DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

1805— HAYDN -1809 363
acquainted with many details. Haydn also
received other visitors who cannot have failed to
give him pleasure ; such were Cherubini, the
Abbe Vogler, the Weber family, Baillot, Mme.
Bigot the pianist, Pleyel, Bierey, Gausbacher,
Hummel, Nisle, Tomaschek, Keichardt, Irtlaud ;
his faithful friends Mmes. Auruhammer, Kurzbeck,
andSpielmann, the Princess Esterhazy with
her sou Paul—who all came to render homage
to the old man. ilozart's widow did not forget
her husband's best friend, and her son Wolfgang,
then fourteen, begged his blessing at his first
public concert, in the Theatre ' an der Wien,' on
April 8, 1805, for which he had composed a
cantata, in honour of Haydn's seventy-third
birthday.
After a long seclusion Haydn appeared in
public for the last time at a remarkable performance
of the ' Creation ' at the University on
March 27, 1808. He was carried in his armchair
to a place among the first ladies of the
laud, and received with the warmest demonstrations
of welcome. Salieri conducted. At
the words 'And there "was light,' Haydn was
quite overcome, and pointing upwards exclaimed,
'It came from thence.' As the performance
went on his agitation became extreme, and it
was thought better to take him home after the
first part. As he was carried out people of
the highest rank thronged to take leave of him,
and Beethoven fervently kissed his hand and
forehead. At the door he paused, and turning
round lifted up his hands as if in the act of
blessing.
In 1797 Prince Nicolaus had augmented his
salary by 300 florins, and in 1806 added another
600—making his whole emolument 2300 florins
(£200)—besides paying his doctor's bills. This
increase in income w'as a great satisfaction to
Haydn, as he had long earnestly desired to help
his many poor relations during his life, and to
leave them something after his death.
To one who loved his country so deeply, it was
a sore trial to see Vienna twice occupied by the
enemy— in 1805 and 1809. The second timethe
city was bombarded, and the tirst shot fell not far
from his residence. In his inlirm condition this
alarmed him greatly, but he called out to his
servants, 'Children, don't be frightened ;
can happen to you wliile Haydn is by. ' The
noharm
last
visit he received on his death-bed (the city being
then in the occupation of the French) was from
a French officer, who sang ' In native ^\'orth '
with a depth of expression doubtless inspired by
the occasion. Haj-dn was much moved, and
embraced him warmly at parting. On May 26,
1809, he called his servants round him for the
last time, and having been carried to the piano
solemnly jilayed the Emperor's Hymn three
times ovev. Five days afterwards, at one
o'clock in the morning of the 31st, he expired.
On .lune 1 5 Mozart's Requiem was performed
'in his honour at the Schottenkirche. Amongst
the mourners were many French officers of high
rank ; and the guard of honour round the catafalque
was composed of French soldiers, and a
detachment of the Biirgerwehr. He was buried
in the Hundsthurm churchyard, outside the
lines, close to the suburb in which he lived,
but his remains were exhumed by conmiand of
Prince Esterhazy, and solemnly re-interred in the
upper parish church at Eisenstadt on Nov. 7,
1820. A simjile stone with a Latin inscription
is inserted in the wall over the vault—to inform
the p)asser-by that a great man rests below.
It is a well-known fact that when the coffin
was opened for identification before the removal,
the skull was missing ; it had been stolen two
days after the funeral. The one which was
afterwards sent to the Prince anonymously as
Haydn's, was buried with the other remains ;
but the real one was retained, and is at present
in the possession of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
at ^'ienna. The grave at Vienna remained
absolutely undistinguished for five years
after Haydn's death, till 1814, when his pupil
Neukonmi erected a stone bearing the following
inscription, which contains a five-part Canou
for solution.
HAYDN
NATUS MDCCXXXII
OBIIT MDCCOIX
C.A.N. AENICM. QUINQUE. VOO.
n. D. n.
Discip. Eius Neukoiu Vindob. Redux.
Mncccxiv.
This stone was rene^v-ed by Graf von Stockhanmier
in 1842. A monument to Haydn was
unveiled May 31, 1887.
As soon as Haydn's death was known, funeral
services were held in all the principal cities of
Europe. In Paris was performed a sacred cantata
for three voices ^ and orchestra (Breitkopf &
Hartel) composed by Cherubini on a false report
of his death in 1805. It was also given elsewhere.
During his latter years Haydn was made an
honorary member of many institutions— the
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Stockholm
(1798); the Philharmonic Society at Laybach
(1800) ; the Academy of Arts, Amsterdam
(1801) ; the Institut (1S02), the 'Conservatoire
de ' Musique (1S05), and the ' Societe academiquedes
enfans d'Apollon' of Paris (1807). He
also received gold medals from the musicians who
performed the ' Creation ' at the opera in Paris,
Dec. 24, ISOO, and from the Institut (1802) ;
the 'Zwiilft'ache Burgermedaille,' Vienna(1803)
from the professors o f the ' Concert des Amateurs
I No. 13;! in Cherubini's ow-ii C;it.iloiJue.