De Achttiende Eeuw
26 (1994) 2
Piet Buijnsters,
The beneficial perspective on the Enlightenment. A reflection on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ‘Werkgroep 18e Eeuw’
The rapid development of all kinds of societies and journals in the field of eighteenth-century studies during the sixties was closely bound with a rehabilitation of some specific values of the Enlightenment, such as cosmopolitism and tolerance. The same applies just as well to the Dutch-Belgian ‘Werkgroep 18e Eeuw’. But now, 25 years later, it has to be conceded that the broad domain of eighteent-century studies has been identified to a high degree with the concept of Enlightenment. Therefore we argue in favour of a new rediscovery of the eighteenth century with more attention for some forgotten aspects as has been already indicated in Noonan’s Harvard-catalogue The dark side of the Enlightenment (1984).
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Reginald De Schryver,
The eighteenth century in the historiography of Belgium: boundaries and periodization
Until a number of sixteenth-century church historians used the ‘century’ as a distinctive label, historians did not regard a ‘century’ as a historical unit. It was in the late nineteenth century that German philosophers of history came to view the ‘century’ as essential to the deeper rhythm of history. Moreover, since Voltaire’s Siècle de Louis XIV it seemed possible to link periods of approximately one hundred years to great personalities or important phenomena. The eighteenth century was probably the first century to view itself self-consciously as the ‘Age of the Enlightenment’.
For the historiography of Belgium – the oldest histories of that country were published around 1800 – the ‘century’ in general and the eigtheenth century in particular do not seem to have been of much use. The nineteenth-century historians of Belgium do not single out an ‘eighteenth century’; to them this century was not more than a subdivision of the long ‘Austrian period’, which covered early modern times and three centuries of Habsburg rule. Nor does Henri Pirenne discuss the eighteenth century as a distinct period in his well-known Histoire de Belgique; instead he defines a period by political events, running from the Treaty of Westphalia to the annexation of Belgium by France in 1794. General histories of the Low Countries published over the past thirty five years never deal with the eighteenth century as a distinct period. In all of them the ‘Age of the Enlightenment’ is situated in the second half of the eighteenth century and thus the two halves of the century are separated. This division of the century in two is quite common in other fields of historiography too. It is also present in a very recent synthesis of the Belgian eighteenth century (see page 144), although the century is considered a unity when the rule of the Austrian dynasty is taken as the perspective: only the eighteenth century can be seen as a unified period, that is, as an ‘Austrian epoch’.
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Eco Haitsma Mulier,
The eigtheenth-century Netherlands: a period of rising historical consciousness
It is not easy to characterize the eigtheenth century in the Netherlands. Fifty years ago Johan Huizinga did not hesitate to point out a contradiction of the activity of the Golden Age of Holland with what he called the slumber of the country in the next century. Pieter Geyl in the fifties had a slightly more positive view of the situation in the eighteenth century in the Northern and Southern Netherlands. And the recent volume of essays on the Dutch Republic in that century shows the differences between their opinions and the present approach of the historical problems of that age. However, the most interesting observation to be made is about the changing function of history itself in the eighteenth century. As witnessed in statements by historians and other observers of the past historical consciousness gained force after 1750 in the Dutch Republic. This movement was accelerated by the profound impression the French Revolution made on the minds of its spectators in the North. Nevertheless, at the same time antiquity, reduced to the background by the Querelle, reappeared in some texts as an ahistorical paradigm for comprehension of the cataclysmic events.
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Anton van de Sande,
The eighteenth century in the eyes of the nineteenth century
During the nineteenth century Dutch historians heardly dealt with the eighteenth century. Their attention was drawn mainly to the ‘Golden Age’. The generation of historians working around 1800 did acknowledge that the revolutionary years had caused a breach with the past, but until the 1840’s they mostly emphasized the continuity between the eighteenth and nineteenth century. This emphasis on continuity was partly due to the great influence of societies such as Felix Meritis and the ‘Nut’. The philosophy of ‘decline and fall’was not a nineteenth-century invention. After 1840 most historians, including Fruin, did not publish about the eighteenth century due to a certain embarrassment. Men of letters and Potgieter in particular had to be the ones to broach the subject of the eighteenth century. It was in literary circles the term ‘pruikentijd’( ‘period of whigs’) was coined. This pejorative label is indicative of the way in which the Dutch in the second half of the nineteenth century viewed their eighteenth century. And the term ‘pruikentijd’ is still being used in our century.
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Willem van den Berg,
Eighteenth-century literature seen through nineteenth-century glasses
According to Van de Sande several phases may be distinguished in the creation of an image of the eighteenth century during the following century. Van de Sande spoke as a historian. With regard to the evaluation of the literature of that period one has to conclude that the rather permanent negative image was already formed at the turn of the century in Jeronimo de Vries’s proze-winning essay ‘Welken zyn de vorderingen, welke is de veragtering der nederduitsche dichtkunde gedurende de achttiende eeuw?’ After the golden age of the seventeenth century followed, by De Vries’s estimation, a period of decline of Dutch literature. His point of view was directive for critics as Potgieter and Busken Huet, who in search for a stimulating model for the mediocre literature of the nineteenth century preferred the golden age to the eighteenth century.
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Joost Kloek,
The eighteenth-century reading public
In this article the current idea of the eighteenth-century reading public is compared to the result of recent research in administrations of booksellers.
According to the common conception, the eighteenth-century reading public was expanding rapidly, especially in the middle class. The rise of genres like the novel, the bürgerliche Drama, history, and geography are said to reflect the moral code and thirst for knowledge of this emancipating group.
This process is often called the Leserevolution (revolution in reading), a term with a strong suggestion of rapid and radical change.
However, recent research in administrations of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century booksellers in the Netherlands, Germany, and Britain, does not confirm this view. The vast majority of clients do not buy or borrow the new genres; they prefer ‘functional’ books: books related to their profession or job, church books, school books, books with practical general information, and booklets on local events. The few purchasers of the alleged bourgeois genres nearly all belong to the the social or intellectual elite.
These results are incompatible with the idea of a Leserevolution; but they comply with the modern sociological insight that literary socialization of new groups of readers is a complex and long-term proces.
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Albert Clement,
Migration among musicians. An aspect of the musical life in the Northern Netherlands in the eighteenth century
The image of the musical life in the Northern Netherlands in the eighteenth century is largely defined by the enormous influx of foreign musicians. A cross-section of musicians whose place of origin lay outside of the Netherlands leads to the conclusion that a great number established themselves here permanently, while – beside France, Bohemia and Italy – Germany was the most important supplier of musicians. One of the most prolific eighteenth-century composers who worked in the Netherlands was Christian Ernst Graf, an immigrant from Germany.
The wealth of the Netherlands undoubtedly worked its powers of attraction on foreign musicians. Nevertheless, more – and more specific – reasons can be given for their arrival. In the first place the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 can be mentioned. The fact that Amsterdam developed into the most important European centre for music publishing in the first half of the eighteenth century was to a large part the consequence of this. The toleration towards Huguenots and other immigrants needs likewise to be stated. Moreover, various cities in particular seem to have had an attractive influence. For organists the beautiful organs in the Netherlands seem to have sometimes been the reason for migration. As well as personal contacts between musicians themselves, contacts between the courts of the stadtholders and foreign courts will have played a role, while some musicians possibly found a field of activity in the Netherlands thanks to masonic relations.
The musicians who migrated to the Northern Netherlands determined the musical life here to an important degree. Thanks to the culturally favourable climate they were able to establish themselves and to introduce foreign stilistic features into Dutch music. The cosmopolitan musical culture which characterized the Netherlands in the eighteenth century became propagated throughout the whole of Europe via the music publishing firms.
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Wijnand Mijnhardt,
Twenty five years Werkgroep Achttiende Eeuw
No summary available
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