"" ( (La Brabançonne); ; ) is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. The originally French title refers to the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

; the name is usually untranslated in Belgium's other two official languages, Dutch and German.

History

According to legend, the Belgian national anthem was written in September 1830, during the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was a conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. The ...

, by a young revolutionary called "Jenneval", who read the lyrics during a meeting at the Aigle d'Or café. Jenneval, a Frenchman whose real name was Alexandre Dechet (sometimes known as Louis-Alexandre Dechet), wrote the Brabançonne. At the time, he was an actor at the theatre where, in August 1830, the revolution started, which led to independence from the Netherlands. Jenneval died in the war of independence. François van Campenhout composed the accompanying score, based on the tune of a French song called "L'Air des lanciers polonais" (" the tune of the Polish Lancers"), written by the French poet Eugène de Pradel, whose tune was itself an adaptation of the tune of a song, "L'Air du magistrat irréprochable", found in a popular collection of drinking songs called ''La Clé du caveau'' (The Key to the cellar) and it was first performed in September 1830. In 1860, Belgium formally adopted the song and music as its national anthem, although the then prime minister, Charles Rogier, edited out lyrics attacking the Dutch House of Orange, inspired by the version written by Louis Hymans. The Brabançonne is also a monument (1930) by the sculptor Charles Samuel on the Surlet de Chokier square in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. The monument contains partial lyrics of both the French and Dutch versions of the anthem. Like many elements in Belgian folklore, this is mainly based on the French " La Marseillaise" which is also both an anthem and the name of a monument – the sculptural group ''Departure of the Volunteers of 1792'', commonly called ''La Marseillaise'', at the base of the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...

in Paris.

Lyrics

1830 original lyrics

First version (August 1830)

Second version (September 1830)

Third version (1860)

Current version

Various committees were charged with reviewing the text and tune of the Brabançonne and establishing an official version. A ministerial circular of the Ministry of the Interior on 8 August 1921 decreed that only the fourth verse of the text by Charles Rogier should be considered official for all three, French, German and in Dutch.

Modern short trilingual version

In recent years, an unofficial short version of the anthem is sung during Belgian National Day on 21 July each year, combining the words of the anthem in all three of Belgium's official languages, similar to the bilingual version of " O Canada". The lyrics are from the 4th verse of the anthem.

Notes

References

External links

Belgium: ''La Brabançonne'' – Audio of the national anthem of Belgium, with information and lyricsarchive link

History, versions (text and audio) and illustrations
Belgium National Anthem instrumental File MIDI (5ko)

Belgium National Anthem instrumental (better) File AU (570ko)
* ; Helmut Lotti, in French, Dutch and German, before King Albert II {{DEFAULTSORT:Brabanconne Belgian anthems French-language Belgian songs Belgian songs in Dutch Belgian patriotic songs Macaronic songs National symbols of Belgium Belgian Revolution 1830 songs National anthems European anthems Compositions in B-flat major