comedy and stage
Especially in the French era, Maastricht learned to love comedy and stage. The Bonbonnière
(city theatre) attracted many visitors ever since. On the streets and squares too, grand theatre
was set up every now and then, for instance on the occasion of a congress in honour of virgin
Mary.
In the first tens of years of the twentieth century, the teacher of drawing Alfons Olterdissen
was a leading organizer of processions and pageants, street theatre and opéra comique. He combined
existing melodies with his own texts and wrote the Maastricht city hymn with music composed by his
brother Guus. The lawyer Franquinet was also a leading personality, turning up everywhere in public
life.
I mention a few wellknown Maastricht people: poet Pierre Kemp, architect Mathias Soiron,
cellists Alexander Batta and Joseph Hollman, artist Charles Vos and chemist Pie Debye (Nobel
prize 1936). Many more could be mentioned. I mention some of the others in other paragraphs.
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