[Wiener Diarium, Saturday, March 24, 1770]
…. As an especially pleasant piece of news, which we did not wish to overlook, we would report that last Wednesday, the 21st inst., in the quarters of Herr Baron von Sumerau near Maria Hilf, an opera entitled 'The Apothecary' by the Princely Esterházi [sic] Kapellmeister, Herr Joseph Hayden [sic] was performed by the assembled Chamber Virtuosi of Prince Esterházi on that day, and upon the request of High Personages it was repeated to quite exceptional applause upon the following Thursday in the form of a musical academy in the presence of many high persons; a fact that reflects exceptional honor on the aforesaid Herr Kapellmeister Hayden, whose great talents are sufficiently known to all lovers of music, and no less upon the aforesaid virtuosi.
So began 1770. Apparently the humble abode of Prince Nicholas in Vienna was insufficient for the event, which clearly was intended to show off his singers, the band and its leader. Other than knowing that Haydn wrote a second version of Grilletta's lovely aria, Caro Volpino amabile for the occasion, we are limited to the newspaper. On the one hand Nicholas was clearly wanting to bask in the reflected glory, but it was a feather in the cap for all of the players, and particularly Haydn. Hopefully next time the newspaper will spell his name correctly. Well, probably they won't.
As far as big events go, 1770 was a banner year, and Haydn and the band played a large part in it. Documentation from the Esterházy Archives shows little of interest, with the exception of the engagement of a new and different theatrical troupe for the year, with the lovely and apparently playful Frau Rössl still in the forefront of an even dozen of actors. An ominous sign for the entertainers in general; the contract for the strolling players now extended from May 1 to October 15. The season in Eszterháza is apparently going to get longer. On the positive side, since the troupe also performed operettas, clearly they could sing, and that was a new source of singers for the various choruses in the operas.
Another major event occurred in July. Once again it wasn't at Eszterháza; no matter, the Prince had palaces everywhere, like this one in Kittsee. This is a small city, just across the Danube from Pressburg. The palace had been built by the first Prince Paul Esterházy, Nicholas' grandfather. As we saw earlier, Pressburg (Bratislava) was a sort of regional governmental seat where the Esterházy's were also pretty well set up! In July a large celebration was set up to honor Nicholas' sister-in-law. Oddly, who she was and why she was being honored are not considered to be germane to the history handed down, so I can't fill you in. Nonetheless, it must have been something big, because the co-rulers, Maria Theresia and her son, Joseph II, were out in the country for the party along with two of the Archdukes (Ferdinand and Maximilian), Prince Charles and Princess Charlotte of Lorraine. Quite the train of Royals! Robbins-Landon includes a long description of the affair, taken from the diary of one of the attendees. Thus we discover little luxuries like the paved and lit road which extended all the way from the Danube to the palace (extraordinary in that time), the accompaniment of the Princely Grenadiers the entire way, the lineup of all of the house officers including the band in new uniforms, and the great feasts with music and more music. We also learn about the presence of trumpeters and drummers, to justify our earlier surmise that the occasion would demand parts be added to the symphonies which could use them, like 38, 41 & 48. In all there were thirty-six musicians for the occasion, with supplementals having been hired by the Prince. Nicholas even had all of the indigenous peasants dress in their finery and come in one evening after an outdoor banquet for 700 guests, and sing and dance to accompaniment of their own musicians. The band played for the dances in the ballroom, and presumably they also played Tafelmusik, while the grenadiers had their own military band music, some of which was also by Haydn. It must have been a hell of a party!
It was matched in pomp, though, if not in attendance, by the fête thrown in September for the marriage of Nicolas' 'dear niece', Countess Lamberg to Count Pocci. No travel involved this time. The three-day affair hosted 400 guests, and Haydn's new Goldoni dramma giocoso, Le pescatrici (The fisherwomen) was given twice, first on Saturday after the ceremony, then again on Monday after the big banquet. In what must be the first 'press release' I have heard of, the Vienna and Pressburg papers reported identically that the opera was a huge success and Haydn received well-earned congratulations from all the attendees. The band also played while the big fireworks show was being held, in a scene adumbrating a 4th of July celebration in America today.
1770 also saw the arrival in Eszterháza of painter Ludwig Guttenbrunn. He, the painter of my favorite Haydn portrait, shown here. This was his first encounter with Haydn, there was another in London twenty-two years later. According to Griesinger, Haydn told him it was Frau Haydn's favorite portrait also, and she carried it with her wherever she was living at the time, even to the spa in Baden! This was not, however, from veneration of her husband, but, rather, because she and Guttenbrunn were lovers! A point I would like to make here, outside of chronology for a moment, is this; it was well-known in later times that Haydn had certain and probable mistresses. He explained it away as having more or less fallen out of love with his wife when it became apparent she couldn't bear children. The earliest possible suspicion I have seen leveled against Haydn for this sort of behavior was in 1767, when he tarried in Pressburg for an extra three days because of 'bad weather'. He had a friend there, Catherine Csech, who was remembered very generously years later in his will. So I suppose the fabric of the marriage was already eroded, just in time for a 'seven-year-itch'!
1770 was also the year of one of Haydn's rare, documented illnesses. Some music resulted from it, more's the pity that half of it is now lost. Griesinger tells us that Haydn 'succumbed to a fever', and his doctor ordered him to bed with no contact with music for a while. While his wife was at mass, he got up and completed an idea which had occurred to him for a keyboard sonata. He told Griesinger all he could remember was it had five sharps, and indeed, the incipit for a lost sonata in B major resides in the proper place in the Entwurf Katalog. Since this is right in the period of his most intense and dramatic sonatas, this likely represents a great loss. However, after his recovery, and in fulfillment of a promise made if he did recover, he composed the Salve Regina in g minor, Hob. 23b:2. Apparently this illness was serious enough that brother Michael sought (and was granted) a leave of absence from his job in Salzburg to be at his brother's side, which in the event he didn't take, probably having been notified of Joseph's recovery. All this must certainly have occurred at the end of the year, since the Salve Regina is securely dated to early 1771. So we round the year out now with a mention of a phenomenon which lasted over a period of a few years, it was certainly going on in 1770, although probably not reaching a climax until 1772. Mark Evans Bond, in his essay published in Haydn Studies (II, as I call it in my Building a Library essay), tells us of a statement by Haydn to the composer Antonin Reicha in or around 1805, where he mentions that around his fortieth birthday (1772) he concluded a "Complete Course in Composition", during which he had totally restudied and reevaluated everything he did as a composer. Bond (and I, I must confess) believes this complete reevaluation to be the source of the so-called Sturm und Drang style, the genesis of the Opus 20 quartets and the great symphonies of the time. I bring this up here and now because chronology is difficult to maintain sometimes, and though this might more properly be introduced in 1772, it was ongoing now with visible results. Due to Reicha's notes being unpublished for 200 years, this is a very little known phenomenon, and yet one which explains so much about Haydn the man and the artist. Never satisfied, always learning and improving; genius is nothing on its own, it needs care and feeding. Haydn was not too proud to do that!
Next time, some music.
Thanks for reading!