He subsequently received an annual pay of 800 florins, with the title of
Kapellmeister in the service of the Emperor. At his death, he left a
debt of 3,000 florins. The copyright of 'La Clemenza di Tito' was
offered to Breitkopf, in Leipzig, for sixteen ducats. Breitkopf having
declined the opera, it was bought by his apprentice, A. Boehme, who with
it laid the foundation of his prosperous publishing-house in Hamburg.
It must be admitted that among our modern composers several very
practical men could be pointed out. Some, who are the offspring of rich
bankers, may have inherited business-like habits in a natural course;
this appears all the more probable since they belong to a race which is
known to possess extraordinary talent for money-making.
It has long been a favourite project with distinguished musicians on the
continent to visit England, to be there extremely practical, in order to
accumulate as much money as they could in the shortest time possible,
and then to retire to the fatherland to be happy ever after. Possibly
the rumour concerning Handel's property, and his bequests, to which also
Mattheson alludes in his annotations to the 'Memoirs of the Life of
Handel,'[36] may have contributed to entice other continental musicians
to try to make their fortune in England; and many have shown common
sense enough in this attempt. Handel in London generally received for
the copyright of an oratorio twenty guineas. The wealthy publisher,
Walsh, gained L1500 by the publication of the opera 'Rinaldo,' a fact
which elicited from Handel the remark: "My dear sir, it is only right
that we should be upon an equal footing; _you_ shall compose the next
opera, and _I_ will sell it." At any rate, so the story goes. Handel,
after having lost, by his enterprise as manager of the Haymarket
Theatre, all the money he had gained during a residence in England of
about twenty-four years, which amounted to about L10,000, commenced
anew, exerting himself as a practical man in another and more successful
way. Handel died "worth" upwards of twenty thousand pounds.
Music-printing in the eighteenth century was not in the flourishing
state which it has now attained. The composers had other sources of
profit besides the sale of their manuscripts,--such as public
performances, dedications of works to wealthy patrons of the art, or by
having an appointment, with a fixed salary, in the service of a
sovereign. To judge correctly of the capacity for business of a
distinguished musician, it is necessary to take into consideration the
usages of his time.
Haydn, on his first visit to London, in 1791, was engaged by Salomon for
L500, for which sum he had to compose six symphonies, and personally to
direct the performance of them at the concerts; and to resign the
copyright of those six symphonies. Furthermore, L200 were guaranteed to
him by Salomon for a benefit concert.
That Rossini could be practical in England, is evident from the
following conversation of this composer with F. Hiller. It is given here
in translation from the German. By way of preface to it, may be
mentioned that Rossini, in Italy, received for an opera from twenty to
thirty pounds. However, for the 'Barber of Seville' he received about
eighty pounds.
_Hiller._ "Considering, Maestro, that you have grown up among singers
and actors, and that you possessed a fine voice, it seems almost
singular that you did not think of becoming an operatic singer."
_Rossini._ "I had no other intention, dear sir; but I also wished to
learn my art more thoroughly than most of the singers with whom I came
into contact at that time had learnt it. This was easy enough; at an
early period I already officiated as _Maestro al Cembalo_; then there
came the period when the mutation of my voice interfered with my
singing; my attempts at composition found favourable reception; and thus
I fell almost accidentally into the career of the composer. I adhered to
it, although I had from the beginning the opportunity of observing how
incomparably better the singers are rewarded than we are."
_Hiller._ "Heaven knows! Beethoven has hardly received for all his works
as much as Cruvelli obtains annually at the Grand Opera."
_Rossini._ "It was not quite so bad at that time as it is now; but that
makes no difference. When the composer received fifty ducats, the singer
received a thousand. I confess that I never could help feeling vexed at
this injustice, and often have I given vent to my dissatisfaction in the
presence of the singers. You ignorant fellows, I said, you cannot sing
even so well as I can, and you gain more in one evening than I am paid
for a whole score! But, what was the use of talking thus. Neither do the
German composers get rich."
_Hiller._ "Certainly not, Maestro! But they obtain appointments which,
though they are not lucrative, ensure the most important necessities of
life. No German composer has ever gained so much by his operas that he
could live upon the proceeds. However, it appears to be now better in
this respect than it formerly was."
_Rossini._ "Incomparably better. The former Italian opera composers
could write Heaven knows how many operas, and had nevertheless to
struggle to make both ends meet. I was scarcely better off until I
obtained an appointment with Barbaja."[37]
_Hiller._ "Tancredi was the first of your operas which proved a decided
hit; how much did you get for it, Maestro?"
_Rossini._ "Five hundred francs. And when I composed my last Italian
opera, 'Semiramide,' and insisted upon having five thousand francs for
it, not only the theatrical manager, but the whole public regarded me as
a sort of highwayman."
_Hiller._ "You have the consolation of knowing that singers, managers,
and publishers have become rich through you."
_Rossini._ "A fine consolation! Except during my stay in England, I have
never gained by my art so much that I could lay anything by; and the
money which I made in London, I did not make as a composer, but as an
accompanist."
_Hiller._ "Yet it was because you were a celebrated composer."
_Rossini._ "That is what my friends said, to persuade me to take to the
new occupation. It may have been a prejudice with me, but I had a
dislike to being paid for accompanying on the pianoforte, and I have
submitted to it nowhere but in London. However, they were determined to
see my nose, and to hear my wife. I had fixed for our co-operation at
musical evenings the rather high terms of L50. We attended at about
sixty of such evenings, and the pecuniary result was certainly worth the
trouble. Moreover, in London the musicians will do anything to make
money. I have witnessed there, queer doings."
_Hiller._ "There one scarcely trusts one's eyes, still less one's ears."
_Rossini._ "Thus, for instance, when I accepted my first engagement as
accompanist at such a Soiree, I was told that Puzzi, the celebrated
virtuoso on the horn, and Dragonetti, the celebrated double-bass player,
would also be present. I thought they would play solo, but this was far
from being the case, they had only been engaged to assist me in
accompanying. Have you then written parts for all these pieces? I
asked--'Oh, dear, no!' they replied, 'but we get well paid, and so we
accompany with whatever comes into our head.' These attempts at
improvised instrumental performances appeared to me, however, too
venturesome; I therefore begged Dragonetti to restrict himself to
twanging occasionally some Pizzicatos, whenever I should wink my eyes to
him; and I suggested to Puzzi to fall in with his horn whenever a
cadence occurred, which he, as a good musician, easily accomplished.
Thus we went through it without very serious accidents, and everyone was
contented."
_Hiller._ "That is capital! But the English, it appears to me, have made
great progress in regard to music. They have at present much good music
well performed and attentively listened to; that is, in public concerts.
In the drawing-room, music is still painfully maltreated. Many persons
without the least musical talent parade themselves with an incredible
boldness, and give instruction in things of which they know little or
nothing."
_Rossini._ "I knew in London a certain X., who as teacher of the
pianoforte had amassed a large property. All he knew of music, however,
was that he blew the flute a little, and that quite miserably. Another,
who was greatly in demand as a teacher of singing, did not know even the
notes. He kept his own accompanist, whose business it was first to
hammer those pieces into his master, and afterwards to accompany him
when he taught the pieces to the pupils. This singer possessed however
a nice voice."[38]
For the sake of truth some business letters written by distinguished
German composers to English publishers must be noticed here, although
they redound to the honour of the writers as little as do some of the
letters of the German publishers just cited. Not that they reveal a
deficiency in common sense as regards business transactions; they
exhibit the writers as rather too practical. Among the letters which the
music-seller W. Forster, in London, received from Haydn, with whom he
kept up a correspondence about the purchase of manuscripts for
publication in England, the following, which was originally written in
German, is selected as a characteristic specimen. It dates from the year
1788, and was published by S. A. Forster, a son of the music-seller, in
his account of the correspondence which his father had with Haydn.
"My dear Mr. Forster,
Do not be annoyed with me that on my account you have had trouble
with Mr. Longman. I will satisfy you another time on that point. It
is not my fault, but that of the usurer Artaria. So much I promise
you that so long as I live, neither Artaria nor Longman shall
receive anything from me or through me. I am too honourable and
upright to annoy or injure you. So much, however, you will yourself
plainly understand that whoever will have six new pieces from me
must give me more than twenty guineas. I did, in fact, some time
ago conclude a contract with somebody who pays me for every six
pieces one hundred guineas and more. Another time I will write you
more; meanwhile I am with all respect,
Your obedient servant,