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been said that he learnt from Mozart the use of the clarinet, and this is probably true,
notwithstanding the fact that he had employed a couple of clarinets in his first mass,
written in 1751 or 1752. Both composers used clarinets rarely, but Haydn certainly did
not reveal the real capacity of the instrument or establish its position in the orchestra as
Mozart did.
From his first works onwards, he proceeded along the true symphonic path, and an
orchestra of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets,
drums, and the usual strings fairly represents the result of his contributions to its
development up to the first successful experiments of Mozart. The names of Mozart and
Haydn ought in reality to be coupled together as the progenitors of the modern orchestral
colouring. But the superiority must be allowed to attach to Haydn, inasmuch as his
colouring is the more expansive and decided. Some of his works, even of the later period,
show great reticence in scoring, but, on the other hand, as in "The Creation," he knew
when to draw upon the full resources of the orchestra. It has been pointed out as worthy
of remark that he was not sufficiently trustful of his instrumental army to leave it without
the weak support of the harpsichord, at which instrument he frequently sat during the
performance of his symphonies, and played with the orchestra, with extremely bad effect.
[Compare The Orchestra and Orchestral Music, by W. J. Henderson: London, 1901.] In
this, however, he merely followed the custom of his day.
General Style
Of Haydn's general style as a composer it is hardly necessary to speak. To say that a
composition is "Haydnish" is to express in one word what is well understood by all
intelligent amateurs. Haydn's music is like his character--clear, straightforward, fresh and
winning, without the slightest trace of affectation or morbidity. Its perfect transparency,
its firmness of design, its fluency of instrumental language, the beauty and inexhaustible
invention of its melody, its studied moderation, its child-like cheerfulness--these are
some of the qualities which mark the style of this most genial of all the great composers.
That he was not deep, that he does not speak a message of the inner life to the latter-day
individual, who, in the Ossianic phrase, likes to indulge in "the luxury of grief," must, of
course, be admitted. The definite embodiment of feeling which we find in Beethoven is
not to be found in him. It was not in his nature. "My music," says Schubert, "is the
production of my genius and my misery." Haydn, like Mendelssohn, was never more than
temporarily miserable. But in music the gospel of despair seldom wants its preachers. To-
day it is Tschaikowsky; to-morrow it will be another. Haydn meant to make the world
happy, not to tear it with agony. "I know," he said, "that God has bestowed a talent upon
me, and I thank Him for it. I think I have done my duty, and been of use in my generation
by my works. Let others do the same."
Appendix A: Haydn's Last Will And Testament
The following draft of Haydn's will is copied from Lady Wallace's Letters of
Distinguished Musicians (London, 1867), where it was published in full for the first time.
The much-corrected original is in the Court Library at Vienna. Dies says: "Six weeks
before his death, in April 1809, he read over his will to his servants in the presence of
witnesses, and asked them whether they were satisfied with his provisions or not. The
good people were quite taken by surprise at the kindness of their master's heart, seeing
themselves thus provided for in time to come, and they thanked him with tears in their
eyes." The extracts given by Dies vary in some particulars from the following, because
Haydn's final testamentary dispositions were made at a later date. But, as Lady Wallace
says, it is not the legal but the moral aspect of the affair that interests us. Here we see
epitomized all the goodness and beauty of Haydn's character. The document runs as
follows:
FLORINS.
1. For holy masses,........................................12
2. To the Norman School,....................................5
3. To the Poorhouse,........................................5
4. To the executor of my will.............................200
And also the small portrait of Grassi.
5. To the pastor,..........................................10
6. Expenses of my funeral, first-class,...................200
7. To my dear brother Michael, in Salzburg,..............4000
8. To my brother Johann, in Eisenstadt,..................4000
9. To my sister in Rohrau (erased, and written
underneath): "God have mercy on her soul! To the
three children of my sister,".........................2000
10. To the workwoman in Esterhazy, Anna Maria Moser,
nee Frohlichin,........................................500
11. To the workwoman in Rohrau, Elisabeth, nee Bohme,......500
12. To the two workwomen there (erased, and replaced
by: "To the shoemaker, Anna Loder, in Vienna"),........200
Should she presume to make any written claims, I
declare them to be null and void, having already
paid for her and her profligate husband, Joseph
Lungmayer, more than 6000 gulden.
13. To the shoemaker in Garhaus, Theresa Hammer,............500
14. To her son, the blacksmith, Matthias Frohlich,..........500
15.&16. To the eldest child of my deceased sister,
Anna Wimmer, and her husband, at Meolo, in Hungary,.....500
17. To her married daughter at Kaposwar,....................100
18. To the other three children (erased),...................300
19. To the married Dusse, nee Scheeger,.....................300
20. To her imbecile brother, Joseph (erased),...............100
21. To her brother, Karl Scheeger, silversmith, and his
wife,...................................................900
22. To the son of Frau von Koller,..........................300
23. To his son (erased),....................................100
24. To the sister of my late wife (erased).
25. To my servant, Johann Elssler,.........................2500
Also one year's wages, likewise a coat, waistcoat
and a pair of trousers. (According to Griesinger,
Haydn bequeathed a capital of 6000 florins to this
faithful servant and copyist.)
26. To Rosalia Weber, formerly in my service,...............300
(She has a written certificate of this from me.)
27. To my present maid-servant, Anna Kremnitzer,...........1000
 And a year's wages in addition. Also, her bed and
bedding and two pairs of linen sheets; also, four
chairs, a table, a chest of drawers, the watch,
the clock and the picture of the Blessed Virgin in
her room, a flat-iron, kitchen utensils and crockery,
one water-pail, and other trifles.
28. To my housekeeper, Theresia Meyer,......................500
And one year's wages,.................................20
29. To my old gardener, Michel,..............................24
30. To the Prince's Choir for my obsequies, to share
alike (erased),......................................100
31. To the priest (erased),..................................12
32. To the pastor in Eisenstadt for a solemn mass,............5
33. To his clerk,.............................................2
34. To the beneficiary,.......................................2
35. To Pastor von Nollendorf,.................................2 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]