Paleis voor Volksvlijt
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Paleis voor Volksvlijt The Amsterdam Crystal Palace (1864–1929): Noble expression of an audacious notion Emile Wennekes 1999 made possible by NWO published by SDU
Summary
The first world fair, the Great Exhibition of the Work of Industry of all Nations, held in London in 1851, was a milestone in the evolution towards an industrialized society. For the Netherlands, the exhibition was much less a measure of its industrial prowess: although the international jury bestowed honorable mentions on a few Dutch entries; it was a foregone conclusion that, from an industrial standpoint, the Netherlands lagged behind its neighbors.
Back in the Netherlands, one visitor to the London world’s fair, the physician Samuel Sarphati (1813–1866), took the initiative in founding the Vereeniging voor Volksvlijt (Society for Industry). This organization felt that one of the primary means to achieve its goal – the promotion of industry in the Netherlands - was to organize industrial exhibitions to those in London. But the Netherlands lacked a suitable building comparable to the Crystal Palace or the Palais de I’Industrie in Paris. A new ‘palace for art and industry’ would have to be constructed and Amsterdam was the place to build it.
After a somewhat questionably managed competition for the design of the edifice, nl was appointed official architect for the project. His design shows superficial similarities to that of Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace: both are enormous constructions in which glass and cast iron are prominent features. During its 65-year history, the Paleis voor Volksvlijt played a considerable role in Amsterdam’s cultural-social life. The emphasis on its activities came, already in the 19th century, to lie in staged productions and entertainment. This palace of ‘industry’ was transformed into a palace of diversion – a public amusement center – whose Main Hall alone could accommodate some 9000 visitors.
A widely celebrated organ was installed in this very hall in 1875, constructed by the legendary builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (this instrument is presently housed in the Philharmonie in Haarlem, the Netherlands). While the artistic exploitation of the building gradually intensified, the Paleis continued to function as an exhibition centre into the 20th century. But the major share of the programming was dedicated to public festivities: opera, popular ballet, theatre, and later vaudeville and revue. These multivarious activities could carry on effortlessly within the context of a sort of Saint-Simonian ideal at the heart of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt.
A reconstruction of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt’s programming has never been attempted as the building, along with its archives, was devastated by fire in 1929. Wennekes’s book aims to reconstruct the Palace’s programme and is based on surviving newspaper and magazine articles, supplemented by archival documents. The book evaluates the Paleis voor Volksvlijt’s cultural programming; a comparison is made with the Crystal Palace, and the sweeping concept of the ‘industrial exhibition’ will be described both in content and in a historical perspective.
The musical programming includes a description of the concept of the ‘civilising offensive’, a doctrine that led the organizers to engage the buildings as a concert hall as well as an exhibition centre. This policy went as far as the formation of a resident symphony orchestra from 1865 through 1895. The fortunes of this ensemble, one of the first professional orchestras in the Netherlands, will be discussed in detail. The book also offers a profile of the opera and operetta culture in the Paleis. It was ambitiously exploited an opera house beginning in the 1870s. The first resident companies were the German and French operas, and in the 1890s they were joined by the Opera Italiana. The numerous Dutch-language opera companies that also performed in the Paleis around the turn of the century, as well as a number of operetta companies, are portrayed, including an account of the first performance in the Netherlands of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen presented in 1883 by Angelo Neumann’s opera company.
Finally, the Paleis voor Volksvlijt’s function as a theatre is discussed. Although one may argue that the theatre and opera were, until into the 19th century, in fact two sides of the same coin, the author has chosen to allot each discipline attention. Between 1871 and 1887 the Romantic ballet productions out on by the Paleis’ resident dance company were a permanent attraction, but beginning in the 1890s the Paleis was equipped more as a multifunctional theatre. A discussion of repertory and the innovations in theatre repertoire in the Netherlands at the turn of the century is followed by a description of the companies that resided, for shorter or more extended periods, in the Paleis. The most artistically interesting of these is Willem Rooyard’s company Het Tooneel. The trials and tribulations of this company are examined, followed by a description of the ‘production, distribution and consumption’ of Adam in Ballingschap (1908) by the Dutch playwright Joost van den Vondel. This discussion closes with a brief summary of various forms of popular entertainment which were on offer in the Paleis, including revue, acrobatics, film, even hot air balloon rides.
Canon of Amsterdam
- Paleis voor Volksvlijt is window number 27 in the Canon of Amsterdam.
External link
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