Report by Erica Rumbley
Haydn's London Symphony's
For nearly 30 years, Haydn had been an employee of the Esterhazy court, functioning virtually as a servant or slave to the Prince. While other offers of employment and opportunity had lurked in the distance, he was always afraid to leave the court, afraid of upsetting his employers. Even when Johann Peter Salomon, a German composer, conductor, and mainly impresario in England, tried to lure him to London, he refused, unable to leave Prince Nicholas. However, all of that changed in September, 1790, when the Prince died. Nicholas’ successor, Anton, disbanded the orchestra and Haydn was no longer needed in a full-time basis. Thus, Salomon saw his big chance and marched (okay, sailed) over to Austria to tell the great composer: “I am Salomon from London, and I have come to fetch you to England!” While not everyone believed this to be in Haydn’s best interest—Mozart strongly objected that the older man was not prepared for such a trip and couldn’t even speak English, Haydn decided to go, saying: “my language is understood all over the world.”
Thus began the greatest adventure and happiest period of Haydn’s long and productive life.
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Welcome to London, circa 1790. It was a place of power—the ruling bodies of Britain resided within its confines; a place of prestige—movements taking place in the city influenced the rest of the country and the world; a place of unrest—religious reform and political upheaval were rampant; a place of fashion and wealth—such power and prestige could only lead to elegant ladies, fine gentlemen, and numerous social occasions. London also boasted a flourishing music and concert industry with a well-educated middle class eager for new music. Into this sparkling world came Franz Joseph Haydn, one of the greatest and most pivotal composers of the century.
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He did not come without experience, which he had garnered at the Esterhazy court, as well as ambition and backing. Salomon had guaranteed him 300 lbs for an opera for Gallini, 300 for six new symphonies, 200 for the publishing rights to those symphonies, 200 for 20 other new compositions, and at least 200 from a benefit concert—a total of 1200 lbs! Thus Haydn had some assurance of financial gain, although now it was up to him to make the venture a success.
Haydn braved the English Channel in December, a stormy time of year for such a crossing. After an agonizing voyage, he arrived on the British coast and made it to London on January 2, 1791.
It did not take long for the Austrian master to develop quite a following in the new city; Salomon had obviously already done some publicity for his visit, for Haydn wrote a friend: “My arrival caused a great sensation through the whole city, and I went the round of all the newspapers for three successive days. Everyone seems anxious to know me. I have already dined out six times, and could be invited every day if I chose; but I must in the first place consider my health, and in the next my work.” A poem by Charles Burney, written in 1791, shows such warm feelings for Haydn, saying; “At length great Haydn’s new and varied strains of habit and indiff’rence broke chains…To Germany pre-eminence allow for instrumental powers, unknown before thy happy flights had taught her sons to soar…” He goes on in extravagant praise of the composer, exaggerating his greatness and contribution to the musical scene in London. Thus Haydn quickly became a “superstar” in the city and was soon caught up into its social life, even attending a Court Ball.
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However, he did not neglect his work, as he mentioned in his comment about dining out. In 1791, Haydn composed Symphonies 93, 94, 95, and 96, starting on 98. The next year saw the completion of this work as well as no. 97. The first to debut, in February 1791, was No. 96, which was a rousing success. Haydn’s Symphonies usually played at the beginning of the second half of the concert, so that latecomers would definitely be present for their performance. Other concerts soon followed, with more excellent receptions of Haydn’s new symphonies. A reporter had this to say on March 11 (about no. 95 or 96):
Never, perhaps, was there a richer musical treat. […] His new Grand Overture [what they called a symphony] was pronounced by every scientific ear to be a most wonderful composition; but the first movement in particular rises in grandeur of the subject…
Thus read many of the reports on Haydn’s works, making the composer even more popular and loved, so that soon he had many friends in England. He used the summer break between concert seasons to visit many of them, traveling through the country to their homes. In this period Haydn also moved out to live with some friends in Hertfordshire, where he greatly enjoyed the quiet and found it the ideal place for composition, writing much of Symphonies no. 93 and 94.
Life seemed a little too easy, though, and soon some difficulties inevitably popped up. First of all, Prince Anton Esterhazy, became impatient for Haydn to return, and was therefore quite upset when Haydn asked for another’s year’s leave. Thus Haydn feared losing his job when he opted to stay on in London, but this did not occur. At the beginning of the next season, yet another obstacle met the Salomon-Haydn team—the “Professional Concert Series,” a rival concert series (not unusual for London at the time) set up by some organizers who had tried to enlist Haydn’s services for themselves in the 1780s. They began to slander his composing skills, saying that his talent had “dried up” and soon recruited Haydn’s own pupil, Ignaz Pleyel, to compose for their series in direct competition to Haydn. Although the old master remained calm and courteous on the surface, dining with Pleyel and attending his concerts, he nevertheless felt the stress of competition. In January, 1792, he wrote a friend that
At present I am [composing] for Salomon’s concerts, and I am making every effort to do my best, because our rivals, the Professional Concert, have had my pupil Pleyel from Strasbourg come here to conduct their concerts. So now bloody harmonious war will commence between master and pupil…
Into this volatile atmosphere, on February 17, 1792, came Symphony no. 94, perhaps Haydn’s most enduringly famous composition, the “Surprise” Symphony. The stories behind this work vary…but it serves to highlight Haydn’s humor and wit, as well as being an immense success with the public. A review of its debut comments:
“The second movement was equal to the happiest of this great Master’s conceptions. The surprise might not be unaptly likened to the situation of a beautiful Shepherdess who, lulled to slumber by the murmer of a distant Waterfall, starts alarmed by the unexpected firing of a fowling-piece. The flute obligato was delicious.”
Such comments show a contemporary’s appreciation of Haydn’s wit in composition and provide yet another example of the glorification his works so often received. Even this Symphony, however, shows the pressure of the rival concert, as Haydn’s friend Griesinger wrote
I jokingly asked him once if it was true that he composed the Andante…in order to wake up the dozing English audience. ‘No…my intention was to surprise the public with something new, and to debut in a brilliant manner, in order to prevent my rank from being usurped by Pleyel, my pupil…’
Perhaps time has been the ultimate judge of this competition, declaring Haydn the hands-down, undisputed winner.
The rest of Haydn’s 6 new Symphonies were debuted to resounding approval, and the concert series ended in June. At this point, Haydn’s contentment with London and his standing there was so great that he nearly changed his allegiance from Austria to England, yet he ultimately remained loyal to his homeland. In August of 1792 Haydn arrived back in Vienna, where he was to spend 18 months mostly preparing for a return to the city of his success, although he did take on a notable new pupil during this period—Beethoven.
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It was in early February, 1794, that Haydn again arrived in London. This visit met with even greater success than the first, partly due to the lack of a rival concert series. Haydn continued to circulate among English society, and his Symphonies recorded enthusiastic audiences and a receptive press, which now described him as “the inexhaustible, the wonderful, the sublime HAYDN!”
The orchestra available to Haydn on his second visit was larger than the first time, now including clarinets as a standard member of the ensemble. Thus he was able to further extend his composition and orchestration. The greatest success of Haydn’s life—the debut of his Symphony No. 100, the Military, was to take place in the spring of 1794, on March 31. The Morning Chronicle reported about its reception:
‘Another new Symphony by Haydn, was performed for the second time; and the middle movement was again received with absolute shouts of applause. Encore! Encore! Encore! Resounded from every seat: the Ladies themselves could not forbear…”
Obviously the audience was stirred into a furor over this stirring piece, cheering as crowds today might at a sports event. Why such an uproar? Well, as this report goes on to say:
‘…Is the advancing to battle; and the march of men, the sounding of the charge, the thundering of the onset, the clash of arms, the groans of the wounded, and what may well be called the hellish roar of war increased to a climax of horrid sublimity! Which, if others can conceive, [Haydn] alone can execute.”
This is the type of brilliant work which truly “moves the passion” as Haydn so often sought to do in his compositions. In it he included timpani, triangle, cymbals and bass drum in addition to the regular instruments. This Symphony provides a great example of the ‘other side’ of this technical genius, the side of emotion and even depiction in his music.
The next (1795) season brought with it a change of venues for Haydn; Salomon was forced to cancel his series because of difficulties in obtaining singers from Europe, thus Haydn moved to the “Opera Concerts,” a series complete with a 60-piece orchestra under G.B. Viotti, a famous Violinist from Italy.
Despite this move, Haydn’s works continued to meet with resounding approval, down to No. 104, his “farewell” to Symphonic form. His popularity was so astounding that at a benefit concert in May at which he conducted nos. 100 and 104, he made about 400 lbs in one evening, a huge return for one concert.
After this season ended, Haydn stayed on in London for about two months, perhaps sorry to see his time there end. He arrived back in Vienna at the end of August, never again to return to the city of his triumph, happiness and success.
However, the years Haydn spent in London and the Symphonies he composed for the concerts there have left an indelible mark on music to the present day. Not only are they technically inventive and forward-looking, but these works also “stir the soul” of the listener and allow one to catch a glimpse of an even deeper level of Haydn’s character.
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In considering the impact of these Symphonies, perhaps Mozart himself says it best:
“But there is no one who can do it all—to joke and to terrify, to evoke laughter and profound sentiment—and all equally well: except Joseph Haydn.”
Cite Grove—Salomon, Haydn in London
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