Brabantia Aeterna

In 2006 Brabant will be celebrating it’s 900th anniversary. On May 13th 1106 the count Van Leuven was appointed duke of Brabant. This was the birth of the duchy of Brabant. For centuries this duchy, situated in the heart of the Netherlands, was the primary of the seventeen provinces in the Lowlands. Brabant formed with it’s capital cities Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp and ‘s-Hertogenbosch the focal point for politics, culture and economy. The revolution against Spain (1566-1648) caused a fracture between the North and South. The old duchy was divided into a Dutch and Belgian part. Even though each had their own historical background, the bond forged in the past was partially keptalive. To this day we still have a duke of Brabant. Brabantia Aeterna takes you on a musical journey through 900 years of Brabant history. A fascinating journey portraying war and peace, love and grief, prosperity and adversity, development and deterioration. Listen to how monks chanted, bells tolled and churches were built. Or take the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with their bustling markets, builders of cities or the bleating of countless sheep across the heather. The plague, tribulations, soldiers and political bickering in the following centuries. Hear how the industrialisation of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries provided prosperity for the region and how to this day the following saying still applies: ‘the road to Brabant leads to a warmer world’ Brabantia Aeterna was commissioned by the Brabantse Bond van Muziekverenigingen (Brabant Music Society) in honour of its fifth anniversary.