Alphonse (Alfons) Olterdissen (

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

, December 12, 1865 - Maastricht, February 24, 1923) was a Dutch writer, poet and composer who wrote extensively in the

Maastrichtian dialect Maastrichtian ( ) or Maastrichtian Limburgish ( ) is the dialect and variant of Limburgish spoken in the Dutch city of Maastricht alongside the Dutch language (with which it is not mutually intelligible). In terms of speakers, it is the most wi ...

. The final stanza of his opera ''Trijn de Begijn'' eventually became the local anthem of Maastricht. The theme, composed by his brother Guus, bears considerable similarities to 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 Bucovina. He was among the most celebrated Romanian composers of his time; his popular works include ...

's (1853-1883) " Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire", though it is unknown if either brother knew this piece.

Biography

Olterdissen was born to a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

father and a mother from the province of Zeeland and grew up speaking Dutch, only learning the Maastricht dialect socially. In 1883 he moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

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 and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

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 Wilhelm Voigt (13 February 1849 – 3 January 1922) was a German con man and impostor. In his most famous exploit, Voigt masqueraded as a military officer of the elite Prussian Guards in 1906, rounding up a number of Imperial German Army soldi ...

(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

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olterdissen, Alphonse Dutch people of German descent Limburgish-language writers Writers from Maastricht 1865 births 1923 deaths