La Brabançonne

"Template:Lang" (Template:IPA (La Brabançonne); Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is the national anthem of Belgium. The originally French title refers to the Duchy of Brabant; the name is usually untranslated in Belgium's other two official languages, Dutch and German.Template:Efn

History

File:Brabançonne Place Surlet de Chokier 01.JPG

Monument for the anthem in Brussels

According to legend, the Belgian national anthem was written in September 1830, during the Belgian Revolution, by a young revolutionary called "Jenneval", who read the lyrics during a meeting at the Aigle d'Or café.

Jenneval, a Frenchman whose real name was Alexandre Dechet (sometimes known as Louis-Alexandre Dechet), wrote the Brabançonne. At the time, he was an actor at the theatre where, in August 1830, the revolution started, which led to independence from the Netherlands. Jenneval died in the war of independence. François van Campenhout composed the accompanying score, based on the tune of a French song called "L'Air des lanciers polonais" ("the tune of the Polish Lancers"), written by the French poet Eugène de Pradel, whose tune was itself an adaptation of the tune of a song, "L'Air du magistrat irréprochable", found in a popular collection of drinking songs called La Clé du caveau (The Key to the cellar)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Francis Martens, La Belgique en chantant, pp. 19–40, in Antoine Pickels and Jacques Sojcher (eds.), Belgique: toujours grande et belle, issues 1–2, Éditions Complexe, Brussels, 1998</ref> and it was first performed in September 1830.

In 1860, Belgium formally adopted the song and music as its national anthem, although the then prime minister, Charles Rogier, edited out lyrics attacking the Dutch House of Orange, inspired by the version written by Louis Hymans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Brabançonne is also a monument (1930) by the sculptor Charles Samuel on the Surlet de Chokier square in Brussels. The monument contains partial lyrics of both the French and Dutch versions of the anthem. Like many elements in Belgian folklore, this is mainly based on the French "La Marseillaise" which is also both an anthem and the name of a monument – the sculptural group Departure of the Volunteers of 1792, commonly called La Marseillaise, at the base of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Lyrics

File:Belgium National Anthem.png

Score of the Brabançonne

File:Jenneval déclamant.png

Lithograph of Jenneval

File:Campenhout chantant.png

Lithograph of Campenhout singing the Brabançonne

Current version

Various committees were charged with reviewing the text and tune of the Brabançonne and establishing an official version. A ministerial circular of the Ministry of the Interior on 8 August 1921 decreed that only the fourth verse of the text by Charles Rogier should be considered official for all three, French, German and in Dutch.

French (La Brabançonne)	IPA transcriptionTemplate:Efn	English translation
File:La Brabançonne FR.ogg<poem>Template:Lang</poem>	<poem>Template:IPA</poem>	<poem>Noble Belgium, O dear mother To you our hearts, to you our arms, To you our blood, O Fatherland! We all swear, you shall live! You shall always live great and beautiful, And your invincible unity 𝄆 Shall have as an immortal motto: The King, the Law, Liberty! 𝄇 𝄆 The King, the Law, Liberty! 𝄇</poem>
Dutch (Template:Lang)	IPA transcriptionTemplate:Efn	English translation
File:La Brabançonne NL.oga<poem>Template:Lang</poem>	<poem>Template:IPA</poem>	<poem>O dear Belgium, O holy land of the fathers, Our soul and our heart are devoted to you. Accept our strength and the blood in our veins, Be our goal in labour and in strife. Prosper, O land, in unbreakable unity; Always be yourself and unenslaved, 𝄆 Faithful to the word that you may speak fearlessly, For King, for Freedom and for Justice! 𝄇 For King, for Freedom and for Justice! 𝄇</poem>
German (Template:Lang)	IPA transcriptionTemplate:Efn	English translation
<poem>Template:Lang</poem>	<poem>Template:IPA</poem>	<poem>O dear country, O Belgium's soil; To you our heart, to you our hand, To you our blood, O homeland, We swear it to you, O fatherland! So bloom happily in full beauty, To which freedom has raised you, 𝄆 And henceforth your sons sing: Law and King and Freedom high! 𝄇 𝄆 Law and King and Freedom high! 𝄇</poem>

Modern short trilingual version

In recent years, an unofficial short version of the anthem is sung during Belgian National Day on 21 July each year, combining the words of the anthem in all three of Belgium's official languages, similar to the bilingual version of "O Canada".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The lyrics are from the 4th verse of the anthem.

Language	No.	Line	IPA transcriptionTemplate:EfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn	Translation
Dutch	1	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	O dear Belgium, O holy land of the fathers –
	2	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	Our soul and our heart are devoted to you!
French	3	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	With blood to spill for you, O fatherland!
	4	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	We swear with one cry – You shall live!
German	5	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	So gladly bloom in beauty full,
	6	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	Into what freedom has taught you to be,
	7	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	And evermore shall sing your sons:
French	8	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	The King, the Law, the Liberty!
Dutch	9	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	Faithful to the word that you may speak boldly,
	10	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	For King, for Freedom and for Law!
German	11	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	To Law and King and Freedom, hail!
French	12	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	The King, the Law, the Liberty!

See also

• "De Vlaamse Leeuw"
• "Le Chant des Wallons"
• Place des Martyrs, Brussels
• "Vers l'avenir"
• "Le Plat Pays"

External links

• Belgium: La Brabançonne – Audio of the national anthem of Belgium, with information and lyrics (archive link)
• Les Arquebusiers History, versions (text and audio) and illustrations
• Belgium National Anthem instrumental File MIDI (5ko)
• Belgium National Anthem instrumental (better) File AU (570ko)
• Template:YouTube; Helmut Lotti, in French, Dutch and German, before King Albert II