on porcelain (c. 1905) by Spencer Edge
It's an odd thing, what some people deem important versus what others might do. I have spent considerable time in the last few weeks preparing for this look at Haydn's Doctor of Music degree from Oxford. Why? I guess I took the cue from Haydn himself, when he told Dies;
But I have much to thank this doctor's degree in England; indeed, I might say everything; as a result of it, I gained the acquaintance of the first men in the land and had entrance into the greatest houses'.
We will also see, down the road, how he gained leverage with his own Prince and a level of status which, while he may never have aspired to it, he certainly lived better for having gained. And yet, virtually all of the current biographies treat it as a mere footnote in the Haydn Story, scarcely worth the retelling beyond repeating what Greisinger and Dies have passed along. As though the wonder of a wheelwright's son from rural Austria-Hungary achieving highest honors from the oldest school in England and most prestigious university in the world is scarcely worth a mention. Since I disagree with them, I will relate all I can find and let you decide. Of course, the future of 'Dr. Haydn' will remain in the future, for now.
With the concert season over for the year, Haydn finally got an opportunity to explore his new surroundings a bit more than the occasional weekend in the country offered. As we saw earlier, the highly influential Dr. Charles Burney had become Haydn's self-appointed mentor. Of course, if you are going to have a mentor at all, it is especially nice when he/she is highly influential!
It is likely that Haydn was at least vaguely aware of a plot which swirled around him all the while he was in England, possibly hatched even before he arrived there. Nothing sinister, of course, it was mainly this; this English cabal simply didn't want him to go home again. Ever, if possible. It would become much more overt by 1795, but even now the wheels were in motion. In furtherance of this aim, in early July, Burney talked Haydn into accompanying him to Oxford, there to be given an honorary degree of Doctor of Music.
It was a doubtless jolly party, off on summer holiday, which made its way to Oxford. At the least, it consisted of Haydn, Burney, Nancy Storace, Michael Kelly, Davide, Mrs. Crouch (a well-known singer who had been prominent in the recent Handel Festival), Salomon and Wilhelm Cramer. All the friends were along to perform at the three days of concertizing when the Degree was awarded, as well as for moral support, and, quite honestly, the serious partying. Apparently, much like with modern professional wrestlers, the Salomon/Cramer 'feud' was for the public and the newspapers, then they share a cab home. At arrival in Oxford though, Mrs. Crouch (I suspect her forename is 'Mrs.' for she is never called else) was among the missing, having been taken dangerously ill in Henley. For the others, though, it was a grand time.
(Sorry, no such painting of Haydn was ever made)
Much as Haydn was in his time, I am an outsider into the world of tradition which is embodied by a place such as the University of Oxford. And so I am continually amazed, just as he must have been, to discover things which are the same today as when he was there, and were already old then, by my standards. One example: this painting of Alexander McKenzie from 1924 shows just the same academic robe which Haydn wore in 1791!
The ceremony of installing a new Doctor of Music takes place in 'The Sheldonian', called a 'theatre', but apparently much more. It was the first public building designed by England's finest architect, Christopher Wren, a recent Oxford graduate. The project, which was to supply an alternative site for the rather rowdy and occasionally blasphemous graduation ceremonies, was approved and funded by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon. It took a full five years to build, from 1664 to 1669. Wren took the opportunity to break loose from Gothic style architecture and create a design patterned after a Roman theatre of the 1st century. Of course, 17th century England and 1st century Rome had differing climate issues to deal with, and Wren had to come up with a roof design which could span an opening more than seventy feet across! His solution, based on a recent engineering breakthrough by a fellow Oxonian was, for centuries, the largest unsupported roof in the world. Because it nearly supports itself, it hardly requires any hardware other than the occasional iron nail or plate. The building itself is shaped like a 'D', surmounted by an octagonal cupola which provides great views of the surrounding city. It will seat approximately 800 persons, some on hard wooden benches, which, I have it on good authority, will make an audience place high value on the virtue of brevity by any orator!
Greisinger and Dies both have details of this event from Haydn, and typically, they selected different aspects to present. Greisinger, rarely enough, is the one who errs, placing the graduation in a cathedral:
Dr. Burney suggested to Haydn that he should be given a doctor's degree at Oxford. The ceremony during which the degree was given took place in a cathedral with great ceremony; the Doctors enter in procession and put questions to the candidates, if they wish to be admitted and so forth. Haydn answered what his friend Salomon told him to say. The election is put to an assembly from a raised platform; the speaker enlarged upon Haydn's merits, listed his works, and to the question, would Haydn be admitted, there arose a general cry of assent. The doctor's dress is a small gown with frills at the collar and they have to wear it for three days. 'I would have dearly liked my Viennese acquaintances to see me in this dress!'. Storace and some other musical friends waved to him from the orchestra. The day after the election, Haydn conducted the music. 'I thank you' he answered in English, raising the ends of his gown. That caused much jubilation.
Dies is a bit more detailed;
The Doctor's Hat or Tudor BonnetDr. Burney was the moving spirit; he talked Haydn into it and went with him to Oxford. At the ceremony in the University Hall, the assembled company was encouraged to present the doctor's hat to a man who had risen so high in the service of music. The whole company was loud in Haydn's praises. Thereupon Haydn was presented with a white silk gown, the sleeves in red silk, and a little black hat, and thus arrayed , he had to seat himself in a doctor's chair. He was asked to present something of his own composition. He climbed up to the organ loft, turned to the company, took his doctorial robes in both hands, opened them at his breast, then closed them again and said as loudly and clearly as possible [in English], 'I thank you'. The company well understood this unexpected gesture…. He also told me 'I felt very silly in my gown, and the worst of it was I had to drag it around the streets for three whole days. But I have much to thank this doctor's degree in England; indeed, I might say everything; as a result of it, I gained acquaintance of the first men in the land and had entrance into the greatest houses'.
Of course, these accounts are basically them repeating, after their fashion, what they heard from Haydn. The London newspapers were all over this, as we say today. There are lengthy descriptions of the concerts, which actually took place on the two days before the award ceremony, not after, as is usually put forth. On Thursday, the 7th, Cramer led the orchestra in symphony #92, which is not merely a speculation but a fact, verified by a journal by William Crosse (who gave a speech, mentioned below), who specifically identified the score used. It is interesting how things get mixed up one time and centuries later corrected errors are still given in their uncorrected version as fact. Please, though, don't read this as special pleading to validate the abhorrent practice of naming a symphony….
Entry in the Catalog of all Graduates at Oxford;
Haydn (Joseph), Composer to His Serene Highness the Prince of Esterhazy, er. D. Mus. July 8. 1791
And in the Register of the House of Convocation: [Any errors in translation are mine alone]
Die Veneris octavo die mensis Julli anno Dom. 1791 causa Convocationis erat, ut … grata celebraretur publicorum Benefactorum Commemoratio… et ut alia negotia academica peragentur… Proponente… Domino Vice Cancellatie placuit venerabili coetui ut celeberrimus et in re musica peritissimus vir Josephus Haydn ad Gradum Doctoris in Musica honoris causa admitteretur.
On the 8th of July in the year of the Lord 1791, there was reason for a convocation, so that a grateful commemoration of the public benefactors could be celebrated and so that other academic business could be handled. It has pleased the Lord Vice Chancellor..(?). that Joseph Haydn, (a man) most celebrated and most skillful in musical matters, be admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music.
The Reverend Robert Holmes was on hand to confer the degree, and His Excellency the Reverend Mr. William Crosse, the Public Orator, gave an ample speech in commemoration of the public benefactors of the university.
Here is one among dozens of similar stories:
The Morning Herald, July 11, 1791
On Friday morning the annual Commemoration took place at Oxford when the celebrated Haydn was admitted to a Doctor's Degree in a manner highly flattering to him and creditable to the University, being the free gift and unanimous desire of that learned body.
Between the parts of the Latin and English oration, upon this occasion the band performed pieces adapted to the situation. On the return of the procession from the theatre, and on Haydn's retiring, the applause which arose, was perhaps equal to any that ever attended a similar occasion.
Finally, I quote an excerpt from this last notice simply because The European Magazine had by far the largest circulation of any periodical of the time, it was even widely distributed in Vienna. Even the Prince will have seen the honor bestowed upon his Kapellmeister!
Oxford – July 6 – 8 [1791]
[July 7] The second (i.e. – Day 2 of) Grand Music Festival… Haydn's Overture (Symphony No.92) was performed, and met with great approbation… Haydn's new overture, conducted by himself, introduced the second part. It was generally deemed one of the most striking compositions ever heard; and the ingenious author was applauded very warmly… July 8 … The honorary degree of Doctor of Musick was also voluntarily and liberally conferred on Joseph Haydn Esq..
To clear up another misperception, The 'Oxford' symphony was not Haydn's musical submission for his degree. That place was filled by a puzzle canon, Thy Voice, O Harmony, is Divine (Hob 27b:46) which Haydn later reused in his larger canonic work, The Ten Commandments, as music to The First Commandment. One of the pities of obscurity is that we are unable to hear most of Haydn's canons; in this year of 1791, he composed Ten Sacred Canons (The Ten Commandments) of which there is no available recording, and, overall, nearly fifty secular canons, of which the only extant recording is simply not available to purchase.
Wikipedia:
A puzzle canon, riddle canon, or enigma canon is a canon in which only one voice is notated and the rules for determining the remaining parts and the time intervals of their entrances must be guessed. "The enigmatical character of a [puzzle] canon does not consist of any special way of composing it, but only of the method of writing it down, of which a solution is required"
Here we see both the final version and Haydn's original (at the bottom) along with the written out solution above. It was doubtless copied out in a very ornate hand for the University!
Most of the greatest composers were adept at making these puzzles, including Sebastian Bach, Josquin du Pre, Mozart and Beethoven. It was a very appropriate submission for Haydn's Doctorate.
(click to enlarge)
Haydn used his honorific from that day forward. He was justifiably proud to be Dr. Haydn. Let it not be said, however, that he didn't have things in perspective, as this tiny note in his London Notebook, the only mention of it there, tells us just how impressed he was with himself:
London Notebook #1
I had to pay 11/2 guineas for having the bells rung at Oxforth [sic] in connection with my doctor's degree, and a guinea for the robe. The trip cost 6 guineas.
We will see, going forward, the effect it had on his life. I think you will agree with me, this was much more than a mere footnote to the Haydn Story!
Next time, we will meet a few of the Friends of Dr. Haydn, and try to get some music written!
Thanks for reading!