classes, who have no free time during the
week, concerts are given at the large Voorhout on the Sunday evenings in
summer, so that on that day even the busiest and poorest may enjoy
recreation of a better kind than the public-house offers them, and this
effort on their behalf is greatly appreciated by the people, who gladly
make use of the opportunities of hearing good and popular music.
The national love of music is assiduously fostered by the Netherlands
Musical Union, whose branches are to be found all over the country. Every
town has musical and singing societies of some kind--private as well as
public--and these make life quite endurable in winter, even in the
smallest places. Nor do these 'Zangvereenigingen' derive their membership
exclusively from the higher classes, for the humbler folk have
organizations of their own. Even the servant girl and the day-labourer
will often be found to belong to singing clubs of some kind. Music is also
taught at most of the public schools, though it was long before the
Government capitulated upon the point, and gave this subject a place side
by side with drawing as part of the normal curriculum of the children of
the people.
Happily for the musical and dramatic tastes of the nation, both the
concert and the theatre are cheap amusements in Holland. As a rule, the
dearest seats cost only from 3s. to 5s., while the cheapest, even in
first-class houses at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, cost as little
as sixpence. The only exceptions are when renowned artists tour the
country, and even then the prices seldom exceed £1 for the best places.
There is one musical event which makes a more serious call upon the purse,
and it is the periodical operatic performance of the Wagner Society in
Amsterdam. As a rule, two representations a year are given, and some of
the best singers of Europe are invited to sing in one or other of Wagner's
operas. The best Dutch orchestra plays, and chosen voices from the
Amsterdam Conservatoire take part in the choruses. The scenery is worthy
of Bayreuth itself, and such expense and care are bestowed upon these
choice performances that, though the house is invariably filled on every
occasion, the fees for admission never pay the costs, so that the musical
enthusiasts of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague regularly make up the
deficit each year, which sometimes amounts to as much as £1000.
While, however, the Dutch may with truth be classed as a distinctly
musical nation, they would seem to have outlived their fame in the domain
of musical art. For it should not be forgotten that Holland has in this
respect a distinguished history behind it. So long ago as the times of
Pope Adrian I. a Dutch school of music was established under the tuition
of Italian masters, and it compared favourably with the contemporary
schools of other nations. Even in the ninth century Holland produced a
composer famous in the annals of music in the person of the monk Huchbald
of St. Amand, in Flanders. He it was who changed the notation, and
arranged the time by marking the worth of each note, and he is also
remembered for his 'Organum,' the oldest form of music written in
harmonies. It is often lamented that the compositions of to-day lack the
originality which marked the earlier works. The country has none the less
produced some noticeable composers during the past century. Of these J.
Verhuïst, W.F.G. Nicolal, Daniël de Lange, Richard Hol, and G. Mann are
best known, though of no modern composer can it be said that he has any
special 'cachet,' for the younger men, fed as they are on the works of
other nations, grow into their style of thinking and writing, and follow
almost slavishly in their footsteps. It is unfortunate that many rising
composers cannot be persuaded to publish their works. The reason is that
the cost of publishing in the Netherlands is almost fabulous, and if they
do publish them at all it is done in Germany. But even then the
circulation is so limited, owing to the smallness of the country, that it
does not repay the cost; and so they prefer to plod on unknown, or to
cultivate celebrity by giving private concerts of their own works.