Jan Blockx - Liefdelied (Baldie)

The succes of De bruid der zee must have strengthened Blockx in his persuit to complete the trilogy that De herbergprinses (the city) and De bruid der zee (the sea) had to form with Baldie (the countryside). The third part of this trilogy was however not premiered until 1908, when the fashion of the day in Italy had shifted towards Puccini's sugery verism, while the German school had meanwhile been turned upside down by the grandiose decadent expressionism of Richard Strauss’ Salomé. De herbergprinses and De bruid der zee maintained staples of the Flemish repertoire, but Baldie failed. The critics blamed not only the guttural, tastleless libretto by De Tière, but also the music. Nonetheless composer and librettist had much faith in Baldie and decided to produce a revision. The sharpest edges were taken from the libretto, the opera was given a happy ending and Blockx rewrote almost the entire score.

On January 6 1912 the revised version was given under the title Liefdelied (Love song). The critics were sharply divided. Some judged the new version an improvement, others judged it weaker than the original. Regardless the truth, the audience showed little interest. The world had meanwhile been given D’Alberts Tiefland, an opera that stands very close to De herbergprinses and, if one overlooks the setting, sounds as the ideal third part of the Blockx trilogy.