Wilhelmus

Origins of melody The melody of "Wilhelmus" was borrowed from a well-known Roman Catholic French song titled Autre chanson de la ville de Chartres assiégée par le prince de Condé (or Chartres in short). This song ridiculed the failed Siege of Chartres in 1568 by the Huguenot (Protestant) Prince de Condé during the French Wars of Religion. However, the triumphant contents of "Wilhelmus" differ greatly from the content of the original song, making it subversive at several levels. Thus, the Dutch Protestants had taken over an anti-Protestant song, and adapted it into propaganda for their own agenda. In that way, "Wilhelmus" was typical for its time: it was common practice in the 16th century for warring groups to steal each other's songs in order to rewrite them. Dutch composer Adriaen Valerius recorded the current melody of "Wilhelmus" in his Nederlantsche Gedenck-clanck in 1626, slowing down the melody's pace, probably to allow it to be sung in churches. presents "Wilhelmus" to William the Silent, by Jacob Spoel (c. 1850). Origins of lyrics The origins of the lyrics are uncertain. "Wilhelmus" was first written some time between the start of the Eighty Years' War in April 1568 and the capture of Brielle on 1 April 1572. Soon after the anthem was finished, it was said that either former Antwerp mayor Philips of Marnix or the politician Dirck Coornhert wrote the lyrics. However, this is disputed as neither Marnix nor Coornhert ever mentioned that they had written the lyrics, even though the song was immensely popular in their time. "Wilhelmus" also has some odd rhymes in it. In some cases the vowels of certain words were altered to allow them to rhyme with other words. Some see this as evidence that neither Marnix or Coornhert wrote the anthem, as they were both experienced poets when "Wilhelmus" was written, and it is said they would not have taken these small liberties. Hence some believe that the lyrics of the Dutch national anthem were the creation of someone who just wrote one poem for the occasion and then disappeared from history. A French translation of "Wilhelmus" appeared around 1582. Recent stylometric research has mentioned Pieter Datheen as a possible author of the text of the Dutch national anthem. By chance, Dutch and Flemish researchers (Meertens Institute, Utrecht University and University of Antwerp) discovered a striking number of similarities between his style and the style of the national anthem. == Structure and interpretation ==

The complete text comprises fifteen stanzas. The anthem is an acrostic: the first letters of the fifteen stanzas formed the name "Willem van Nassov" (Nassov was a contemporary orthographic variant of Nassau). In the current Dutch spelling the first words of the 12th and 13th stanzas begin with Z instead of S. Like many of the songs of the period, it has a complex structure, composed around a thematic chiasmus: the text is symmetrical, in that verses one and 15 resemble one another in meaning, as do verses two and 14, three and 13, etc., until they converge in the 8th verse, the heart of the song: "Oh David, thou soughtest shelter from King Saul's tyranny. Even so I fled this welter", where the comparison is made not only between the biblical David and William of Orange as a merciful and just leader of the Dutch Revolt, but also between the tyrant King Saul and the Spanish crown. William expresses his hope that he will be rewarded with a kingdom, or "realm", just as David was rewarded with the throne of Israel. In the first person, as if quoting himself, William speaks about how his disagreement with his king troubles him; he tries to be faithful to his king, In 1581 the Netherlands nevertheless rejected the legitimacy of the king of Spain's rule over it in the Act of Abjuration. The word Duytschen in the first stanza, generally translated into English as 'Dutch', 'native' or 'Germanic', is a reference to William's roots; its modern Dutch equivalent, Duits, exclusively means 'German', and while it may refer to William's ancestral house (House of Nassau) or to the lands of the Holy Roman Empire it is most probably a reference to an older meaning of the word, which can loosely be translated as 'Germanic', and seeks to position William as a person with a personal connection with the Low Countries as opposed to the king of Spain, Philip II, who was commonly portrayed as foreign, disconnected and out of touch. In doing so, William is also implicitly comparing himself with the well liked Charles V (Philip's father) who, unlike his son, was born in the Low Countries, was initially surrounded by a Flemish court, and had at least a working knowledge of Dutch. ==Performance==

, leader of the Dutch Revolt, by Adriaen Thomasz. Key History Though only proclaimed the national anthem in 1932, the "Wilhelmus" already had a centuries-old history. It had been sung on many official occasions and at many important events since the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt in 1568, such as the siege of Haarlem in 1573 and the ceremonial entry of the Prince of Orange into Brussels on 18 September 1578. It has been claimed that during the gruesome torture of Balthasar Gérard (the assassin of William of Orange) in 1584, the song was sung by the guards who sought to overpower Gérard's screams when boiling pigs' fat was poured over him. Gérard allegedly responded "Sing! Dutch sinners! Sing! But know that soon I shall be sung of!". Another legend claims that following the Navigation Act 1651 (an ordinance by Oliver Cromwell requiring all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the Channel to dip their flag in salute) the "Wilhelmus" was sung (or rather, shouted) by the sailors on the Dutch flagship in response to the first warning shot fired by an English fleet under Robert Blake, when their captain Maarten Tromp refused to lower his flag. At the end of the song, which coincided with the third and last English warning shot, Tromp fired a full broadside, thereby beginning the Battle of Goodwin Sands and the First Anglo-Dutch War. The anthem was drawn to the attention of the English-speaking world by the 1942 British war film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing. The film concerns a Royal Air Force bomber crew who are shot down over the occupied Netherlands and are helped to escape by the local inhabitants. The melody is heard during the film as part of the campaign of passive resistance by the population, and it finishes with the coat of arms of the Netherlands on screen while the "Wilhelmus" is played. Today, the sixth verse is sometimes sung after the first, because it contains the line ("Defeat the tyranny, which pierces my heart") was popular with the resistance fighters, as it was interpreted as referring to the Nazis (it originally meant the Habsburgs). Announcer Bert Garthoff gained fame by concluding NIROM's broadcasts on the day of the surrender to Japan during the Dutch East Indies campaign on 8 March 1942 with the words "Listeners, we're closing now. Farewell, until better days. Long live the Fatherland, long live the Queen." Garthoff later said that the station's employees were told by the Japanese authorities to "carry on as usual". This they did by concluding the broadcasts with the Dutch national anthem, much to the surprise of the listeners. When the Japanese found out about this, they executed three NIROM employees in retaliation. Current usage The “Wilhelmus” is played at official ceremonies, including the reception of foreign heads of state and other formal occasions, such Dodenherdenking (Remembrance of the Dead), and during international sport events in the Netherlands or involving athletes representing the Netherlands, such as the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, the Olympic Games, and the Dutch Grand Prix. In nearly every case the 1st stanza is played (or the 1st and 6th stanza's), rather than the entire song, which would result in about 15 minutes of music. (Each of the 15 stanzas lasts 56 seconds, and the last stanza has a ritenuto.) The "Wilhelmus" is also widely used in Flemish nationalist gatherings as a symbol of cultural unity with the Netherlands. Yearly rallies like the and the close with singing the 6th stanza, after which the Flemish national anthem is sung. ==Variations==

An important set of variations on the melody of "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe" is that by the blind carillon-player Jacob van Eyck in his mid-17th century collection of variations Der Fluyten Lust-hof. The grand ducal anthem of Luxembourg, which bares the same name, has its melody derived from "Wilhelmus". The song was introduced during the visit of the Dutch royal pair in a parade titled Vive la Roi, Vive la Reine ("Long live the King, Long live the Queen") and was used even after the end of the Personal union of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It had lyrics written to it in 1915 and 1919, with the 1919 lyrics on the melody being in official use from the same year. The song Wenn alle untreu werden ("When All Become Unfaithful"), better known as Das Treuelied, written by the poet Max von Schenkendorf, used the melody of a French song titled "Pr aller à la chasse faut être matineux" but since 1923 the melody of the "Wilhelmus" was introduced for the song. After World War I, this song became popular among German nationalist groups. It became one of the most popular songs of the SS, together with the "Horst-Wessel-Lied". The melody is also used in the Swedish folk song "" ("Alas, Gothic Kingdom"), written in 1626, which deals with the liberation struggle of Sweden under Gustav Vasa during the 16th century. In the East Indies at the Pasar Gambir in Batavia (1922). "Wilhelmus" was also translated into Malay, of which was sung back when Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule. It was also translated to Mentawaian. On the occasion of Queen Wilhelmina's birthday, various versions of the "Wilhelmus" had been created in Malay. An example had the following lyrics: In later accounts, Indonesian nationalists increasingly resented repeated exposure to the Dutch national anthem, and refusals to sing the "Wilhelmus" at official events became more common over time. The Dutch writer and political activist Jef Last was among the few to discuss the practice directly, linking it to the Dutch suppression of the 1926–1927 communist uprisings in Java and Sumatra and to the punishments that followed. Political prisoners from across the archipelago were sent to the Boven-Digoel concentration camp in the jungle of southwest New Guinea; prisoners who refused to sing the Wilhelmus on the queen’s birthday were transferred to harsher conditions, which gave birth to a song named "Het Digoel Wilhelmus" to lament the political prisoners. Across the indies, acts of refusal to stand up or sing the anthem is commonly known as Wilhelmusrelletjes or "little Wilhelmus rebellions". ==Lyrics==

The "Wilhelmus" was first printed in a ( 'Beggars' songbook') in 1581. It used the following text as an introduction to the "Wilhelmus":' The original text contains 15 stanzas and is written in the form of an acrostic; the first letter in each of the following stanzas, highlighted in bold below, spell out William of Nassau. ==Notes==