Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/312

300

The recent deaths of Gounod, Tschaikowski, von Bülow and Rubinstein call to mind the great difference, in the surroundings and circumstances, between the composers of the classical period and our own times.

Bach, the greatest disciple of the contrapuntal school, died in Leipzig in 1750. He had been the recipient of a small salary as church music director. During his lifetime, appreciation for his works was limited to a section of his own country, and there it was only moderate in degree. When his widow died, ten years later, she was given a pauper's burial; yet Bach was the fountain head of all our modern music.

Händel, born the same year as Bach (1685), outlived him nine years. The most of his life was spent in England, where he was, during the latter portion, the principal musical figure. Though his operas were financial failures, his oratorios, beginning with the "Messiah" (1742), brought him renewed popularity, position and income. His lot was far more easy than that of his contemporary, Bach, though his disposition was not nearly so exemplary.

Haydn was, in common with many other musicians of his day, a sort of upper servant. His family relations were highly unpleasant, and his position was dependent on the whim of his patron prince. He was of a religious and servile nature, the latter being due largely perhaps to the custom of the times, which gave a musician, however great he might be, but little more respect than a valet or head cook. He died in 1809, with the applause caused by his oratorio of the "Creation" still in his ears. His income would to-day be deemed small by a player in a theater orchestra, and his estate was very moderate in size, and most of that was the proceeds of his English journeys.