The 1680s saw the first pastoral semi-operas in Dutch, De triomfeerende Min (1678) and Bacchus, Ceres en Venus (1686).
The 18th century saw development of the zangspel (singspiel), such as Zemire en Azor (1784), but these failed to establish a vernacular opera tradition.
[3] Similarly in Belgium the Vlaamse Opera sang French and Italian works in Dutch till the 1980s.
[4] Peter Benoit produced his first opera in Flemish, Het dorp in't gebergte (A Mountain Village) in Brussels in 1856.
Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's De Materie (Matter) is a four-part vocal and orchestral work completed in 1988.