Alphonse (Alfons) Olterdissen (
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
, December 12, 1865 - Maastricht, February 24, 1923) was a Dutch writer, poet and composer who wrote extensively in the
Maastrichtian dialect
The Maastrichtian () is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (str ...
. The final stanza of his opera ''Trijn de Begijn'' eventually became the
local anthem of Maastricht loosely copy of the Romanian composer
Ciprian Porumbescu
Ciprian Porumbescu (; born Cyprian Gołęmbiowski on 14 October 1853 – 6 June 1883) was a Romanian composer born in Șipotele Sucevei in Bukovina (now Shepit, Vyzhnytsia Raion, Ukraine). He was among the most celebrated Romanian composers ...
's (1853-1883) "
Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire
"Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire" () is a Romanian patriotic song dedicated to the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia established in 1859. The text was written by and the music was composed by Ciprian Porumbescu in 1880. Its tune i ...
".
Biography
Olterdissen was born to a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
father and a mother from the
province of Zeeland and grew up speaking
Dutch
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* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
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People E ...
, only learning the Maastricht dialect socially. In 1883 he moved to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
to attend the
Rijksschool voor de Kunstnijverheid in order to develop his abilities in painting. After graduating from the Rijksschool he set up a school in Maastricht, without success. Hereafter, Olterdissen focused on promoting tourism to Maastricht.
Olterdissen's lack of business skill led him to gather a significant debt which he tried to alleviate by writing
plays
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* Play (theatre), a work of drama
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and
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
s. Initially not achieving much success, his fortunes increased in 1907 with ''De kaptein vaan Köpenick''. This was a play about the then popular
Wilhelm Voigt
Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt (13 February 1849 – 3 January 1922) was a German impostor who, in 1906, masqueraded as a Prussian military officer, rounded up a number of soldiers under his "command", and "confiscated" more than 4,000 marks from a mu ...
(also known as ''Hauptmann von Köpenick''). A second success story was the comical opera ''Trijn de Begijn'' in 1910.
Local anthem
This is the text of the final stanza of ''Trijn de Begijn'', which was adopted in 2002 as the official anthem of the city of Maastricht by its municipal government .
Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olterdissen, Alphonse
Dutch people of German descent
Limburgish-language writers
Writers from Maastricht
1865 births
1923 deaths