A brief history of opera in the Netherlands and the Dutch National Opera (DNO)

Opera had a slower start in the Netherlands compared to Italy, France and Germany, but it now boasts a world-class opera scene. The Dutch National Opera (DNO) and the National Ballet in Amsterdam regularly put on innovative performances of classic operas as well as bringing new works to international attention.

Opera in the Netherlands: A brief history

Opera was born at the very end of the 16th century in Florence. When a circle of scholars (the Florentine Camerata) discovered that ancient Greek theatre had been sung, they had the idea of setting dramatic texts to music. Opera quickly spread across Europe, in particular to France where it became immensely popular at court recitals held for the wealthy upper classes.

It appears there was a thriving court music and opera scene in The Hague by the 18th century, revolving around the stadthouders, the then leaders of the Netherlands, Willem IV and V.  French and Italian maestros were often brought to the Netherlands to play for opera lovers, and the Dutch themselves were also writing operas, albeit mostly in French. Sadly, however, many of these operas have been lost, with just a handful surviving.

It was not until the late 19th century that opera really took off in the Netherlands. Johannes de Groot founded the first Dutch opera company, the Hollandsche Opera-Gezelschap, in 1886 in order to perform opera in Dutch at the Parkschouwburg theatre in Amsterdam.

These performances were almost exclusively Dutch translations of foreign operas.  There were practically no Dutch-language operas written at all in the 1800s, and even today, operas in Dutch are still unusual.

The beginnings of the Dutch National Opera (DNO)

Photo credit: Wolf-photography / Shutterstock.com

The Hollandsche Opera-Gezelschap folded in 1895, and over the next few decades, while a handful of attempts were made to set up opera companies, none amounted to much. The turn in opera’s fortunes came in 1946, when the Dutch government, newly restored after German occupation, started to subsidise performing arts for the first time. De Nederlandsche Opera was formed, and based itself in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam, now known as the International Theatre Amsterdam (ITA).

At first founding, it was a repertoire company with a permanent ensemble, but, alongside a name change to the De Nederslandse Operastichting, in 1965 it became a stagione company, where a new artistic team is recruited for each production and star soloists are flown in from around the world.

The contemporary DNO

The Dutch National Opera only really hit its stride in the late 1980s, with yet another rebrand to De Nederlandse Opera (DNO), a new location in Het Muziektheater, known colloquially as the Stopera, and a new artistic director, in the shape of Pierre Audi.

Audi took over the artistic directorship of the DNO in 1988, and he quickly ensured the company made its mark on the international scene. As well as staging classic operas, such as a Monteverdi cycle, and the complete Ring Cycle, Audi regularly programmed much more modern pieces, including new work by Dutch composers such as Louis Andriessen, Guus Janssen and Robin de Raaff.

Video: YouTube / Nationale Opera & Ballet

Since 2016, the DNO has won Best Opera Company at several international awards, including the OPER! AWARDS and the International Opera Awards, proving that opera is now firmly established in the Netherlands.

A final (?) rebrand

The DNO has now become part of a single organisation with the Dutch National Ballet, which has the name the Dutch National Opera & Ballet. This is also the new name for Het Muziektheater, meaning you can go and see a performance of the Dutch National Opera organised by the Dutch National Opera & Ballet at the Dutch National Opera & Ballet. I trust that’s clear?

Stopera: The Amsterdam opera house

Finding a home for opera has never been easy in Amsterdam.

The early days of Amsterdam opera houses

The Parkschouwburg theatre, the original home for the first Dutch opera company, had been built for the World Exhibition in 1883. Starting a trend that was to dog Dutch opera houses for a century, the building was called “the ugliest on the Herengracht”, and many people hated it. The disliked theatre closed in 1903 and was demolished in 1912.

There was a plan to build a new opera house on Museumplein in 1926 and a competition was held to find the new design. However, the winning building split opinion and, in the end, the dissenters won and no purpose-built opera house was constructed.

The next serious attempt came in the 1960s, with a completed design ready to be built on Frederiksplein. However, a last-minute, rather mysterious land-swap carried out by the municipality meant the headquarters of a Dutch bank were placed there instead, and the opera house was put on hold again.

The founding of the Stopera

Photo credit: Fortgens Photography / Shutterstock.com

In 1977, Amsterdam city council decided to move forward with a plan to build a new opera house, which could share its space with the National Ballet, and city hall at the same time. All three had been trying to build a new home for themselves for decades, so putting them together seemed logical. However, both the design for the enormous complex and the location for it was extremely controversial. The building is huge and modern, and couldn't be more different to the narrow, brick canal houses that Dutch architecture is famous for.

The area around Waterlooplein had recently been subject to quite extreme clearances, with the demolition of old buildings and squats to modernise the city, and, to many, this new, white behemoth seemed to embody a cold and heartless treatment of Amsterdam’s past and its residents.

Why is it called the Stopera?

The name Stopera grew from the protests around the building, from an amalgamation of “Stop the opera”. The city hall and opera house complex has never used the name Stopera for itself, but despite losing their battle, the protesters' nickname Stopera has stuck for the building.

It took until 1986 for the opera house to open, with the city hall not being ready until 1988, and the budget had spiralled completely out of control. This has led to the Stopera having another negative connotation in Dutch – “the Stopera effect” is used to refer to any large public construction project that runs shockingly over budget!

Despite all the controversy at its founding, these days the Dutch National Opera & Ballet is considered an excellent concert venue, and Amsterdam would be considerably culturally poorer without it.

Attending the opera in Amsterdam

Video: YouTube / Nationale Opera & Ballet

While you may see women in fancy gowns and men in black tie walking up the steps in London, Paris or Vienna, in Amsterdam, there is no dress code for the opera. This fits with their egalitarian sense of society, as well as their “doe maar normaal” attitude to life. After all, who are you trying to impress?

Having said that, the opera is one place where Dutch people do sometimes like to dress a little smarter, and there may be more button-up shirts than t-shirts for a change. There will still be plenty of jeans-wearers in the audience, though. This means you don’t need to worry about what to wear or how you will fit in. You can wear what you feel comfortable in and no one will bat an eyelid.

If you're worried about how you will understand the opera, don't panic, there’s no need to learn Dutch or Italian! All operas performed on the main stage in the Dutch National Opera & Ballet have surtitles in both Dutch and English. The libretto books sold are generally only in the original language and Dutch, so check before purchasing.

Ballet in Amsterdam

The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 and has also been based at the Dutch National Opera & Ballet since 1986. It employs around 80 dancers from around the world, and is committed to new choreography, regularly appearing at major festivals across Europe.

The Dutch National Opera (DNO) in the Netherlands

It may have taken opera longer to find a home in the Netherlands than in most European countries, but at least now you can enjoy world-class opera and ballet in the heart of its capital city!  

Thumb photo credit: Baloncici / Shutterstock.com