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Brabançonne

The Brabançonne is the national anthem of Belgium. The anthem has both a Dutch and a French version, for the two major languages of the country.

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

Jenneval, whose real name was Alexandre Dechet (sometimes known as Louis-Alexandre Dechet), did in fact write the Brabançonne. He was at the time 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 and it was first performed in September 1830.

In 1860, Belgium formally adopted the song and music as its national anthem, although the prime minister at the time edited lyrics attacking the Dutch Prince of Orange.