Chapter 7 - Recreation before Rock ‘n’ Roll

Summary

During the 1950s and 1960s, the notion of Rock ‘n’ Roll became synonymous with the recreational indulgences of young people, usually done in excess. It would be anachronistic to refer the leisure habits of young people in the 1620s and 1630s with the same terminology and verve. On the other hand, we cannot disregard the fact that young people in the early seventeenth century did indulge in extravagances that in some cases resulted in excessive behavior. In the re-worked seventeenth-century tourist guide Amsterdam voor vijf duiten per dag [Amsterdam on Five Pennies a Day] (2011), Maarten Hell and Emma Los argue that young visitors to Amsterdam could find entertainment and leisure in numerous playhouses, museums of private collections, and even zoos. Unfortunately, their work focuses mostly on the late seventeenth century.

There is one revealing source that gives us a glimpse of the naughty pleasures of young people of the early seventeenth century. In the foreword of the 1662 edition of his popular emblem and songbook Bellerophon, of Lust tot Wysheid [Bellerophon, or Desire for Wisdom], the 78-year-old author, Dirck Pietersz. Pers (1581-1659), expressed his wish that ‘the youths [of the 1660s] should stay away from randy and dirty books’. When Pers first published Bellerophon, of Lust tot Wysheid in 1614, he was 33 years old and a successful publisher of books for young people in Amsterdam. His publications combined entertainment and good morals. On the title page, the book was dedicated to the ‘whimsical youths who indulge in their desires’. Pers urged his readers to focus on more divine matters. However, like many authors of the early seventeenth century, he used this as a ruse to suggest that the book had edifying qualities in order to soothe parents who might have been alarmed by its somewhat provocative content. In most countries in early modern Europe, song was the most feared vice of young men after wine and women. However, that was not the case for Dutch youths during the early seventeenth century. Singing in the Dutch Republic was a favorite pastime for the Dutch and a welcomed form of recreation for young and old alike.