Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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684 STEIBELT STEIBELT
tlie Overture, which was 'enlivened by a
pantomime ' as it was, however, the
piece proved sufficiently attractive to keep the
boards for some time, and the Overture, arranged
for the pianoforte, was published in
France, and sold in Germany. As teacher
and performer Steibelt appears to have been
as fully employed during his stay of three
years or so in London as he had been previously
in Paris. "Whether he was as much liked by
his brother artists as by the amateurs seems very
problematical ; at any rate his music is conspicuous
by its absence in the concert programmes
of the time. Two other circumstances
of interest connected with Steibelt's visit to
England have been preserved. The first of these
is the fact that he conceived a decided predilection
for English pianofortes, always using
them in preference to any others : the second is
his marriage with a young Englishwoman,
described as possessed of considerable personal
attractions and as a good player on the pianoforte
and tambourine. The last-named accomplishment
led her husband to add a tambourine
accompaniment to many of his subsequent pieces.
Steibelt now resolved on visiting his native
country, from which he had been absent, according
to some authorities, as much as fifteen years.
He reached Hamburg in September or October
1799, but made no great stay there. His next
stopping- place was Dresden, where he met with
a very enthusiastic reception. Besides several
more or less private performances, he gave a
concert of his own on Feb. 4, 1800, with the
greatest success. Almost immediately after this
he went to Prague. His concert in the Bohemian
capital attracted » large audience of the upper
classes and brought him no less than 1800
gulden ; but his playing made little impression,
and he went on forthwith to Berlin.' Before
the end of April he had given two performances
in his native city. It was not very likely that
his style would please audiences who still held
to the traditions of the school of Bach, and
the main result of his visit seems to have been
to give great offence to his brother artists.
From the capital of PrusSia he turned to the
capital of Austria, then the metropolis of the
musical world, where he arrived about the
middle of May. "We are told that his reputation
was such as to cause some anxiety even to
Beethoven's friends. If such was the case they
were speedily relieved. At the first meeting a
sort of armed truce was observed ; but at the
second, Steibelt was rash enough to issue a,
distinct challenge. Beethoven was not the man
to decline such a, contest, and his victory was
so decided that his rival refused to meet him
again. [See Beethoven, vol. i. pp. 22Sa, 2346.]
This adventure was not likely to Contribute to
1 All authorities seem to place the visit to Berlin between his
concert at Prague and his arrival at Vienna, Otherwise, it would
be natural to conjecture from the dates that he went to Berlin
before going to Dresden.
Steibelt's success at "Vienna, and a concert that
he gave at the Augarten-Saal was rather thinly
attended. His German tour as a whole was
only partially successful, and Steibelt determined
to return to the more congenial atmosphere
of Paris. He arrived there inAugust 1800,oarrying
with him the score of Haydn's Creation.
'
Pleyel, Haydn's favourite pupU, had been
despatched to request the veteran composer to
come and conduct his own work. Pleyel, however,
was unable to reach Vienna [Pleyel,
vol. iii. p. 7736], and the field was thus left
open to Steibelt. He made the most of his
opportunities. Not content with obtaining
4000 francs from Erard for himself and his
assistant, M. de Segur, as the price of the translation
adapted to the music, 3600 francs
for himself, and 2400 francs for his fellowtranslator
from the administration of the Op&a,
where the work was to be performed, he transposed
the part of Adam to suit the tenor Garat,
and in many places even attempted to improve
Haydn's music by additions and alterations of
his own. In spite of these drawbacks, the
performance, which took place on Christmas
Eve, 1800, proved a decided success. Public
curiosity was much excited ; a fortnight before
the performance not a box was to be had ; an
eager crowd surrounded the Opera -House at
nine in the morning ; at the end of the first
part a subscription was started to strike a medal
in honour of the composer (nay, so much was
the work on every one's lips that one of the
vaudeville theatres produced a parody of it three
days later called La ' recreation du monde ').
Key directed 'the performance and Steibelt presided
at the pianoforte. The adaptation of the
words seems to have been fairly performed ; at
the alterations made in the score competent
judges were, naturally enough, extremely indignant.
Moreover, the circumstances of his
departure some four or five years before had not
been forgotten, and thus, in spite of the &lat
of the 'Creation,' Steibelt did not feel very
comfortable in Paris. Even the success of his
ballet Le Ketour ' de Zephyr ' at the Op^ra, on
March 3, 1802, did not reconcile him to his
position, and he embraced the oppoi-tunity
afforded by the conclusion of the 'Treaty of
Amiens on the 22nd of the same month, and
returned to London. [About this time he
entered into partnership with Mile. Erard in
a music-publishing business in Paris ; in 1805
he gave two concerts in Brussels.]
The next six years of his life, about equally
divided between London and Paris, were among
the busiest of his busy career. His popularity
in London was as great as ever ; he lived in the
most fashionable part of the town, and was received
with applause wherever he went. For
the King's Theatre in the Haymarket he wrote
two ballets, Le Jugement du berger ' P^ris ' in
3 acts (produced May 24, 1804), and 'La belle