Books: Haydn

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But other matters now engaged his attention. The directors of the
Professional Concerts, desiring to take advantage of his
popularity, endeavoured to make him cancel his engagements with
Salomon and Gallini. In this they failed. "I will not," said
Haydn, "break my word to Gallini and Salomon, nor shall any
desire for Pleyel in Opposition

dirty gain induce me to do them an injury. They have run so great
a risk and gone to so much expense on my account that it is only
fair they should be the gainers by it. "Thus defeated in their
object, the Professionals decided to bring over Haydn's own
pupil, Ignaz Pleyel, to beat the German on his own ground. It was
not easy to upset Haydn's equanimity in an affair of this kind;
his gentle nature, coupled with past experiences, enabled him to
take it all very calmly. "From my youth upwards," he wrote, "I
have been exposed to envy, so it does not surprise me when any
attempt is made wholly to crush my poor talents, but the Almighty
above is my support. . .There is no doubt that I find many who
are envious of me in London also, and I know them almost all.
Most of them are Italians. But they can do me no harm, for my
credit with this nation has been established far too many years."
As a rule, he was forbearing enough with his rivals. At first he
wrote of Pleyel: "He behaves himself with great modesty." Later
on he remarked that "Pleyel's presumption is everywhere
criticized." Nevertheless, "I go to all his concerts, for I love
him." It is very pleasant to read all this. But how far Haydn's
feelings towards Pleyel were influenced by patriotic
considerations it is impossible to say.

The defeated Professionals had a certain advantage by being first
in the field in 1792. But Haydn was only a few days behind them
with his opening concert, and the success of the entire series
was in no way affected by the ridiculous rivalry. Symphonies,
divertimenti for concerted instruments, string quartets, a
clavier trio, airs, a cantata, and other works were all produced
at these concerts, and with almost invariable applause. Nor were
Haydn's services entirely confined to the Salomon concerts. He
conducted for various artists, including Barthelemon, the
violinist; Haesler, the pianist; and Madam Mara, of whom he tells
that she was hissed at Oxford for not rising during the
"Hallelujah" Chorus. The last concert was given on June 6 "by
desire," when Haydn's compositions were received with "an extasy
of admiration." Thus Salomon's season ended, as the Morning
Chronicle put it, with the greatest eclat. Haydn's subsequent
movements need not detain us long. He made excursions to Windsor
Castle and to Ascot "to see the races," of which he has given an
account in his note-book. From Ascot he went to Slough, where he
was introduced to Herschel. In this case there was something like
real community of tastes, for the astronomer was musical, having
once played the oboe, and later on acted as organist, first at
Halifax Parish Church, and then at the Octagon Chapel Bath. The
big telescope with which he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781
was an object of great interest to Haydn, who was evidently
amazed at the idea of a man sitting out of doors "in the most
intense cold for five or six hours at a time."

Visits were also paid to Vauxhall Gardens, where "the music is
fairly good" and "coffee and milk cost nothing." "The place and
its diversions," adds Haydn, "have no equal in the world."

At St. Paul's

But the most interesting event of this time to Haydn was the
meeting of the Charity Children in St Paul's Cathedral, when
something like 4000 juveniles took part. "I was more touched," he
says in his diary, "by this innocent and reverent music than by
any I ever heard in my life!" And then he notes the following
chant by John Jones [Jones was organist of St Paul's Cathedral at
this time. His chant, which was really in the key of D, has since
been supplanted. Haydn made an error in bar 12.):

[Figure: a musical score excerpt]

Curiously enough Berlioz was impressed exactly in the same way
when he heard the Charity Children in 1851. He was in London as a
juror at the Great Exhibition; and along with his friend, the
late G. A. Osborne, he donned a surplice and sang bass in the
select choir. He was so moved by the children's singing that he
hid his face behind his music and wept. "It was," he says, "the
realization of one part of my dreams, and a proof that the
powerful effect of musical masses is still absolutely unknown.
[See Berlioz's "Life and Letters," English edition, Vol. I., p.
281.]

Haydn made many interesting acquaintances during this London
visit. Besides those already mentioned, there was London
Acquaintances

Bartolozzi, the famous engraver, to whose wife he dedicated three
clavier trios and a sonata in E flat (Op. 78), which, so far
unprinted in Germany, is given by Sterndale Bennett in his
Classical Practice. There was also John Hunter, described by
Haydn as "the greatest and most celebrated chyrurgus in London,"
who vainly tried to persuade him to have a polypus removed from
his nose. It was Mrs. Hunter who wrote the words for most of his
English canzonets, including the charming "My mother bids me bind
my hair." And then there was Mrs. Billington, the famous singer,
whom Michael Kelly describes as "an angel of beauty and the Saint
Cecilia of song." There is no more familiar anecdote than that
which connects Haydn with Sir Joshua Reynolds's portrait of this
notorious character. Carpani is responsible for the tale. He says
that Haydn one day found Mrs. Billington sitting to Reynolds, who
was painting her as St Cecilia listening to the angels. "It is
like," said Haydn, "but there is a strange mistake." "What is
that?" asked Reynolds. "You have painted her listening to the
angels. You ought to have represented the angels listening to
her." It is a very pretty story, but it cannot possibly be true.
Reynolds's portrait of Mrs. Billington was painted in 1789, two
years before Haydn's arrival, and was actually shown in the
Academy Exhibition of 1790, the last to which Sir Joshua
contributed. [The portrait, a whole length, was sold in 1798 for
325 pounds sterling, 10 shillings, and again at Christie's, in
1845, for 505 guineas--to an American, as usual.] Of course Haydn
may have made the witty remark here attributed to him, but it
cannot have been at the time of the painting of the portrait.
That he was an enthusiastic admirer of Mrs. Billington there can
be no doubt.

Another Romance

There was another intimacy of more import, about which it is
necessary to speak at some length. When Dies published his
biography of Haydn in l810 he referred to a batch of love-letters
written to the composer during this visit to London. The
existence of the letters was known to Pohl, who devotes a part of
his Haydn in London to them, and prints certain extracts; but the
letters themselves do not appear to have been printed either in
the original English or in a German translation until Mr. Henry
E. Krehbiel, the well-known American musical critic, gave them to
the world through the columns of the New York Tribune. Mr.
Krehbiel was enabled to do this by coming into possession of a
transcript of Haydn's London note-book, with which we will deal
presently. Haydn, as he informs us, had copied all the letters
out in full, "a proceeding which tells its own story touching his
feelings towards the missives and their fair author." He
preserved them most carefully among the souvenirs of his visit,
and when Dies asked him about them, he replied: "They are letters
from an English widow in London who loved me. Though sixty years
old, she was still lovely and amiable, and I should in all
likelihood have married her if I had been single." Who was the
lady thus celebrated? In Haydn's note-book the following entry
occurs: "Mistress Schroeter, No. 6 James Street, Buckingham
Gate." The inquiry is here answered: Mistress Schroeter was the
lady.

Mistress Schroeter

Haydn, it will be seen, describes her as a widow of sixty.
According to Goldsmith, women and music should never be dated;
but in the present case, there is a not unnatural curiosity to
discover the lady's age. Mr. Krehbiel gives good grounds for
doubting Haydn's statement that Mistress Schroeter was sixty when
he met her. She had been married to Johann Samuel Schroeter, an
excellent German musician, who settled in London in 1772.
Schroeter died in 1788, three years before the date of Haydn's
visit, when he was just thirty-eight. Now Dr Burney, who must
have known the family, says that Schroeter "married a young lady
of considerable fortune, who was his scholar, and was in easy
circumstances." If, therefore, Mrs. Schroeter was sixty years old
when Haydn made her acquaintance, she must have been nineteen
years her husband's senior, and could not very well be described
as a "young" lady at the time of her marriage.

It is, however, unnecessary to dwell upon the matter of age. The
interesting point is that Haydn fell under the spell of the
charming widow. There is no account of their first meeting; but
it was probably of a purely professional nature. Towards the end
of June 1791 the lady writes: "Mrs. Schroeter presents her
compliments to Mr. Haydn, and informs him she is just returned to
town, and will be very happy to see him whenever it is convenient
to him to give her a lesson." A woman of sixty should hardly have
been requiring lessons, especially after having been the wife of
a professor who succeeded the "English Bach" as musicmaster to
the Queen. But lessons sometimes cover a good deal of love-
making, and that was clearly the case with Haydn and Mrs.
Schroeter.

Love Letters

There is indeed some reason to doubt if the lessons were
continued. At any rate, by February 1792, the affair had ripened
so far as to allow the lady to address the composer as "my dear,"
and disclose her tender solicitude for his health. On the 7th of
the following month she writes that she was "extremely sorry" to
part with him so suddenly the previous night. "Our conversation
was particularly interesting, and I had a thousand affectionate
things to say to you. My heart was and is full of tenderness for
you, but no language can express half the love and affection I
feel for you. You are dearer to me every day of my life."

This was pretty warm, considering that Haydn was still in the
bonds of wedlock. We cannot tell how far he reciprocated the
feeling, his letters, if he wrote any, not having been preserved;
but it may be safely inferred that a lady who was to be "happy to
see you both in the morning and the evening" did not do all the
love-making. On the 4th of April the composer gets a present of
soap, and is the "ever dear Haydn" of the "invariable and truly
affectionate" Mistress Schroeter. He had been working too hard
about this particular date (he notes that he was "bled in London"
on the l7th of March), and on the l2th the "loveress," to use
Marjorie Fleming's term, is "truly anxious" about her "dear
love," for whom her regard is "stronger every day." An extract
from the letter of April 19 may be quoted as it stands: I was
extremely sorry to hear this morning that you were indisposed. I
am told you were five hours at your studies yesterday. Indeed, my
dear love, I am afraid it will hurt you. Why should you, who have
already produced so many wonderful and charming compositions,
still fatigue yourself with such close application? I almost
tremble for your health. Let me prevail on you, my much-loved
Haydn, not to keep to your studies so long at one time. My dear
love, if you could know how very precious your welfare is to me,
I flatter myself you would endeavour to preserve it for my sake
as well as your own.

Come Early

The next letter shows that Haydn had been deriving some profit
from Mistress Schroeter's affections by setting her to work as an
amanuensis. She has been copying out a march, and is sorry that
she has not done it better. "If my Haydn would employ me oftener
to write music, I hope I should improve; and I know I should
delight in the occupation." Invitations to dine at St James's
Street are repeatedly being sent, for Mistress Schroeter wishes
"to have as much of your company as possible." When others are
expected, Haydn is to come early, so that they may have some time
together "before the rest of our friends come." Does the adored
Schroeter go to one of her "dearest love's" concerts, she thanks
him a thousand times for the entertainment. "Where your sweet
compositions and your excellent performance combine," she writes,
"it cannot fail of being the most charming concert; but, apart
from that, the pleasure of seeing you must ever give me infinite
satisfaction." As the time drew near for Haydn's departure,
"every moment of your company is more and more precious to me.
"She begs to assure him with "heart-felt affection" that she will
ever consider the acquaintance with him as one of the chief
blessings of her life. Nay, she entertains for her "dearest
Haydn" the fondest and tenderest affection the human heart is
capable of." And so on.

An Innocent Amourette

One feels almost brutally rude in breaking in upon the privacy of
this little romance. No doubt the flirtation was inexcusable
enough on certain grounds. But taking the whole circumstances
into account--above all, the loveless, childless home of the
composer--the biographer is disposed to see in the episode merely
that human yearning after affection and sympathy which had been
denied to Haydn where he had most right to expect them. He
admitted that he was apt to be fascinated by pretty and amiable
women, and the woman to whom he had given his name was neither
pretty nor amiable. An ancient philosopher has said that a man
should never marry a plain woman, since his affections would
always be in danger of straying when he met a beauty. This
incident in Haydn's career would seem to support the
philosopher's contention. For the rest, it was probably harmless
enough, for there is nothing to show that the severer codes of
morality were infringed.

The biographers of Haydn have not succeeded in discovering how
the Schroeter amourette ended. The letters printed by Mr.
Krehbiel are all confined to the year 1792, and mention is
nowhere made of any of later date. When Haydn returned to London
in 1794, he occupied rooms at No. 1 Bury Street, St James', and
Pohl suggests that he may have owed the more pleasant quarters to
his old admirer, who would naturally be anxious to have him as
near her as possible. A short walk of ten minutes through St
James' Park and the Mall would bring him to Buckingham Palace,
and from that to Mrs. Schroeter's was only a stone-throw. Whether
the old affectionate relations were resumed it is impossible to
say. If there were any letters of the second London visit, it is
curious that Haydn should not have preserved them with the rest.
There is no ground for supposing that any disagreement came
between the pair: the facts point rather the other way. When
Haydn finally said farewell to London, he left the scores of his
six last symphonies "in the hands of a lady." Pohl thinks the
lady was Mrs. Schroeter, and doubtless he is right. At any rate
Haydn's esteem for her, to use no stronger term, is sufficiently
emphasized by his having inscribed to her the three trios
numbered 1, 2 and 6 in the Breitkopf & Hartel list.

Haydn's Note-Book

Reference has already been made to the diary or note-book kept by
Haydn during his visit. The original manuscript of this curious
document came into the hands of his friend, Joseph Weigl, whose
father had been 'cellist to Prince Esterhazy. A similar diary was
kept during the second visit, but this was lost; and indeed the
first note-book narrowly escaped destruction at the hands of a
careless domestic. Haydn's autograph was at one time in the
possession of Dr. Pohl. A copy of it made by A. W. Thayer, the
biographer of Beethoven, in 1862, became, as previously stated,
the property of Mr. Krehbiel, who has printed the entries, with
running comment, in his "Music and Manners in the Classical
Period" (London, 1898). Mr. Krehbiel rightly describes some of
the entries as mere "vague mnemonic hints," and adds that one
entry which descants in epigrammatic fashion on the comparative
morals of the women of France, Holland and England is unfit for
publication. Looking over the diary, it is instructive to observe
how little reference is made to music. One or two of the entries
are plainly memoranda of purchases to be made for friends. There
is one note about the National Debt of England, another about the
trial of Warren Hastings. London, we learn, has 4000 carts for
cleaning the streets, and consumes annually 800,000 cartloads of
coals. That scandalous book, the Memoirs of Mrs. Billingdon,
which had just been published, forms the subject of a long entry.
"It is said that her [Mrs. Billington's] character is very
faulty, but nevertheless she is a great genius, and all the women
hate her because she is so beautiful."

Prince of Wale's Punch

A note is made of the constituents of the Prince of Wales's
punch--"One bottle champagne, one bottle Burgundy, one bottle
rum, ten lemons, two oranges, pound and a half of sugar." A
process for preserving milk "for a long time" is also described.
We read that on the 5th of November (1791) "there was a fog so
thick that one might have spread it on bread. In order to write I
had to light a candle as early as eleven o'clock." Here is a
curious item--"In the month of June 1792 a chicken, 7s.; an
Indian [a kind of bittern found in North America] 9s.; a dozen
larks, 1 coron [? crown]. N.B.--If plucked, a duck, 5s." Haydn
liked a good story, and when he heard one made a note of it. The
diary contains two such stories. One is headed "Anectod," and
runs: "At a grand concert, as the director was about to begin the
first number, the kettledrummer called loudly to him, asking him
to wait a moment, because his two drums were not in tune. The
leader could not and would not wait any longer, and told the
drummer to transpose for the present." The second story is
equally good. "An Archbishop of London, having asked Parliament
to silence a preacher of the Moravian religion who preached in
public, the Vice-President answered that could easily be done:
only make him a Bishop, and he would keep silent all his life."

On the whole the note-book cannot be described as of strong
biographical interest, but a reading of its contents as
translated by Mr. Krehbiel will certainly help towards an
appreciation of the personal character of the composer.

CHAPTER VI

SECOND LONDON VISIT--l794-l795

Beethoven--Takes Lessons from Haydn--The Relations of the Two
Composers--The Haydn Museum--Haydn starts for London--His Servant
Elssler--The Salomon Concerts--A "Smart" Drummer--New
Acquaintances--Haydn at Bath--Opera Concerts--Kingly Courtesies--
A Valuable Parrot--Rohrau Reminiscences--Esterhaz once more--The
"Austrian Hymn"--Haydn's Love for It--A Charge of Plagiarism.

Haydn left London some time towards the end of June 1792. He had
intended to visit Berlin, in response to an invitation from King
Frederick William II., but he altered his route in order to meet
Prince Anton Esterhazy, who was at Frankfort for the coronation
of the Emperor Francis II.

Beethoven

A more interesting meeting took place at Bonn. Beethoven, then a
young man of twenty-two, was still living with his people in the
Wenzegasse, but already arrangements had been made by the Elector
for his paying a somewhat lengthened visit to Vienna in order to
prosecute his studies there. Since the death of Mozart, Haydn had
become the most brilliant star in the musical firmament, and it
was only natural that the rising genius should look to him for
practical help and encouragement. It so happened that the
Elector's Band, of which Beethoven was a member, gave a dinner to
Haydn at Godesberg. The occasion was opportune. Beethoven
submitted a cantata to the guest of the evening which Haydn
"greatly praised, warmly encouraging the composer to proceed with
his studies." The name of the cantata has not been ascertained,
though Thayer conjectures it to have been on the death of the
Emperor Leopold II.

Whatever it was, the fact of Haydn's approval would make it an
easy matter to discuss the subject of lessons, whether now or
later. Beethoven did not start for Vienna until November, and it
appears that immediately before that date some formal
communication had been made with Haydn in reference to his
studies. On the 29th of October Count Waldstein wrote:

"DEAR BEETHOVEN

You are traveling to Vienna in fulfillment of your long-cherished
wish. The genius of Mozart is still weeping and bewailing the
death of her favourite. With the inexhaustible Haydn she found a
refuge, but no occupation, and is now waiting to leave him and
join herself to someone else. Labour assiduously, and receive
Mozart's spirit from the hands of Haydn."

This was not exactly complimentary to Haydn, but Beethoven
doubtless had the good sense not to repeat the count's words.
When the young artist arrived in Vienna, he found Haydn living at
the Hamberger Haus, No. 992 (since demolished), and thither he
went for his lessons. From Beethoven's own notes of expenses we
find that his first payment was made to Haydn on December 12. The
sum entered is 8 groschen (about 9 1/2 d.), which shows at least
that Haydn was not extravagant in his charges.

Master and Pupil

Beethoven's studies were in strict counterpoint, and the text-
book was that same "Gradus ad Parnassum" of Fux which Haydn had
himself contended with in the old days at St Stephen's. How many
exercises Beethoven wrote cannot be said, but 245 have been
preserved, of which, according to Nottebohm, Haydn corrected only
forty-two. Much ink has been wasted in discussing the relations
of these distinguished composers. There is no denying that Haydn
neglected his young pupil, but one may find another excuse for
the neglect besides that of his increasing age and his engrossing
occupations. Beethoven was already a musical revolutionist: Haydn
was content to walk in the old ways. The two men belonged almost
to different centuries, and the disposition which the younger
artist had for "splendid experiments" must have seemed to the
mature musician little better than madness and licentious
irregularity. "He will never do anything in decent style," was
Albrechtsberger's dictum after giving Beethoven a series of
lessons.

Haydn's opinion of Beethoven's future was not so dogmatically
expressed; but he must have been sorely puzzled by a pupil who
looked upon even consecutive fifths as an open question, and
thought it a good thing to "learn occasionally what is according
to rule that one may hereafter come to what is contrary to rule."
It is said that Haydn persisted in regarding Beethoven, not as a
composer at all but as a pianoforte player; and certainly
Beethoven regarded Haydn as being behind the age. That he was
unjust to Haydn cannot be gainsaid. He even went so far as to
suspect Haydn of willfully trying to retard him in his studies, a
proceeding of which Haydn was altogether incapable. For many
years he continued to discharge splenetic remarks about his
music, and he was always annoyed at being called his pupil. "I
never learned anything from Haydn," he would say; "he never would
correct my mistakes." When, the day after the production of his
ballet music to Prometheus, he met Haydn in the street, the old
man observed to him: "I heard your music last night; I liked it
very well." To which Beethoven, alluding to Haydn's oratorio,
replied: "Oh! dear master, it is far from being a creation." The
doubtful sincerity of this remark may be inferred from an
anecdote quoted by Moscheles. Haydn had been told that Beethoven
was speaking depreciatingly of "The Creation." "That is wrong of
him," he said. "What has he written, then? His Septet? Certainly
that is beautiful; nay, splendid."

Beethoven on Haydn

It is hardly necessary to say who comes out best in these
passages at arms. Yet we must not be too hard on Beethoven. That
he recognized Haydn's genius as a composer no careful reader of
his biography can fail to see. As Pohl takes pains to point out,
he spoke highly of Haydn whenever opportunity offered, often
chose one of his themes when improvising in public, scored one of
his quartets for his own use, and lovingly preserved the
autograph of one of the English symphonies. That he came in the
end to realize his true greatness is amply proved by the story
already related which represents him as exclaiming on his death-
bed upon the fact of Haydn having been born in a common peasant's
cottage.

In the meantime, although Beethoven was dissatisfied with his
progress under Haydn, there was no open breach between the two.
It is true that the young musician sought another teacher--one
Schenck, a well-known Viennese composer--but this was done
without Haydn's knowledge, out of consideration, we may assume,
for his feelings. That master and pupil were still on the best of
terms may be gathered from their having been at Eisenstadt
together during the summer of 1793. In the January of the
following year Haydn set out on his second visit to England, and
Beethoven transferred himself to Albrechtsberger.

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