The chief Capellmeister, and nominally the head of the orchestra, was
Gregorius Josephus Werner, an industrious musician, of whose compositions
nothing has come down to us, and of which nothing deserved to come down.
He was now old, and was to all intents and purposes replaced by Haydn,
whose revolutionary ideas and innovations generally must have greatly
disturbed the calm of his prim, formal, and pedagogic chief, who, in fact,
rarely spoke of him except as "a mere fop" and "a song scribbler." Haydn,
on the contrary, always expressed a warm respect for the old musician,
who lived for five years under the new order of things and then ceased to
repine, in death. But Prince Paul Anton died four years earlier, in fact
before Haydn had been in his service for quite a year, and was succeeded
by his brother Prince Nicolaus, the "great Esterhazy," famous for the
lavishness with which he displayed his wealth and for the enthusiasm of
his love for and patronage of the fine arts.
Under Prince Nicolaus a new order of things began, and his generosity was
at once illustrated. The salaries of all the musicians were increased,
Haydn's four hundred florins being increased to six hundred and shortly
after to seven hundred and eighty-two, or about three hundred and ninety
dollars of our money. The force of the Capelle was enlarged to seven
singers and fourteen instrumentalists, and rehearsals took place every
day. By this time, a knowledge of Haydn's music existed outside his own
country, and his works were beginning to be known in London, Paris, and
Amsterdam, and five years after he had been at Eisenstadt, the official
journal of Vienna, the _Wiener Diarium_, alludes to him as "der Liebling
unserer Nation." His industry was unrelaxing, for he had already composed,
under the Esterhazys, some thirty symphonies and cassations, several
divertimenti in five parts, six string trios, a concerto for French horn,
twelve minuets for orchestra, besides concertos, trios, sonatas and
variations for the clavier. His vocal compositions were a Salve Regina
for soprano and alto, two violins and organ; a Te Deum; four Italian
operettas; a pastoral, "Acis and Galatea," written for the marriage of
Count Anton, eldest son of Prince Nicolaus; and a cantata in honor of
the Prince's return from the coronation of Archduke Joseph as king of
the Romans. In none of these works did Haydn rise to any high power. The
greater Haydn was yet to develop.
To go through, in detail, his life at Eisenstadt would be only to repeat
what has been already said, and to give a catalogue of his compositions
in the order in which they were written. We shall therefore pass in rapid
view the events of his career and leave a consideration of his works until
we reach the point when it becomes necessary to estimate the musician
rather than the man. It may, perhaps, be interesting to describe Haydn as
he appeared personally to his contemporaries. He wore a uniform of light
blue and silver, knee breeches, white stockings, lace ruffles and white
neckcloth. His biographer, Dies, states: "Haydn was below the middle
height, and his legs were somewhat too short for his body, a defect which
was made more noticeable because of the style of attire he affected and
which he obstinately declined to change as the fashions changed. His
features were regular, his expression was spirited and at the same time
temperate, amiable and winning. His face was stern when in repose, but
smiling and cheerful when he conversed. I never heard him laugh. In build
he was firm; he was lacking in muscle." He had a prominent aquiline
nose disfigured by a polypus which he refused to have removed, and he
was heavily pitted by small pox. His complexion was dark, so dark, in
fact, that he was playfully called "The Moor." His jaw was heavy and his
under-lip was large and hanging. Lavater described the eyes and nose of
Haydn as something out of the common; his brow noble and good, but his
mouth and chin "Philistine." Haydn's own opinion was that he was ugly, and
he took pleasure in reflecting that it surely was not for his personal
beauty that so many women were attracted to him. That he tried to make
himself attractive to the opposite sex by extreme neatness of attire,
suavity of manner, and flattery, in which he was an adept, is certain;
and that he never lacked for warm admiration and even devoted love from
women is no less well-established. He was very fond of fun, even that
which was not wholly refined, and a predilection for rough practical
joking abided with him to the last. He was sincere and unaffected in his
piety and looked upon his talent as a gift from God, to be used dutifully
in His service. It was seldom that he began to pen a composition without
writing at its head, _In Nomine Domini_, and at its end, _Laus Deo_. Now
and then he merely used the initials L.D., or S.D.G. (_Soli Deo Gloria_)
and sometimes he wrote B.V.M. (_Beatæ Virgini Mariæ_). This custom was
retained not only in his works for the church, but in those for the
orchestra and even for the stage; and the most elaborate dedication of all
is that to his opera "L'Infidelità Delusa," which he closes with _Laus
omnipotenti Deo et Beatissimæ Virgini Mariæ_.
Haydn's life at Eisenstadt, as it was at Esterhaz, to which Prince
Nicolaus and his household removed in 1766, was one of almost complete
seclusion from the outer world and of unflagging work. The quantity of
music he wrote was enormous and the rapidity with which he poured it forth
was astonishing. At Esterhaz he was obliged to provide for two operatic
performances and for one or two formal concerts each week, in addition
to the daily music. It was here that Haydn wrote nearly all his operas,
the greater number of his arias and songs, and the bulk of his orchestral
and chamber music. The vast quantity of music he wrote and the rapidity
with which he produced it has given rise to the belief that he composed
quickly; but such was not the case. His work was always carefully thought
out, and whenever an idea occurred to him that he thought of musical value
and worth elaborating, he pondered long over it and only began to write it
out finally after he was, as he said, "fully convinced that it was as it
should be." He was now in receipt of a salary of one thousand florins, or
about five hundred dollars, and it is stated that he nearly doubled this
by the sale of his compositions. His operas, of which he was specially
fond, brought him the least profit. The extravagance of his wife, however,
kept him constantly embarrassed in his money affairs, and an attachment he
formed for one of the singers in the chapel, Luigia Polzelli, did not mend
matters.
[Illustration: SILHOUETTE OF HAYDN.