CHAPTER 5: IN THEATRES

5.1    Amsterdam

On 8 June 1672, the Amsterdam Schouwburg was closed due to the Rampjaar.^[1] Following five years of closure, the theatre reopened on 29 November 1677 with three performances of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Isis.^[2] This event seems significant enough that it was not only mentioned in the Amsterdamse Courant, but also twice in the proceedings of the Amsterdamsche Kerkenraad^[3] — who may have been responsible for the extended closure of the theatre — detailing that it would be a staged theatrical event.^[4] This performance of Isis was likely played by French musicians, and may have contributed to the spread and popularisation of the new style of French woodwind instruments in the Republic,^[5] as the earliest written reference to the oboe in the Republic is from the following year, in December 1678.^[6]

Before the nineteenth century, the performers employed by the Amsterdam Schouwburg only performed Dutch-language works. Works in other languages were performed exclusively by either foreign troupes or troupes from other theatres in the Republic. Almost no opera was performed in Amsterdam between 1688 and 1750 as another staged genre formed the main musical pillar of the theatre, the zangspel.^[7] The theatre played works of this genre by Amsterdam-based composers such as Carolus Hacquart (ca. 1640–1700), Johannes Schenck, Hendrik Anders (ca. 1657–1714), and Servaas de Konink (1654–1701). Only small fragments of zangspelen by Anders and de Konink survive, but Hacquart and Schenck both have more substantial surviving material,^[8] none with explicit parts for double-reed instruments. The most-complete surviving work from this period is Hacquart’s music for a play by Dirk Buysero (1644–1708), De Triomfeerende Min^[9] (1678). There are no surviving parts, but indications for “muzijk van schalmeien, fluiten en zakpypen”,^[10] as well as for “kromhoorens”.^[11]

In October of 1680, the core ensemble of the Schouwburg consisted of twelve musicians (including Rijkel on "fagot"),^[12] as well as some extra personnel such as a trumpet player (Figure 5.1.1). There are no indications regarding how the bassoon was used. The precise functions of the Schouwburg’s musicians are unknown, but musicians’ names occasionally come up in payment records, rarely including their instrument (Figure 5.1.2). While conclusions cannot be drawn about the exact repertoire and combinations of instruments used, future research may unearth more about the names listed in the Schouwburg’s records.

ƒ^o44 Pieter Pickart........................................................................................................ ƒ2"–"–

ƒ^o45 Rockus Eeckhout.............................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o46 Mighiel Nuijts.................................................................................................... [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o47 Pieter Jansens.................................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o48 Eduart de Coer.................................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o49 Koenraet van Rijckel.......................................................................................... [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o50 Anthonij Eeckhout............................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o51 Joseph du Plessis.............................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o52 Jacobus Kokuit.................................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o53 Franciscus Gresse............................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o54 Wessel Kleijnman.............................................................................................. [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o55 Joan Philip Heus................................................................................................ [ƒ]1["]5"–

ƒ^o56 Frans de Loges Trompetter.................................................................................. [ƒ–"]15"–

Figure 5.1.1: List of core musicians and a trumpeter at the Amsterdam Schouwburg (1680).^[13]

It is uncertain as to when exactly the bassoon overtook the dulcian as the bass double-reed instrument of choice in the Republic. As Rijkel was apprenticing under Haka during his time at the Schouwburg, he would have had access to both instruments and it is entirely possible that he used both in the theatre. The immense influence of French culture and music in Amsterdam since the reopening of the Schouwburg,^[19] however, likely lead to the use of the bassoon in the theatre, rather than the dulcian. Furthermore, Rijkel’s visitor card only depicts a bassoon, no dulcian,^[20] and the few examples of dictionaries and lexica which define “fagot” (see Chapter 3) are unclear and not the most reliable sources for shaping an accurate understanding of performance practice in the Republic. Regardless, Rijkel’s visitor card was made around two decades after the end of his employment at the Schouwburg and older types of wind instruments, such as the shawm, were still being used in the Schouwburg as late as 1680,^[21] so there is no certainty as to exactly what kind of instrument was used.

The payment records of the Schouwburg also mention a Philip van Quoijgen only once, having played oboe there twice until 6 January of 1681.^[22] The fact that he only played twice may indicate that the oboe was either rarely used in the Schouwburg, or that he was simply a replacement oboist who was not regularly rostered to play. The latter would suggest that at least one of the twelve core members of the Schouwburg may have been responsible for playing oboe when necessary as the oboe is, otherwise, not mentioned in any other Schouwburg payment record. It would also imply that Rijkel’s (probable) bassoon playing was seen as a more essential instrumental fixture to the Schouwburg than having a specialised oboist.

In the Schouwburg, there may have been music performed between before and/or after performances, as well as between acts. It is not known what type of music was played for these occasions but it has been hypothesised that the chamber music of the Schouwburg’s composers may have been one example, such as works by de Konink and Anders.^[23] De Konink’s Trios, Op. 1 (1696) depicts several instruments on the cover page; two recorders, two oboes, and a bassoon (Figure 5.1.3). This does not mean that these instruments were always used in the Schouwburg, but it may have been a possible instrumentation for some of the instrumental music performed around the main staged performances.

Figure 5.1.3: Title page of Servaas de Konink’s Trios pour la Flute le Violon le Hautbois et toutes Sortes d’Instruments […] Premier Oeuvre (1696).^[24]

David Lingelbach (1641–1688), a former hairstylist at the Amsterdam Schouwburg, opened a theatre in Buiksloot for French opera in 1686. This happened to coincide with the peak of Huguenot migration to Amsterdam. The Regents attempted to shut down Lingelbach’s company but this failed due to a lack of their jurisdiction in Buiksloot.^[25] Only two titles of works performed here seem to be known; De liefde van Amintas en Amarillis, with text by Lingelbach,^[26] and Lully’s Atys. The success of Atys in Buiksloot allowed French tragédies to return to the Amsterdam Schouwburg temporarily from January of 1687. Performances alternated between Lully’s Amadis and spoken Dutch text, with the response to the tragédie en musique being so positive that their Dutch actors were eventually fired in May 1687. Following several^[27] performances of Amadis, Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione and Atys were performed.^[28]

The following season, from 22 September 1687, Lingelbach and Johannes Koenerding (1632–1705) were the directors of the Schouwburg. French tragédies continued to be performed in Amsterdam in 1688 as Lingelbach and Koenerding contracted a French opera troupe from The Hague in March, led by Victor Amedée Le Chevalier (<1660–1720). That summer, two unknown French operas were performed (Bacchus and Andromaque), as well as two Lully tragédies en musique, Persée and Proserpine. Even though the contract with this troupe was supposed to last eight months, the theatre returned to Dutch stage performances in September^[29] and had to close on 23 November due to financial difficulties. These aforementioned Lully tragédies all call for oboes and it would have been customary for Lully to have had bassoons in these works; however, it is not known whether these performances used arrangements, nor if oboists were certainly used in these performances. Le Chevalier proposed opera to the Schouwburg once again in 1689^[30] and led performances of at least five unnamed French stage works there in 1690.^[31] Due to a lack of surviving scores and information, it is not possible to discern the extent to which double-reed instruments were used in the Schouwburg in later years until the end of the period of study.

Another theatre in Amsterdam was that of Dirck Theodoor Strijker, the son of a former Dutch consul in Venice. Strijker was responsible for several productions of Italian opera in Amsterdam since at least 1678.^[32] On 25 December 1680, Strijker opened his own theatre for Italian opera in Amsterdam but it closed down in 1682.^[33] Of the operas known to have been performed by Strijker, none have distinct parts or score indications for double-reed instruments. Matteo Bataglia and his wife, Eleonora, both connected to the Court in Düsseldorf are the only two known troop members of this theatre, aside from Pietro Antonio Fiocco (1654–1714) whose function in connection with the theatre is unknown.^[34] For the purposes of this study, this theatre irrelevant as there is no evidence of double-reed instruments participating, and none of the known performed works contain indications or parts for double-reed instruments.

5.2   The Hague

The first reports of opera in The Hague are from 1682, when visiting troops came to perform. In the years 1687 and 1688, many names from the Amsterdam Schouwburg appear in the opera company of Augustin Fleury and Carolus Martinelli. This suggests that they may have been performing similar repertoire, if not the same. William III would visit The Hague throughout the 1690’s (see Chapter 4.1), including visits with his “Comédie française” in The Hague where Charles Babel (1636–1716) played bassoon in the years 1697–1698.^[35] Babel first appears in payment records from 1697,^[36] though he may have been in The Hague as early as 1696, given that he a manuscript of Lully arrangements of his survives from that year (see Chapter 7).^[37] In order to produce his 1696 manuscript, Babel may have had some kind of prior connection to the Republic before that year as his whereabouts before and after his time in Hanover (1688–1690) are unknown.^[38] In his time with the Comédie française, Babel collected two volumes of music for two dessus and a bass line by various composers, published by Roger in Amsterdam. Volume 1 (1697)^[39] is principally music by Lully, as well as a few pieces by “Maynon” (including a “Trio de Hautbois”), one work by Jean-Claude Gillier, and a “Trio de Hautbois” from Pascal Collasse’s Achille et Polixène.^[40] Volume 2 (1698)^[41] opens with a march by André Danican Philidor, l’aîné (ca. 1652–1730).^[42] The rest is also mainly music by Lully, as well as some yet-to-be-identified anonymous movements.^[43]

On 26 October 1700, Gerhard Schott, founder of the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg, was given permission by the mayors of The Hague to run an opera company there for three years.^[44] Their first production was one of Lully’s Armide, premiering 1 October 1701, using materials from a production of Armide in Kiel from around 1696.^[45] In another contract, dated 31 May 1701, Lully’s Thésée and André Campra’s (1660–1744) L’Europe galantewere scheduled to be played, as well as another work by Lully yet to be decided.^[46] This likely refers to Atys, which is mentioned alongside Armide in the company’s financial documents on 13 February 1702.^[47] The aforementioned 1701 contract divided the company’s proceeds and direction in three equal parts, one third to Schott, one third to Jean-Jacques Quesnot de La Chênée, and one third to Louis Deseschaliers and his wife, Catherine Dudard (a dancer). Deseschaliers was responsible for procuring singers^[48] and possibly also conducting, with his “petit Rouleau de papier pour battre la mesure”.^[49]  Thésée ended up not being played in that season as one audience member writes that he watched works titled Amadis^[50] in January 1702 and Thésée in January 1703.^[51] These tragédies were somewhat altered from their original versions, most notably Lully’s Armide which needed such significant alterations that a composer was required to recompose its prologue. It is not known which composer was responsible for this but it may have been Deseschaliers, himself, or more likely Quirinus van Blankenburg, who is discussed further in Chapter 9.3. Van Blankenburg had experience setting French texts to music and had been the Franse Kerk’s^[52] organist, attended by William III. Van Blankenburg’s ties to the William III’s court may have also been useful in finding patronage for the theatre — a necessity for such a company to rewrite and recompose works.^[53]

While not much is known about how the theatre stopped, there were issues of debt in 1702 from having purchased costumes using credit^[54] and several arguments between Quesnot de La Chênée and Dudard. They, along with Deseschaliers, appeared in court at least eight times between 1 February and 22 March 1702.^[55] Given this tumultuous period and no real financial success at the theatre, it is unlikely it stayed open for much longer after the 1703 performances of Thésée. All of the operas known to have been performed at this theatre call for oboes, but just like the French works performed in Amsterdam, there is no absolute certainty that an arrangement without oboes was not played, instead. This is particularly the case with Armide where so much of it was rewritten.

In December 1710, a German traveller named Zacharias Conrad van Uffenbach claimed that he heard three tragédies en musique in The Hague; Campra’s Télémaque, Lully’s Phaëton, and André Cardinal Destouches’s (1672–1749) Issé.^[56] While these works call for oboes, there is nothing known about these performances other than van Uffenbach’s account. This source does not provide sufficient information to discern any element of performance practice.

Between 1715 and 1718, the Portuguese plenipotentiary minister João Gomes da Silva Count of Tarouca (1671–1738) had an opera hall built in The Hague in honour of Infante Manuel, Count of Ourém’s (1697–1766) visit to the city. Here, tragédies en musique were performed, including Lully’s Atys and Phaëton, both of which call for oboes, as well as Destouches’s Télémaque et Calypso which also requires oboes. Upon Manuel’s departure, a man by the name of Jean Francisque, funded by the Sephardic merchant Francisco de Lis, set up a theatre named the Académie de Musique. It opened with Campra’s Tancrède and lasted two seasons under Francisque’s leadership before being replaced by Jean Sérancour and Pierre Drouet who directed Campra’s L’Europe galante. Both Tancrède and L’Europe galante require oboes. The performances were likely not of high quality as Voltaire (1694–1778) labelled the company as detestable in 1722. The company closed later that year.^[57]

The seventh volume of Hollantsche Schouburgh, en plugge dansen vermengelt met sangh airen^[58] was published by Jeanne Roger (1701–1722) in Amsterdam in 1721. It contains a short melody referring to opera in The Hague, “De Haagse nuwe Opera”^[59] (Figure 5.2). It is a unique title as there are no such examples in any of the series’s volumes referring to opera in Amsterdam. Speculatively, there may be a connection between this melody and an opera company from The Hague.

Figure 5.2: “De Haagse nuwe Opera” from volume seven of Hollantsche Schouburgh, en plugge dansen vermengelt met sangh airen (1721).^[60]

5.3   References to Instruments in Stage Works

Although, evidently, very little Dutch stage music from the period of study survives, a number of references to double-reed instruments can be found in scripts and libretti, largely published in Amsterdam. The ways in which these instruments are referenced, as well as their relationship to the plot of these works, is a portrayal of how these instruments were viewed by the public in the period of study.

Govert Bidloo’s (1649–1713) zangspel Zonder Spijs, en Wijn, Kan geen Liefde zyn^[61] was published in 1686 and references several instruments playing while people drink wine, including flute, shawm, “bom”,^[62] “ruispyp”,^[63] and “trom”.^[64] The setting implies that this may be an appropriate combination of instruments for a particularly lively gathering where wine is drunk.^[65] One piece of iconography (Figure 5.3.1) illustrates a double-reed player accompanying dancing and drinking outdoors. Further examples of double-reeds used in similar settings can be found in Chapter 7 and Appendix B.

Figure 5.3.1: Detail from Adriaen van Ostade’s (1610–1685) Dansende boeren voor een herberg,^[66] printed by Gerrit de Broen I in 1705.^[67]

The character of Rosani in Jan Harmenszoon Krul’s Pampiere Wereld (1681), in a moment of Godly worship, associates “snaren en schalmeyen” with heavenliness and priests.^[68] The anonymous lyrics in the song “Wilt singen En springen”^[69] (1682) list trumpets, cornetti, shawms, and transverse flute(s) as providing a sweet through “het Christenrijck”.^[70] Just a few years later, Elizabet Hartloop’s (1655–1685) Tobias (1688) evokes a comparable connotation between holiness and double-reed instruments; that of shawms and drums with sacred majesty.^[71] The imagery evoked by both Krul’s and Hartloop’s refences to priests, holiness, and God suggests that there is a somewhat religious element to these instruments that is otherwise difficult to find in other sources, aside from illustrations of putti holding double-reed instruments (though one later example of an oboe playing in a church is discussed in Chapter 8).

Although an Antwerp-based writer, Willem Ogier’s (1618–1689) play, De Seven Hooft-Sonden,^[72] was published both in Antwerp and Amsterdam in 1682, as was its second edition in 1715.^[73] In a poem depicting fantasy creatures such as Pegasus and Satyr, recited by the character Crispyn, shawms are briefly mentioned as gracing people’s ears, as if they were singing.^[74] The inclusion of shawms in a play about the seven deadly sins emphasises the connection between shawms and Christianity, even if the setting of the shawms in this play is not directly religious.

Thomas Asselijn’s (ca. 1620–1701) De Kwakzalver,^[75] published in 1692, is the earliest known stage work which directly references the “Haubois”. The character, Andries, is described as being able to play the instrument, as well as the flute, full of “vertellinge en snakerije”.^[76] The characterful description of Andries as a knowledgeable lover of the arts implies that the “Haubois” is an admirable instrument to play, being one of the several positive qualities used to characterise him.^[77] Similarly, Pieter Langendijk’s (1683–1756) 1711 play, Don Quichot op de Bruiloft van Kamacho also uses a double-reed instrument to describe the positive qualities of one of its characters. Kamacho, in describing Bazilius to Don Quichot and Sanche, says one of his redeeming qualities is his abilities to “speulen op de veel, en de schalmy.”^[78]

In the stage instructions of Emanuel van der Hoeven’s (1660–1727) 1712 play, De Waarzegster,^[79] a march is to be played by trumpets, “haubois”, and violins in the setting of a large forest with a waterfall. Although double-reed instruments had previously been depicted in fictional works as outdoor instruments for the purpose of war (see Chapter 6), this pastoral scenery places double-reed instruments in a more peaceful outdoor setting.^[80] What is ambiguous, however, if the only instruments involved are precisely trumpets, shawms/oboes, and violins or if a band of each (that is, trumpets and drums; oboe band with tenor oboe and bassoon; and violin band with viola and bass violin) could realistically be combined. While iconography of trumpets playing alongside a double-reed instrument (Figure 5.3.2), as well as that of oboe band with violin band (see Figure 4.1.1) does survive, there are no clear descriptions, nor evidence, of the three combined bands of the aforementioned description playing together.

Figure 5.3.2: Detail from Jan Lamsvelt’s (1674–1743) Processie^[81] (n.d.), depicting two trumpeters and a shawm or oboe player in a fictional, religious setting.^[82]

Summary

The reopening of the Amsterdam Schouwburg marked a period of Francophilia in Amsterdam. The tragédies de musique of Jean-Baptiste Lully were among the most-performed works in Amsterdam, with most of the other repertoire being Dutch zangspelen. Most of these zangspelen do not survive and do not provide enough information on how double-reed instruments were utilised, but all of the Lully works that are known to have been performed in the Schouwburg in the period of study include indications for oboes. What is not known, however, is if the parts used for their performances included these indications. Of the known players, Coenraad Rijkel was certainly playing the bassoon, and an oboist was hired for at least two performances in in 1681.

The Hague also saw an increase in French stage works performed, though from a larger variety of composers. While Lully’s music formed the bulk of the known tragédies performed, including works by André Campra and André Cardinal Destouches. Similar to the situation in Amsterdam, all of the known French works featured indications for oboes but it cannot be confirmed whether there were any oboists taking part in these performances.

Stage works performed and published in the Republic contain references to double-reed instruments in various contexts. These fragments of information provide insight into the perception of double-reed instruments of the period. The instruments were sometimes described as admirable to play, and were often placed outdoors. Interestingly, there are also several examples of there being an association between Christianity and double-reed instruments. 

To Chapter 6: In the Military