Abstract
Although at first sight it would seem that the Dutch theatrical world paid little at- tention to the Battle of Waterloo, the memory of the battle was in fact kept alive across a wide audience. In more detail than has hitherto been the case for French, German and English-language theatre, this article investigates how and by whom 19th-century theatre-goers in Dutch-speaking regions were confronted with Napoleon’s definitive defeat in 1815. Both professional and amateur theatrical companies in the Netherlands and Flanders looked back on Waterloo, initially in the form of plays that explored the events of the battle, and later in commemorative plays by chambers of rhetoric, historical dramas and farces – at least sixteen in total. The production of texts gained momentum around the 50th anniversary of the battle in 1865, by which time it had become possible to speak of the feared emperor in more nuanced terms.
Samenvatting
Hoewel de Nederlandse toneelwereld op het eerste gezicht weinig aandacht besteedde aan de Slag bij Waterloo, heeft zij de herinnering eraan levend gehouden onder een breed publiek. Dit artikel wil, gedetailleerder dan voor het Franstalige, Duitstalige en Engelstalige theater gebeurd is, nagaan hoe en door wie het negentien- de-eeuwse theaterpubliek in het Nederlandse taalgebied geconfronteerd werd met de definitieve nederlaag van Napoleon in 1815. Zowel professionele theatermakers als amateurgezelschappen in Vlaanderen en Nederland herdachten Waterloo, eerst met to- neelstukken die zich richtten op de gebeurtenissen van de slag, later veeleer in herden- kingsstukken door rederijkerskamers, historische drama’s en kluchten – zeker zestien in totaal. De tekstproductie was vooral groot rond 1865, vijftig jaar na dato, toen het mogelijk was geworden om op een meer genuanceerde manier over de gevreesde kei- zer te spreken.
Ton van K almthout
An end to oppression and violence
The representation of Waterloo in Dutc h-Language Theatre between 1815 and 191 5
To refer to this article :
Ton
vanK
almthout, « An end to oppression and violence. The representation of Wa-
terloo in dutch-language theatre between 1815 and 1915 », in: Interférences littéraires/
Sascha Bru (Ku leuven) Geneviève FaBry (UCL)
Agnès Guiderdoni (FNRS – UCL) Ortwin de GraeF (Ku leuven) Jan herman (KU Leuven) Guido latré (UCL) Nadia lie (KU Leuven)
Michel lisse (FNRS – UCL) Anneleen masschelein (KU Leuven) Christophe meurée (FNRS – UCL) Reine meylaerts (KU Leuven) Stéphanie vanasten (FNRS – UCL) Bart vanden Bosche (KU Leuven) Marc van vaecK (KU Leuven)
Olivier ammour-mayeur (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle -–
Paris III & Université Toulouse II – Le Mirail) Ingo Berensmeyer (Universität Giessen)
Lars Bernaerts (Universiteit Gent & Vrije Universiteit Brussel) Faith BincKes (Worcester College – Oxford)
Philiep Bossier (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) Franca Bruera (Università di Torino)
Àlvaro ceBallos viro (Université de Liège) Christian cheleBourG (Université de Lorraine) Edoardo costadura (Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena) Nicola creiGhton (Queen’s University Belfast) William M. decKer (Oklahoma State University) Ben de Bruyn (Maastricht University) Dirk delaBastita (Université de Namur) Michel delville (Université de Liège)
César dominGuez (Universidad de Santiago de Compostella
& King’s College)
Gillis dorleijn (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) Ute heidmann (Université de Lausanne)
Klaus H. KieFer (Ludwig Maxilimians Universität München) Michael Kolhauer (Université de Savoie)
Isabelle KrzywKowsKi (Université Stendhal-Grenoble III) Mathilde laBBé (Université Paris Sorbonne)
Sofiane laGhouati (Musée Royal de Mariemont) François lecercle (Université Paris Sorbonne) Ilse loGie (Universiteit Gent)
Marc mauFort (Université Libre de Bruxelles) Isabelle meuret (Université Libre de Bruxelles) Christina morin (University of Limerick) Miguel norBartuBarri (Universiteit Antwerpen) Andréa oBerhuBer (Université de Montréal)
Jan oosterholt (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg) Maïté snauwaert (University of Alberta – Edmonton) Pieter Verstraeten ((Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)
C
onseilderédaCtion– r
edaCtieraadAnke Gilleir (KU Leuven) – Rédacteur en chef - Hoofdredacteur
Beatrijs Vanacker (KU Leuven), Sophie Dufays (UCL) – Secrétaires de rédaction - Redactiesecretarissen Elke d’hoKer (KU Leuven)
Lieven d’hulst (KU Leuven – Kortrijk) david martens (Ku leuven)
Hubert roland (FNRS – UCL)
Matthieu serGier ((UCL & Factultés Universitaires Saint-Louis) Myriam watthee-delmotte (FNRS – UCL)
Interférences littéraires / Literaire interferenties KU Leuven – Faculteit Letteren Blijde-Inkomststraat 21 – Bus 3331
B 3000 Leuven (Belgium)
C
omitésCientifique– W
etensChappelijKComitéa n end to oppression and violenCe
The representation of Waterloo in Dutch-language theatre between 1815 and 1915
The title of this article is derived from a nineteenth-century play: 1815. Wa- terloo, of: Slot van onderdrukking en geweld [1815. Waterloo, or: An end to oppression and violence]. The play is an example of Waterloo-inspired drama. At first glance, it would appear that the Dutch theatre paid very little attention to the battle; few dramatic texts remain that could be directly linked to it. But this does not tell the whole story. The plays were not usually intended to be read, with the result that they were rarely printed and only handwritten copies were duplicated for the ac- tors. There were undoubtedly more Waterloo-inspired plays than those that have survived.
1They were often vaudeville pieces in which the spoken text was alternated with songs based on existing melodies, whilst the orchestra gave additional support to the action with suitable music. Pieces such as these tended to have modest artistic pretensions, which is a second reason why they were not often preserved, and the history of the theatre barely makes mention of them. Recent studies of Waterloo in Dutch and Belgian culture have rarely focused on theatrical representations of the battle, either.
It is hard to imagine that the battle did not appeal to the dramatic imagi- nation; after all, Waterloo-inspired plays were published in English, German and French.
2With its close links to the literary world – which, if we are to believe Dutch literary figures such as Willem de Clercq and Multatuli, kept going on about the bat- tle with the French to the point of exhaustion
3– the Dutch theatrical world would
1. As we do not have the text, it is unclear whether Waterloo was addressed in De tamboer van Napoleon de Eerste, a “new great vaudeville piece in 2 acts”, written by Louis Bouwmeester. According to a playbill from the theatre in Goes, Bouwmeester himself acted in a performance on 31 August 1867 (coll. Theater Instituut Nederland (TIN), Amsterdam University Library).
2. For productions in French, see: Jean-Marc larGeaud, Napoléon et Waterloo. La défaite glorieuse de 1815 à nos jours, Paris, Boutique de L’Histoire, 2006, 274-280 and 418; for (a limited number of) productions in English: W.D. KinG, Henry Irving’s Waterloo. Theatrical Engagements with Arthur Conan Dolyle, George Bernard Shaw, Ellen Terry, Edward Gordon Craig. Late-Victorian Culture, Assorted Ghosts, Old Men, War and History, Berkeley etc., University of California Press, 1993, and Jeffrey N. cox, Romanti- cism in the Shadow of War. Literary Culture in the Napoleonic War Years, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014, 62-64, 67-69 and 166. At the conference “‘A War of No Common Description’. The Transnational Reception of Waterloo in the 19th Century” on 18-19 June 2015 in Brussels, Norbert Otto Eke spoke among other things on Christian Dietrich Grabbe’s play Napoleon oder Die hundert Tage (1831).
3. In relation to the literature on Waterloo, see, e.g., Philip shaw, Waterloo and the Romantic Imagination, Basingstoke etc., Palgrave, 2002; Janneke weijermars, Stiefbroeders. Zuid-Nederlandse let- teren en natievorming onder Willem I, 1814-1834, Hilversum, Verloren, 2012, 51-57; Jeffrey N. cox, Romanticism in the Shadow of War; Jurriën de jonG et al., Waterloo 200 jaar strijd, Amsterdam, Boom,
have been expected to play its part. In any case, De Clercq also formed an opinion on what foreign dramatists were writing about Napoleon. In September 1815, for instance, he noted in his diary that he had been affected somewhat by Alphonse de Martainville’s satirical Buonaparte, ou l’Abus de l’abdication: “mais en toto Napoléon n’est montré ici que de son côté crapuleux et ce n’était cependant le seul qu’on pou- vait montrer. Napoléon avec tous ses crimes et toutes ses turpitudes est cependant encore toujours un homme qu’on ne saurait définir dans un pamphlet”.
4In more detail than has hitherto been the case for French, German and En- glish-language theatre, this article shows how Dutch-language theatre in the period prior to the First World War did in fact help to cultivate the memory of Waterloo.
It did so not only with plays that were emphatically about Napoleon or Waterloo;
as Henny Ruitenbeek has noted, in the nineteenth century historical plays are often perceived as a commentary on current events. According to a theatre critic, for example, the character of Mahomet in Voltaire’s tragedy of 1736, Le fanatisme, ou Mahomet le prophète, bore a strong likeness to Napoleon.
5Moreover, Lotte Jensen has argued convincingly that Montigny, a tragedy written in 1816 by Hendrik Harmen Klijn and set during the Revolt, can effectively be read as a response to the French oppression and the fall of Napoleon.
6Here I shall focus on Dutch-language plays that expressly had Waterloo as their subject, in order to discover by whom and in what ways nineteenth-century Dutch and Flemish theatre audiences were brought face to face with the final defeat of Napoleon. Which dramatists explicitly raised the issue of the battle and its consequences, and how did they put the battle in the limelight? I first consider the world of professional theatre immediately after the battle and later. Second, I investigate the contribution made by amateur theatrical groups.
71. Topical Plays
In the immediate aftermath of the battle, the people who lived close to the battlefield were confronted by the material consequences of the battle and the countless victims. This was the subject addressed by Jan-Baptiste Hofman in a lyri- cal drama for the Kortrijk-based Maatschappij van Rhetorika Kruisbroeders [Rhe- torical Society of Cross Brothers] entitled De menschlievendheid der dorpelingen omtrent Charleroy [The charity of the villagers around Charleroy], which had been dedicated
2015, 223-224, 231-234, 239, 243; Louis sloos, Onze Slag bij Waterloo. De beleving van de overwinning op Napoleon in Nederland, Nijmegen, Vantilt, 2015, 103-106, 133, 173-176, 219; Ellen Krol, “De onwil om gewapenderhand Napoleon te bestrijden. Nederlandse pamfletten over de terugkeer van Napo- leon in 1815”, in: Het Bilderdijk-Museum 2015, 32, 1-11; Janneke weijermars, “‘Heel Euroop zal zich terstond vereenen’. Europa in de Nederlandse Waterlooliteratuur”, in: De Negentiende Eeuw, 2016, 40, 2, 84-103. For De Clercqs’ opinion, see footnote 25.
4. Dagboek Willem de Clercq 1811-1844, 1815, 129, [online], <http://resources.huygens.knaw.
nl/dagboekdeclercq>. This concerned Martainville’s recently published Buonaparte, ou l’abus de l’abdi- cation. Pièce historico-héroïco-romantico bouffonne, en cinq actes et en prose, ornée de danses, de chants, de combats, d’incendies, d’évolutions militaires, etc. etc. etc., Paris, J.G. Dentu, 1815.
5. Henny ruitenBeeK, Kijkcijfers. De Amsterdamse Schouwburg 1814-1841, Hilversum, Verloren, 2002, 300.
6. Lotte jensen, De verheerlijking van het verleden. Helden, literatuur en natievorming in de negentiende eeuw, Nijmegen, Vantilt, 2008, 75-76. Cf. Lotte jensen, Verzet tegen Napoleon, Nijmegen, Vantilt, 2013, 43-45.
7. This article was translated by Vivien Collingwood.
to the mayor Leonard Dubus in aid of the wounded.
8The drama shows how the homes of humble villagers were plundered and destroyed during the military ope- rations. The nail-maker Leclou (played by Hofman himself) hears from his neigh- bour, Legal, what the latter has seen at the edge of the battlefield: “O, the things that I saw on the ground! O, what armaments! And the dead and the wounded.” As well as the French, among the victims were English, Prussian, Scottish and Belgian soldiers. “Yes, indeed brother, I heard many of our brave compatriots groaning.”
9Leclou is concerned that Constant, his intended son-in-law and Legal’s son, who fought as a sergeant, “might be lying there with his legs and neck broken. […] The bullets and sabre-cuts were flying everywhere, weren’t they, neighbour!” The father is keen to see his son return, but will be content if the latter has had to spill his blood for his country and his new king, William I: “This is not dying, it is living.”
10Another, less congenial neighbour – who hopes that Constant is dead, so that he can steal his sweetheart – has seen yet more atrocities on the battlefield:
“What were there thousands, thousands broken and killed and struck down dead!
O, I have seen dead horses with wagons! Soldiers, officers, captains; whole piles of them lying atop of one another!”
11There are also many provisions to be plundered, now that the French have been put to flight and “chased off ”, mainly by the Bel- gians. Constant’s father and future father-in-law go to search for him and bring him home, gravely wounded and hardly recognisable, where they are able to nurse him thanks to the charity of the rural population. When he has recovered somewhat, his captain comes to report that Constant helped to save the wounded crown prince, William of Orange:
Our brave Prince William, whose resolve bore all the nobility and heroic virtue of his ancestors, passionately driven by noble and ardent zeal, had placed him- self in the heat of battle at the head of his people; he fought like a fierce lion.
But in an unlucky moment, he found himself separated from his army and surrounded by a hostile crowd; he was on the verge of being taken prisoner, when our Belgian Heroes realised his plight.12 They recognised the Prince’s danger and vowed that they would rescue him or die in the attempt. They flew like lions into the enemy crowd with their sabres, slew any who resisted, and released the Prince and brought him back into the midst of his native children.13
8. J.B.J. hoFman, De menschlievendheid der dorpelingen omtrent Charleroy, bewezen aan de edelmoedige en heldhaftige helden, gewond in den berugten veld-slag van het Schoon Verbond by de Vier-armen. Zangspel in een bed- rijf, vertoond tot onderstand der gemelde gewonde, door de Kruisbroeders op des zelfs schouwburg binnen Kortryk, den 16 July 1815, Kortryk, Louis Blanchet, 1815. See also: J.B.J. hoFman, “Oogslag op de stad Kortrijk”, in: De Vriend des Vaderlands, 1830, 2, 138-144 (141).
9. “ô wat hebbe ik al op de grond zien liggen! ô wat al krijgs getuig! maar, ook dooden en gekwetsten” – “Ja, ja broeder, ik hebbe verscheide van onze braave vaderlanders hooren kermen”.
J.B.J. hoFman, De menschlievendheid der dorpelingen omtrent Charleroy, 7-8.
10. “met nek en beenen kan gebroken liggen. […] De ballen en de sabel-slagen vliegen tog over al, niet waar beurman!” –“Dit is geen sterven, maar ’t is leven”. (Ibid., 10-11)
11. “Wat zynder by duizenden, duizenden kapot en vermoord en dood geslagen! ô wat hebbe
ik al doode paarden en wagens gezien! soldaaten, officieren, kapitainen by geheele bergen op mal- kander zien liggen!” (Ibid., 13)
12. The 7th Line Infantry Battalion consisted of Flemish troops who mainly came from Ghent and the surrounding region. They were not subject to national service (conscription), but were professional soldiers (army), many of whom had previously fought in Napoleon’s armies. The battalion formed part of the Brigade Van Bylandt, on Wellington’s left flank. My thanks to Jos Ga- briëls for this information.
13. “Onze dappre Prins Willem, die alle de edelmoedigheden, de helden deugden zyner Voorouders in zig besluit, had zig, vuurig door edelen yver aangedreven, in het heetst des stryds, aan het hoofd zyns volks begeven; hy vogt als een fiere leeuw. Maar, in een ongelukkig oogenblik,
To show his gratitude, the prince had torn the medals from his breast and thrown them to his rescuers, crying: “All you dear children are worthy of bearing these! They were taken and affixed to the Flag, to which all of these noble Belgians had sworn to achieve victory or to die.”
14After this, a final chorus sings the praises of the prince and congratulates him and the king.
There was also a need to celebrate the victory over Napoleon, of course.
The playwright and actor H. (van Overvest) Kup, co-director of a company of Dutch actors known as the Hollandsche Tooneelisten, had joined the celebrations of the victory over Napoleon in Flanders and, according to the foreword of his De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance of Nederland gered, op den 18. Junij 1815 [The victory of the Belle Alliance or the salvation of the Netherlands, on 18 June 1815], he imme- diately wanted to use “this joyful moment to produce a play containing action that could be performed by any Theatrical company, and that could also provide my Compatriots with a long-lasting commemoration of their second liberation.”
15This was more easily said than done, however; according to Kup, the elevated subject did not lend itself well to staged battles, which were often impossible to perform or came over as ridiculous. He also considered it inappropriate to represent living people on stage. The theme was even less appropriate for a light vaudeville piece, although this did not prevent Kup from adding suitable songs based on existing melodies (including that of the national anthem, the “Wilhelmus”) to his “historical patriotic scene”, which he dedicated to Napoleon’s vanquishers. His efforts would be rewarded, he wrote, “if, at its performance, the hearts of my Compatriots should burn in horror at every act of foreign tyranny, and with love for King and Country, and with gratitude and recognition for the Crown Prince, his Royal Brother, all the heroes of that great day, and the unfortunate victims of the same; and if their glory and their splendid deeds should not be judged unworthy.”
16De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance was performed as early as August 1815.
17This play also offered a clear depiction of how ordinary citizens had suffered in the turmoil of war. It opens with a moving scene in which the rural population flees under the constant din of artillery, drums and trumpets:
bevond hy hem van zyn krygsvolk afgezonderd, en omringd door een aandrang van vyanden, hy was op het punt van als krygsgevangen weggeleid te worden; wanneer onze Belgische Helden zulks gewaar wierden. Zy merkten het gevaar van den Prins, en zwoeren hem te redden of den dood. Zy vlogen als leeuwen in den drang des vyands; sabelden alles, wat weerstand bood, ter neder: verlosten de Prins; en bragten hem in het midden zijn ’er vaderlandsche kinderen.” J.B.J. hoFman, De men- schlievendheid der dorpelingen omtrent Charleroy, 30.
14. “‘gy allen, lieve kinderen! zyt waardig deze te dragen[’]. Deze wierden opgenomen en aan de Standaard gehegt, waar onder alle deze edelmoedige Belgen zwoeren, te overwinnen, of te sterven.” (Ibid., 31)
15. H. Kup, De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance of Nederland gered, op den 18. Junij 1815. Geschied- kundig vaderlandsch tafereel. Rotterdam: J. Hendriksen, [1815], II: “een stukje uit dit heugelijk tijdstip leveren, dat eenige handeling in zich bevatte, dat voor alle Tooneelgezelschappen uitvoerbaar was, en tevens eene duurzame herinnering aan mijne Landgenoten verschaffen kon van hunne tweede verlossing”.
16. “indien, bij de vertooning van het zelve, de harten mijner landgenooten van afgrijzen voor elke vreemde overheersching, liefde voor den K o n i n g en het Vaderland, dankbaarheid en erkentenis aan den K r o o n p r i n s, zijn’ K o n i n k l i jk e n B r o e d e r, alle helden van dien grooten dag, en de ongelukkige slagtoffers derzelve mogen blaken; en indien hetzelve hunnen roem en hunne schitterende daden niet onwaardig moge geoordeeld worden”. (Ibid., III)
17. As shown by a playbill from the Hollandsche Tooneelisten company for a “Second showing”
in Sneek on 22 August 1815 (Fries Scheepvaart Museum, “Geschiedenis van Sneek” collection, E-576).
Men search for their womenfolk and call their names, or ask each other about their fathers or friends; Women wail for their Husbands and Children; an abandoned child calls for his Mother; a fleeing woman (who already has an infant under her arm) sees the child and says, “I lost my son; whoever you might belong to, you shall not die motherless”. She sweeps up the child in her other arm and flees from the stage.18
The suffering caused is likewise represented by an elderly farmer, Braafhart [Goodheart]; a tenant farmer whose three sons fell during Napoleon’s campaign in Russia, and who has been driven from his now-plundered and burnt-out farmstead, La Belle Alliance. He no longer desires to live to see the end of the war. His other children manage to prevent him from fulfilling his death wish, although his son Frederik is unable to reconcile himself with the situation: “O dearest father! When we see the children of our country falling to their deaths all around us, and their bodies trampled by the horses’ hooves, the last spark of humanity within us fades and revenge is the only thought to possess us.”
19Frederik therefore decides to take up arms against Napoleon. For his father, this is reason to call upon the people of the Netherlands to support future cripples, widows and orphans of war:
People of the Netherlands! […] that the blood of your country’s children does not rise against you, when you send her widows and orphans hopelessly wan- dering, and their wails disturb the rest of the fallen; do not tolerate it when, after some years, beloved peace has brought back the old prosperity, a soldier who was mutilated or crippled in battle is forced to beg a penny from you, whilst displaying his mutilated limbs in reproach for your lack of gratitude.
No! If the Dutch, even in chains, were a great, noble and benevolent people, now, after their second liberation, they are more so than ever, and with regard to their Compatriots, whose blood flowed for them and whose arms avenged their humiliation and saved the Fatherland. I pray to God that neither they nor I ever lack the strength or will, and that no unlucky soul shall remain without comfort or assistance.20
According to the dramatis personae in the printed text of De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance, Kup himself played the role of an officer. As such, he could perso- nally attest to the valiant deeds of the crown prince on the battlefield:
18. “Mannen zoeken hunne vrouwen, en roepen ze bij namen, of vragen elkander naar hunne vaders of vrienden; Vrouwen jammeren om hare Echtgenooten en Kinderen; een verlaten kindje roept om zijne Moeder; een vlugtende vrouw, (schoon zelve reeds met eene zuigeling op den arm) ziet het, en zegt: ‘Ik verloor mijn’ zoon, wie gij ook toebehoort, gij zult niet moederloos sterven’. Zij omslingert het kind met den anderen arm, en vlugt er mede van het tooneel.” (H. Kup, De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance, 1)
19. “Ach lieve vader! wanneer men zoo voor en naast zich, onze landskinderen stervend ziet nederploffen, en de hoeven der paarden hunne lijken ziet vertreden, dan verdooft in ons de laatste vonk der menschlijkheid, en wraak is de eenige gedachte die ons bezielt.” (Ibid., 15)
20. “Volk van Nederland! […] dat het bloed uwer landskinderen zich niet tegen u verheffe, wanneer gij hunne weduwen en weezen hulpeloos doet omzwerven, en hunne weeklagten de rust der gesneuvelden stooren; duldt niet, dat, na eenige jaren, wanneer de lieve vrede u welligt de oude welvaart doet genieten, de in dezen slag verminkte of kreupel geworden krijgsman eene bedelpen- ning van u moete afsmeeken, terwijl hij u zijne verminkte leden zoude toonen, om u uwe ondank- baarheid te verwijten. Neen, waren de Nederlanders zelfs in boeijen groot, edelmoedig en weldadig, meer dan immer zijn zij het thans, na hunne tweede bevrijding, en omtrent hunne Landgenooten, wier bloed voor hen gestroomd heeft, en wier armen hunnen hoon gewroken en het Vaderland be- houden hebben. Goede God! dat het mij noch hun daartoe nimmer aan den wil en de krachten moge ontbreken, en geen ongelukkige zal ongetroost of ongeholpen blijven.” (Ibid., 17-18)
Had you but seen him as I did, my friends! The youthful Hero, the worthy descendant of Maurice of Orange! How he, almost unknowable in the smoke of battle and mud, threw himself like the Lion of Holland upon the enemy’s ranks, how he addressed our troops like a father and stoked their courage, whilst he shot past us along the line of honour like a flash of lightning… Had you but seen him, on the point of falling into the hands of the dishonourable French, rescued thanks to the heroic courage of the Belgians, tearing his well- earned medal from his breast and throwing it into the midst of the seventh Battalion in thanks for his deliverance. Had you but seen him, the Hero of the Netherlands, stem the blood flowing from his wound with his own hand and with reluctance leave this place, where he, like a young father, had to leave his young children behind as prey to danger; your tears would have flowed as mine, and your hearts adored him.21
In conclusion, an allegorical scene provides “a picturesque and charming Tableau” highlighted with the words “F
romtheF
atherlandtothec
rownp
rinceandher
s
aviours”, after a personification of The Victory has presented the moral of the play to the Dutch people:
Reach out your hands benevolently to those who need aid, May the Fatherland’s honour always stoke your courage, Keep defending your freedom … honour great Wellington.
Your love must magnify the welfare of your Sovereign!
Watch over the House of Orange, hold its Heroic members dear, As your happiness only sets with the world’s evening sun.22
Kup maintained in the foreword that when writing De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance, he could not have had access to a previously performed “little play” on the same subject by Marten Westerman. This actor and poet from Amsterdam had therefore beaten him to it with a vaudeville piece entitled Neêrlands redding, of de zegepraal van moed en vaderlandsliefde [The salvation of the Netherlands, or the victory of courage and patriotism], whose content and thrust bear a number of striking similarities to Kup’s play.
23[Fig. 1] As soon as the Koninklijke Schouwburg re-opened
21. “Had gij hem gezien, zoo als ik, mijne vrienden! den jeugdigen Held, den waardigen naneef van Maurits van Oranje! hoe hij zich, bijna onkenbaar van den kruitdamp en het slijk, als de Leeuw van Holland, in de gelederen der Roovers wierp, hoe hij onze troepen vaderlijk toesprak en moed gaf, terwijl hij ons telkens op de baan der eere als een biksemstraal vooruitsnelde… Hadt gij hem gezien, op het punt van in de handen der eerlooze Franschen te vallen, door den heldenmoed der Belgen ontzet, zijne welverdiende eereteekenen van zijne borst rukken, en te midden van het zevende Bataillon werpen, uit erkentenis voor zijne redding. Hadt gij hem gezien, den Held van Nederland, met eigen hand het bloed stelpende dat uit zijne wonde vloeide, en met weerzin de plaats verlaten, waar hij als jeugdig vader zijne dierbare kinderen aan het gevaar ten prooi moest achter- laten; uwe tranen zouden als de mijnen gevloeid, en uwe harten hem vergood hebben.” (Ibid., 21)
22. “HET VADERLAND AAN DEN KROONPRINS en HARE VERLOSSERS” – “Reik elk, wie hulp behoeft, weldadig uwe handen, / Laat d’eer van ’t vaderland, altoos uw moed ontbran- den, / Bescherm uw vrijheid steeds… eer grooten Wellington. / Uw liefde moet het heil van uwen Vorst vergrooten! / Waak voor d’Oranjestam, bemin zijn Heldenloten, / Zoo dale eerst uw geluk bij
’s werelds avondzon.” (Ibid., 24)
23. There are also striking similarities between Kups’ De overwinning bij de Belle Alliance and a play from the Southern Netherlands, written in French: Belle-Alliance, ou Les journées mémorables des seize, dix-sept et dix-huit juin 1815. Sujet héroique national, en 3 actes et en prose, mêlé de chants, et orné de marches, combats et évolutions militaires, […] D’après le plan de M. Lecerf, Artiste dramatique by the typogra- pher Louis-Charles Mallard, “Chef de l’Imprimerie de Mr [J.] Meyer, de Louvain”, who published the play in 1815. For example, the protagonist is Mathurin, which can be translated as “Senior”,
“fermier de Belle-Alliance”, and the play is set in the neighbourhood of the battlefield, just like Kup’s play. In Mallard’s version, a (Belgian) officer also attests to the crown prince’s heroic and in-
its doors after the summer recess of 1815, on 17 October Ward Bingley’s Dutch- speaking theatre company – the so-called Nederduitsche Schouwburg – also brought Westerman’s vaudeville play to The Hague.
24Fig. 1. Title page of Neêrlands redding, of de zegepraal van moed en vaderlandsliefde by M.
Westerman (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague)
The play was recommended as “appropriate for the recent joyful event, to which we owe the salvation of our fatherland”.
25As recently as March 1815, Wes- terman had recited a verse by Cornelis Loots, urging the king, upon the latter’s visit
spiring deeds, including his tearing a medal from his breast. But there are also significant differences between the two plays. Mallard, for instance, incorporates a battle scene (15-16).
24. M. westerman, Neêrlands redding, of de zegepraal van moed en vaderlandsliefde. Tooneelspel, met zang, in één bedrijf, Amsterdam, J.G. Rohloff, 1815. Theatre audiences in Amsterdam came face to face with the battle even on their way to the Hollandsche Schouwburg, for between 1816 and 1818, there was a panorama of the battlefield opposite the building. The person who had taken the initiative for this, the Amsterdam-based publisher Evert Maaskamp, published his own description of the panorama in 1816: Beschrijving van den roemrijken veldslag van Waterloo, voorgesteld in het panorama op het Leidsche Plein over den Hollandschen Schouwburg, strekkende deze beschrijving tot eene duidelijke verklaring van het terrein, den stand der arméen, de werking en strijd der onderscheidene troepen, benevens eene aanwijzing der hoofdpersonen, die op dien zegerijken dag hunnen naam onsterflijk hebben gemaakt; terwijl men in den, hierbijgevoegden, platte-grond alle de overige bijzonderheden dezer voorstelling vindt aangewezen, Amsterdam, E. Maaskamp, 1816. In 1814, Maaskamp had already – clearly prematurely – published a lyrical drama on the previous fall of Napoleon: De aftogt van Napoleon, of de gefnuikte heerschzucht. Muzikaal quodlibet in drie bedrijven, het Hoog- duitsch vrij gevolgd, Amsterdam, E. Maaskamp, 1814. On his panorama: Jurriën de jonG et al., Waterloo 200 jaar strijd, 250-251; Louis sloos, Onze Slag bij Waterloo, 247-249. There would also be other Wa- terloo-themed panoramas, see e.g.: [Ton romBout (ed.)], Het fenomeen panorama. De wereld rond!, The Hague, Panorama Mesdag, 2006, 54-55.
25. Cited in F. BoulanGé, Koninklijke Nederduitsche Schouwburg. Chronologische lijst van programma’s uitgevoerd door de ‘Zuid-Hollandsche Tooneelisten’ in de Koninklijke Schouwburg Den Haag, vol. II, [self-pub- lished] 1989, 14: “toepasselijk op de laatste heugelijke gebeurtenis, waaraan wij de redding van ons vaderland te danken hebben”.
to the theatre in Amsterdam, to enter into battle with the returned emperor. (Inci- dentally, Loots described Napoleon in such insulting terms that a listener such as De Clercq considered this as being beneath the poet’s dignity.
26)
In Neêrlands redding, Westerman emphasised that it was the crown prince who had paved the way towards the final victory, that he had inspired his troops to an extraordinary degree of battle-readiness, and he had been ready to lay down his life for both the nation and for mankind as a whole. In the play, one of his soldiers attests: “And then – then he tore the medal from his breast, threw it into our midst and cried out: ‘Children! This is what every one of you has earned’, and then we felt our strength redouble: like a relic that vouchsafed our victory, we displayed it on the point of our banner…”.
27According to Westerman, it was not only the crown prince, but also his brother who risked his life for the fatherland, whilst their mother set an example to her female subjects by keeping vigil at the bedside of her injured son. The abovementioned soldier had also been wounded; something that only pleased his father: “Your wounds bear witness to your honourable fulfilment of your duty: I can be proud of my son. When the despot set the whole of Europe a-quaking, he certainly did not feel as rich as I do at this moment.”
28It is the final chorus in particular, however, that shows how Westerman’s primary concern was to praise the House of Orange:
Now the earth celebrates in gratitude For the brave Prince of Orange;
His courage paved the way for glory For Albion and for Germania.
Prince Frederick follows in his brother’s tracks Shining through his show of courage, Yes, they lead us faithfully
To the Fatherland and to the King.
[…]
An uninvited guest so thought, To pay an unexpected visit:
Prince William, as is fitting, Sent him packing off home.
[…]
Yes, may God help Father William,
26. Dagboek Willem de Clerq 1811-1844, 56 and 58. On page 68, De Clercq discusses various battle-cries in poetic form, including – appreciatively – a few by Westerman: “This poet possesses an inexhaustible genius for producing diverse pieces on the fatherland.” But De Clercq added in relation to the genre as a whole: “Their number is countless, mainly because these poems have mul- tiplied so greatly that to make oneself ridiculous nowadays, one need do no more than read one of these battle-cries aloud, and the battle-cry poets could form a special sect.” (“Deze dichter bezit een onuitputtelijk vernuft om stukken over het vaderland te varieren” – “hun getal is legio vooral dat der wapenkreten welke zich op eene zo ontzettende wijze vermenigvuldigd hebben, dat men tegenwoor- dig niet meer nodig heeft om zich belagchelijk te maken dan eene Wapenkreet voortelezen en men van het getal der wapenkreetdichters eene bijzondere secte zoude kunnen vormen.”)
27. “En toen, toen hij het ordesteeken van zijne borst rukte, het in ons midden wierp en uitriep: ‘Kinderen! dit hebt gij allen verdiend,’ toen voelden wij onze kracht verdubbelen: als een heiligdom dat ons de overwinning verzekerde, hieven wij het op de spitse van ons vaandel….” M.
westerman, Neêrlands redding, 24.
28. “Uwe wonden getuigen dat gij uwen pligt met eere vervuldet: ik mag trotsch op mijnen zoon zijn. Toen de dwingeland geheel Europa deed sidderen, heeft hij zich zeker nooit zoo rijk gevoeld als ik in dit oogenblik.” (Ibid., 22)
And may the union confirm his crowning.
May the Netherlands be blessed
And may the house of the King flourish.29
Plays such as those by Hofman, Westerman and Kup proved useful; as is well known, William I was keen to use the victory in order to promote his family, which had only recently acquired royal status and still had to conquer the hearts of many of its subjects.
30He therefore commissioned Bingley’s theatre company, which was based in The Hague, to produce a celebration of the “first joyful commemoration of the decisive victory by our Brave soldiers, on the battlefields of Quatre-Bras and Waterloo.”
31At this gala performance on 16 June 1816, crown prince William and his brother could see themselves honoured as commanding co-victors over Napoleon at the staging of Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruiter, a patriotic tragedy by Jan Nomsz and, once again, Neêrlands redding.
In the meantime Bingley, on his own initiative, had also seized upon the opportunity to make the most of the battle’s topicality. On 17 and 22 October 1815, he celebrated “with the greatest sense of gratitude” the return of the Dutch volunteers who had fought against the French, in order to revive “among the estee- med audience the commemoration of a liberation as brave as it was courageous”,
32this time with two plays. The first was the patriotic-historical drama Het Turfschip van Breda [The peat barge at Breda] by Cornelis van der Vijver, which dated from 1812;
33the other was a vaudeville piece specially written by Johannes Hendricus Grave, Het Oranjefeest of De terugkomst der Nederlandsche vrijwilligers [The celebration of the House of Orange or The return of the Dutch volunteers], of which we no longer have the text. Bingley’s company paid considerably less attention to the volunteers’ supreme commander; the latter had to make do with the comedy De uniform-rok van den veld- maarschalk Wellington [The uniform of Field Marshal Wellington], a translation by a certain P.L. of a farcical play by August von Kotzebue, which was performed on 2 and 9 February 1816.
34That same year, Kotzebue also produced the text of a satiri- cal poem that a certain Mr. Vogel put on in Dutch in the Hoogduitsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam: Des grooten tooneelspelers Napoleon Buonaparte, afscheidsrede aan de Duitschers na den veldslag bij Belle Alliance [The great actor Napoleon Bonaparte, farewell speech
29. “Vier’ thans de aarde met dankbaarheid, / Den dapperen Prins van Oranje; / Zijn moed
heeft de glorie bereid / Voor Albion en voor Germanje. / Prins Frederik volgt zijn broeders spoor, / En schittert door zijn moedbetooning, / Ja, zij gaan in trouw ons voor, / Aan het Vaderland en aan den Koning. / […] / Dacht ook de ongenoodigde gast, / Ons zoo onverwachts te bezoeken:
/ Prins Willem heeft zoo als het past, / Hem den weg naar huis doen zoeken. / […] / Ja, God sta Vader Willem bij, / En eendragt bevestige zijn krooning, / Dat Nederland gezegend zij, / En bloeije het huis van den Koning.” (Ibid., 27)
30. See also: Janneke weijermars, Stiefbroeders, 49-51; Jurriën de jonG et al., Waterloo 200 jaar strijd, 224-226.
31. Cited in F. BoulanGé, Koninklijke Nederduitsche Schouwburg, vol. II, 24: “de eerste heugche- lijke verjaring van de beslissende overwinning, door onze Dapperen, in de velden van Quatre-Bras en Waterloo behaald”.
32. Cited in F. BoulanGé, Koninklijke Nederduitsche Schouwburg, vol. II, 15: “met het meest dankbare gevoel” – “ook bij het geëerd publiek de herdenking aan de zoo kloekmoedige als blijde verlossing te verlevendigen”.
33. C. vander vijver, Het turfschip van Breda. Historisch tooneelspel (uit de xvie eeuw), Amsterdam, Mars, 1812 (2nd edn 1835).
34. F. BoulanGé, Koninklijke Nederduitsche Schouwburg, vol. II, 18. This concerned a translation of Kotzebue’s Die Uniform des Feldmarschalls Wellington. Lustspiel in einem Akt (1814). It is set at the time of the Battle of Toulouse in 1814.
to the Germans after the battle of Waterloo]. It presents the fallen emperor as an actor who is reflecting on the roles of despot and robber he has played, before competing with the devil himself:
When I was cast into hell,
They thought it would spit me out.
But no, I stayed for a visit, I showed my revolutionary spirit Soon had the devil shot dead And took my place on his throne.35
2. Commemorative Plays
On 17 June 1817, the Nederduitsche Schouwburg in The Hague looked back once more, when the actor Gerrit Carel Rombach recited, in an intermission, a verse by Dirk Hendrik ten Kate van Loo that “alluded to the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo”.
36But this marked the end of the annual commemorations, which was probably also a consequence of the fact that the theatre had normally already begun its summer recess around 18 June. From then onwards, the battle was only occasionally commemorated in the Koninklijke Schouwburg. This happened in 1836, for example, when the celebrated actress from Amsterdam, Koosje Naret- Koning, sang the “patriotic folksong” Herinnering aan Waterloo [In remembrance of Waterloo]. The latter was written by Carel Alexander van Ray, no less, who had wel- comed Napoleon to the Netherlands in the past with an adaptation of Boccaccio, and subsequently worked for the French censor. Now, however, Van Ray and Naret were praising the heroes of the House of Orange: the spilled blood of Nassau, they maintained, had saved the Netherlands.
37Shortly afterwards, around 1840 – in other words, around 25 years after the event – a few longer Waterloo dramas were eventually published again, this time in Belgium, an independent country since 1830. Auguste Jouhaud, for example, produced two French-language plays in 1837.
38One of these, Le clou de Mont Saint- Jean, was freely translated into Dutch as 3 Engelschmans te Waterloo [3 Englishmen at Waterloo].
39The adaptation, which has survived only in handwritten form, is
35. A. von KotzeBue, Des grooten tooneelspelers Napoleon Buonaparte, afscheidsrede aan de Duitschers na den veldslag bij Belle Alliance, uitgesproken door den Heer Vogel, op den Hoogduitsche Schouwburg, binnen Amsterdam, in de maand October, 1816, het Hoogduitsch vrij gevolgd, Amsterdam, H. Moolenijzer, 1816, 8:
“Al wierd ik in de hel gestoten, / De hel braakt, denkt men, mij weêr uit. / Maar neen, kom ik daar te logeeren, / ’k Sprei dan de omwentlings geest ten toon, / Laat straks den duivel fussilleren, / En plaats mij daad’lijk op zijn troon..”. The original poem is entitled: Des großen Schauspielers Napoleon Buonaparte, Abschiedsrede an die Deutschen, nach der Schlacht bei La belle alliance, [s.l., s.n., 1816].
36. Cited in F. BoulanGé, Koninklijke Nederduitsche Schouwburg, vol. II, 34: “zinspelende op het verjaarsfeest van den slag van Waterloo”.
37. C. Alex. van ray, Herinnering aan Waterloo. Vaderlandsche volkszang, voorgedragen in den Koninklijken Nederduitschen Schouwburg, te ’s Gravenhage, door J.M. Naret-Koning, geb. Majofski, bij gelegenheid harer vierde voorstelling in de Residentie op den 21 Junij, 1836, [s.l., s.n., 1836].
38. Auguste jouhaud, La folle de Waterloo. Drame-vaudeville en deux époques, représenté pour la pre- mière fois, à Bruxelles, sur le Téâtre-Royal du Parc, le 4 février 1837, Brussels, J.-A. Lelong, 1837 (On this, see: Jean-Marc larGeaud, Napoléon et Waterloo, 279); Auguste jouhaud, Le clou de Mont Saint-Jean, Vaudeville dramatique en un acte. Brussels, J.-A. Lelong, 1837.
39. Auguste jouhaud, 3 Engelschmans te Waterloo. Klugtspel met zang in een bedrijf, vrij vertaald naar het fransch door L.L. Wagenaar. This is an undated and unpaginated manuscript from the archive of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg in Antwerp, which bears the stamp of the Antwerp city
unique among Dutch plays about Waterloo, because it was written from the French perspective: the character Marten, who is wounded during the battle but saved from the Prussians by the miller Van Gelder, dislikes the English and calls the battlefield a “witness to our defeat and to their vainglory”. The play ridicules the practice of relic-hunting by gullible British tourists, who have been visiting the former battle- field for a decade and are fooled by “bullets, sabres, all of which come from the old market, and even rifles, spurs, buttons and medals, because they imagine that all those soldiers were buried with their medals”. The farce even portrays three lords paying astronomical sums for a rusty nail on which Napoleon is said to have hung his hat when he visited a windmill to get an overview of the battlefield. In passing, moreover, scorn is poured upon a miser who made his fortune at the time, when he found a “coat pocket” full of gold on the battlefield, evidently the “coat pocket”
of a fallen soldier.
Another Belgian drama, De kapitein van Waterloo [The captain of Waterloo], was written by the playwright and celebrated actor Karel Ondereet. First published in 1842, it must have been more successful than most, because it was reprinted in 1860. The play fitted perfectly with an aim that arose in the decades following 1830, namely that of professionalising and revitalising Flemish theatre with a nation-buil- ding mission.
40Ondereet also recounted the anecdote about Prince William’s medal, but now granted the starring role exclusively to the expressly Belgian battalion of his titular hero. One of the characters reports: “It is said that the Belgian Seventh Battalion, which the captain serves, fought especially well; indeed! that the Prince of Orange, taken prisoner by the French, was rescued by this battalion; and that he attached his cross [of honour] to their banner, saying: There, comrades! Every one of you has earned it, and I make you all Colonels!”.
41Elsewhere, too, the play has a strongly Belgian nationalist slant. For example, the captain, who previously fought for Napoleon, defends himself against an accu- sation of treason for abandoning his army. The captain calls the latter “the army of a people that overpowered us, the Belgians”, and speaks up for his own people:
“Did you, the French, until the moment that the Emperor laid down his crown and left for the island of Elba, find one traitor among the Belgians? No, I do not believe you did…”.
42The emperor owes more to the brave Belgians than to the French, who had just abandoned him at Waterloo. But the Belgian spirit of self-sacrifice has
government as well as that of the Leuven-based chamber of rhetoric known as “Roos en Eikel”
(Letterenhuis Antwerp, serial number S 4685/438). Wagenaar produced his translation after Napo- leon’s remains had been transferred from St Helena to Paris in 1840, because towards the end of the play the character Marten says: “I still do not understand how the English permitted his remains to be transported to Paris, when they now hand over purses of gold for an object that can have had little to do with him.” The action, therefore, also takes place in or after 1840, and on “the anniversary of that cruel battle”, 18 June.
40. On this, see Tom verschaFFel, “Leren sterven voor het vaderland. Historische drama’s in het negentiende-eeuwse België”, in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffedede Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, 1998, 113, 2, 145-176, 148-153 and 171-173; Willem vanden BerG & Piet couttenier, Alles is taal geworden. Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse literatuur 1800-1900, Amsterdam, Bert Bakker, 2009, 465-478.
41. “men zegt dat het Zevende Bataillon Belgen, waer de kapitein bij dient, byzonderlijk heeft uitgemunt; ja! dat de prins van Oranje, door de Franschen gevangen genomen zynde, door dit batail- lon uit hunne handen is gehaeld; dat hy zyn kruis aan hun vaandel heeft gehecht, zeggende: Daer, kameraden! gy hebt het allen verdient [sic], en ik maek u allen kornels!”. Karel ondereet, De kapitein van Waterloo. Drama in drie bedryven, Gent, H. Hoste, 1842, 11.
42. “hebt gy, Franschen, tot op het oogenblik dat de Keizer zyne kroon had nedergelegd en naer het eiland Elba was vertrokken, één verrader onder de Belgen gevonden? Neen, dat geloof ik niet…”. (Ibid., 18)
now become one of self-confidence; they have had enough of the oppression to which Belgium, as it is called, has been subjected for many years:
43history and future generations will say: the French were victorious for twen- ty years, from Vienna to Madrid, from the Pyramids to the Kremlin… the French! always the French! and we! we, Belgians! shall in future generations remain forgotten, even though our blood, as well as that of the French, has been spilled on fifty battlefields in those twenty years of war. But now, now at least, we fight for ourselves; we have the prospect of becoming a people that is no longer bent under the French yoke.44
Ondereet also includes a sympathetic Bonapartist in the play, however, who attests that whilst Napoleon may have left France, he is still cherished in “many a French heart”.
45Moreover, this Bonapartist expresses his disapproval of disloyal individuals such as Van Ray, who once flattered the emperor with verses and owed much to him, and now dare to sneer at their former benefactor.
Throughout it all, Ondereet also pays attention to the grievous consequences of the Battle of Waterloo for ordinary people. The protagonist’s fiancée, for example, is unfaithful with a French officer, thereby bringing upon herself the scan- dal of having a baby out of wedlock. That is because the begetter’s mother refuses to consent to a matrimonial union: “For heaven’s sake! If all such little incidents had to be made good with marriage, half of the French army would consist of men coming home with wives and families”.
46And his father – the abovementioned Bo- napartist – is psychologically unable to stay in the neighbourhood of the battlefield:
Is there a place in the whole world that causes me such painful recollections as the battlefield of Waterloo? Is it not here that we saw twenty years of victory destroyed in a single day? Remain here any longer? O no! We are leaving, we are leaving this place; because every Frenchman who cherishes the glory and the greatness of his fatherland cannot draw near this place without weeping bloody tears.47
43. On the myth of domination, see e.g. Jean stenGers & Eliane GuBin, Histoire du sentiment national en Belgique des origines à 1918, vol. 2: Le grand siècle de nationalité belge, de 1830 à 1918, Brussels, Editions Racine, 2002, 63-67; Evert peeters, Het labyrint van het verleden. Natie, vrijheid en geweld in de Belgische geschiedschrijving (1787-1850), Leuven, Universitaire Pers, 2003, 117-127.
44. “de geschiedenis, het nageslacht zal zeggen: de Franschen waren twintig jaren overwin- naers, van Weenen tot Madrid, van de Pyramiden tot aen den Kremlin… de Franschen! altyd de Franschen! en wy! wy, Belgen! zullen by het nakomelingschap in de vergetelheid blyven, schoon ons bloed, zoowel als dat der Franschen in dien twintigjarigen oorlog op vyftig slagvelden heeft ge- stroomd. Maer thans, thans ten minste, stryden wy voor ons zelven, wy hebben het vooruitzigt een volk te worden dat onder geen fransch juk meer zal moeten bukken.” Karel ondereet, De kapitein van Waterloo, 19. A few minor roles support this message: the Belgian Battalion corporal Vlamynck and the French servant François are at loggerheads. When François walks into Vlamynck in a hurry, the latter responds: “Is it perhaps because I am Belgian that you exercise so little caution, Mister Frenchman?” (“is het misschien omdat ik een Belg ben, dat gy zoo weinig omzigtigheid gebruikt, mynheer de Franschman?”). François apologises to “My lord the Belgian” (“mynheer de Belg”), but the latter threatens François that he should “watch out! Because I do not want to be made fun of, do you understand?” (“dat hy [François] op zyn hoede zy! want ik wil met my den spot niet laten dryven, ziet gy?” ). (Ibid., 26)
45. “in menig fransch hart”. (Ibid., 30)
46. “Wel, hemel! indien alle dergelyke gevalletjes door het huwelyk moesten vergoed worden, de helft van het fransche leger had men met vrouwen en huisgezinnen zien terug keeren”, Ibid., 45.
47. “Is er eene plaats in de geheele wereld die my smartelykere herinneringen oplevert dan het veld van Waterloo? is het hier niet dat wy op eenen dag twintig jaren zegeprael hebben zien vernieti- gen. Hier langer blyven! o neen! vertrekken wy, verwyderen wy ons van hier; want ieder Franschman,
He nevertheless goes to take stock of the battlefield one last time, as a Fle- mish servant observes:
Dash it all! How that fat Frenchman stood there on the battlefield of Waterloo, looking at the lion! That beast seemed not altogether to please him!48 Then he looked up and paced with his arms crossed and his head down, here and there;
then he suddenly stood still with his hands raised. Look! So much so that if it had lasted any longer, I’d have come home to say that he had lost his mind.49
The patriotic tenor of Ondereets’ play was recaptured on the seventieth anni- versary of the battle in Julius Hoste’s historical drama, Waterloo!
50According to a note at the beginning of the text edition, this theatrical hit was premiered on 25 December 1884 and “subsequently shown forty times in a row by the Nationaal Too- neel of Brussels.”
51Commencing in 1812, from the second act the action concerns the Battle of Waterloo itself, as well as its eve and immediate aftermath. The play contains 21 roles, including those of the Prince of Orange and Wellington – Na- poleon is only seen in the distance
52– as well as “Two town trumpeters; Common folk; French, English, German, Dutch and Belgian Soldiers; Sailor boys, etc.”.
53This list alone reveals that Hoste presented the Belgians as a separate military force alongside the Dutch, with their own national interest. Although Belgian soldiers are allies of the Dutch – “And Belgium reaches out to Holland like a brother, / All of us keep our vow with our weapons”
54– and they are loyal to the Prince of Orange, whose motto “Nooit achteruit! [No retreat]” continues to inspire them, on balance the Belgians are concerned with their own nation. This is made abundantly clear by a high-ranking Belgian soldier: “Fly high, tricolour flag of Brabant / I vow to you my allegiance and courage, / To me, you are a sacred pledge, / To you, I owe all my blood”.
55The hearts of Belgian women also beat for their country. In one song, a servant girl urges other women to encourage their men to join the fight against the French oppressor: “And thou shalt see / Our Belgium freed from tyranny”.
56Belgian patriotism is thus given great emphasis by Hoste, who has the choir sing repeatedly: “For the fatherland and freedom, / For the people of Belgium, For
die den luister en de grootheid van zyn vaderland ter hart neemt, kan deze plaets niet naderen zonder bloedige tranen te storten.” (Ibid., 43)
48. This is an anachronism: the Lion’s Mound was only erected in the years between 1823 and 1826.
49. “Sakerloot! hoe stond de dikke Franschman daer op het veld van Waterloo naer den leeuw te kyken! dit beest scheen hem in het geheel niet te behagen! Dan keek hy omhoog, dan wandelde hy met de armen over elkander en met het hoofd in den grond, heen en weder; nu stond hy eens stil zyne handen in de hoogte stekende. Kyk! zoo het nog lang geduerd had, was ik naer huis komen zeggen dat hy zot geworden was.” Ibid., 47-48.
50. Julius hoste, Waterloo! Geschiedkundig drama in 5 bedrijven en 8 tafereelen, muziek van Karel Miry, onderbestuurder van het Gentsch conservatorium, Gent, Ad. Hoste, 1889.
51. “vervolgens veertig maal achtereen door het Nationaal Tooneel van Brussel vertoond”, (ibid) 52. See also Tom verschaFFel, “Leren sterven voor het vaderland”, 170-171.
53. “Twee stadstrompetters; Volk; Fransche, Engelsche, Duitsche, Hollandsche en Belgische Soldaten; Matroosjongens, enz.” Julius hoste, Waterloo!, 8.
54. “En België reikt Holland als broeder de hand, / Dien eed doen wij allen met wapens ge- stand” (Ibid., 92)
55. “Waai hoog driekleurvlag van Brabant / U zweer ik trouw en moed, / Gij zijt voor mij een heilig pand, / Voor u is al mijn bloed.” (Ibid., 114)
56. “En eenmaal ziet gij / Ons België bevrijden van de tyrannij”. (Ibid., 89)
Fig. 2. Program for the performance of Waterloo by Charles de la Mar in the Amsterdam Paleis voor Volksvlijt, in: Amsterdamsche Gids 17 (1885) no. 41 (coll. Theater Instituut Nederland, Uni-
versity Library Amsterdam)
our own Country and laws, let the Lion’s banner unfurl!”.
57That is because the Fle- mish, in particular, wish to rid themselves of the French oppressor, as emphasised by the play’s closing song:
Never were there slaves In the country of Flanders, But alert souls,
Brave and valiant.
[…]
Just see them waving, Our flags,
No domination, Or slavery…
We are free! (three times)58
The French and, in particular, those faithless Belgians who had chosen their side, are presented as cheats, cowards, traitors and thieves, who drink brandy, en- gage in intimidation and blackmail, and otherwise behave badly. The villain Cantil- lon – who also has his eye on the sweetheart of a soldier, and would thus be keen to see the latter perish – surpasses all others with his wickedness, such as when he also robs a dead officer on the battlefield:
Many of the bodies are still warm and people are already digging around. But why not search through all the pockets, they will have to be buried after all.
Nobody’s objecting; there’s a deathly silence round here. (He rifles through the poc- kets.) An officer… (Takes a purse of money out of his pocket.) His purse is fat, there are many gold Napoleons; he probably meant to celebrate after the battle. I shall celebrate for him… a gold pocket watch inlaid with diamonds… a family heirloom... As this is the time of the living and not of the dead, we’ll wind it up for him each day… Then this costly diamond ring; this fellow wore many precious stones. (Pulls the ring from his finger and reads:) ‘Think of me.’ Well then, I shall think of you. (Puts the ring on one of his fingers.) See, like that!59
In contrast to this are the charitable citizens of Belgium, who enter the battlefield only to care for the wounded and do so with a generous spirit, without any discrimination. When asked by the drummer Jacot whether the French were also receiving aid, the Fleming Lucas replies:
And why not? It is not their fault that they are wounded.
57. “Voor Vaderland en vrijheid, / Voor Belgiës volksbestaan, Voor eigen Land en wetten, ontrolt de Leeuwenvaan!” (Ibid., 67, 71)
58. “Nooit waren er slaven / In Vlaanderenland, / Maar wakkere braven / Met dappere hand.
/ […] / Ziet ze maar zwieren / Onze banieren, / Noch heerschappij, / Of slavernij… / Wij zijn vrij! (driemaal)”. (Ibid., 139)
59. “Vele lijken zijn nog warm en men is reeds aan ’t delven. Maar waarom niet eens al de zakken doorzocht, ze moeten toch begraven worden. Niemand roert zich, eene doodsche stilte heer- scht overal. (Hij zoekt in de zakken.) Een officier… (Neemt eene geldbeurs uit dezes zakken.) Zijne beurs is goed voorzien, veel gouden Napoleons; die heeft waarschijnlijk gedacht na den slag feest te vieren.
‘k Zal het in zijne plaats doen… een gouden zakuurwerk met diamanten omzet… een familiestuk…
Daar het uur voor de levenden en niet voor de dooden is, zullen wij het dagelijks in zijne plaats op- winden… Dan deze kostbare diamanten ring; die kerel draagt veel edelgesteenten op zich. (Trekt den ring van den vinger af en leest:) ‘Denk aan mij.’ Welnu, ik zal aan u denken. (Steekt den ring aan een zijner vingeren.) Zie, zoo!”. (Ibid., 116)
jacot.
I thought that every people should care for their own.
lucas.
Feelings are feelings, we do not distinguish between nationalities!... A French- man feels as much pain as an Englishman when he has been shot in the leg.60
What, in turn, did Dutch writers produce? A certain A.A. van der Stempel, who must have also been active in amateur circles,
61succeeded in 1871 in having his farce entitled Het keizerrijk op de flesch of Napoleon op een hooizolder [The empire in ruins, or Napoleon in a hayloft] printed; another hit play that would run to a seventh edition.
62Featuring hilarious cases of mistaken identity and dressing-up, the story pokes fun at all kinds of theatrical conventions. It is about four hard-up students who decide to earn money by claiming to be a theatre company touring the province. They also perform a play entitled Het keizerrijk op de flesch of Napoleon op een hooizolder, written by the student Jan de Rijmer and spectacularly announced as a “Great, incredible farce featuring fire, murder, song, dance and Bengal light in four scenes, including a sea-battle on horseback.” “It shall be a comedy within a comedy”, observes one of the students.
63They begin a performance dressed in ridi- culous uniforms, with medals made of silver paper and cardboard tricorns, but are interrupted half-way through by an usher, whereupon the actors – dressed as Na- poleon and a marshal – run away. Seeking refuge at an inn, the supposed emperor is first mistaken for the king and then for the real Napoleon, whereupon someone calls the village constable to arrest him. He hides himself in the inn’s hayloft, just like the real Napoleon is said to have done when fleeing his Prussian pursuers. In gratitude for his hospitality, the students offer to do an “extra gala performance”
for the innkeeper, “with free entry for people with just one arm, the blind and other lame beasts”.
64A less frivolous Waterloo-inspired production was the play by the dramatist Charles de la Mar, who was such a passionate admirer of Napoleon that in 1878 he named his son Nap after him.
65[Fig. 2] To celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the Battle in 1885, Charles’ company of Nederlandsche Toneelisten performed his Waterloo in the Paleis voor Volksvlijt in Amsterdam. The text survives only as a hand-
60. “En waarom niet? ’t Is hunne schuld niet dat ze gekwetst zijn. / jacot. ’k Dacht dat ieder volk zijn eigen plaaster moest leggen. / lucas. Gevoel is gevoel, wij kennen geen onderscheid van nationaliteit!... een Franschman heeft zooveel pijn als een Engelschman wanneer hem een been af- geschoten wordt.” (Ibid., 133-134)
61. In Vaderlandsche Letteroefeningen 1868, p. 156, in a review by H.W.Th. Tydeman of, among others, A.A. vander stempel, Rudolf of broeder en zuster. Tooneelspel met zang in 3 tafereelen. […], Kamp- en, K. van Hulst, 1867, Van der Stempel is said to be a “working member of the Oefening baart Kunst association in Kampen”.
62. A.A. vander stempel, Het keizerrijk op de flesch of Napoleon op een hooizolder. Oorspronkelijk kluchtspel met zang in twee bedrijven, 3rd edn, Kampen, Laurens van Hulst, 1880 (1st edn 1871; 7th edn n.d.).
63. “Groot fantastisch kluchtspel met brand, moord, zang, dans en bengaalsch vuur in vier tafreelen, waaronder een zeegevecht te paard” – “Dat wordt dan een komedie in een komedie”. A.A.
vander stempel, Het keizerrijk op de flesch, 16.
64. “extra galavoorstelling” – “waartoe menschen met één arm, blinden en ander mank ge- dierte vrije toegang zal [sic] hebben” (Ibid., 35)
65. Nap’s brother Chris inherited his father’s interest, as shown by a few pieces that he pub- lished in and/or after the First World War: De slag bij Waterloo. Geschiedkundige voordracht, ’s-Graven- hage, S.Th. Appeldoorn, [ca. 1915] (in Aug./Sept 2015 missing from the TIN collection, Amsterdam University Library) and De slag bij Waterloo. Voordracht voor twee heren, Gouda, Jongeneel, [no year; in ms. dated 1917].
