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like every other art, would perish in a hot-house. Reckon up to-day the composers who
are really a force in the emotional life of the people, and ask which of them was reared in
the serene, cold air of the academies. A composer to be great must live with his fellows,
and open his soul to human affluences. "I was cut off from the world," says Haydn.
"There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original." But
his originality was that of an active mind working upon material already stored, and the
store had to be replenished in occasional excursions, all too few, from the palace.
The Eisenstadt appointment, then, provided for Haydn's material wants, and gave him
opportunities for the peaceful pursuit of his studies, for experiment and self-criticism. He
was treated with great consideration by the Esterhazys, and, menial or not, he lived on
their bounty and in the friendliest relations with them.
Capellmeister Werner
From his agreement with Prince Esterhazy it will have been gathered that, though
virtually entrusted with the direction of the Eisenstadt musical establishment, Haydn was
really under the control of an old official. Such arrangements seldom work well. The
retention of Joseph Werner was presumably due to the thoughtful kindness of his noble
patron, but it was bound to lead to awkward situations. Werner had served the Esterhazys
for thirty-two years, and could not be expected to placidly accept his supersession by a
young and as yet almost unknown musician. True, he was not a very distinguished man
himself. He had composed a large amount of music, chiefly sacred, including thirty-nine
masses and twelve "Oratorios for Good Friday," besides some grotesque pieces intended
as burlesques of the musical life of Vienna. Not one of his works has any real musical
value; but, as is usually the case with the talent which stops short of genius, he thought a
great deal of himself, and was inclined to look down upon Haydn as an interloper,
unskilled in that rigid counterpoint which was the "heaven's law" of the old-time
composer. Indeed, he described his associate as "a mere fop" and "a scribbler of songs."
A Posthumous Tribute
It is but fair to Haydn to say that, if he did not suffer his nominal superior gladly, he at
least treated him with respect and a certain deference. He did more. Werner died in 1766,
having thus seen only five years of the new order of things, but Haydn's regard for his
memory was such that, so late as 1804, he published six of his fugues arranged as string
quartets, "out of sincere esteem for this celebrated master." A kindness of heart and a
total absence of professional jealousy characterized Haydn throughout his whole career,
and never more than in this action.
Esterhazy "the Magnificent"
The composer had been rather less than a twelvemonth in his service when Prince Paul
Anton died on the 18th of March 1762. He was succeeded by his brother Nicolaus, a sort
of glorified "Grand Duke" of Chandos, who rejoiced in the soubriquet of "The
Magnificent." He loved ostentation and glitter above all things, wearing at times a
uniform bedecked with diamonds. But he loved music as well. More, he was a performer
himself, and played the baryton, a stringed instrument not unlike the viola-da-gamba, in
general use up to the end of the eighteenth century. Haydn naturally desired to please his
prince, and being perpetually pestered to provide new works for the noble baryton player,
he thought it would flatter him if he himself learnt to handle the baryton. This proved an
unfortunate misreading of "The Magnificent's" character, for when Haydn at length made
his debut with the instrument, the prince lost no time in letting him understand that he
disapproved of such rivalry. An amusing story is told of Kraft, the Eisenstadt 'cellist, at
this time, who occasionally played the second baryton. Kraft presented the prince with a
composition into which he had introduced a solo for himself as second baryton. The
prince asked to see the part, and proceeded to try it over. Coming to a difficult passage,
he exclaimed indignantly: "For the future, write solos only for my part; it is no credit to
you to play better than I; it is your duty."
Compositions for Baryton
Haydn, so far as we can make out, never essayed the baryton again, but he wrote a
surprising amount of music for it, considering its complicated mechanism and the
weakness of its tone. In the catalogue of his works there are no fewer than 175
compositions for the instrument--namely, six duets for two barytons, twelve sonatas for
baryton and violoncello, twelve divertimenti for two barytons and bass, and 125
divertimenti for baryton, viola and violoncello; seventeen so-called "cassations"; and
three concertos for baryton, with accompaniment of two violins and bass. There is no
need to say anything about these compositions, inasmuch as they have gone to oblivion
with the instrument which called them into being. At the best they can never have been of
much artistic importance.
A Reproval
A new epoch began at Eisenstadt with the rule of Prince Nicolaus. He was a man of
unbounded energy himself, and he expected everybody in his service to be energetic too.
There is nothing to suggest that Haydn neglected any of his routine duties, which
certainly gave him abundant opportunity to "break the legs of time," but once, at least--in
1765--his employer taxed him with lack of diligence in composition, as well as for failing
to maintain the necessary discipline among the musicians under his charge. It is likely
enough that Haydn was not a rigid disciplinarian; but it must have been a mere whim on
the part of Prince Nicolaus to reprove him on the score of laziness in composing. In any
case, it seems to have been only a solitary reproof. There is no evidence of its having
been repeated, and we may assume that even now it was not regarded as a very serious
matter, from the fact that three weeks after the prince was requesting his steward to pay
Haydn 12 ducats for three new pieces, with which he was "very much pleased."
Operettas
Life at Eisenstadt moved on in "calm peace and quiet," but now and again it was stirred
into special activity, when Haydn had to put forth his efforts in various new directions.
Such an occasion came very early in his service of Prince Nicolaus, when that pompous
person made triumphant entry into Eisenstadt. The festivities were on a regal scale and
continued for a whole month. A company of foreign players had been engaged to perform
on a stage erected in the large conservatory, and Haydn was required to provide them
with operettas. He wrote several works of the kind, one of which, "La Marchesa Nepola,"
survives in the autograph score. Later on, for the marriage of Count Anton, the eldest son
of Prince Nicolaus, in 1763, he provided a setting of the story which Handel had already
used for his "Acis and Galatea." This work, which was performed by the Eisenstadt
Capelle, with the orchestra clad in a new uniform of crimson and gold, bore the name of
"Acide e Galatea." Portions of the score still exist--a section of the overture, four arias,
and a finale quartet. The overture is described as being "in his own style, fresh and
cheerful, foreshadowing his symphonies. The songs are in the Italian manner, very
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