User:Opus33/Haydn's London journeys

Joseph Haydn traveled to London twice, during 1791-1792 and 1794-1795. The visits were a crucial event in his career. Haydn composed some of his best-known works for performance in London, including his twelve London symphonies. He also cemented his reputation as a composer, made many new friends, and experienced unprecedented success and adulation.

Background

Haydn was a well known composer in London long before he traveled there. His symphonies were often performed in concerts during the 1780's, and repeated efforts were made to recruit Haydn for a London visit. These had failed, as Haydn was entirely loyal to his longtime employer Prince Nikolaus Esterhaxxxzy, who lived until 1790.

xxx the quote about the barbarian prince here

By 1791, when the first visit actually took place, "London was familiar with all [Haydn's] most recent works, including the 'Paris' symphonies, and anticipation was at a fever pitch when he brought forward his symphonies [on his first visit]." (McVeigh 2009, 403).

What made Haydn's visits possible was a combination of two events. On xxx, Prince Nikolaus died; he had valued Haydn extremely highly and wanted him on hand at his court a great deal of the time. Second, as was anticipated by all, his son Anton Esterhaxxxzy on succeeding him made severe cutbacks in the musical expenditures of the family, reducing the musicians to a small core for church and wind band music. Most of the musicians were simply laid off. Haydn was far more secure: Anton paid him an honorarium of 400 florins per year, expecting only occasional service, Prince Nikolaus had left him an annual pension of 1000 florins, and Haydn's publications were selling well. He settled in rooms in Vienna, glad to be near his Vienna friends and pondering job offers from various sources.

Johann Peter Salomon, a German violinist and impresario working in London, happened to be in Cologne at the time, looking for instrumentalists for a forthcoming season of concerts he had planned in association with John Bland and Sir John Gallini. When in xxx Salomon heard of the recent change in Haydn's employment status, he rushed to Vienna in order to seize the opportunity of first securing Haydn's service. According to xxx, he appeared at Haydn's door, declaring xxx.

After some deliberation Haydn agreed to Salomon's terms, signing a contract on 8 December. The contract offered Haydn 300 pounds for writing an opera, 300 pounds for six symphonies, and additional money for further works, for publications rights, and for his concert appearances. The contract was the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration. Haydn settled his his affairs in Vienna, and Prince Anton lent him 450 florins for his traveling expenses. Just before departing (approximately 16 December) Haydn bade farewell (in Salomon's company) to his friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, hardly imagining that Mozart would be dead before he returned from England.

The first London journey

Solomon and Haydn took about ten days to reach London. On the way, they passed through Bonn, the home of a major musical establishment that served the reigning Prince-Elector Maximilian. They were welcomed there, and met many of the local musicians including the young Ludwig van Beethoven.

At Calais, in France, the 58-year-old Haydn beheld the ocean for the first time in his life. The crossing was mostly uneventful but for a long delay at the beginning waiting for winds and some high winds at the end. Arriving in London, Haydn moved into rooms in Great Pulteny Street in the same building with Salomon; the two frequently dined together. Haydn also had a room with piano, for purposes of composing, made available to him in Broadwood piano firm across the street.

A city the size of London -- about ten times that of Vienna -- was a novelty to Haydn. The notebooks he kept during his visits record his fascination with the city and with England in general. However, the greater noise level (especially from street criers) troubled him, and various points he sought quieter places to live and work.

Haydn was popular from the start and he had to limit visitors in order to be able to have enough time to work. When he attended a concert, the audience was startled when the orchestra noticed Haydn entering the hall, then rose and bowed as one (Haydn returned the bow). However, professionally, the visits were not a complete success from the start. Since Solomon was just back from the continent himself, he had trouble organizing his concert series and was forced to announce a delay in the newpapers. The Solomon series was very favorably reviewed in the press, but was not consistently sold out.

A more serious setback involved Haydn's work on opera for Solomon's colleague Gallini. Haydn was given a libretto entitle L'anima del filosofo, a setting of the famous Orpheus story already the subject of famous operas by Monteverdi, Gluck, and others. Haydn set to work and finished his opera by the deadline. Unfortunately, Gallini had underestimated the difficulties imposed by the politics of opera in London. There were competing houses; the xxx house ultimate under the sponsorship of King George III and the King's Theatre under the sponsorship of the king's son (and ultimate successor) xxx correct nomenclature here. The faction under the king ultimately succeeded in having the necessary license denied to Gallini, and L'anima del filosofo was canceled at the moment it had started rehearsals. To Gallini's credit, he paid Haydn in full (the sum agreed on had been 300 guineas). The opera, unusually among Haydn's mature works, went into oblivion and was not premiered until 1954.

It is not entirely straightforward to deduce what works of Haydn's were premiered at particular London concerts. What today we know as (for example) Symphony No. 96 in xxx major would be advertised and reviewed simply as "A Grand New Overture by Haydn". Scholarly work by Robbins Landon and others suggests that at the first season, Haydn gave the London premieres of two symphonies he had already written, the xx and xxx. He also composed and premiered two new works, which we now know as #95 and #96, "The Miracle".

Concert life in London was seasonal, occupying the winter and spring. This reflected the long-established lifestyle of the aristocracy, who just like in Austra spent the winter in the fashionable capital and the summer on their rural hereditary estates. Thus when the concert season ended, Haydn had some free time. Naturally, he spent much of it composing new works for presentation at the planned 1792 season. For this purpose he moved for a time to Lisson Grove, then a village on the outskirts of the city, where he enjoyed the quiet and found it an aid to composition.

In addition, however, Haydn spent a certain of time on vacation, an essentially novel experience for a man who had spent his life in ceaseless toil. He visited xxx.

London and evolution of Haydn's style

xxx something from Rosen

Notes

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