Haydn's Haus

[Gurn Blanston]

What surprised me the most about the document was the abscence of the "s" that was used in a lot of printing of that time where it almost looks like an "f":



Here it is used both ways in the same text;

Here is a surmise, FWIW; both of yours date from early 1770's America, while mine is from mid-1790's England. I am thinking that this might have been a time of rapid growth and advancement in such forms as legible writing. If it was going to happen (and it certainly was and did), I would think England would be on the cutting edge because in times of rapid expansion like that, the normal conservatism of being the establishment would be mush less applicable.   That's just an opinion, I may be wrong.

[Bogey]

I thought some might be interested in this concert announcement from London, 1795. Among other things it shows that Haydn was doing more than his own subscription concerts. He did at least as many of these charity affairs. Notice the lineup. Not only varied, but it's a great long list relative to what we would hear today. Note also that Haydn's contribution (aside from "leading from the fortepiano") is a symphony, and it is played in the place of honor, which is to say, the first piece in Act II.

Let me bring it over to this page.

[Gurn Blanston]

It's still there, Bruce -- I had to re-read some of the words to make sense of them. Look at, for example, Musicians (the decayed ones), Consist and Orchestra (Nota Bene) and the plenty of Messrs. Note also that these appear in the middle of the words.

As an aside: That f-like S is still used today, but in a different context.

It's becoming less of a prominent feature, but the most glaring example if "Mifcellaneous" where it is used both ways!

[Opus106]

It's becoming less of a prominent feature, but the most glaring example if "Mifcellaneous" where it is used both ways!

As I said, it appears only in between the ends of the words; any at the beginning or at the end looks 'normal'.

[Bogey]

Yes.  Yes.   Thanks!

[Bogey]

Also note the pit box price....same as the Mad Hatters hat:



Also, that price would have been about £300 today...which is around $460?  Is that correct?

[Gurn Blanston]

Also note the pit box price....same as the Mad Hatters hat:



Also, that price would have been about £300 today...which is around $460?  Is that correct?

I suspect 10 & 6 was a lot of money back then, although I haven't looked into conversion rates. The guinea for 2 tickets anywhere in the house was certainly a lot of money!   However, to put into context, this was a gala sponsored by the Prince and his brother to raise money for indigent survivors of dead musicians, so you were paying a premium price that was really a charitable donation, sort of like the $10,000/plate political dinners of hard peas and rubber chicken...

Florestan and I have been discussing, en passant, the fact that music in those times was not intended for ME, but despite that in England, at least, it was "open to the public", it was really only the wealthy public who could afford it. 

Thanks for that observation, I hadn't noted it yet.

[Gurn Blanston]

Part 44

1795

The stretch from January 1794 to July 1795 is one continuous stream of music-making, from composing, concertizing, partying with the Royals and giving music lessons (!) to Mrs. Schröter; Haydn was the eye of the hurricane in the London music scene of the time. It is really quite difficult to imagine today's equivalent.

For the 1795 season Salomon abandoned his concerts, owing to the "difficulty of obtaining vocal performers of the first rank from abroad". Haydn (and Salomon too) therefore allied himself with the so-called Opera Concerts, directed by the violinist and composer Giovanni Battista Viotti, with an even larger orchestra of approximately 60 players. Symphony Hob 102 was first given on February 2nd, Hob 103 ('Drumroll') on March 2nd, and Hob 104 ('The 12th which I have composed in England', Haydn wrote on the autograph) at his benefit concert (all proceeds went to himself) on May 4th. His success was greater than ever; following the benefit, Burney wrote that his 1795 symphonies were 'such as were never heard before, of any mortal's production; of what Apollo & the Muses compose or perform we can only judge by such productions as these'. Another important work given its première at this concert was the cantata/scena Berenice, che fai, composed for the reigning prima donna, Brigida Giorgi Banti.

Piano music was represented by the superb set of Trios Hob 24–6, dedicated to Mrs. Schröter.  Therese Jansen, the pianista whom we met last year, got married to a son of the engraver Francesco Bartolozzi (see inset below). Hadyn composed Trio Hob 31 for Jansen as well: the finale (1794) had originated as an occasional piece titled 'Jacob's Dream', designed to amuse her by showing up the insufficiencies of a self-important violinist in the higher registers.

Haydn in 1791

Early on during his first visit Haydn sat for a miniature portrait by A.M. Ott which was engraved by Haydn's close friend, Francesco Bartolozzi (1727–1815) and published by H. Humphrey on 4 April 1791. Bartolozzi was trained in Italy before moving to London in 1764 to take up a royal appointment. He left in 1802 to become Director of the National Academy in Lisbon. When his son married Therese Jansen in 1795, Haydn was one of the witnesses. She was a fine pianist (she studied with Clementi) and Haydn dedicated a number of works to her.
Ott's original miniature was lost for over 200 years before coming to light at a London auction in 1996.  Courtesy Royal College of Music, London

  Courtesy HCR Landon

Also in this year, King George asked Haydn to stay on and become a citizen. He refused, in the process putting some distance between himself and the Royals. Whether he seriously contemplated staying is not known. Prince Anton Esterházy had died in 1794, freeing him from even a nominal obligation to the court. But the question was settled when Anton's successor, Nicolaus II, offered him reappointment as Esterházy Kapellmeister. As much as Haydn admired England, he never probably felt at home there. The noise and constant hubbub were a huge burden. Still, he remained in London for two months following the end of the 1795 season, composing trios and canzonets and seeing to the publication of many of his English compositions. He established new, long-term relations, for example with the 'musick seller' F.A. Hyde, an agent for Longman & Broderip, with whom he signed an elaborate contract in 1796.  He finally departed (according to Dies) on August 15th, traveling via Hamburg and Dresden and arriving in Vienna presumably around the beginning of September. His new house was still not ready for occupancy, so he took lodgings on the Neuer Markt in the old city. The Peripatetic Era was over.

The music of 1795;

Hob 01_104 Symphony in D
   Orchestra of the 18th Century / Frans Brüggen



Hob 08_03bis March in Eb 'For the Royal Society of Musicians'
   Haydn Sinfonietta Wien / Huss



Hob 15a_31 Sonata in eb for Violin & Keyboard  "Jacob's Ladder"
   Bologni (Violin / Modugno (Fortepiano)



Hob 15_24 Trio in D
Hob 15_25 Trio in G
Hob 15_26 Trio in f#
Hob 15_31 Trio in eb
   Trio 1790



Hob 17a_deest / 08_01 March in Eb for Keyboard
Hob 17a_deest / 08_02 March in C for Keyboard
Hob 17a_deest / 08_03 March in Eb for Keyboard
   Bart van Oort



Hob 24a_10 Scena & Aria - "Berenice, che fai?"
   Freiburger Barockorchester / Jacobs / Bernarda Fink (Mezzo)



Six Original English Canzonet's (on Poems by Ann Hunter & Others) Book II
Hob 26a_31 Song with Keyboard - 'Sailor's song'
Hob 26a_32 Song with Keyboard - 'The wanderer'
Hob 26a_36 Song with Keyboard - 'Content' (Transport of Pleasure)
   James Griffett (Tenor) \ Bradford Tracey (1798 Broadwood Fortepiano)
Hob 26a_33 Song with Keyboard - 'Sympathy'   Elly Ameling / Jorg Demus
Hob 26a_34 Song with Keyboard - 'She never told her love'
Hob 26a_35 Song with Keyboard - 'Piercing eyes'
   Anne Cambier (Soprano) \ Jan Vermeulen (1795 Walter reproduction Fortepiano)



Hob 26a_41 Song with Keyboard - 'The spirit's song' (Hunter)
   Jean Danton / Igor Kipnis (1796 Broadwood Fortepiano)
Hob 26a_42 Song with Keyboard - 'O tuneful Voice' (Hunter)
   Elly Ameling / Jorg Demus



50 Settings of Scottish Folk Songs for William Napier**

Hob 31a_101 Scottish Song  'The bonny gray ey'd morn'
Hob 31a_102 Scottish Song  'The bonnie wee thing'
Hob 31a_103 Scottish Song  'Roy's Wife'
Hob 31a_104 Scottish Song  'While hopeless'
Hob 31a_105 Scottish Song  'Frae the friends and land I love'
Hob 31a_106 Scottish Song  'The shepherd's son'
Hob 31a_107 Scottish Song  'A cold frosty morning'
Hob 31a_108 Scottish Song  'O for ane and twenty, Tam'
......................................
Hob 31a_143 Scottish Song  '(Morag) The young Highland rover'
Hob 31a_144 Scottish Song  'A country lassie'
Hob 31a_145 Scottish Song  'Strathallan's lament'
Hob 31a_146 Scottish Song  'Tho' for seven years and mair'
Hob 31a_147 Scottish Song  'Bess and her spinning wheel'
Hob 31a_148 Scottish Song  'Kellyburn Braes'
Hob 31a_149 Scottish Song  'O'er The Hills And Far Away'
Hob 31a_150 Scottish Song  'Strephon and Lydia'
   Haydn Trio Eisenstadt / L. Anderson  / J. MacDougall
** - Complete listing available upon request


Well, we have come a long way since our discussion of Symphony #1 way back in 1757! Now comes 1795 and symphony Hob 104 (but really #106). I really felt an onus to make a good choice here. Compounded by the fact that everyone and their second cousin's brother-in-law has performed this work. In the end, I went with Brüggen et al because they always seem to have a bit more of a 'big band' sound, which finally is totally appropriate for the 60 or so musicians performing the premiere. And well-played, as always. I think you will like this version. But if you have the one from the brother-in-law, you will probably like it too, it's hard to go wrong when the music is just so good.

Our Herr Huss hasn't failed us yet, and once again, we have a march, this one composed as a gift for the Royal Society of Musicians. It is really a reworking of the Prince of Wales March of 1792, with many more instruments added, so it sounds very grand indeed.

If you read last year's discussion of the Violin Sonata issue, then you know that this year's Hob 15_31 is an extension of last year's 15_32 situation. Whatever the true story of these works, I have no problem bringing myself to listen to these very nicely played versions, sans cello. Perhaps even as we speak, some scholar is shivering in a garret in Vienna (or London) over the documents that will determine the answer once for all. Or not....

This year's Trios erm... accompanied sonatas include everyone's all-time favorite. Hob 25 in G, the one with the Gypsy Rondo. As a gift for his girlfriend (let's be honest here) Rebecca Schröter, it is hard to beat. Its companion in f# minor is a treat of a totally different sort, as the key would have you believe. Beckers was a connoisseur, her husband was a brilliant pianist and highly popular figure on the London musical scene a decade before, and she was a very fine keyboardist herself. So Haydn didn't stint when it came to writing music for her. As you expect by now, I didn't have to stray from the Trio 1790 to have a fine representation of these works. There are only a few dozens to choose from, if Trio 1790 doesn't suit you for whatever reason, choose another and you will be transported.

Well, Bart treats us yet again to some piano reductions of marches. Three short, peppy little works that have helped to preserve the marches for us. As always, this little box of treats doesn't disappoint.

The scena Berenice, che fai?, composed for the prima donna  of the Opera Concerts and one of the most popular singers in London is a stirring piece. It is based on a scene from Antigone by Metastasio. The heroine, Berenice, is lamenting the death of her lover, Demetrio. She is slowly going mad, and she begs Demetrio's ghost not to leave her. As she slips further away from reality, she begs death to take her too. The tonal scheme here, bouncing around to different minor modes to represent her madness, is particularly special, as are the arioso sections. You really should have a version of this piece, and the one I have chosen, with The Freiburg Baroque / Rene Jacobs accompanying the wonderful Bernada Fink (OK, her name is unfortunate, but damn, she can really sing!) is one worth having.

Now that we have come to Book II of the Original English Canzonettas, I have stayed with the scheme which pleased me in Book I. Instead of Ms Kirkby though, we have Anne Cambier accompanied by Jan Vermeulen, and have stayed with Griffett and Tracey for the tenor version. Book II is not all Hunter though, there is one that sneaked in from another Englishman, some chap named Shakespeare (She never told her love is from 12th Night). Another nice evening spent.

And there are another two songs, singles they are, both on texts by Hunter. The first, The Spirit's Song is one of Haydn's finest efforts in the English Lied. It is thought to have been originally intended to be one of the canzonettas, but is too close in style to a couple of the others so was released on its own. I chose this nice version by Jean Danton and Igor Kipnis, not only because it is very fine on its own merits, but also in a rather tributary way, this disk was Kipnis' last recording before his death. He was a pioneer in the field of historic keyboards and I couldn't neglect this fine recording altogether. The second single, O Tuneful Voice, is also based on a text by Hunter. She presented it to him in 1795, but the actual date of its setting is totally unknown. So I have elected to place it here with the other English songs, and also to use this version by Ameling/Demus. I chose it simply because it gives me the chance to say that this entire box is so good that it could have represented the entire oeuvre of songs with nothing lost. Just a reminder.

Finally, another fifty folk song settings for Mr. Napier. As always, superbly performed by the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt and Andersen & MacDougall.

So that's it for England. Haydn never went back, but he and the country left their mark on each other in a lasting way. Now we will move on to the Golden Years in Vienna. Without the London Experience, these would probably have never happened.

[Karl Henning]

I love typography trivia!

[kishnevi]

About the concert for decayed musicians--
It seems that for most of the concertos they list the soloists but not the composer.  Mr. Lindley performed a 'cello concerto, Mr. Ashe a "German flute" concerto and  Madam Gillberg a violin concerto.  But the only composers other than Haydn and Handel mentioned are Cramer, probably because he was "leader of the band" and Pleyel.  Apparently the audiences were not too picky about whose music they heard, as long as it was music.  (There was a composer of the period named Lindley--he may have been the 'cellist, in which case he might have been performing his own composition.)  Of all the songs, not only are we not told the composers, we are not even told the title!

And besides Mr. Cramer leading the band, and Dr. Haydn presiding at the fortepiano,  there are two conductors.  What were their duties?

[Opus106]

I love typography trivia!

C and T, whenever they are next to each other and in that order (in the non-all caps words), seem to be joined by a little whatchamacallit.

[Gurn Blanston]

C and T, whenever they are next to each other and in that order (in the non-all caps words), seem to be joined by a little whatchamacallit.

We typographic professionals don't use the term 'whatchamacallit'. More properly, it is called a 'thingie'.   

I believe it is a serif, actually. Not 100% sure though

[Mandryka]

What surprised me the most about the document was the abscence of the "s" that was used in a lot of printing of that time where it almost looks like an "f":

When I was at school there was an old book in the library, a Shakespeare. I remember it had the line (from The Tempest) Where the bee fucks there fuck I.

[Gurn Blanston]

About the concert for decayed musicians--
It seems that for most of the concertos they list the soloists but not the composer.  Mr. Lindley performed a 'cello concerto, Mr. Ashe a "German flute" concerto and  Madam Gillberg a violin concerto.  But the only composers other than Haydn and Handel mentioned are Cramer, probably because he was "leader of the band" and Pleyel.  Apparently the audiences were not too picky about whose music they heard, as long as it was music.  (There was a composer of the period named Lindley--he may have been the 'cellist, in which case he might have been performing his own composition.)  Of all the songs, not only are we not told the composers, we are not even told the title!

And besides Mr. Cramer leading the band, and Dr. Haydn presiding at the fortepiano,  there are two conductors.  What were their duties?

That's an interesting observation. It goes to the essence of the status of music in society. In the 18th century, the so-called 'Canon of Western Music' hadn't been invented yet. 75 years later, the composers' position  in this whole affair would have assumed an entirely different stature, but at that time, the sad fact is that the audience didn't really care who the composer was. They clearly knew Lindley by reputation as a good cellist, and so that is important to the advert. I don't think it was Thomas Lindley, IIRC he was dead by then of drowning. Of the other names mentioned outright; Handel was Handel. He was a minor god in England and therefore a big draw. Haydn was reigning doyen of the music scene in 1795, so his name was a big draw. Cramer was actually famous, although you wouldn't know it today. He was the top local violinist and orchestra leader in London for the last many years. IIRC, he worked for Bach & Abel when they were still alive. Pleyel was also a big name, which is why they had him for the rival concerts 2 years before. Other than that, the players were probably more important than the composers; bearing in mind that the concertos being played were probably brand new at the time, thus no one would have known them by name anyway. Which may be the single most important factor.

Cramer (first violin) and Haydn (continuo keyboard) were serving the position of concertmaster(s). Likely enough that Haydn was more honorary in all works but his own symphony. Of the 2 actual conductors, one would have been keeping the beat for the band, and the other would have been cuing the chorus.

[Karl Henning]

C and T, whenever they are next to each other and in that order (in the non-all caps words), seem to be joined by a little whatchamacallit.

Although it is also a musical term, typographers call that a ligature.  There's a ligature in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum logo, which I never noticed before.

[Karl Henning]

We typographic professionals don't use the term 'whatchamacallit'. More properly, it is called a 'thingie'.   

I believe it is a serif, actually. Not 100% sure though

Serifs are actually in much broader use; they're the wee "stroke-lets" at the end of the broad strokes of each letter. Good illustration right at Wikipedia (not surprisingly).

[starrynight]

I don't think he could speak any English really?  So not a surprise that he didn't stay.

[Gurn Blanston]

I don't think he could speak any English really?  So not a surprise that he didn't stay.

Actually, he made a serious attempt to learn English and could actually get by with it pretty well. Of course, you are already aware that the Royals at that time were the Hanover's, very much Germans. So the class of people that he associated with spoke a surprising amount of German too, at least enough for them all to get on with.

The only real complaints I ever read from him about England were all the noise (seriously drove him nuts, which I can personally relate to!) and he felt the justice system was incredibly harsh and oddly inequitable. An example he gave (from actual happenings during his stay) was that if I loaned you a million pounds for some reason and you didn't pay me back, that was hard cheese for me. However, if you were caught stealing a loaf of bread, it was the death sentence for you, and not even the King could intercede on your behalf. I have to agree, those are inequitable.

[Karl Henning]

I've now officially ripped all the Haydn quartets I've got (Amadeus Quartet — Opp. 51, 54, 55, 64, 71 & 74; Quatuor Mosaïques — Opp. 64, 76 & 77) and loaded onto the portable device . . . .

[Gurn Blanston]

I've now officially ripped all the Haydn quartets I've got (Amadeus Quartet — Opp. 51, 54, 55, 64, 71 & 74; Quatuor Mosaïques — Opp. 64, 76 & 77) and loaded onto the portable device . . . .

I see that they have one opus in common (64). I would be curious to hear your thoughts on their similarities and/or differences.