A series of international music, opera and dance events, with drama performances and art exhibitions, held annually in Amsterdam in June and July. Until the mid-1980s performances were also held in The Hague, Rotterdam and other Dutch cities.
The festival was initiated in 1948 as a means of revitalizing the nation’s cultural life after World War II. In the early years the Dutch government and local authorities of the participating cities, which funded 90% of the festival’s total costs, sought to attract foreign investment, promote tourism and foster international cultural exchange. By 1995 government funds were reduced to 46% of the total cost of about eight million guilders; approximately 21% came from sponsors. Revenue from ticket sales usually accounted for about 10 to 15%, as ticket prices for the Holland Festival remained quite low compared to festivals in other countries. The remaining revenue came from radio and television broadcasting companies, CD sales, publications, private funds and Vrienden van het Festival.
The festival’s first director, Evert Cornelis, was succeeded by Peter Diamand in 1949. During his term of office, which lasted until 1965, priority was given to internationally renowned ensembles and soloists who had rarely, if ever, been seen in the Netherlands. These included the Essen Opera (Lulu, 1953), Balanchine’s New York City Ballet (1952 and 1955), Jean Vilar’s Théâtre National Populaire company (1958), the Bayerische Staatsoper (Wozzeck, 1960), the Royal Shakespeare Company (1962) and the Berlin PO conducted by Karajan (1963). Dutch institutions such as the Netherlands Opera, the Netherlands National Ballet and the Concertgebouw Orchestra also appeared every year. Under Diamand the festival did much to promote British performers and composers. For example, it played an important role in introducing Britten’s music to the Continent, mounting the first foreign performances of The Beggar’s Opera (1948) and The Turn of the Screw (1955) and the world première of the Spring Symphony (1949).
In the following years Jaap den Daas, director of the festival from 1966 until 1976, and his two assistants, Jo Elsendoorn and Hans de Witte, broadened the festival’s appeal, in line with contemporary trends. Increasing attention was given to concerts, operas and theatrical events with a political orientation, such as Schat’s Labyrint (1966) and Reconstructie, written by a collective of five Dutch composers (1969), and to works by avant-garde composers, notably Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio and Nono. Elsendoorn introduced experimental art forms, including music theatre, with productions such as Kain and Abel by Willem Breuker and Lodewijk de Boer, given by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble (1972), and Schat’s To You, performed by the Amsterdam Electrisch Circus (1972). De Witte was responsible for introducing popular genres: jazz, pop music, cabaret and street theatre.
Frans de Ruiter, director of the festival from 1978 to 1985, introduced the Festival Oude Muziek, a festival of early music within the Holland Festival, which became independent in 1988; it is held in Utrecht every year from the last weekend in August until the first weekend in September. He also initiated special productions such as the John Cage Soundday (1978) and, in 1984, Brand(t) aan de Amstel, in which the music of the American composer Henry Brandt sounded through the canals of Amsterdam.
Ad’s Gravensande succeeded de Ruiter in 1986. He introduced Off-Holland, a festival within the festival featuring small-scale, experimental musical and theatrical performances. The composer Jan van Vlijmen, who succeeded Gravensande in 1991, set about integrating the festival’s diverse elements. He introduced the idea of a chief choreographer for the main dance events and strengthened the position of opera in the festival. The 1994 programme included no fewer than nine opera productions, including two Chinese works: Wolf Cub Village, by Guo Wenjing, and The Death of Oedipus, by Qu Xiao-song. The 1995 festival centred on the theme Arts and Resistance, looking back to World War II and laying special emphasis on 20th-century German composers, notably Schoenberg, Lachenmann, Rihm, Zimmermann and Stockhausen.
WILMA TICHELAAR