The orchestra and its instrumentsSingleton, Esther
History
The orchestra and its instruments
Singleton, Esther
Instrumentation and orchestration -- History; Musical instruments; Orchestra
“Haydn kissed the Prince’s hand, and retired to a corner of the
Orchestra, a little grieved at being obliged to hide his natural hair and
youthful figure. The next morning he appeared at his Highness’s Levee
imprisoned in the grave costume which had been ordered. He had the title
of Second Professor of Music, but his new comrades called him simply _the
Moor_.”[58]
In 1762 Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy succeeded his brother and Haydn soon
became head of the entire music of the household. The “Magnificent
Prince Esterhazy,” as he was called, now turned an old hunting-lodge
into a splendid residence, making it a miniature Versailles. The house
was not only palatial, but there were deer-parks, gardens, hot-houses,
summer-houses, temples, grottoes, “hermitages,” two theatres equipped
with scenery and also a chapel. The musical establishment was large.
The Prince paid big salaries and the musicians were engaged for several
years at a time. There was a large opera company, a large Orchestra and
individual solo players on certain instruments. Haydn had charge of it
all. He was on friendly terms with Prince Esterhazy himself, for whose
_viola di bardone_, or _baryton_, he had to write a new piece every
day. Haydn lived at “Esterhazy,” as the place was called, until Prince
Nicolaus died in 1790. Then he went to Vienna, where he died in 1809.
Haydn was fortunate in having such a patron as Prince Esterhazy; for,
of course, he had no trouble in getting his works performed. For thirty
years he had an opera-house, an Orchestra—and both of the best—and a
cultivated audience as well; for Prince Esterhazy entertained royal and
noble personages and amateurs from every nook and corner of Europe.
When Haydn first went to Eisenstadt the Orchestra numbered eighteen
instruments, six violins, viola, violoncello, double-bass, flute, two
oboes, two bassoons and four horns. Then it was enlarged to twenty-two
and twenty-four instruments, including trumpets and kettledrums. There
was a great advance in the Orchestra of Esterhazy as the years rolled by;
and the last symphonies that Haydn wrote are very much richer than his
early ones.
Haydn represents the Orchestra in the same way that Gluck represents the
music-drama, Bach the organ and Handel the oratorio. He has been called
the “Father of the Orchestra”; and the name, “Papa Haydn,” that Mozart
gave to him, has been affectionately retained by posterity.
Haydn fixed the form of the quartet and the Symphony. Mozart and
Beethoven were his actual pupils as well as followers. Yet from Mozart,
Haydn learned much in the way of writing for instruments. Haydn left the
Orchestra in shape for Beethoven to carry still farther.
Haydn’s Orchestra consisted of the string-quartet, two flutes, two oboes,
two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets and kettledrums.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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