Twenty-five years old and finally with a full-time job. A top-of-the-line job in a less than top rank noble house, but certainly a huge step up from the garret in the Michaelerhaus!
It is at times like this where one really wishes Haydn had kept a journal; “Dear Diary, today we… ” would be such a convenient path into the inner workings of both the noble houses and the people who occupied them. However, lacking that, we are once again in the position of having to extrapolate from a little specific knowledge, a good amount of general knowledge and our inference tool (i.e. - imagination!).
Possibly because he had a lot on his mind then, Haydn’s memory concerning the Morzin years was at an all time low point, so no help from that quarter. As an officer of the house, Haydn would have been treated at a level with the highest rank of the hired help, wearing livery every day, eating at the first table; in short, the sorts of things he would certainly not take for granted given what life had so far brought his way. As he told Dies many years later; “although my dear mother was no longer living (since 1754) my father had the pleasure of seeing me as Kapellmeister”. Even though in our modern time of proud independence we may look at this statement with some element of condescension, in fact for a young man born in the lower classes and getting by simply on his talent and industry, this was a huge accomplishment!
The duties were not so clearly delineated as what we will see later with the Esterházy family, but at the least he had full responsibility for the music in all its variety. Very likely the biggest change for him would have been re-aiming his focus from church music to instrumental. It is a cultural fact of life which we would do well to remember; vocal music was the non plus ultra of the era. Instrumental music was simply created to pass the time. Chances are he was very much in charge of church music, it isn’t known if the family had their own chapel but at least when they were out in the Bohemian countryside they likely did have. Still, the prime job for Haydn would have been ‘Entertainment Director’. This fact would explain the sudden surge in numbers of string trios, the further composition of string quartets, the sudden appearance of keyboard trios (accompanied sonatas), the continuation of divertimentos and a whole new series of divertimentos for wind band, and the newly begun series of ‘concertinos’ for cembalo and strings. However, the biggest breakout of 1757 was the appearance of the first symphonies!
One of the biggest questions we seem to have about this time was what sort of orchestra Haydn had to work with. Here again, inference will have to suffice since specifics are pretty much lacking. Some of these inferences, however, can be based on pretty solid evidence, because authentic original parts exist for many works. So we can be fairly sure that there were 3 or 4 first violins, 3 or 4 second violins, and a viola. There was a wind band which Haydn wrote a good deal for, it consisted of 2 oboes, 2 horns and 2 bassoons and would have certainly played in symphonies. Finally there will have been the bass section of a cello and a double bass. The bassoon(s) would have been there too, although they did get the occasional obbligato part. So that makes around fifteen players. The remaining questions then would have been ‘was there a cembalo playing continuo?’ and ‘what did Haydn do?’. Those two questions may be inextricably tied together if my own solution is correct. The other answers are equally speculative all the way around, with the thoughts being Haydn either led from the front as a time beater (very common then) or led from the first violins as a concertmaster (even more common). The continuo argument has raged for years, with seeming intractability from both camps. Simply put, one side says that if there was to be a figured continuo, why wasn’t it written out like it is in Haydn’s church music or divertimentos? The other side points out that even in symphonies where it is known there was continuo, it isn’t written out. My own speculation, thrown into the mix, is that Haydn directed from the harpsichord (as he did all the operas in Esterházy times) and the continuo isn’t written out because he didn’t need to, he made it up as he went along. In any case, my opinion is worth as much (to me) as anyone else’s. So is yours. You might consider helping to resolve the greatest mystery since Nostradamus!
Next time we will look at the music of 1757. From this point on, it is going to be difficult to discuss more than one year at a time. Now that it was a job, Haydn really began to turn out some music. I hope we can look at some aspects of it which aren’t usually touched upon.
Thanks for reading!