Entering 1762, after spending the bulk of the previous year in Vienna settling in with the new boss and the boys in the band, Haydn must have been feeling pretty pleased with his efforts to date. He was, after all, the de facto head of the hottest band in town, employed by a man whose wealth, on a good day, exceeded even the Empress’s. And who was very pleased with his musical compositions; witness the fact that he had the contract out already with a view to passing along a raise. So what could go wrong? Glad you asked!
In one of those temporal coincidences which seem to populate Haydn’s life, on March 18, the last day of the first full year of employment, Prince Paul Anton died. OK, didn't see that coming! One can imagine the bit of a lurch in the stomach of all the newly hired musicians at the news. Paul’s younger brother, Nicholas, was set to take over the reins of power. But for the hired help, he was an unknown quantity. Would he keep everyone on or would they be walking down the road with their fiddles over their shoulders? This may all seem rhetorical to us today, who already know the answer to the question, but I don’t imagine rhetoric was at the front of their minds on March 19!
Just as the thirty-day period of mourning passed, there was yet another death in the family, Maria Octavia, mother of Paul and Nicholas and erstwhile housemate of Haydn in the Michaelerhaus. I wonder if she lived long enough to see Haydn and realize that the nice boy from upstairs who played music all night was now the Vice-Kapellmeister to her son. Probably never gave it a passing thought, but interesting idea anyway.
On 17 May, Nicholas finally had his installation ceremony as Lord Prince of the Herrschaft Eisenstadt. There are several roles that Haydn could have played here, some early Sacred motets and cantatas that he composed for unknown reasons that could have involved this doubtless huge festival. Even his early (undated) Te Deum would have fit perfectly into the situation.There is no documentation of it though.
Nicholas, as it turns out (but you knew) well deserved his epithet “The Magnificent”. His talent for spending money was only equaled by his talent for making it! At his death in 1790 the estate was worth several times more than when he took it over. But the income increased despite the expenditures. One of his first actions taken in 1762 was to hire a touring dramatic company that could perform opera. And one of Haydn’s first tasks was to compose some arias for them to sing. La Marchesa Nespola is a comedy. It consisted of nine arias, of which five remain intact, along with parts of two others. It would appear to be actually musical numbers for a spoken word play, along the lines of a Singspiel. The play was likely in German, but the arias are in Italian and wonderfully well set. So idiomatically, in fact, that the new Prince was totally surprised and already began having thoughts which would come to fruition in a few short years. By way of reward and reassurance, on June 25, 1762, Esterházy made his very first official decree regarding the musicians; Vice-Kapellmeister Haydn was to receive an annual salary increase of 200 florins! For those who are counting, that is a 50% pay raise! And so this earliest surviving musical drama of Haydn's was a great career move, but sadly it is the only operatic work by him which has not been recorded so we can't hear it. A tragic turn of events for lovers of early opera and early Haydn.
Next time I want to take a look at the remainder of the year before we approach the music in more detail. There is no doubt in my mind that as much as Prince Paul had Haydn earmarked for rapid advancement, it was only with the 1762 ascension of Nicholas the Magnificent that the partnership for the ages truly was formed. From this point forward, the rapidity with which events overtake events is the stuff of legends!
Thanks for reading!