Part 5

Haydn had still a prodigious amount of work before him. Chief of all was another full length oratorio, “The Seasons”, based on James Thomson’s didactic poem. Here again the Baron Van Swieten edited and translated, though he made use of several German poems in addition to Thomson’s (of which he altered the “unhappy” ending). The composer worked for three years on “The Seasons”, not completing it till 1801. It seems to have tested his powers sorely. It was no less optimistic a document than “The Creation”, but by and large an outspoken Nature piece (conceived in Rousseau’s “Back to Nature” philosophy), yet with only transient religious undertones and without the genuinely Biblical quality of “The Creation”. Still, the truly amazing part of “The Seasons” is its incessant vitality, the charm of its pictorial aspect and the unending freshness of its inspiration. All the same, the magnificent work made unmistakable inroads on Haydn’s vitality. He paid for its success with his health and was in the habit of saying, from now on, “‘The Seasons’ has given me the death blow!” Actually, he had suffered a physical breakdown of a sort shortly after one of the productions of “The Creation”. He had to take to his bed and, intermittently, the flow of his inspiration threatened to halt. But invariably he would recover, both physically and mentally. He revised his earlier “Seven Last Words” as an oratorio; he arranged 250 Scotch folksongs for the Edinburgh publisher, George Thomson; the number of his string quartets increased. Performances of “The Creation” multiplied everywhere. Honors poured in upon him from all quarters. He was warmly invited to come to Paris and his old pupil, Pleyel, was dispatched to fetch him. Fortunately, Haydn spared himself the exertions of such a trip. Still, France struck a medal in his honor, which gave the master no end of pleasure; and he received the warmest expressions of affection from the inhabitants of the little Baltic island of Rügen, where a performance of “The Creation” was given. He even strove to be his own publisher and sought subscriptions for the score of the oratorio. His friends rallied magnificently to his aid—the English royal family, the Empress of Austria, the innumerable friends from his native country and from Britain (England as much as Austria now claimed him as one of her very own!). Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton visited Eszterháza and it is said that for two days the Lady “would not budge from Haydn’s side”, while Nelson gave him a gold watch in exchange for the master’s pen!

The great composition of this later period of Haydn’s life is beyond dispute his patriotic anthem, “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser”—the Austrian hymn, as, through thick and thin, it has remained. That, too, was indirectly a product of his English experiences! He had always been stirred in London by “God Save the King” and it became his ambition to provide something similar for his own nation. The great melody that resulted bears a distinct resemblance to a Croatian folksong of the Eisenstadt region, “Zalostna zarucnica”, which certain musicologists maintain served as the inspiration for Haydn’s melody, though the derivation has not been definitely established. But others than Austrians have made the song their own. The Germans, for instance, consorted it to a poem by Hoffmann von Fallersleben and thereby it became “Deutschland über alles”; the English-speaking nations put it to churchly uses and made of it the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken”.

While he was still engaged in exacting creative work he set a schedule for himself which he appears to have followed rigorously. A daily plan of activities (written by Elssler, Dr. Geiringer surmises) furnishes a picture of “Herr von Haydn’s” routine. He was living in a house he had bought in the “Gumpendorfer” district of Vienna. We read that “in the summertime he rose at 6.30 A.M. First he shaved, which he did for himself up to his 73rd year, and then he completed dressing. If a pupil were present, he had to play his lesson on the piano to Herr von Haydn, while the master dressed. All mistakes were promptly corrected and a new task was then set. This occupied an hour and a half. At 8 o’clock sharp, breakfast had to be on the table, and immediately after breakfast Haydn sat down at the piano improvising and drafting sketches of some composition. From 8 o’clock to 11.30 his time was taken up in this way. At 11.30 calls were received or made, or he went for a walk until 1.30. The hour from 2 to 3 was reserved for dinner, after which Haydn immediately did some little work in the house or resumed his musical occupations. He scored the morning’s sketches, devoting three to four hours to this. At 8 P.M. Haydn usually went out and at 9 he came home and sat down to write a score or he took a book and read until 10 P.M. At that time he had supper, which consisted of bread and wine. Haydn made a rule of eating nothing but bread and wine at night and infringed it only on sundry occasions when he was invited to supper. He liked gay conversation and some merry entertainment at the table. At 11.30 he went to bed, in his old age even later. Wintertime made no difference to the schedule, except that Haydn got up half an hour later.”

* * *

But despite this pleasant and comfortable routine Haydn was now beginning to age rapidly. On December 26, 1803, he conducted for the last time and, characteristically, for a hospital fund, the work he directed being the “Seven Last Words”. He wrote two movements of a string quartet, but by 1806, he had given up all idea of finishing it and, as a conclusion, added a few bars of a song he had written in the past few years, “Der Greis”, which begins “Hin ist alle meine Kraft, alt und schwach bin ich” (“Gone is all my strength, old and weak am I”). Friends and admirers in ever increasing numbers sought him out to pay their respects. There came Cherubini, the Abbé Vogler, the violinist Baillot, Pleyel, members of the Weber family, Mme. Bigot—a friend of Beethoven and afterwards one of the piano teachers of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn; Hummel, the widow of Mozart, the Princess Eszterházy, the actor, Iffland.

In 1805 a rumor gained currency that Haydn had died. The world was shocked. Cherubini even composed a cantata on Haydn’s passing; Kreutzer a violin concerto based on themes from Haydn’s works, while in Paris a special memorial concert was arranged and Mozart’s Requiem was to be given. Suddenly there came a letter from the master saying that “he was still of this base world.” And he thanked his French admirers for their well-meant gestures adding “had I only known of it in time, I would have traveled to Paris to conduct the Requiem myself!” Johann Wenzel Tomaschek told how Haydn greeted any visitor who might drop in: “He sat in an armchair, very much dressed up. A powdered wig with sidelocks, a white neckband with a bold buckle, a white richly embroidered waistcoat of heavy silk, in the midst of which shone a splendid jabot, a dress of fine coffee-colored cloth with embroidered cuffs, black silk breeches, white silk hose, shoes with large silver buckles curved over the instep, and on a little table next to him a pair of white kid gloves made up his attire.”

He made one last public appearance. It was at a performance of “The Creation” given at the Vienna University in celebration of the master’s 76th birthday. About the only person of prominence not present was Prince Eszterházy; but he at least sent his carriage to bring the master to the concert! At the hall were assembled not alone the high nobility but all the most distinguished musicians of the capital, among them Beethoven, Salieri, Hummel, Gyrowetz. Salieri conducted. The concertmaster was Franz Clement, for whom Beethoven wrote his violin concerto. The French ambassador, seeing Haydn wearing the gold medal of the Parisian Concerts des Amateurs, exclaimed: “This medal is not enough; you should receive all the medals that France can distribute!” The Princess Eszterházy not only sat next to the master but wrapped her own shawl about him. It was on this occasion that Haydn made his historic remark when the audience burst into applause at the sublime passage “And there was Light.” As the concert progressed he became visibly excited and it was thought advisable to take him home. As Haydn left the auditorium Beethoven knelt down before him and reverently kissed his hand and brow. Before the old man finally vanished from view he turned one last time and lifted his hand in blessing on the assemblage.

* * *

By the spring of 1809 the Napoleonic wars were again devastating Austria. The bombardment of the western suburbs of Vienna brought the battle uncomfortably close to Haydn’s home. Nevertheless, the master refused to leave and when a bomb fell close to the Gumpendorfer house the old man reassured his frightened servants with the words: “Children, don’t be frightened; where Haydn is, nothing can happen to you!” But the continuous noise and excitement shook the invalid’s nerves so severely that he took to his bed and left it only once. This was to be carried to his piano, there to play three times in succession and with the deepest possible feeling his own Austrian hymn, as if to defy those hostile powers unwilling to let him die in peace. On the same day, however, he was visited by a French officer, Clément Sulémy, who called to pay his respects to the composer of “The Creation” and who, before he left, sat down at the piano and sang the aria “In Native Worth” “in so manly and so sublime a style, with so much truth of expression and musical sentiment” that Haydn embraced him and said he had never heard the air delivered in so masterly a fashion. Sulémy fell in battle the same day, a fact which the composer, fortunately, never learned.

But his strength was now quite gone. He could only whisper to those about him: “Children, be comforted, I am well.” Then he lapsed into unconsciousness and shortly after midnight, May 31, 1809, he passed. Napoleon saw to it that a military guard of honor was stationed at his door. At his obsequies not only the cultural world of Vienna but also the highest French military officials were present. And Mozart’s Requiem was sung.

* * *

The story cannot be ended without an allusion to its macabre epilogue. Haydn was laid to rest in the Hundsturm Cemetery. But soon afterwards Prince Eszterházy received permission to reinter the master in Eisenstadt. There were lengthy delays, however, and in 1814 Sigismund Neukomm was shocked to find the tomb in a state of dilapidation. He placed on it a marble slab with Haydn’s favorite quotation from Horace, “Non omnis moriar” (“I shall not wholly die”), set as a five part canon. Six years later the Duke of Cambridge remarked to Prince Eszterházy “How fortunate was the man who employed this Haydn in his lifetime and now possesses his mortal remains!” The Prince said nothing, but experienced a sharp twinge of conscience. So he gave orders for the exhumation and the reburial in the Eisenstadt Bergkirche, where Haydn had conducted a number of his masses. When the coffin was opened the officials were appalled to find a body without a head! It developed that a certain Carl Rosenbaum, once a secretary to Prince Eszterházy, and a penitentiary official, one Johann Peter, had bribed the Viennese gravedigger, to steal the skull which they wanted for phrenological experiments. Peter had made an elaborately decorated box (with windows and a satin cushion) for the gruesome relic. The outraged Prince sent the police to Peter, who, meantime had given the skull to Rosenbaum. The police were quite as unsuccessful at the Rosenbaum house, for the singer, Therese Gassmann Rosenbaum, promptly hid the skull in her mattress and went to bed, pretending illness. The hideous farce went a step further, when Rosenbaum, expecting a bribe, substituted the head of some unidentified old man. When Rosenbaum died he left Haydn’s skull to Peter, obligating him to bequeath it to the museum of the Society of the Friends of Music, in Vienna, where it was preserved since 1895.

It was reported that the Nazis, after the Austrian Anschluss in 1938, proposed to bury the head in Haydn’s coffin at Eisenstadt. Whether they carried out this plan is not known to the present writer.

COMPLETE LIST OF RECORDINGS _by_ THE PHILHARMONIC-SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

COLUMBIA RECORDS

_Under the Direction of Bruno Walter_

Barber—Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 Beethoven—Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra in C major (with J. Corigliano, L. Rose and W. Hendl)—LP Beethoven—Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major (“Emperor”) (with Rudolf Serkin, piano)—LP Beethoven—Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra (with Joseph Szigeti)—LP Beethoven—Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21—LP Beethoven—Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major (“Eroica”)—LP Beethoven—Symphony No. 5 in C minor—LP Beethoven—Symphony No. 8 in F major—LP Beethoven—Symphony No. 9 in D minor (“Choral”) (with Elena Nikolaidi, contralto and Raoul Jobin, tenor)—LP Brahms—Song of Destiny (with Westminster Choir)—LP Dvorak—Slavonic Dance No. 1 Dvorak—Symphony No. 4 in G major—LP Mahler—Symphony No. 4 in G major (with Desi Halban, soprano)—LP Mahler—Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor Mendelssohn—Concerto in E minor (with Nathan Milstein, violin)—LP Mendelssohn—Scherzo (from Midsummer Night’s Dream) Mozart—Cosi fan Tutti—Overture Mozart—Symphony No. 41 in C major (“Jupiter”), K. 551—LP Schubert—Symphony No. 7 in C major—LP Schumann, R.—Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major (“Rhenish”)—LP Smetana—The Moldau (“Vltava”)—LP Strauss, J.—Emperor Waltz

_Under the Direction of Leopold Stokowski_

Copland—Billy the Kid (2 parts) Griffes—“The White Peacock”, Op. 7, No. 1—LP 7″ Ippolitow—“In the Village” from Caucassian Sketches (W. Lincer and M. Nazzi, soloists) Khachaturian—“Masquerade Suite”—LP Messiaen—“L’Ascension”—LP Sibelius—“Maiden with the Roses”—LP Tschaikowsky—Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32—LP Tschaikowsky—Overture Fantasy—Romeo and Juliet—LP Vaughan-Williams—Greensleeves Vaughan-Williams—Symphony No. 6 in E minor—LP Wagner—Die Walkure—Wotan Farewell and Magic Fire Music (Act III—Scene 3) Wagner—Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Siegfried’s Funeral March—(“Die Götterdämmerung”)—LP

_Under the Direction of Efrem Kurtz_

Chopin—Les Sylphides—LP Glinka—Mazurka—“Life of the Czar”—LP 7″ Grieg—Concerto in A minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 16 (with Oscar Levant, piano)—LP Herold—Zampa—Overture Kabalevsky—“The Comedians”, Op. 26—LP Khachaturian—Gayne—Ballet Suite No. 1—LP Khachaturian—Gayne—Ballet Suite No. 2—LP Lecoq—Mme. Angot Suite—LP Prokofieff—March, Op. 99—LP Rimsky-Korsakov—The Flight of the Bumble Bee—LP 7″ Shostakovich—Polka No. 3, “The Age of Gold”—LP 7″ Shostakovich—Symphony No. 9—LP Shostakovich—Valse from “Les Monts D’Or”—LP Villa-Lobos—Uirapurú—LP Wieniawski—Concerto No. 2 in D minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 22 (with Isaac Stern, violin)—LP

_Under the Direction of Charles Münch_

D’Indy—Symphony on a French Mountain Air for Orchestra and Piano—LP Milhaud—Suite Francaise—LP Mozart—Concerto No. 21 for Piano and Orchestra in C major—LP Saint-Saens—Symphony in C minor, No. 3 for Orchestra, Organ and Piano, Op. 78—LP

_Under the Direction of Artur Rodzinski_

Bizet—Carmen—Entr’acte (Prelude to Act III) Bizet—Symphony in C major—LP Brahms—Symphony No. 1 in C minor—LP Brahms—Symphony No. 2 in D major—LP Copland—A Lincoln Portrait (with Kenneth Spencer, Narrator)—LP Enesco—Roumanian Rhapsody—A major, No. 1—LP Gershwin—An American in Paris—LP Gould—“Spirituals” for Orchestra—LP Ibert—“Escales” (Port of Call)—LP Liszt—Mephisto Waltz—LP Moussorgsky—Gopack (The Fair at Sorotchinski)—LP Moussorgsky-Ravel—Pictures at an Exhibition—LP Prokofieff—Symphony No. 5—LP Rachmaninoff—Concerto No. 2 in C minor for Piano and Orchestra (with Gyorgy Sandor, piano) Rachmaninoff—Symphony No. 2 in E minor Saint-Saens—Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in C minor (with Robert Casadesus)—LP Sibelius—Symphony No. 4 in A minor Tschaikowsky—Nutcracker Suite—LP Tschaikowsky—Suite “Mozartiana”—LP Tschaikowsky—Symphony No. 6 in B minor (“Pathetique”)—LP Wagner—Lohengrin—Bridal Chamber Scene (Act III—Scene 2)—(with Helen Traubel, soprano and Kurt Baum, tenor)—LP Wagner—Lohengrin—Elsa’s Dream (Act I, Scene 2) (with Helen Traubel, soprano) Wagner—Siegfried Idyll—LP Wagner—Tristan und Isolde—Excerpts (with Helen Traubel, soprano) Wagner—Die Walkure—Act III (Complete) (with Helen Traubel, soprano and Herbert Janssen, baritone)—LP Wagner—Die Walkure—Duet (Act I, Scene 3) (with Helen Traubel, soprano and Emery Darcy, tenor)—LP Wolf-Ferrari—“Secret of Suzanne”, Overture

_Under the Direction of Igor Stravinsky_

Stravinsky—Firebird Suite—LP Stravinsky—Fireworks (Feu d’Artifice)—LP Stravinsky—Four Norwegian Moods Stravinsky—Le Sacre du Printemps (The Consecration of the Spring)—LP Stravinsky—Scenes de Ballet—LP Stravinsky—Suite from “Petrouchka”—LP Stravinsky—Symphony in Three Movements—LP

_Under the Direction of John Barbirolli_

Bach-Barbirolli—Sheep May Safely Graze (from the “Birthday Cantata”)—LP Berlioz—Roman Carnival Overture Brahms—Symphony No. 2, in D major Brahms—Academic Festival Overture—LP Bruch—Concerto No. 1, in G minor (with Nathan Milstein, violin)—LP Debussy—First Rhapsody for Clarinet (with Benny Goodman, clarinet) Debussy—Petite Suite: Ballet Mozart—Concerto in B-flat major (with Robert Casadesus, piano) Mozart—Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 Ravel—La Valse Rimsky-Korsakov—Capriccio Espagnol Sibelius—Symphony No. 1, in E minor Sibelius—Symphony No. 2, in D major Smetana—The Bartered Bride—Overture Tschaikowsky—Theme and Variations (from Suite No. 3 in G)—LP

_Under the Direction of Sir Thomas Beecham_

Mendelssohn—Symphony No. 4, in A major (“Italian”) Sibelius—Melisande (from “Pelleas and Melisande”) Sibelius—Symphony No. 7 in C major—LP Tschaikowsky—Capriccio Italien

_Under the Direction of Andre Kostelanetz_

Gershwin—Concerto in F (with Oscar Levant)—LP

_Under the Direction of Dimitri Mitropoulos_

Khachaturian—Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (with Oscar Levant, piano)—LP

LP—Also available on Long Playing Microgroove Recordings as well as on the conventional Columbia Masterworks.

VICTOR RECORDS

_Under the Direction of Arturo Toscanini_

Beethoven—Symphony No. 7 in A major Brahms—Variations on a Theme by Haydn Dukas—The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Gluck—Orfeo ed Euridice—Dance of the Spirits Haydn—Symphony No. 4 in D major (The Clock) Mendelssohn—Midsummer Night’s Dream—Scherzo Mozart—Symphony in D major (K. 385) Rossini—Barber of Seville—Overture Rossini—Semiramide—Overture Rossini—Italians in Algiers—Overture Verdi—Traviata—Preludes to Acts I and II Wagner—Excerpts—Lohengrin—Die Götterdämmerung—Siegfried Idyll

_Under the Direction of John Barbirolli_

Debussy—Iberia (Images, Set 3, No. 2) Purcell—Suite for Strings with four Horns, Two Flutes, English Horn Respighi—Fountains of Rome Respighi—Old Dances and Airs (Special recording for members of the Philharmonic Symphony League of New York) Schubert—Symphony No. 4 in C minor (Tragic) Schumann—Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor (with Yehudi Menuhin, violin) Tschaikowsky—Francesca da Rimini—Fantasia

_Under the Direction of Willem Mengelberg_

J. C. Bach—Arr. Stein—Sinfonia in B-flat major J. S. Bach—Arr. Mahler—Air for G string (from Suite for Orchestra) Beethoven—Egmont Overture Handel—Alcina Suite Mendelssohn—War March of the Priests (from Athalia) Meyerbeer—Prophete—Coronation March Saint-Saens—Rouet d’Omphale (Omphale’s Spinning Wheel) Schelling—Victory Ball Wagner—Flying Dutchman—Overture Wagner—Siegfried—Forest Murmurs (Waldweben)

Special Booklets published for RADIO MEMBERS of THE PHILHARMONIC-SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

POCKET-MANUAL of Musical Terms, Edited by Dr. Th. Baker (G. Schirmer’s) BEETHOVEN and his Nine Symphonies by Pitts Sanborn BRAHMS and some of his Works by Pitts Sanborn MOZART and some Masterpieces by Herbert F. Peyser WAGNER and his Music-Dramas by Robert Bagar TSCHAIKOWSKY and his Orchestral Music by Louis Biancolli JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH and a few of his major works by Herbert F. Peyser SCHUBERT and his work by Herbert F. Peyser MENDELSSOHN and certain MASTERWORKS by Herbert F. Peyser ROBERT SCHUMANN—Tone-Poet, Prophet and Critic by Herbert F. Peyser *HECTOR BERLIOZ—A Romantic Tragedy by Herbert F. Peyser

These booklets are available to Radio Members at 25c each while the supply lasts except those indicated by asterisk.

_Great Performances by the_ Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York _on Columbia 33⅓ LP Records_

BRUNO WALTER conducting Beethoven: _Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67_ One 12-inch 33⅓ LP Record ML 4297. Also on 78 rpm Set MM-912 Schubert: _Symphony No. 7 in C Major_ One 12-inch 33⅓ LP Record ML 4093. Also on 78 rpm Set MM-679

LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI conducting Tchaikovsky: _Romeo and Juliet—Overture-Fantasia_ Wagner: _Die Götterdämmerung—Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Siegfried’s Funeral Music_ One 12-inch 33⅓ LP Record ML 4273. Romeo and Juliet also on 78 rpm Set MM-898

EFREM KURTZ conducting Chopin: _Les Sylphides—Ballet_ (_Orchestrated by A. Gretchaninov_) Villa-Lobos: _Uirapurú_ (_A Symphonic Poem_) One 12-inch 33⅓ LP Record ML 4255. Les Sylphides also on 78 rpm Set MM-874

DIMITRI MITROPOULOS conducting Khachaturian: _Concerto for Piano and Orchestra_ (_with Oscar Levant, Piano_) One 12-inch 33⅓ LP Record ML 4288. Also on 78 rpm Set MM-905

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Transcriber’s Notes

--A few palpable typos were silently corrected.

--Illustrations were shifted to the nearest paragraph break.

--Copyright notice is from the printed exemplar. (U.S. copyright was not renewed: this ebook is in the public domain.)