When great lives are under review, it can be difficult at times to construct a set of guideposts whereby one can define 'turning points' in the life and career. Haydn's life, for all of its seeming regularity so far, is studded with these points, and 1779 constitutes yet another. True, he didn't move households again, and didn't receive any important visitors, nor were there even any new stylistic trends implemented. And yet, some of the most important, career-influencing events of his life did, indeed, occur. Let us see.
Arguably the most important of these changes didn't wait long to make its appearance. On the last day of 1778, Haydn's contract expired. He was no modern day holdout, there was no known 'refusal to report for work unless…' event, but for reasons which suited the Prince as well as Haydn, the contract signed on January 1, 1779, was conspicuously missing one of its keystone clauses, to wit, the famous No. IV of the original:
IV. Whenever His Princely Highness commands, the vice-Kapellmeister is obligated to compose such works of music as His Highness may demand; further not to communicate [such] new compositions to anyone, still less allow them to be copied [for others], but to reserve them entirely and exclusively for His Highness; most of all to compose nothing for any other person without prior knowledge and gracious consent.
Between logical thought and lots of speculation, the most likely scenario I have to offer you is one in which the Prince appears to have tired of instrumental music, he only seems to be interested in opera now. On the other hand, there is no indication of Haydn's well
having run dry as far as instrumental music goes. So, a reasonable possibility could be that Haydn proposed to the Prince that he would continue running the opera system to the best of his ability, and in return he would be allowed to sell his instrumental music as he wished, and keep the proceeds. He could have, after giving six months' notice, simply left if he had been so inclined, so it isn't as though he didn't have any leverage.
Another brick in the wall could be the fact of the music publisher Artaria opening for business in Vienna just the previous year. And before the year 1779 was done, Haydn already had a firm relationship with them, which bore first fruit in the publication of the Auenbrugger Sonatas at the turn of 1780. So I don't find this scenario too outrageous.
Opera is our next bit of business for the year. If Haydn and the Prince made a deal on his outside business as I speculated above, then the Prince was exacting his share too! Even though La vera costanza was essentially completed last year, it was finally performed in April of 1779. All by itself, the staging of even one opera is a major undertaking. But this year, in addition to all that was going on, Haydn staged this one plus seven other new operas and two others from previous seasons! And all this before the tragic events of November (which didn't really stop anything). And to top things off, this became the only year with two new Haydn operas, since after the fire, and in honor of Nicholas' Name Day, Haydn produced yet another new opera, this one on a libretto by the venerable Metastasio, still living in Vienna's Michaelerhaus where Haydn had known him in the early 1750's! L'isola disabitata (The Deserted Island) was actually premiered in the Marionette theater across the road from the ruined main theater.
Still, this wasn't the operatic life-changer of 1779. In May, Nicholas hired an aging violinist for the orchestra, and he brought along with him his lovely twenty-nine year-old wife, Luigia, a mezzo-soprano of only modest accomplishment. In the event, they didn't work out musically, and Nicholas decided to send them packing. It was not to be, however, since Haydn and Luigia had become lovers, and he insured with the Prince that she would not be sent off. Chances are, like most 'secrets' in this close-knit community, the affair was general knowledge. Haydn himself, in later years talking with Greisinger, had no qualms telling about his own wife having an extended affair with the court painter, Gottenbrunn, in 1770-71. As we will see, Haydn took care of Luigia in many ways, the most lasting being the many insertion arias he composed to show her voice to its best advantage.
As we saw last year, operas were just a part of the scene, which continued this year with another dramatic troupe, the Diwald Company. Although no list of plays remains, their contract stipulates a play a day! In addition, they supply the readers for the non-singing parts in the marionette operas. The span of their contract is from Ash Wednesday to December 18, so all in all they must have indeed earned their money!
From the Preßburger Zeitung, Wednesday, November 24, 1779:
From Eszterház we receive the unpleasant news that last Thursday the 18th at 3:30am a dreadful fire broke out in the world-famous Chinese ball-room, which, because of its magnificence, taste and comfort was so admired by all visitors. As a result, the adjoining water-works with the tower, and the theatre, which was so excellently appointed and which contained not only a grand box for the Prince but also two comfortable side-boxes for the other guests, were entirely destroyed. The fire was dreadful to behold and still glowed now and again the next day, because the ball-room was mostly painted with varnish and in the theater was stored a large quantity of wax lights. The fire must have burned in the roof for some hours, because the whole of the valuable roof was in flames, and also the beautiful walls were almost consumed by the time the fire was discovered. – The origin of this unexpected occurrence was as follows: as is well-known, the 21st inst. was the day set for the exalted marriage of Count Forgátsch with the noble Countess Miss Graschalkowitz. For this celebration the stoves in the ball-room were to be previously lit. There were also two Chinese stoves therein which were more for show than for actual use. They were nevertheless lit despite all previous warnings. They probably exploded from the heat and thus the fire spread. It would have spread even further if not for the wise order to remove the roofs of the nearby buildings, and for the fact that heavy rains and strong winds lessened the fire's effect and finally extinguished it. The damage, according to several eye-witnesses, is estimated to be more than 100,000 gulden. Two beautiful clocks: the magnificent theatrical costumes; all the music collected at great effort and expense; the musical instruments, including the beautiful Fleig (harpsichord) of the famous Kapellmeister Haiden [sic] and the concert violin of the virtuoso Lotsch [Luigi Tomasini] – all were lost in the flames, which reached their height at 8:00am. His Highness the Prince, despite the inclement weather, was at once present at a time when speedy rescue seemed distant.
Since various high persons had already arrived for the festivities, a brand new opera [L'amore soldato by Alessandro Felici] was given in the marionette theater on the 21st.
An incredible amount of art went up in flames in that few hours. All of the performance material for Haydn's operas to this time was lost. It was fortunate that he had some scores in his rooms to work on so some remained. In some cases, and due to the rampant piracy of the time, he was able to buy back copies of some operas, symphonies and major works. He re-wrote La vera costanza in 1785, and it is said he did so from memory! It is known that he bought back some symphonies, this was the likely origin of the various bogus trumpet and timpani parts which we discussed earlier on. It is probably just as well to say we will never know what was lost, since all alone, the number things which are known to be lost already depresses me.
These are by no means the entire happenings of 1779, but they represent some signal events which affected the next many years of his life and certainly his legacy. Next time, we will begin to look at the music. In addition to a wonderful little opera, we will find one of his finest symphonies as he rises to the occasion, this time the laying of the cornerstone of the new opera house, yet again.
Thanks for reading!