Haydn wrote _The Seasons_, as it were, under protest, and he always
declared that it gave him the finishing touch. He composed little more,
but arranged accompaniments for Scotch songs for one Mr. Whyte, of
Edinburgh. His powers failed fast. The last time he conducted in public,
_The Seven Words_--now with the words--was the piece. This was in 1807.
He was now without a rival in Vienna. Gluck had been dead twenty years,
and Mozart had died in 1791; Beethoven was regarded as a great eccentric
genius who would not rightly apply his undoubted talents. The last time
Haydn was seen in public at all was on November 27, 1808. He was far too
weak to dream of conducting. He was carried to the hall, and great
ladies disputed as to who should be allowed to throw their wraps over
him to protect him against the cold. He was taken away after the first
part. He still lingered on a while. Next year--1809--Vienna was
bombarded by the French, who had done the same thing in 1805, and when
the victorious army came in a French officer visited him and sang "In
Native Worth." On May 26 Haydn called in his servants and played the
National Hymn three times; he was then carried to his bed, and on May
29, he died.
He was buried at Hundsthurm Churchyard with military honours, the French
invaders helping, on June 15. Mozart's _Requiem_ was sung later, _in
memoriam_. In 1820 Prince Esterhazy had the remains, or such of them as
had not been stolen, transferred to Eisenstadt.
CHAPTER IX
SUMMING UP
As small a proportion as possible of my space has been devoted to
technical matters, and I have only used text-book terminology where no
other served to explain what Haydn did in building up the symphony form.
This spade-work of his Esterhazy period was of the greatest importance
to himself, to Mozart and to Beethoven. He is the only composer of the
first rank who did second-rate work of immense and immediate value to
his successors, just as he is the only second-rate writer who ever in
his age rose to be a composer of the first rank. Both as pioneer and
perfecter and as great original composer I have sought roughly to place
him. A few remarks about the man and his habits and characteristics may
be added.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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