Theatre
Granida
Not translated into English
Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft · 1605
Synopsis
In the Persian countryside, the shepherd Daifilo presses his attentions on the shepherdess Dorilea when Granida appears, the king's only daughter and heir, lost while hunting. Unable to give her directions, he offers her a drink in a shell, with such grace that she cannot forget him, and he decides to follow her to court. He enters the service of Prince Tisiphernes, suitor for her hand, whom Ostrobas, son of the king of the Parthians, contests. The two rivals cannot agree, and a duel is set for the next day.
Context
The play, in five parts, for eight characters and two choruses, of young girls and of shepherdesses, mixes several songs with the verse. Completed on 1 March 1605, it adapts the Italian pastoral genre to Dutch, but was published only in 1615, in Amsterdam, by Willem Jansz., at the sign of the Golden Sundial. It remained one of the best-loved plays of the United Provinces throughout the century, and the meeting of the princess and the shepherd became a favourite subject of Dutch painters.
Who it is for
A pastoral in Dutch verse from the early seventeenth century, interspersed with songs. No French or English translation of it exists; the 1615 text can be read online.
Prizes and reception
The play that made its author famous and one of the most popular of Dutch theatre of the Golden Age; included in the canonical survey of 2002.