By now, Haydn has managed to get involved with many things which we didn't necessarily expect to discover on this journey through his life. If you have followed this series for the last (nearly) two years, you have certainly poked your nose into some mysterious corners of European culture, such as the relationship with the Turks, Punch & Judy shows, Tasso and Ariosto, the open-house salon, the Applausus cantata tradition and Name Days, among dozens of others. None of those things were intended to be secret by their nature, they merely became so because styles and interests change. But this year we will be looking at something which was rather on the covert side, which is very likely a reason for its impending demise in Austria; this year Haydn decides to become a Freemason. As you will see, this will be our only opportunity to have this discussion, but it may be for reasons you haven't anticipated as yet.
Before we go there though, let us review the balance of the year. It certainly had events, and to spare! The opera season was truncated this year, no explanation, but the results were gratifying for Haydn, since he spent more time than usual in Vienna. The season proper began in April instead of February and ended in mid-November rather than mid-December. The result was a mere eighty-nine performances. No mention if Haydn managed this pittance with one hand tied behind his back. Still, there was no shortage of preparatory work involved, we will see/hear a very nice insertion aria for Polzelli to sing as 'Rosina' in Anfossi's Il matrimonio per inganno, and another for her to sing as 'Modesta' in Il geloso in cimento, again by Anfossi.
Another project of interest is the dramma per musica (opera seria) Montezuma. Nominally it is a performance of the 1781 Neapolitan work by Niccolò Zingarelli. However, Haydn treated it to such a reworking one could scarcely call the finished product a Zingarelli opera! In his essay on this subject, musicologist John Rice goes into some depth as to what, exactly, we should call this work. Traditionally, it has been said to be a 'major revision' by Haydn. By the time Haydn was done with it, it had become a collection of arias and ensembles by various composers. It was presumably Haydn who replaced most of Zingarelli's orchestral music with music by other composers, thus transforming the opera into a pasticcio containing as few as five items by Zingarelli: the overture, three accompanied recitatives, and a march.
There is truly a lot going on here for an opera historian or enthusiast to, um, enthuse over. For example, the subject of the work itself, a New World topic instead of mythology or chivalry or European history. There were very few operas written on New World subjects, and previous efforts at telling the Montezuma story, both one-offs, by Vivaldi and Graun, were finely done, but didn't start any trends. Then too, operatic conventions couldn't simply be flouted with impunity, so Montezuma's death was an historical fact which was tough to handle. As was the necessary portrayal of Christian conquerors in their factually raw state. The censors would have never allowed it. It was as recently as 1765 when these problems got resolved, with artful obfuscation, it must be said, by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi. This libretto met the criteria required by both the opera-loving public and the censors, although an historian may have been distraught! If you decide to look further into this topic yourself, and I commend it to any interested party, you will also discover some interesting tidbits, such as a fair amount of the music which Haydn used to replace Zingarelli's is still unidentified, and may actually be by Haydn. There is a topic worth digging around in!
In January, Haydn was still in Vienna. He composed a set of minuets (12 Minuets Hob 9:8) which he sold to Torricella. Of course, we saw last year Torricella's dire situation; in the event, these works, too, like the symphonies 76-78, were acquired and published (as keyboard reductions though) by Artaria. And this is what is left today, the original orchestral arrangements are lost, presumably gone forever.
January was a good month for Haydn on other fronts, too. On 15 January, Mozart arranged to have all six of the 'Haydn' Quartets played at a private party which he gave for Haydn at his own house. On February 12, Mozart's father, Leopold, had arrived in town for an extended visit, and the last three of the quartets were played once again, this time with Haydn and Leopold as audience. The next day, Leopold wrote to Nannerl, still in Salzburg;
[16 February 1785 Leopold to Nannerl]
On Saturday evening Herr Joseph Haydn and the two Barons Tinti came to see us and the new quartets were performed, or rather, the three new oneswhich Wolfgang has added to the other three which we have already. The new ones are somewhat easier, but at the same time excellent compositions. Haydn said to me: 'Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.
Emily Anderson - The Letters of Mozart & His Family
This now famous sentence was not intended to flatter Leopold, it was doubtless a completely sincere and heartfelt expression on Haydn's part.
September brings this:
[Letter from Mozart to Haydn – Sept 1]
[Used by Artaria as the score dedication – Original in Italian, familiar form]To my dear friend Haydn,
A father who had resolved to send his children out into the great world finds it advisable to entrust them to the protection and guidance of a highly celebrated Man, especially since this man, by a stroke of luck, is his best Friend. Here then, celebrated Man and dearest Friend, are my six sons. They are, it is true, the fruit of a long and laborious endeavor, yet the hope inspired in me by several Friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me, and I flatter myself that this offspring will serve to afford me solace one day. You, yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last Sojourn in this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me more than anything else; and thus I entrust them to your care and hope they are not altogether unworthy of your favor. Do but receive them kindly, be their Father, Guide and Friend! From this moment I cede to you all my rights over them, begging you however to look indulgently upon the defects which the partiality of a Father's eye may have concealed from me, and in spite of them to continue in your generous Friendship for him who so greatly values it, in expectation of which I am, with all of my Heart, my dearest Friend, your most Sincere Friend,W.A. Mozart
by Martin Tovar y Tovar
In October, there is yet another reminder of the New World. A visit from General Francisco de Miranda, Venezuelan revolutionary, friend of Washington and Hamilton in America, is recounted from his diary:
[October 26, 1785 – Diary entry] …the famous Hayden [sic] for whom I was carrying letters, accompanied me directly and showed me the whole of the palace… The theater which performs the whole year 'round costs the Prince 30,000 florins a year… in the evening we went to the opera, saw the Prince, his niece and his mistress (a vulgar woman)… the orchestra was twenty-four instruments, Haydn played the harpsichord (el clave).
[October 28 -] The next day early, Hayden came and we went together in a coach sent by the Prince to see the garden…. Talked a lot about music with Hayden, and he agreed with me about the merit of Boccherini…
Overall, this innocuous tidbit of daily life speaks more to us than it might otherwise do. Miranda was a genuinely famous man, if one checks out the biographical link above. Yet here he is, carrying letters to Haydn! Of course, that was probably just a sidelight to the nearly mandatory visit to Eszterháza which was a Grand Tour quality attraction by 1785. We see Nicholas openly hobnobbing with his mistress, we get some solid information on the band and Haydn's continuing position as a mere continuo player in it. And we see yet another example of Haydn's gracious opinions about other composers.
The main thing which Haydn and Miranda had in common, though, was Freemasonry. Miranda actually had founded a major Lodge in London, Haydn was a highly respected member of a Viennese Lodge which was currently under close scrutiny from the government. Perhaps this was the source of the letters Miranda carried, if indeed they existed beyond being a pretext (letters from Spain perhaps? Would I dare even speculate that they might have anything to do with the concurrent commission for The Seven Last Words ??).
While 1785 is the only year of public record concerning Haydn and Freemasonry, it must be remembered that it was also the year in which Emperor Joseph II shut down nearly every Lodge in the empire and consolidated the Viennese Lodges into one over which he had control. So the small things you may have read about Haydn's feelings about The Order can be very deceptive. Early times (1959), Landon speculates Haydn's lack of attendance stemmed from being uninterested after his initiation and discovering what it was all about. Geiringer says Haydn's Catholic faith overcame any interest he might have in this proscribed secret society. To put those two to bed right away, let us point out a bit of history; Haydn was initiated in February, 1785. He then left for a season in Eszterháza from which he didn't return to Vienna until early December. On December 11, 1785, Joseph II issued the Freimaurerpatent, which closed his Lodge completely down before he ever got an opportunity to attend another meeting there! Geiringer's point is a two-edged sword; if one examines the books in Haydn's library, of which there are many, a great proportion of them are written by people who are influential Enlightenment thinkers and writers. Freemasonry went hand-in-hand with the Enlightenment, as we have seen. Of books which could be considered 'devotional'; i.e. – faith-based, the sum total is zero. So Haydn's faith didn't proceed from intellectual stimulation but rather was at a deeper, personal level. It should also be mentioned here that there were several hundreds of Freemasons in Haydn's Vienna, and they all shared his deep Catholic faith and background. So if Masonic philosophy would put Haydn off, what of these others?
Some further points which I find interesting; Haydn's 'best and dearest friend', Mozart, was an active and enthusiastic Freemason, belonging to the Lodge 'New Crowned Hope'. If Haydn was looking for social stimulation, this would seem like the logical place for him to join the Order, made even easier because while Leopold was in town for the quartet party described earlier, he joined 'New Crowned Hope'. However, Haydn ended up joining Zur wahren Eintracht (True Harmony) instead. The reasons for this can only be, dare I say it, intellectual! True Harmony was the Lodge which was most dominated by the cream of the literati, arts and science. It was well-known to be the meeting place for the foremost representatives of the various fields of art and thought. Haydn rubbed elbows with these men regularly at salons, and an invitation to join them could only be considered the highest form of compliment.
If Geiringer wished to do so, he could have overlooked the moral code of the corrupt Church and instead looked at the Journal of True Harmony, in which it was written by poet and Journal editor Aloys Blumauer;
The purpose of our Masonic Journal is to prevent the lamentable consequences of indifference on the part of (ou)r often most-esteemed members; to present our Order to the Masonic public in its special, most beautiful and dignified form; to guide the searching spirit of our members only to fruitful paths which run parallel to the welfare of humanity; in short, to provide Masonry with genuine workers devoted to its purpose, and through them to give mankind just as many benefactors.
Whew! How revolutionary is that? Nonetheless, it proved impossible in the event, for the Powers That Be to take any of this at face value. True Harmony was hit harder than any other Lodge by the edict of December 1785. Haydn's failure to join another Viennese lodge, which is what Mozart did, can be ascribed to many other things than lack of enthusiasm. Research still continues into lodges outside of Vienna, such as in Pressburg, and possibly in Eszterháza itself, since Nicholas I was sympathetic to Masonry and Nicholas II was to be the Master of Mozart's new Lodge in 1790! It is Haydn's own statement to Greisinger twenty years in the future which speaks volumes about his true attitude towards Masonry and Enlightened principles;
I did my duty and I was useful to the world…
It could have been his epitaph.
Next time we'll head to Paris to eat some fruit from the Masonic Tree.
Thanks for reading!