Haydn Seek

« 1796 – The Music part 6 - War & Peace, two different worlds | Main | 1797 – The Music part 1 - The Kaiserlied - "...our immortal countryman Haydn" »

21 January 2018

1797 – The Year part 1 - Brilliance in the dark shadow of war

Haydn's autograph of the Lied version of the Anthem

[To HAYDN FROM ANTONIO SALIERI AND PAUL WRANIZKY, on behalf of the Tonkünstler-Societät, VIENNA.
in German]

To Herr Joseph Hayden, Capellmeister to His Serene Highness Prince Esterhazy.

Most esteemed Hon. Capellmeister!

You must and should rightly be accustomed to hearing the praises of your own unattainable services to music, and accustomed to being admired for your inexhaustible creative mind, for you have won the most fervent and justified approbation of entire nations.

The Society for the Promotion of Musicians' Widows and Orphans for which you, worthy Sir, have so often earned considerable sums through your admirable compositions will therefore forgo all eulogies; it now has the honor of thanking you for all the kindnesses you have shown it in the past, and assures you of its boundless admiration. As a small token of its gratitude, it sends you a free ticket of admission for all future concerts of the Society ; you need only show this ticket when you enter, retaining it for further use. Please do not in any way consider this act to be a kind of small recompense, but rather the wish to show you our kindest and best intentions, and to assure you of the gratitude, but also of the eternal obligation which will always be owed you by

The Society for the Promotion of
Musicians' Widows and Orphans.

Ex concluso Sessionis Paul Wranizky,
dat. 20. January 1797 pro tempore Secretary.
Anton Salieri.

This was a bit of a change of attitude on the part of Haydn's peers. As we saw back in 1774, Haydn wrote his first oratorio, Il ritorno di Tobia, for this same group. It was a palpable hit and became a significant fund-raiser for the widows and orphans. But later on, when Haydn applied for membership in order to have some sort of life insurance, the result came as we see here:

Certainly Haydn had more than one reason to want to join the Vienna Musicians' Society. The prestige of membership, the chance to commune with one's peers, the special opportunity to give charitably, which was something which characterized Haydn throughout his life, and ultimately the life insurance which was its reason for being, all combined to give impetus to his decision. So he composed an oratorio [in 1774] and donated it for performance in 1775, hoping to receive an invitation to join. As we see in this press clipping, the oratorio was a smash, and in the event, the Society took in a net profit of 1712 gulden, a considerable sum indeed! Still, Haydn didn't gain membership for quite some time. In a business in which professional jealousies were frequently boiling over, Haydn's success and fortunate employment were viewed with envy by many influential members. In 1778, when he applied for membership, he was asked to pay 368 gulden as an admission fee because he was a foreigner. He accepted this condition, assuming the thirty miles to Eisenstadt did indeed make him a foreigner. Then, the Society required him to sign a contract pledging him to write a major composition whenever he was asked to do so! Of course he withdrew his application and demanded a refund, but in addition, we see him lose his temper publicly in one of the few times ever documented. A few years later, this same Society would take full advantage of the charitable aspects of Mozart, and yet again that worthy died an uninsured non-member. It is fair to say Vienna didn't always do rightly by her geniuses.

Haydn Seek, 1775

Apparently Haydn's success in England had finally legitimized him in Vienna, too. At least he had a free ticket for future concerts…

Wranizky [NB - today, spelled 'Wranitzky'] was in large measure responsible, not only for this letter, but also for making the Society admit Haydn as a member without charging him any entrance fee. In the session of 20^th January, Wranizky hoped that the Society's "previous conduct would be forever erased from my memory, and from Haydn's too, if that is possible." (Pohl, Denkschrift, p. 23). Haydn was then elected in December 1797, and made Assessor senior for life. His performances of the Seven Words, Creation and Seasons made the Society a huge fortune.

Landon - Collected Correspondence…

I would guess this was one of the occurrences Haydn had in mind when he said he had to become famous first in England before the Germans or Viennese would accept him. It was only one of many honors which would soon be coming his way, but at the other end of the scale in terms of importance, 1797 started out with an even greater honor.

[ANTON SCHMID (Custodian of the National Library, Vienna)
– pamphlet: Joseph Haydn & Niccolò Zingarelli (1847)]

…As far as the reasons for which the wonderful Haydn Song was composed, we may present the following circumstances, which several of the finest composers in Vienna, some of whom are dead and some still alive, remembered from those times and communicated to us.

In England, Haydn came to know the favorite British national anthem, God Save the King, and he envied the British nation for a song through which it could, at festive occasions, show in full measure its respect, love and devotion to its ruler.

When the Father of Harmony returned to his beloved Kaiserstadt, he related these impressions to …. Freiherr van Swieten… Haydn wished, too, that Austria could have a similar anthem…. Also, such song could be used in the fight taking place with those forcing the Rhine; to inflame the hearts of the Austrians to new heights of devotion to the Princes and fatherland….

Freiherr van Swieten took counsel with … Count von Saurau… and there came into being a song, which, apart from being one of Haydn's greatest creations, has won the crown of immortality.

[Saurau] forthwith set the [Court] Poet Lorenz Haschka to draft the poetry, and then requested our Haydn set it to music. In January 1797, this double task was resolved, and the first performance of the Song was ordered for the birthday of the Monarch.

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

We will look more closely at this now famous song in our next essay, but there is a bigger picture here, of which it was but a piece. There is no doubt the war we looked at last year was really hitting close to home now. Haydn's inspiration of a National Anthem, such as he had seen in England, got sent right up to the highest levels once Swieten shared it with Count Saurau. Among other things Haydn did was to include the theme in one of his Opus 76 quartets, and also to write a theme and variations for keyboard, which he played lovingly until the end of his life.

Here is why such import was placed on the anthem. In the first month of the new year, with the French Republican Army kicking down the doors, it was time for even the laid-back Viennese to begin taking things seriously. As we saw, Mantua, Italy, was under siege, and by January, the Austrians were mounting a fourth, final, failure of a relief mission to free that major city from Napoleon's siege. Nonetheless, Mantua fell on 2 February, and from that point forward the rout was underway.

*A Selected Timeline of the War Events of 1797*

"Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli - 14 Jan 1797" by Felix Philippoteaux
14 January - Battle of Rivoli. Part of the Italian Campaign. A Bonaparte victory over the Austrians.
2 February - The Siege of Mantua ends. It had begun on 4 June 1796. Part of the Italian Campaign. A Bonaparte victory over the Austrians.	"2 February 1797 Surrender of Mantua" by Hippolyte Lecomte
14 February - Battle of St Vincent. British victory off the Cape of St. Vincent. Defeat of the Spanish fleet. Nelson is on the HMS Captain.	Nelson receiving the surrender of 'San José' at Battle of Cape St Vincent by Daniel Orme
19 February - Treaty of Tolentino, or Peace of Tolentino, between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VI.
22 February - A small French invasion force of 1,200 men, led by Jean-Joseph Castagnier and William Tate, lands near Fishguard Bay. Their mission was to reach Bristol and to wreak havoc. The ships had started their journey on 18 February. The French will surrender on 24 February. This event is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Fishguard. (Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK). It marks the last time Britain was ever invaded by a foreign power.	The Battle of Fishguard - painting from the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry
10 April – Graz falls to Napoleon's advancing forces. Napoleon's advance had triggered a panic in Vienna. While the court prepared to evacuate the city, Generals Bellegrade and Meerfeld were sent to Leoben to ask for a ten day armistice.
17 April - Treaty of Leoben. Peace between Austria and France. The armistice is concluded with Napoleon only a hundred miles from Vienna itself. This is only a preliminary treaty.	"The Signing of the Treaty of Leoben" by Guillon Lethière
18 April - French General Hoch defeats the Austrians, led by Franz von Werneck, at the Battle of Neuwied.	The Battle of Neuwied by Victor-Jean de Adam
9 July - Napoleon creates the Cisalpine Republic, which will be confirmed by the Austrians with the Treaty of Campo Formio in October.
4 September - Coup d'état of 18 Fructidor, year V. Encouraged by Napoleon, the Directory eliminates the royalists from the government.
29 September - The Army of Germany is created by merging the Army of Sambre and Meuse with the Army of Rhine and Moselle. Commander: Augereau.
11 October - Battle of Camperdown. Defeat of the Dutch (Batavian Republic) fleet.	The Battle of Camperdown by Thomas Whitcombe
17 October - Peace of Campo Formio. Austria is forced to agree to the French possession of Belgium, the extension of the French eastern frontier to the Rhine, and the transformation of northern Italy into a French dependency.	"Napoleon and Prince Carl signing the Peace of Campo Formio" from a contemporary poster
This is the end of the War of the First Coalition. There is only one member left standing, which is Britain.
Timeline courtesy of http://www.emersonkent.com

In Vienna, though, the battle for hearts and minds was being furiously fought. Benefit concerts were being held regularly, to raise money for troops and equipment, and also for the benefit of fallen soldiers and their families. Among the larger contributors was Prince Nicholas II Esterházy. Haydn and Beethoven were both major musical performers at these concerts. This, then, is the background for the composition of the National Anthem.

While the Anthem remains the most prominent work of the year, there are certainly others, some of which have nothing to do with the war. Well back in Haydn's history, 1774 to be precise, we saw the oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia, the only Italian oratorio Haydn ever wrote. The gratitude of the Tonkünstler-Societät for its success continued even up to this day, as we saw at the beginning of this essay. When, in 1784, they wanted to give it again, they approached Haydn to see if he would update it for the changing tastes of the patrons.

This year, Tonkünstler-Societät (Musicians' Society) asked Haydn to reprise his successful oratorio of 1775, Il ritorno di Tobia. He thoroughly revised the work, making substantial cuts in the longer numbers to tighten up the action, and also composing two outstanding new choruses. It was performed in Vienna in March (22 & 29). Mike McCaffrey - HaydnSeek, 1784

One of those 'outstanding new choruses' was called Svanisce in un momento (It fades in a moment). Perhaps you recall when we were talking about Haydn's religious arias frequently being converted to secular use and vice-versa, creating what are called contrafacta. It is something Haydn had done from early times, at the very least since his Applausus cantata. In one of this kind of transformation, Svanisce in un momento became a motet, the offertory for a Mass, now entitled Insanae et vanae curae (Insane and stupid worries flood our mind). I am not entirely sure I can say with certainty that this motet had nothing to do with the war. We'll talk about it soon though.

All that said, if you were to ask anyone today, and present them with the list below of the works of 1797, chances are even the Gott erhalte… anthem would be overshadowed by the final works of the year. The Opus 76 String Quartets, his last complete quartet opus, are considered by not a few Haydn-philes as his finest works. We will have a long, loving look at them in the weeks ahead also.

Even with all this going on, Haydn still did manage to get his annual Mass performed at Eisenstadt. For those of you still tenaciously clinging to the Name Day story, I will point out that this year's mass on the Feast of Saint Mary, celebrated Sunday, 10 September, "was by [Johann Nepomuk] Fuchs". The note adds "also a new chorus by Joseph Haydn". The actual Haydn Mass, which we recall is the Missa in Tempore Belli, was not performed until 29 September. While we don't know with 100% certainty, the only known candidate for the 'new chorus' is the aforementioned Insanae et vanae curae.

We have two new sources of information who will fill in some gaps for us over the next couple of years. One of them, whom we met last year while discussing the Part Songs, is Swedish amateur musician Frederick Silverstolpe. His letters home at the time these events happened, and his much later summary book of his adventures are remarkably congruent, unlike many reminiscences. Haydn seemed to have really liked him and allowed him to visit as he pleased, and spoke with him easily. The second source we have now provided us the information in the previous paragraph. An official (Controller of Accounts) for Prince Nicholas, J. Carl Rosenbaum, kept a diary in which he talked about the day-to-day musical activities, among other things. Thus his diary is of great interest to us. Landon quotes him in Chronicle & Works vol. 4, although the best source is the 1968 Haydn Yearbook. It will be nice to have some new insight into this most interesting of times.

As a final note on the year, I think it is very important to point out here that during this entire period, and into next year, Haydn was also working on his oratorio The Creation. While I might mention peripherally that someone or other has heard a bit here and a piece there, I am reserving most of 1798 for discussion of this most wondrous work!

So this is 1797. Let's move ahead and look at some of this music, written in the huge shadow cast by one of the most momentous characters of the last 250 years!

Thanks for reading!

Works of 1797

Hob. #

Opus #

Key

Number

Instrument(s)

Notes

3:75

76 #1

2 Violins, Viola & Cello

dedicated to the Hungarian Count Joseph Georg von Erdödy
(1754–1824)
He held exclusive rights to them for 2 years.