1794 – The Year part 4 - My mother bids me bind my hair...

Hob. 26a #	Genre	Voice	Name	Key	Tempo	Style	Poet	Instrument
25	Canzonetta	Soprano or Tenor	The Mermaid's Song	C	Allegretto 2/4	Sea Song	Anne Hunter	Piano Forte
26			Recollection	F	Adagio 3/4	Elegy
27			A Pastoral Song	A	Allegretto 6/8	Pastoral
28			Despair	E	Adagio 3/4	Elegy
29			Pleasing Pain	G	Allegretto 6/8	Pastoral
30			Fidelity	f	Allegretto 2/2	Storm

Cover Page from Book I, autographed by Haydn 

As you must know by now, I can't possibly tell every story that comes along. I know, it seems like I must have done, but sometimes there is strategic value in a flashback. Let's have a look.

3 June 1794 – The Sun of London

DR. HAYDN
Just published

SIX ORIGINAL CANZONETTAS, with an accompaniment for the Piano Forte, price 7s 6d, to be had at the Author's, No 1 Bury-street, St. James's, and at Messrs. Corri, Dussek, and Co. Music Sellers to Her Majesty, No. 67, Dean-street, Soho, and Bridge-street, Edinburgh.

Well, here is something different. Hard to picture these onstage at Hanover Square Rooms. What sort of venue might have been intended here?

It has been a good long while since we have looked in on a salon. Haydn, along with Mozart, was a frequent habitué of the salons of Vienna, whenever he was in town. As we saw, these were the regular meeting places of the intelligentsia in science, politics and the Arts. Sometimes, probably more often than we know, Haydn composed works specifically for people he met at one or another of these gatherings, like the Auenbrugger Sonatas, or his two sets of 12 Lieder for Clavier. In addition, it is likely that many of his 'accompanied sonatas', that is Keyboard Trios, were also composed for this milieu before being published.

The original Blue Stocking Ladies portrayed as Muses in the Temple of Apollo
Richard Samuel - 1778

London had its own tradition of the salon. The most famous of them, the so-called 'Blue Stockings', were all about literature and art, with only an occasional smattering of music. Founded in the 1750's, that group of women went on to become so famous that the entire salon movement in England ended up with their name. As well as the entire feminist movement, I might add, since the idea of women being interested in the same sorts of manly thoughts as men were, was not a universally beloved one. Be that as it may, there were a good many very intelligent and intellectually aware women in London, as there always have been, whether it was the style or otherwise. So the idea of social interaction, without the discriminatory bars of gender, wealth and class (at least in theory), spread to encompass much of London and 'The Regions' by 1786. As well, the boundaries of acceptable topics had widened to include science and politics as well as the Arts, so the scope of the attendees was exponentially broader.

Anne Home as the Pensive Muse of Poetry - 1767
from a (lost) painting by Angelika Kaufmann

Anne Home Hunter, or as she preferred, Mrs. John Hunter, was one of the new generation of Bluestockings who became prominent in and around 1786, when the era of the original ladies had given way to age. Her husband was the renowned anatomist and surgeon, Dr. John Hunter. Their house, in Leicester Square, was just a short walk from where Salomon and Haydn were living in 1791-92 at Great Pulteney Street, Golden Square.

Anne was a great hostess, beautiful, intelligent, and perfectly suited to the task of entertaining the leading lights of Georgian London. According to Recollections of a Literary Life by contemporary author William Beloe,

Very high in the circles of taste and elegance stood the female who is next commemorated. […] possessed of no inconsiderable portion of talents of various kinds, she [Anne] had the happy knack of bringing together, on a very pleasant footing, the most distinguished literary characters. […] Horace Walpole, Chief Baron MacDonald, and his very accomplished wife, Lady Louisa, Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. Carter, Lady Herries, Joanna Baillie, Sir Charles Blagden, Mr. Matthias, Dr. P. Russell, the lady's husband, the eminent John Hunter, her brother, the no less eminent Everard Home, with a long catalogue of other names of greater or lesser celebrity.

One of my very favorite recordings!

Anne's private passion was writing poetry, which she approached from the angle that poems were merely lyrics for songs. I say private, because before 1802, when she finally published a book of poetry in her own name, they were largely distributed anonymously. She had, in fact, written several verses which had become quite popular as songs, including some Scottish National airs. In 1782, she published Nine canzonetts for two voices; and six airs with an accompanyment for the Piano-forte by a Lady, for which she also wrote the music. Even in Robert Burns' common-place book are entered (25 August 1787 & 23 December 1788) two of Anne's poems, To the Nightingale and A Sonnet in the Manner of Petrarch, the only poems by another author found there. They were sent by a mutual friend, to serve "as models for the correction of his [Burns'] style".

In relation to Haydn, we first hear of the Hunters in 1792, right at the end of the first journey. One day he received a note asking him to come at once to Leicester Square; the matter was urgent. Haydn later told Dies:

"So I went. After the first exchange of greetings, a few brawny fellows entered the room, grabbed me from behind and wanted to tie me to a chair. I shouted, screamed, pounded and kicked with my feet until I was able to free myself and make it clear to Mr. H., who already had his instruments ready, that I did not want to undergo the operation. He was amazed at my stubbornness and, it seemed to me, he pitied me for denying myself the pleasure of experiencing his skillful surgery. Did I wish, he asked me with faint reproach, to take my foe [i.e., the disfigurement] to the grave with me? I declared that such was my intention and hurried out of the house."

His foe here is, of course, the famous 'nasal polypus', which he did indeed take to the grave with him.

So it is clear that Haydn knew the Hunters, and they him. What truly is a pity is that he doesn't mention them overtly in his London Notebooks. However, in a pair of letters from Rebecca Schroeder, perhaps we get a clue as to when he actually received the lyric poetry from Anne.

Wednesday 8 Feb '792.

M[y] :D[ear] : Inclos'd I have sent you the words of the Song you desired. I wish much to know, HOW YOU DO to day, I am very sorry to lose the pleasure of seeing you this morning…

And then:

Wednesday night 6 June '792.

My Dst : Inclosed I send you the verses you was so kind as to lend me, and am very much obliged to you for permitting me to take a copy of them,

Of course, these are nothing definitive, but there is every reason to believe that Rebecca would have joined Haydn at the soirée's, and been very much a part of them. It has even been speculated that she is the one who introduced Haydn to Hunter. That is really just circumstantial, since there is no documentation, but makes perfect sense given her social standing and interest in the Arts. In any case, Haydn had the verses with him when he left London in late June, 1792. Hunter says in her 1802 book that she wrote the verses, which she published in that 1802 volume, specifically for him.

The other question which occurred to me when I first ran across these works is 'what the heck is a canzonet anyway?'. Canzonets have a long history, beginning as compositions for multiple voices in 16^th century Italy, paralleling the popularity of madrigals. By the time they were dispersed around Europe, and specifically when the were imported into England in the 17^th century, they had become virtually identical with madrigals, even though they were understood to be a bit lighter in nature. By the end of the 18^th century, though, canzonets had acquired a different aspect entirely, becoming a light song for solo voice accompanied by keyboard. It would be very difficult for a non-expert, or even for an expert, to say the difference between an English canzonet and a German Lied, beyond the obvious, language. So if you, like me, want to think of canzonettas as Englische Lieder, you would certainly not be wrong.

Probably less well-known, although following much the same path as the Lied this way, there were lots of canzonettas written from the 1760's to the 1820's, many times they were different settings of the same poem. Everyone who was anyone, and some who weren't, took the time to play the pianoforte along with a poem, it seems. There are few recordings in existence, the one pictured here is the best of the lot that I have found. Along with Haydn, names like Stephen Storace, William Shield, Thomas Linley, Samuel Arnold and James Hook, along with post turn-of-the-century efforts by George Pinto and even Johann Salomon, all have made contributions to the literature. The pleasure gardens which we saw earlier, like Vauxhall and Ranelagh, provided an alternate venue for these works, it may even be that Haydn's showed up there, since they were, indeed, highly popular.

The 6 Original Canzonettas

Name	Key	Tempo	Style
The Mermaid's Song	C	Allegretto 2/4	Sea Song
Recollection	F	Adagio 3/4	Elegy
A Pastoral Song	A	Allegretto 6/8	Pastoral
Despair	E	Adagio 3/4	Elegy
Pleasing Pain	G	Allegretto 6/8	Pastoral
Fidelity	f	Allegretto 2/2	Storm

The songs as Haydn published them are not in the same order as Hunter's book has them. Often when we are looking at groups of songs like this, we tend to think of them in terms of a cycle. And it may be that Hunter was doing that with her poems. But the cyclic layout of songs was rather more a 19^th century idea than an 18^th. Most of the major styles of English song are present in this group, with the sole exception of a ballad. It would appear to me more as though Haydn was following his own tried and true scheme of putting a potential popular favorite in the first position, like he did in both halves of the Paris Symphonies. Then alternating heavier with lighter, right up to the last, Fidelity, with its alternating major/minor accompaniment, and its oft-repeated pledge of love past death.

The Mermaid's Song Now the dancing sunbeams play On the green and glassy sea, Come, and I will lead the way Where the pearly treasures be.   Come with me, and we will go Where the rocks of coral grow. Follow, follow, follow me.   Come, behold what treasures lie Far below the rolling waves, Riches, hid from human eye, Dimly shine in ocean's caves. Ebbing tides bear no delay, Stormy winds are far away.   Come with me, and we will go Where the rocks of coral grow. Follow, follow, follow me.	Recollection The season comes when first we met, But you return no more. Why cannot I the days forget, Which time can ne'er restore? O days too fair, too bright to last, Are you indeed forever past?   The fleeting shadows of delight In memory I trace; In fancy stop their rapid flight And all the past replace. But ah! I wake to endless woes, And tears the fading visions close.
A Pastoral Song My mother bids me bind my hair With bands of rosy hue, Tie up my sleeves with ribbons rare, And lace my bodice blue.   For why, she cries, sit still and weep, While others dance and play? Alas! I scarce can go or creep, While Lubin is away.   'Tis sad to think the days are gone, When those we love were near; I sit upon this mossy stone, And sigh when none can hear.   And while I spin my flaxen thread, And sing my simple lay, The village seems asleep, or dead, Now Lubin is away.	Despair The anguish of my bursting heart Till now my tongue hath ne'er betray'd.  Despair at length reveals the smart; No time can cure, no hope can aid. My sorrows verging to the grave, No more shall pain thy gentle breast. Think, death gives freedom to the slave, Nor mourn for me when I'm at rest. Yet, if at eve you chance to stray Where silent sleep the peaceful dead, Give to your kind compassion way, Nor check the tears by pity shed.   Whene'er the precious dew drop falls I ne'er can know, I ne'er can see; And if sad thought my fate recalls, A sigh may rise unheard by me.
Pleasing Pain Far from this throbbing bosom haste, Ye doubts, ye fears, that lay it waste; Dear anxious days of pleasing pain, Fly never to return again.   But ah, return ye smiling hours, By careless fancy cron'd with flow'rs; Come, fairy joys and wishes gay, And dance in sportive rounds away.   So shall the moments gaily glide O'er various life's tumultuous tide, Nor sad regrets disturb their course To calm oblivion's peaceful source.	Fidelity While hollow burst the rushing winds, And heavy beats the show'r, This anxious, aching bosom finds No comfort in its pow'r.  For ah, my love, it little knows What thy hard fate may be, What bitter storm of fortune blows, What tempests trouble thee.   A wayward fate hath spun the thread On which our days depend, And darkling in the checker'd shade, She draws it to an end.   But whatsoe'er may be our doom, The lot is cast for me, For in the world or in the tomb, My heart is fix'd on thee.

Jenny Lind in 1862
by Eduard Magnus

With the exception of The Mermaid's Song, which Hunter said she had paraphrased from an Italian original, the overall feeling of most of these works is rather on the melancholy side. Haydn's settings of them aren't overwhelmingly sad though, his extremely artful interweaving of piano into voice make them a pleasure to listen to. They were immensely popular, not only in the immediate aftermath of their release, but for years afterward. One of them, A Pastoral Song, was the signature song of Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, one of the most popular singers of the 19^th century, who, after her opera career was over, toured the USA promoted by P.T. Barnum in the equivalent of modern day stadium shows. The song became a hit all over again.

In their original setting, however, you wouldn't expect to hear them amid cheering and applause, but more likely, in quiet appreciation of both the words and music. What you would hear, rather, are accompanied sonatas (piano trios), solo piano works, and especially Scottish Songs. Not only was Hunter an occasional composer of Scottish songs, but also her niece, Joanna Baillie, whose mother, Dorothea, was John Hunter's sister, was among the most prominent Scottish poets.

An evening in Anne's salon would have encompassed the full spectrum of Art and learning available to the trendy Londoner of 1792. Sometimes, John opened his amazing on-premises museum, as in 1788, as reported in the London Chronicle;

…that John Hunter had opened his museum to a considerable number of the Literati, in which were included several members of the Royal and Antiquarian societies, the College of Physicians, and many foreigners of distinction. What principally attracted the notice of the Cognoscenti was Mr. Hunter's novel and curious system of natural philosophy running progressively from the lowest scale of vegetable up to Animal Nature […] Mr. Hunter attended himself, and gave a kind of peripatetic lecture on the several articles, which took up between two and three hours.

Edmund Burke by James Northcote	Hester Thrale   by Anon. Italian painter	James Boswell - 1785 by Sir Joshua Reynolds
	A gallery of Mrs. Hunter's guests
Fanny Burney - 1782  by Edward Francesco Burney		Horace Walpole by Sir Joshua Reynolds

On any given evening, James Boswell, biographer of Samuel Johnson (who had been a friend of Anne in earlier days), or Edmund Burke, foremost philosopher of the age, Hester Thrale, literary light and another Johnson biographer, or Horace Walpole, son of the first British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, and whose Letters were of very significant social and political interest, might be in attendance. Or possibly one would meet Fanny Burney, daughter of Haydn's friend Dr. Charles, who went on to become one of the best-known diarists and chroniclers of the age. Not to mention poets, painters, interesting foreigners and most importantly, musicians. One of the topics of discussion, given people like Burke, was undoubtedly the French Revolution. Here, as we saw elsewhere, it was a bone of contention between those sympathizing with the people, and the more conservative faction backing the King and Queen.

One of the greatest blows to Anne's life came on the day of Marie Antoinette's beheading, 16 October 1793. Not that we know what she thought of that signal event, but while she and the family were off in Brighton on holiday, John got into some sort of altercation with colleagues at St. George's Hospital, and suddenly dropped dead! The salon age was over for Anne. Forbidden, by rigid social convention, to see anyone outside the family for a year, it was not until April, 1795 that she got an opportunity to spend a day with Haydn, during which time they worked up the second set of canzonettas, which we will talk about next year.

I know I spend a lot of time in the salon, I am fascinated with this vehicle by which ideas of both style and substance were transmitted during the age before mass communications. Many of the ideas we have today on science and politics, philosophy and Art, saw their birth in those rooms full of such substantial persons. But behind the hum of voices, the main sound heard was the rhetoric of the music, which also benefited so greatly from the blending of styles and ideas. It must have been grand!

Thanks for reading!