235 years ago, an event of such resounding importance occurred in Haydn's world, it still affects us today. By now you've done the quick math and may be asking; what does 1779 have to do with 1777? It hasn't even happened yet? Well, long story short: we don't know much of what happened musically at Eszterháza in 1776-79 because the fire which destroyed the opera house/ performance center also destroyed untold amounts of musical works. Some of it, as we will see now, is mentioned elsewhere, so we at least know it once existed. Most of it is, sadly, gone without a trace!
As we will see in the next installment of this series, the only surviving music from this year consists of two symphonic movements which Haydn called overtures, an 'insertion' aria for a Paisiello opera, and the wonderful Italian opera buffa Il Mondo della Luna (The World on the Moon). Since we've been tracing Haydn's output for over twenty-five years now, I think an assumption of more, missing, works can be safely made. Even though much of his creative time was spent adapting other composers' operas for performance in the Eszterháza opera house it is scarcely conceivable that he didn't compose any more original music in the entire year!
So, what we know comes mainly from rather more public sources.
The most important source available to us is an annual magazine printed in Gotha, Theater-Kalendar auf das Jahr 1778, which reported on events of 1777. From here we learn all sorts of things about Eszterháza goings-on, not least the details of the opera lineup for the year, which is represented here:
Italian operas:
Florian Gassmann – L'amore artigiano – Dramma giocoso in three acts - Haydn made large cuts in it along with changes and substitutions of the material. This turned out to be a popular opera, and it was redone in 1786 and 1790. Thus it is difficult to tell which changes were made for 1777.
Haydn – Il Mondo della Luna – Dramma giocoso in three acts – Haydn's last Goldoni opera.
Giovanni Paisiello – La Frascatana - Dramma giocoso in three acts – Haydn composed a large-scale insertion aria, D'una sposa meschinella (Hob 24b:2) for Donna Stella, a soprano.
Giovanni Paisiello – Il marchese villano – Further information lost.
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf – Arcifanfano Re De' Matti – Dramma giocoso: Satirico
Along with these were some repeats from the 1776 season, including two other operas by Ditters. Ditters had already composed a half-dozen operas and suddenly found himself without employment, so, hearing that the Prince was beginning a new season, offered them for sale. Apparently they were quite popular, since they were repeated often.
Marionette show in Vienna – Wiener Diarium
In honor of Prince Elector of Trier, Clemens Wenzel, Maria Theresia threw a party including the marionette show which she borrowed from, not Esterházy, but Haydn himself! They appear to have performed Der Hexenschabbas (Hob 29a:2), to which all the music is lost, only the libretto remains. In researching this, I ran across this peculiar synchronicity, which is almost creepy!
NEWS ITEM 2009-12-01 09:25:34 A copy of the text of the marionette opera Der Hexenschabbas (The Witches' Sabbath), set to music by Haydn in 1773 and performed also in Schönbrunn for Empress Maria Theresia, has been found at the Anna Amalia Library in Weimar (Germany) during catalogue works. The volume bears the title Der Hexenschabbas: Ein Marionettenfest in einem Aufzug and contains 10 pages and two woodcuts, but no indication of the authors or where and when it had been published. A first copy had already been discovered at the Wienbibliothek (Vienna City Library) in 2005. |
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Libretto discovered |
Completely independently, the announcement of the discovery of this libretto comes 36 seconds after Landon's official time of death! Maybe there was a spell on him…
In addition to Der Hexenschabbas, Carlos Ordoñez' Alceste was given as the highlight of the program. Haydn didn't attend the festivities, he was back in Eszterháza preparing for rehearsals of his own new opera for the year, Il Mondo della Luna.
On August 3, the Prince's second son, Nicholas Jr., married Maria Anna Weissenwolf at the Eszterháza court chapel. At their wedding celebration, Haydn's new opera, Il Mondo della Luna was given, along with a spectacular, by all accounts, new marionette production, Genovefens Vierter Theil (Part Four). Once again, all is lost, except for reports of a marionette opera in three acts with fantastic special effects. A production is said to cost 6000 florins, significantly more than a year's pay for our humble Kapellmeister! Once again, the amount we don't know about this work far outweighs what we do know. One of the things we don't know, which I deem rather important, is whether Haydn wrote any of it. At best it is a pasticcio, a combination of works from several composers. It is certainly possible Haydn contributed more to it than its final organization.
The final major event of the year, and I say major if your interest relates to in the full panoply of entertainment assembled in Eszterháza, is the departure, for unknown reasons, of the Carl Wahr dramatic troupe from Eszterháza in July. They decamped for Pressburg, did a few shows there, then on to Pest where they spent the next season. After this, they went to Prague and never played in Hungary again. One wonders at the events which might have led up to such a complete and untimely break in relations. One positive arising from this is that in their final season, they added to their repertoire Charles Simon Favart's stage work Soliman der zweite (or Les Trois Sultanes) in which Soliman's wife, Roxelana, was a character. The incidental music is lost, but we shall soon see a symphony arise from its ashes. Oh, probably shouldn't use that analogy! In any case, from adversity rises opportunity. For Haydn the opportunity was to wear yet another hat: ballet director! The Prince, never one to let the grass grow underfoot, hired a ballet company which had been playing in Vienna to finish out the season in Eszterháza, and Haydn, of course, provided the musical accompaniment for the dance. It is unknown whether the ballets they presented came with their own scores; if Haydn wrote any, they are long gone now!
So, these are the highlights of the year 1777. If history is any guide, we know these are the tip of the iceberg of all that went on. In any case, we have a really nice opera to listen to, and some smaller pieces besides, so we count our blessings!
Thanks for reading!