Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/554

 540 HAYDN for his work 24 ducats. Having now the means, he determined to make himself master of the science of music, and to reduce to order what he had previously acquired by observa- tion and practice. His first purchase was the theoretical work of Emanuel Bach, which ap- peared in 1753. Then came Mattheson's Voll- kommener Kapellmeister, and finally Fux's Oradus ad Parnassum. To these works he devoted a most thorough study, giving the pref- erence on the whole to Bach, although he af- terward used Fux as his text book in teaching on account of the excellence of his method. His own pen was never idle. Besides his ex- ercises in harmony and counterpoint for his own improvement, he wrote pieces in infinite variety for his pupils, which fell into the hands of publishers and made him known, though they gave him no pecuniary profit. In 1759, at the age of 27, he at length obtained an ap- pointment. A Bohemian, Count Morzin, en- gaged him as music director and composer, with a salary of 200 florins, free lodgings, and table with his secretaries and other of- ficials. Haydn now resolved to marry. A hair dresser, Keller, in the Landstrasse, Vien- na, had often aided him in his days of want, and in return Haydn had instructed the eldest daughter in music, and to her lost his heart. But she had chosen to enter a convent, and, urged by gratitude and the persuasions of Kel- ler, he transferred his proposal to her sister, and married her. She proved but a sorry match for the chapelmaster. She had few truly feminine qualities, and was disposed to squander Haydn's earnings. Morzin would have no married men in his orchestra, and Haydn was obliged to keep his marriage secret. It was during this year that Haydn wrote his first grand symphony for full orchestra. Be- fore the winter of 1759-'60 was over, which Morzin spent in Vienna, he found it necessary to reduce his expenses, and one step was to dis- miss his orchestra. This was no loss to Haydn, for Prince Nicholas Esterhazy had heard his symphony, and in 1760 appointed him chapel- master. This position Haydn held without in- terruption until Esterhazy's death, full 30 years, spending eight or nine months of the year at Eisenstadt or at Eszterhaz in Hungary, and the winter in Vienna. His salary, at first 400 florins, was gradually increased to 1,000. The prince was ever ready with his purse, and thrice when Haydn's house in Eisenstadt was burned, Esterhazy rebuilt it at his own expense. In his will he gave Haydn a pension equal to his salary for life, and his successor, though he dis- missed his orchestra, continued to Haydn his title of chapelmaster, and added 400 florins to his pension. The composer had free range of the fields and forests of the prince, and could gratify his passion for shooting and fishing to his heart's desire. It cost him little to live in the country, with no family but a wife and a servant or two ; and but for Frau Haydn's propensity to squander her husband's earnings, he might have saved a handsome share of his emolu- ments. A French traveller who visited Esz- terhaz about 1782 says: "The chateau stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials and servants, and strangers who are drawn hither from curiosity. He has a puppet theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to laugh at seeing Alceste, Alcides, Al livio, &c., put upon the stage with all due grandeur and play- ed by puppets. His orchestra is one of the best I ever heard, and the great Haydn is his court and theatre composer. He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humor and skill in suiting the grandest subjects to his stage, and in parodying the gravest pieces, are often ex- ceedingly happy. He often engages a troop of wandering players for months at a time, and he himself with a few officials and servants forms the entire audience. They are allowed to come upon the stage uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half dressed. The prince is not for the serious and the tragic, and he enjoys it when the players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humor." For this prince Haydn, ever ready with new and excellent music in which no tragic tones re- sounded, was just the man. Haydn said of him toward the close of his life : " My prince was satisfied with all my works ; I received ap- plause ; as chief of the orchestra, I could try experiments, observe what produced the right effect and what weakened it ; could therefore improve, add, cut out, venture. I was separa- ted from the world, nobody to meddle with and plague me, and so I was perforce original." The demand upon him for church and instru- mental music was constant ; for theatrical mu- sic frequent ; and the best of the year's pro- ductions in the country came in the winter to a hearing in Vienna before the highest musical circle in Europe. Thus ten years had not passed since entering the service of Esterhazy before the name of Haydn had a European reputation, and the publishers of Leipsic, Berlin, Hamburg, and even of more distant cities, vied with those of Vienna in giving his works to the world. Anything like a complete catalogue of his com- positions during these 30 years is impossible ; much was lost when his houses were burned, much was scattered ; but we know of 1 63 pieces for the baryton, from the solo with pianoforte to the octet and grand concerto ; of sympho- nies for full orchestra, at least four per annum ; of a score or two of masses and other works for divine service in the prince's chapel ; of more than 100 works of chamber music of the higher forms, with an immense number of simpler con- struction. At least 12 Italian operas by him were performed in the private theatre, and four German operettas by the marionettes. The oratorio II ritorno di Tobia was composed in 1774 for the " Musicians' Widows and Orphans Society " in Vienna, he being a candidate for admission. On learning that he must bind