Famous composers and their works, Vol. 2 — John Shaqi
Famous composers and their works, Vol. 2
History
Famous composers and their works, Vol. 2
Music -- History and criticism; Musicians
At the end of this year Beethoven went to Haydn for instruction, and
the lessons continued until Haydn's second departure for London. The
connection between these two geniuses was not a happy one. There can
be no doubt that Haydn neglected his pupil. In fact, in the midst of
his social triumphs and at the height of his fame, giving lessons in
counterpoint could not have had much attraction for him; moreover the
twenty cents an hour that Beethoven paid for instruction was scarcely as
tempting to the Haydn of that day as it would have been to the Haydn of
fifty years before. The breach between the old and the young composer
widened. The latter went to Schenk, a reputable musician, for additional
lessons, and then refused to call himself Haydn's pupil. Haydn at one time
intended to take Beethoven to England with him, but the latter, whenever
occasion offered, made unflattering and contemptuous remarks about the old
man, and these irritating him and wounding his self-esteem caused him to
abandon his intention. Later, Beethoven's resentment softened, and when on
his deathbed he was shown a view of Haydn's humble birth-place, he said:
"To think that so great a man should have been born in a common peasant's
hovel."
While in Vienna Haydn paid a visit to his native village Rohrau, the
occasion being the inauguration of a monument erected in his honor by
Count Harrach, in whose household Haydn's mother had been a cook. The
emotions of the composer may be imagined. The little boy who fifty-four
years earlier quitted home to study with the pedagogue Frankh, returned
in the glory of a fame that was world-wide, and one of the greatest of
composers, honored of monarchs, and courted of all. Good fortune had
followed him from the first; and though he suffered much in those sad,
early days, every change in his position was for the better. Far different
was the fate of a still greater master, the luckless Mozart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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