Customer Reviews

Haydn at Eszterhaza, 1766-1790 (Haydn : Chronicle and Works)

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No one served Haydn's cause with greater distinction than H C Robbins Landon and this tome is his masterpiece. It covers the key period of Haydn's life, from his elevation to Kapellmeister upon the death of Werner in 1766 to that day in 1790 when he embarked for England after dining with Mozart in Vienna. As Haydn himself says, "I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me and I was forced to become original."

Most of his key works were written during this time and he hammered out the string quartet as a genre. Be they baryton trios, sturm und drang symphonies, masses, sonatas or string quartets, they are magisterially discussed by the American scholar. And how pellucidly he writes; elsewhere, I have quoted his narrative on the Notturni for the King of Naples; his tristful account of how the Red Army converted the castle into a field-hospital in 1945 - the bonfire of the old violins - makes one shudder. One can only be grateful that someone photographed the painting of the young Haydn, resplendent in his scarlet livery, before it was consigned to the pyre on that icy night.

HCRL illuminates Haydn the opera composer. Sadly, the candle-lit opera house at Esterhaza is no longer extant; it was gratuitously destroyed in the 1870s. Haydn's achievements in this domain are yet to be fully appreciated and it is not from any want of trying by the American scholar. One walks away with new insights.

Best of all, HCRL succeeds brilliantly in bringing the Eszterhaza microcosm back to life: the vanity at court; the brawls between the musicians; the hunts and endless cabals.

I don't know how I once afforded this book. It sits regally in my library like a sovereign. If a second-hand copy comes anywhere near your price-range, do not hesitate. Like the music, it will bring joy to your life.