Haydn Seek

Haydn's Music by Decade - Part 2 the 1760's

 

Haydn's first Esterházy music room - Eisenstadt

 

For a change of pace this week, we will leave the time travel aside for a moment and I will present my latest update to the list of Haydn's works by decade.

When I began this 'Haydn Project' for myself, it was for the purpose of organizing my extensive collection of his music in the same manner as I had done with Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and many others; that is, chronologically. It should have been simple enough, after all, it was Haydn, a name I had known since childhood.Well, if there is one thing I should have learned by now, it is that the seemingly simplest things are often the most difficult. And so it is that seven years later I am still working on it!

One of my ambitions for this blog is to make it a resource for people such as me, who aren't music professionals, but love music and want to know more than the minimal, frequently inaccurate contents of the liner notes of their favorite disks. A hint here to writers of liner notes: get a new book once in a while so that information which was discredited forty years ago can be allowed to die a natural death! Haydn scholarship is a vital, ongoing effort which is more productive today than at any time in the past. The findings aren't as dramatic because the ignorance isn't as great; the low-hanging fruit has been picked already. But there are still plenty of questions which need to be answered, and they are being worked on.

So, as you peruse the list, if questions occur such as 'I wonder why this is here when it used to be there?', chances are it is because some new finding came to light which helped us to put more accurate dates on things. As I have mentioned before, the phrase 'before 1766', frequently used for Haydn's works, suddenly seemed to become 1766, but the truth is there were sixteen years of composition time before 1766, and every work which gets properly put into its temporal folder gives a better picture of this great composer.

Next week we will be back in 1788, yet another dynamically interesting year, but for now, I hope you might find some interest in this little addition to the chronology.

Thanks for reading!

1787 – The Music part 5 - Have we got it wrong? 7 Last Words redux

Hob. #	Genre		Instrument(s)		Notes
03:50-56	Quartet suite		2 Violins, Viola & Cello		Arrangement of the 7 Last Words
17:deest	Keyboard suite		Solo Keyboard		Arrangement of the 7 Last Words
Hob. #	Genre	Voice		Name		Opera / Composer
24b:11	Aria	Baritone character 'Ormondo'		Un cor s'i tenero		Il disertore by Bianchi
24b:12	Aria	Soprano character 'Cardellina'		Vada adagio, Signorina		La quakera spiritosa by Guglielmi
24b:13	Aria	Soprano character 'Erissena'		Chi vive amante, so che delira		Alessandro nell'Indie by Bianchi

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 11^th February 1787

Mon tres cher Amy!

This is to report that I have arranged 4 of the Sonatas as quartets, and have completed them; you will receive the whole work this coming Friday. Meanwhile you can give the first violin part of the first four Sonatas to the engraver, just as it stands, because there was no need to change anything…. [snip]

I am, most respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 14^th February 1787

Mon tres cher Amy!

I enclose herewith all four altered parts, and hope that the copyist will understand me well, and especially that he will do all the parts in the right order, that is, as for proper quartets. If there should arise any doubt about certain passages, the copyist should let me know about them at once, so that I can help him in time. All 4 parts, that is, each Sonata in which there are changes, must be written out anew. As soon as proofs of the Sonatas (both as quartets and for full band) can be made, please send me the first copy, so that I can correct it. The content [NB: the actual Words] of the Sonatas expressed in music is also enclosed herewith, and it must be printed in the quartet version as well. [snip]

The opera rehearsals here detain me.

Meanwhile I am, most respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn

It is commonly known, at least we like to think so, that in the 18^th century, an era which consumed new music with giddy abandon, rescoring and arranging music for other ensembles than the original was routine. Keyboard reductions were particularly frequent, but especially in Vienna, the fact of arrangements for chamber ensembles of major works of music being made was simply taken for granted. In most cases, it wasn't a question of whether it would happen, rather, it was 'who is going to do it?'. Thus we have Mozart's letter to Leopold of 20 July, 1782:

...Now I'm really up against it — my opera [NB - The Abduction from the Seraglio] must he transcribed for winds by a week from Sunday or else someone will get there ahead of me and reap all my profits; and I'm supposed to be doing a new symphony [NB – The Haffner Symphony (K 385)] as well — how is all that possible! you won't believe how hard it is to transcribe something like this for winds so that it's really perfect for wind instruments and at the same time that the original flavor doesn't get lost — Oh well, I'll have to work nights, otherwise it can't be done — and it is to be dedicated to you, my dearest father — you should be getting something in each mail — and I'll write just as quickly as possible and write as well as haste will allow. —"

There is a great amount of information in this letter, which I think usually gets cast aside, apparently because many authors prefer to use it as a cudgel against Leopold's badgering of Mozart to finish the symphony. What it tells us about the climate for arrangements, though, is far more important than any Leopold bashing. The time limitation demonstrates the quantity of the business being done; indeed, there are 'composers' who did nothing else. So in Mozart's case, as a composer who was self-supporting, he had competition for the business. The second highly important thing is the emphasis he places on making the parts be idiomatic for the new instruments, a failure of which would arouse (righteous) criticism. This very interesting letter from Beethoven to his publisher, Breitkopf & Härtel, hits this aspect right on the nose:

[To Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig]

(Fragment) July 13, 1802.

.... With regard to arrangements, I am heartily glad that you decline them. The unnatural mania, at the present day, to wish to transfer pieces for the pianoforte to string instruments, which in every way are so different, ought to be stopped. I firmly assert that only Mozart himself could transfer his pianoforte music to other instruments, and the same of Haidn [sic]; and without placing myself on a level with these two great men, I make the same assertion with respect to my pianoforte sonatas; not only would whole passages have to be omitted or entirely rewritten, but further additions made — and herein lies the true stumbling-block to overcome which there must be either the master himself, or at least one possessing the same skill and inventive power. I changed just one sonata of my own [NB – Opus 14 #1] into a quartet for strings, which I was pressed to do, and am sure that no other man could have accomplished the task as I have done.

Brautigam - Fortepiano
Häkkinen - Clavichord
Lubimov - Tangent Piano

So what was the motivation for the trend, or for Haydn, who didn't really have Mozart's financial issues, although he may have declaimed otherwise, to follow suit?

Wiebke Thormählen, in the essay Playing with Art: Musical Arrangements as Educational Tools in van Swieten's Vienna, provides some surprising (to me) answers. There was an actual governmental push to disseminate The Arts as far as possible. Gottfried van Swieten, the man who introduced Mozart to J.S. Bach and would one day write the libretto for Haydn's The Creation, was Joseph II's Prefect of the Imperial Library, and also the President of the Court Commission on Education. He gave a series of lectures on improving Austrian society by incorporating the Arts more fully into them. And one of the ways to do this was to make great music more readily available at all levels of society. As we have seen in recent years, these goals were totally as one with both The Enlightenment and Freemasonry, as practiced in Vienna in the 1770's and '80's. No surprise, since van Swieten was a prominent Freemason and also a strong supporter of his employer, apparently from true belief rather than toadyism. And here we also come to Haydn's motivation, the man who was also a true supporter of The Enlightenment and Freemasonic ideals, which he deemed to be for the good of humankind. He supported the dissemination of music as a principle, but also, since he wasn't a total altruist, as a way to help himself out.

                [To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]

            Estoras, 21^st June 1787

            Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir!

I have revised and corrected the Seven Words, not only for full band but also for quartet and piano score; but I cannot send it today with the Hussars because the parcel is too large, and so I shall send you everything, together with the 4th and 5th Quartets*, on Sunday at the latest…. [snip]

Meanwhile I am, most respectfully,

Your wholly obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn

* - of Opus 50

And then:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 23^rd June 1787

Dearest friend!

I send you the proofs of the Seven Words in all 3 forms. Inter alia I compliment you on the piano score, which is very good and has been prepared with the greatest care. I should be happy if you could place the word "Fr lim"* of the 3rd Sonata in the first violin part of the version for full band, just as I have indicated it in the quartet version. I enclose the fourth Quartet [of Opus 50], you will quite certainly receive the 5th this coming week.

I am, as always,

Your most obedient servant,

Haydn

N.B. The last movement, Il Terremoto, is not engraved in the viola part at all!

* It is unclear what Haydn means here : the Words which preface the third Sonata are "Mulier, Ecce filius tuus", nor does "Fr lim" stand for these words in French or German. (Robbins-Landon)

Kuijken Quartet
Skálholt Quartet
Quatuor Mosaiques

Ever since these arrangements were released, the string quartet version has been the more popular, deservedly or otherwise. The fact it comes closer to replicating the original, although still falling short, coupled with the far greater potential of gathering players together for a recital, make it not only accessible but closer to the original's intent.

But a word or two about the piano score is fairly inserted here, too. To begin with, I should dearly like to upbraid Anthony van Hoboken for his handling of both these pieces. He created a special category for 'Works on The Seven Last Words', and then immediately failed to include the string quartet version in it. These are not string quartets, they are a suite of sonatas with an introduction and finale, arranged for string quartet. Thus, properly speaking they should be categorized as Hob 20:02, since they are the second version. The piano arrangement is not treated by Hoboken at all, except in adjunct notes. I would challenge the reader to review the bolded sections of the two letters above, the only ones which mention the existence of the piano arrangement, and show me where it says that Haydn didn't arrange this himself. In a separate letter to Artaria, asking for a copy of a score (which he says Haydn would pay for), brother Johann Haydn, the tenor at Eszterháza, asks Artaria for a copy of 'the piano score of Joseph's 7 Last Words in his arrangement…' (italics mine)[Robbins-Landon, Haydn's Chronicle & Works Vol II footnote #1 on page 707]. Perhaps it was not given out at the time that it may have been someone else's arrangement, or possibly it was Joseph who arranged it. To say 'I compliment you on the piano score, which is very good and has been prepared with the greatest care' is not the same, to me, as denying responsibility for writing it! Especially coming from a composer who earlier wrote this to Artaria about the treatment of one of his piano reductions:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]

Estoras, 8th April 1783.

Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir !

I send you herewith the Symphony, Sir, which was so full of mistakes that the fellow who wrote it ought to have his paw [Bratze] chopped off. The last or 4th movement is not practicable for the pianoforte and I don't think it necessary to include it in print: the word "Laudon" will contribute more to the sale than any ten finales. ..... [snip]

Your wholly obedient servant,
Joseph Haydn

 

So, would it be out of character then for him to actually compliment Artaria for doing it well this time? No, I think not!

And as a final note, I refer you to the front page of the original Artaria edition, pictured above. It reads:

 

So, I will call it Hob. 20:03, standing alone for now, and let the chips fall where they may!

We are in the twilight of the Eszterháza years, still a robust opera schedule, of course, but it has become virtually the only remaining vestige of the once-great Esterházy entertainment empire. No doubt there were still some concerts, and for a year or two, we have some shadow of the dramatic troupe, but Haydn is mainly working for Haydn now, and working hard to catch up on all those years spent pouring out his creative talents on music which traveled no further than the concert hall across the street. As far as he knew, of course. This year's ninety-eight performances did need the hand of the master to make them fit in with the talents available locally, and thus we find at least three remaining 'insertion' arias for this year. I don't know what the originals sounded like, but these are excellent, and if you are a connoisseur of arias, worth finding a recording of, since this is likely the only way you will ever hear them.

And so, thus passes 1787. The heyday of the Golden Age. Next year, the Affair of Johann Tost continues, as well as another set of 'Paris' symphonies. Golden Ages aren't confined to a single year, after all.

Thanks for reading!

1787 – The Music part 4 - Thanks for 2 Years, now let's play Liras!

Hob. #	Genre	Key	No.	Instrument(s)
7h:1	Concerto	C	1	2 Lire, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, 2 Violas & Cello
7h:2	Concerto	G	2	2 Lire, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, 2 Violas & Cello
7h:3	Concerto	G	3	2 Lire, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, 2 Violas & Cello
7h:4	Concerto	F	4	2 Lire, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, 2 Violas & Cello
7h:5	Concerto	F	5	2 Lire, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, 2 Violas & Cello

Ferdinand IV - King of Naples & the Two Sicilies 
Louis Charles August Couder (1820)
Love Mount Vesuvius in the background!

Haydn's commission to write these five (probably six) concertos arrived sometime in 1785 or 1786. We don't have the letter he got from Norbert Hadrava, but a similar letter shows what was wanted. This is one of those cases where the composition period of a set was not circumscribed by the calendar, and so we now will look at the entire set together. As we saw in the introductory essay to these works (which I highly recommend you read, if you haven't done already), we saw the letter from Hadrava to composer Franz Sterkel in Germany, in which Hadrava describes the capabilities of the lira organizzate and what the expectations are from these works. This is where we learn the fact it will only play one of three possible keys, C major (no sharps or flats), F major (1 flat), or G major (1 sharp). Also, it has the same range as an oboe, more or less. I wonder, though, if, unlike the Prince's Baryton, it will still only play 1 sharp or flat if someone other than the King is playing. I don't suppose it matters at this point, but it does make me curious.

We believe Haydn received essentially the same letter as Sterkel, with the exception of asking for six concertos instead of three. Six is such a standard number in every way, we can only assume one work was lost. In which case it would, no doubt, have been in C major, thus making two each in the three possible keys. The sort of symmetry which would have pleased Haydn, no doubt!

Since the intended performers (except Hadrava) were Neapolitan, they would certainly have known what a concerto grosso sounded like. In fact, the form itself hadn't entirely disappeared in Italy like it had in the rest of Europe. And this was a commission in which Haydn could have leaned on that tired old standby. Perhaps the King (or Hadrava, really) didn't really expect much more than this. It must have done him proud, then, when he received these works from Haydn. Instead of an actual concerto form, with the string quintet plus horns playing the ripenio or tutti, and the two liras playing the concertino, what we get instead is a very modern cooperative effort as the various parts work together as in a divertimento. This is the form which Haydn perfected in 1775 when he wrote the Divertimento-octets for Baryton, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello & Violone. In 1781, he rescored those works for Flute, 2 Horns, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello and Contrabass, selling them to Artaria who called them Opus 31. Stylistically, the lira concerti and these divertimenti are of a kind. One hallmark of a concerto which Haydn retained was the cadenza, some of which he wrote out. So, while they may not formally fit the concerto mold, in all three cases they were perfect for the purpose at hand.

Another thing which Haydn did especially to please the King was to use Neapolitan style music in various forms throughout. Thus, we see things like serenade-style writing, and aria-like interludes. The slow movement of #2 actually is an aria; it is the insertion aria Sono Alcina, the lovely cavatina he wrote last year for Gazzaniga's L'Isola d'Alcina. Haydn also reused other themes of his own, such as the original finale theme from Symphony #13 as the first movement theme of #5. Next year, Mozart would also use this theme and make it famous, as the finale theme to his last symphony, K 551 (Jupiter).

These works not only incorporated previous ideas and forms, they gave rise to a few also. We saw, earlier this same year, the first example of reusing, not just themes, but entire movements with some additions, when we looked at Symphony #89. The second movement of Concerto #5 and the second movement of Symphony #89, as well as the third movement of the concerto and the fourth movement of the symphony, are much more than kindred. But the big surprise, the one which will certainly catch your ear, is the beautiful inside movement of Concerto #3 in G; this Romance: Allegro, became the hit of, not just the season, but of the entire English Adventure when Haydn used it, with the addition of Turkish Music, as the Allegretto of the Military Symphony! What bit of inspiration led Haydn down that path is unknown, but it became one of his signature pieces. By way of personal observation, the very first work of Haydn which I ever heard, and which fascinated me into becoming a ten-year old Haydn fan was an LP of my father's containing exactly that work (along with #94, no 'Surprise' there!). So there is always that special place for the little Romance of Concerto #3 in my heart!

On a personal note
It is hard to believe it has been two years this week since this review of the life and works of Joseph Haydn first came to be. What I envisioned as a nice little blog which I would use to keep track of the various things I learned about Haydn had its fifteen-thousandth view last week, and now has nearly a hundred-sixty essays, with a way left to go before we even get to England. It's okay though, I probably have a way to go before I get to England as well!

This time last year, I expressed a few ideas with which to expand the web page to include more data. Despite appearances, I haven't totally failed at it, as I have added a new feature which lists all the music composed by the decade. I have gotten some positive feedback on the first entry, the 1750's, and so I am preparing the 1760's now, and am nearly ready to publish. As we move ahead in time, dates become much more certain and so it will be simpler and likely more accurate as we approach the 1790's. I like to think the overall quality of the essays themselves has improved, and I have added a greater number of high quality images to each essay, and am now at the point where I will probably go back and rework some of the earlier essays. It is amazing how much you learn from doing!

Another feature which I am well into preparing now is a timeline of events, including known happenings in Haydn's life, his compositions, other events in Vienna which would have been known to him and influenced him, and finally, events in the world at large to help give the reader some context. This a bit more complicated, but I think it will become a nice reference tool for the interested reader.

One of the difficulties in keeping a journal of this type is matching the content to the audience. My stated objective when I began was to avoid sounding like an academic textbook. This isn't as difficult as it may seem, since I am not an academic, and couldn't sound like one if I tried! But I would very much like to get feedback from you, the reader, into how this series fulfills my mission of giving you all the context I can offer on Haydn's works, everything short of any sort of analysis of the music itself. Are there things you would like to see? Find out more about? By all means, make use of the feedback section to ask questions or make comments. Or send me an email straight on at the link in the upper right corner. Many have, I answer every one. I am always delighted to converse with fellow Haydnistos. Thanks to all you readers for faithfully sticking with me, even if I may have published a stinker one time or another!

Next time we will look at how Haydn and Artaria made it possible to enjoy the 7 Last Words in the comfort of your own Schloss!

Thanks for reading, and I am looking forward to year three!

1787 – The Music part 3 – The long winding path of Opus 50; part 2

 

The title page of the controversial Forster's Opus 50

We saw in the last essay the birth of the opus. This time, we will look at its completion, and also at the long tortuous chain of events which led to their publication in England, practically before Artaria had them out the door in Vienna!

Possibly because we all want our heroes to be spotless in every regard, even though they rarely presume to present themselves as such, we tend to throw sand over any defalcation which attaches to them. Thus, Mozart's overtly, wildly obscene language and probable incestuous relationship with his cousin are referred to, if at all, as 'charming' and 'naughty', and Beethoven's violent temper and amazingly creative methods of getting the better of whoever he is opposed to, whether in personal or business relationships, are usually deemed the fault of the moron who made himself the target or else they are simply 'righteous'. And who even discusses the cause Schubert's terminal syphilis as anything more than a one-time experimental one-night-stand gone bad? And so, when it comes to Haydn's business relationships, depending on the presenter, they are either glossed over, or else held up for all to see the 'real Haydn'.

One of the things I have tried to do since the very outset of this series is to point out whenever some work or another of Haydn got published elsewhere, and he didn't even know about it, let alone make anything for his efforts. The reason I tried to do this is because it was certain a day of reckoning would come. Actually, several of them, but this is not going to be an ongoing indictment, rather, a one-time look at one particular case.

So let us keep on chronologically. We are in the middle of a series of letters with Artaria updating him on the status of the quartets. All of the footnotes at the end of each letter are by Robbins-Landon. My own few interjections within the letters are enclosed in square brackets. As we saw in the last letter, Haydn has finished the first four quartets. Given what else he has to do, he is flying right along! Here is the next in the series:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]

Estoras, 10^th June 1787.

Dearest friend !

Since I shall complete the 5th Quartet this week, I assure you that you shall receive both Quartets in good order by a week from tomorrow, and finally the 6th in a short time. I read in the paper today that my Seven Words is already at the engraver's. Please send me only one single copy. I understand that we shall soon have the honor of seeing you here: this would give me great pleasure.

Meanwhile I remain, most respectfully,

Your wholly obedient servant,

Josephus Haydn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]

Estoras, 21^st June 1787

Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir !

I have revised and corrected the Seven Words, not only for full band but also for quartet and piano score; but I cannot send it today with the Hussars because the parcel is too large, and so I shall send you everything, together with the 4th and 5th Quartets, on Sunday at the latest, with the widowed Princess von Liechtenstein, or Count von Lamberg.

I am sorry that the Berliners have anticipated you, but you are to blame for it yourself, for they did not receive it from me [No one knows to which work(s) Haydn is referring here, although it is an interesting comment in light of what else is going on]. As for the dedication of the Quartets to His Majesty, the King of Prussia, I should prefer that you have it drawn up yourself by some intelligent person in Vienna, but brief and to the point. The Minister, Herr von Jacoby, could assist you best of all. You can ask him in my name, too, and I shall write to the worthy gentleman myself this coming Thursday. Meanwhile, you can announce the Quartets on your own subscription. If you want to have the first 3 Symphonies from me, please let me know.

Meanwhile I am, most respectfully,
Your wholly obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn.

So we see now, by June 21 the first five quartets are apparently ready to go. What can possibly derail the project at this point?

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, I2th July 1787.

Well born, Most highly respected Sir !

I send you herewith the 6th Quartet. Lack of time prevented my having the 5th copied up to now, but I have composed it meanwhile. I would have gladly sent you the Quartet version of the Seven Words, but there was no opportunity yet; I hope, however, to find one soon.

[snip]

 

Meanwhile I am, most respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, since I didn't know better than to ask, apparently there is something which could derail the project (for Artaria anyway)…

[To WILLIAM FORSTER, LONDON. in French]

Estoras, 8th August 1787

Monsieur,

I hope that you will have received my last letter [28th June], and the music of the Seven Words. I would like to inform you that I have composed six Quartets [Opus 50!!] and six Symphonies [Paris], which I have not yet given to anyone. If you would like them, be good enough to let me know it at your earliest convenience. I will give you all twelve pieces for twenty-five guineas. I am, with all possible esteem,

Your most humble servant,

Joseph Haydn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…which I have not yet given to anyone. Oh, Joe! If I estimate correctly, Forster will be the last person in all Europe to get the Paris symphonies, which, in the event, he bought. Well, Haydn can't be held (yet) for lying about Opus 50, he hadn't yet given them to anyone (in England!).

 

Carlo Artaria, proprietor

 

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 16^th September 1787

Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir !

Because no safe opportunity presented itself, I could not send the enclosed Quartet [Op 50 #5] before. Now, thank God ! I am glad that I finished them at last.

Please send the proofs of the first [Quartets] of the series for correction as soon as possible.

I am, most respectfully,

Your wholly obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn [m.] pria.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[To WILLIAM FORSTER, LONDON. in French]

Estoras, 20^th September 1787

Monsieur!

I received your letter with much pleasure. I would inform you that I have received five guineas from Mons. le General Jermingham, but you must see yourself that for music such as that of the Seven Words I deserve more; you could give me at least five guineas more. Meanwhile I send you the six Quartets [Opus 50], for which you will be kind enough to send me twenty guineas as soon as possible, as stipulated in the contract*. I shall not fail to send you the six Symphonies at the first opportunity. I await the favor of your early reply, and remain with all possible esteem, Monsieur,

Your most humble and obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn [m.p.] ria.

*Op. 50. Forster made Haydn sign a contract. The following interesting letter from Charles Jermingham throws some light on the negotiations:

"Sir/I received Your favour 21 inst. & send here enclosed a letter for Mr. Giuseppe Hayden to whom I have written very circumstantially & enclosed to him a procuration which he is to gett drawn up either in French, German, or Latin, & authenticated by two wittnesses & a publick notary, which gives it full force in all Countries; you may depend on it that what I have sent to Mr. Hayden is to the full as strong as the letter of Attorney you sent me in which there is nothing but a repetition of words."

Apparently, judging from the dates given, Haydn was unable to provide a copy to Artaria of #5 before now, because he had sent off the original to have it copied for Forster!

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 7th October 1787.

Mon tres cher Amy,

I shall send you the Quartets*, at the very first opportunity, and I shall be playing through them today; I cannot send them in the mail bag. I was astonished at your penultimate letter concerning the theft of the Quartets**. I assure you on my honor that they were not copied by my copyist***, who is a most honest fellow, whereas your copyist is a rascal, for he offered mine 8 gold ducats this Winter if he would give him the Seven Words. I am sorry not to be in Vienna myself so as to have him arrested: My plan would be to make Herr Lausch appear before Herr von Augusti, the mayor, and make him confess from whom he received the Quartets. Herr von Augusti is an old friend of mine and will certainly help you in this matter, as he did once before in just such an affair. Although you have everything copied on your own premises, you may be swindled all the same, because the rascals put a piece of paper a parte under the music, and thus by degrees they secretly copy the part they have in front of them. I am sorry that this misfortune happened to you. In future I shall take the precaution of sending my own copyist up to you.

I am, most respectfully,

Your wholly obedient servant,

Haydn.

*The proofs of Op. 50.

** L. LAUSCH, a well-known Viennese music copyist who sold MS. copies of the newest works of Haydn, Mozart, etc., seems to have bribed someone to get the Quartets (Op. 50) which Artaria was in the process of publishing. Apparently Artaria felt that the sale of these copies, even though in MS, was detrimental to his business.

***Probably Johann or Joseph Elssler Jr.

So, even while Haydn is making his own little deals on the side, there are still further machinations in the works which will take money, not only out of Artaria's pocket, but also out of his own. One of the more interesting items in this letter is right in the first sentence; Haydn proofs his works by playing them, no doubt using members of the orchestra. So eminently practical, although no easy solution for most composers who didn't have a band-full of musicians at their disposal! But I digress…

And now it is late November, and the cat is trying his hardest to get out of the bag. Artaria hasn't even published yet, still working on the engraving. But then, this:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. German]

Estoras, 22nd November 1787

Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir!

I regret that it was not till today that I had a safe opportunity by which I could return to you the corrected Quartets and Symphonies [Opus 50 and 'Paris', still]. Concerning the lie of Herr Bartolozzi, … I don't know whether I should laugh or be angry, since I am grateful to the Lord when I am able to complete my works once in my handwriting; these are boastful and wild imaginings, and such falsifications attempt to belittle my credit. In the end I won't publish anything at all.

Meanwhile I am, Sir, most respectfully,

Your wholly obedient servant,

Josephus Haydn

Probably GAETANO BARTOLOZZI, the well-known artist and engraver, who lived in London and with whom Haydn later became friends. Bartolozzi must have informed Artaria of Forster's forthcoming edition of the new Quartets, and said that Haydn had sent a second autograph to London. Forster had received parts, of course. [which would not be an autograph, therefore Haydn was being obliquely truthful!]

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[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 27th November 1787.

Nobly born, Most highly respected Sir !

You will forgive me, good Sir, that I have been unable to answer you sooner, for want of a good opportunity. You want me to give you a certificate for the 6 Quartets: I enclose it herewith. It is not true, however, that I gave a separate certificate to Herr Forster, giving him the sole rights to these works ; but it is true that I sent one to him after the Quartets had already been engraved. It's your own fault, because you could have sent the Quartets to Herr Langmann* 3 months ago, and at the same time given him the sole rights. But your having held them back derives from your own great selfishness : no one can blame me for attempting to secure some profit for myself, after the pieces have been engraved: for I am not properly recompensed for my works, and have a greater right to get this profit than the other dealers. Therefore you will see that the contracts between us are more carefully drawn up, and that I am sufficiently remunerated. If you lose GENERALLY because of this, however, I shall find a way to compensate you in another way. Meanwhile I remain, with the greatest esteem, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn.

*LONGMAN & BRODERIP, Artaria's London associates, later published many of Haydn's late pianoforte trios, etc.

There you go, Artaria, take that!. What an amazing letter! It really does bear a few readings to get the full measure of Haydn's chutzpah here. "I didn't give him sole rights, but I did give him rights in England"…"It's your own fault since you could have given your English partner copies a long time ago"…"So YOU are the selfish one"…"I don't make enough money from my work, so I have a greater right to make a profit than any dealers have"…"Next time, you should be more careful drawing up the contract…" !!!!!

Is there a moral to this story? Is it the Heroic Starving Artist fighting the Machine? Or the Con Man extraordinaire, making every possible Kreutzer for his efforts? As I mentioned previously, without copyright laws, none of this was even illegal, although by any standards there were ethics issues involved. It is probable that twenty+ years of seeing his work make good money for every publisher from Paris to Moscow, none of which ended up in his pocket, had grated harder than we might have expected, hard enough even for a generally fair and honest man to simply adopt a no-holds-barred attitude when it came to selling his work. As an interesting sidelight and perhaps commentary to this entire affair, I will point out one fact to put it all in perspective: there is no sign at all to show us that the business relationship between Artaria and Haydn was in any way damaged by this: by all appearances, it was business as usual from this point forward. Anyway, as I mentioned at the beginning, this was neither the first or last episode of this nature, but it is the only time I am going to write about it at length. It is what it is.

Next time, Concertos for the King.

Thanks for reading!