This poem was suggested by the tale entitled “A First Love,” in the
“Musical Sketches” of Elize Polko. Her authority for the narrative was
the historical fact that the wife of Haydn had a sister who was beloved
by him, and who entered a convent. My own authority for the imagined
connection indicated in the poem between the marriage of Haydn and the
influence of the father and the priest, is derived from such passages as
these, which may be found in every biography of the musician: “Forced to
seek a lodging” (_i.e._ when a boy in Vienna), “by chance he met with
a wig-maker, named Keller, who had often noticed and been delighted
with the beauty of his voice at the Cathedral, and now offered him an
asylum. This Haydn most gladly accepted; and Keller received him as a
son.... His residence here had, however, a fatal influence on his after
life.... Keller had two daughters; his wife and himself soon began to
think of uniting the young musician to one of them; and even ... ventured
to name the subject to Haydn.... He did not forget his promise to his
old friend Keller, of his marrying his daughter.... But he soon found
that she ... had ... a mania for priests and nuns.... He was himself
incessantly annoyed and interrupted in his studies by their clamorous
conversation.... At length he separated from his wife, whom, however, he
always, in pecuniary concerns, treated with perfect honor.” _Biographical
Dictionary of Musicians_, 2 vols., London, 1827.
Such facts, taken in connection with the well-known piety of Haydn, are a
sufficient warrant, as I think, for my supposing that “priests and nuns”
who so annoyed him had had something to do with drawing into a convent
that member of the family whom he had loved the most. In the poem I have
endeavored to bring the personality of the musician before the mind of
the reader by using the name Haydn, rather than his baptismal name,
Joseph.