Joseph Haydn

Austrian composer, 1732-1809

"Haydn was a prominent and prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets ""Father of the Symphony"" and ""Father of the String Quartet"". One of his friends was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom Haydn had met sometime around 1784. The two composers occasionally played in string quartets together. Haydn was hugely impressed with Mozart's work and praised it unstintingly to others. Mozart evidently returned the esteem, as seen in his dedication of a set of six quartets, now called the ""Haydn"" quartets, to his friend."

Source: Wikipedia

Haydn, Joseph

Komponist (1732-1809). DS ("Joseph Haydn mppria"). Eisenstadt. 4to. 2 SS.
$ 86,528 / 80.000 € (25732)

Contract, ceding publication rights to his oratorio "Die Jahreszeiten" ("The Seasons") to Breitkopf & Haertel: "Zwischen Herrn Kapellmeister Joseph Haydn und den Musikverlegern Breitkopf & Haertel in Leipzig wird andurch folgender Vertrag geschloßen: Es überläßt 1) Herr Kapellmeister Haydn die Partitur und Texte seiner Composition des Oratoriums: Die vier Jahreszeiten den H. Breitkopf & Haertel käuflich und eigenthümlich mit dem ausschließlichen Verlagsrechte für die erste und etwanige nachherige Auflagen [...]".

Sub nos. 2 and 3, Haydn agrees not to sell the work to third parties or make it available to any third parties before publication. He also agrees to copy-edit the proofs in due time and to publicly announce having transferred the said publishing rights. The publishers Breitkopf & Härtel agree to pay a total royalty of 4500 Viennese florins, of which 2000 fl. are to be advanced at the time of undersigning. - Apart from Breitkopf & Härtel, the publishers Hoffmeister & Kühnel in Leipzig and André in Offenbach had bid for the "Seasons" copyright. The first performance had taken place on 24 April in the Palais of Prince Schwarzenberg. - The entire contract is written in a neat scribal hand; Haydn adds the place and date, his signature and his seal..

buy now

Haydn, Joseph

Komponist (1732-1809). Autograph letter signed ("Joseph Haydn mppria"). Wien. 17.10.1804. ½ S. 4to. Gerahmt.
$ 64,896 / 60.000 € (934173/BN934173)

In Italian, to George Thomson in Edinburgh, a friend of Robert Burns and publisher of Haydn's song adaptations, inquiring about London performances of his "Creation" and announcing that he intends to write, before his death, another two or at least one dozen works specially for Thomson: "Stimatissimo Signor mio. Nell' ultima vostra lettera di Luglio m'avete fatto troppo Complimenti per la mia Creazione del Mondo. Mi stimo molto felice, che Iddio m'ha donato questo piccolo Talento per dar soddisfazione agli Amatori di Musica, tanto più, che per questa grazia Divina posso far del bene al prossimo mio, ed ai poveri: io vorrei dunque saper, se in Londra fu data la Creazione per i poveri, o per il Concerto professionale, e quanto denaro habbiano fatto; io ho fatto in Vienna con questi due pezzi di Musica, cioè colla Creazione, e con le quattro stagioni per le nostre povere Vedove di Musica, in tempo di tre anni quaranta mila fiorini: Se mi potete col tempo darmi una risposta sopra quel punto, mi fareste un gran piacere.

- Vi mando dunque queste tredici Ariette con l'istessa speranza, che vi daranno piacere, io vorrei far ancora prima della mia morte venti cinque, o almeno dodici di queste Ariette, mà solamente per voi caro amico, perche cose più grandi non posso più sorprendere, la mia vecchiezza m'indebolisce sempre più [...]". With Thomson's autogr. note of contents on the reverse: "Dr. Haydn. With 13 more Airs to which he composed Symph.s and Accomp.ts and Enquiring whether the Creation had been perf.d in London for the benefit of the poor - and that he will yet do some more airs for me, and only for me!" - Traces of folds; slight tear at horizontal centerfold (touching text), otherwise immaculate. Provenance: in the collection of Emilie Schaup in 1931; later in a Vienna private collection. First published in German translation by Botstiber, Der Merker 1/19, 777; Italian text first printed by Leo Grünstein in: Das Alt-Wiener Antlitz (Vienna 1931) I, 138 (but recipient erroneously identified as Bridi)..

buy now

Haydn, Joseph

composer (1732-1809). Autograph musical manuscript. Fragment of the insertion aria ("Dice benissimo") for Antonio Salieri’s opera "La scuola de' gelosi", HXXIVb:5. No place. Two pages (207:300 mm). 14 bars on one six-stave system (bars 51-64 of the published edition) for voice, bass, two horns and strings, the text for the aria "Sono le femmine si maliziose [...] nessun per certo le troverà".
$ 81,120 / 75.000 € (74393/BN48495)

A fragment of Haydn's "Dice Benissimo". Haydn composed two insertion arias for Antonio Salieri’s dramma giocoso of 1778, "La scuola de' gelosi": one is lost to us, while the present manuscript is a fragment of the aria created for the bass voice of the manservant Lumaca. One of Haydn's many responsibilities as Kapellmeister of the Esterházy family - by 1780 under Nikolaus I - was as director of the opera company, his patron's newest passion as of the mid-1770s. The palace at Esterháza was transformed, at the behest of Prince Nikolaus, into an important fixture on the opera calendar, with its theatre routinely hosting multiple productions each year.

Not only would Haydn direct and produce the performances, but he would compose his own works, as well as adapting those of other composers - usually choosing dramma giocoso - to suit the forces at his disposal. This often meant composing insertion arias - such as the present work - to suit the voice of a particular singer: around twenty such arias survive, dating from 1777 to 1789, although only a handful are written for bass or tenor. - Remnants of tape at upper, left-hand and bottom margins of recto. Provenance: Professor Theodor Dielitz (presentation and authentication inscription; Dielitz's substantial autograph collection was auctioned by Hartung in Berlin in January 1858), given to a Dr. Pribil as a duplicate, 1 January 1848. Last in the Metropolitan Opera Guild Collection..

buy now

Haydn, Joseph

Komponist (1732-1809). Gestochene Visitenkarte. O. O. Kleines Visitkartenformat. Hinter Glas gerahmt (79:110 mm).
$ 7,030 / 6.500 € (88922/BN58914)

"Hin ist alle meine Kraft | alt und schwach bin ich | Joseph Haydn". Haydn verbrachte von 1797 an die letzten zwölf Jahre seines Lebens in seinem 1793 erworbenen Haus in der Vorstadt Windmühle (Untere Steingasse 73, heute Haydngasse 19), wo u. a. die zwei Oratorien "Die Schöpfung" und "Die Jahreszeiten" sowie sechs Messen für die Esterházy-Familie entstanden. Ab 1802 war er krankheitsbedingt nicht mehr in der Lage zu komponieren oder öffentlich aufzutreten.

buy now

sold

 
Haydn, Joseph

Letter signed.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar

To Madame Moreau, wife of the Napoleonic general Jean Victor Moreau: "M. le Prince Esterhazy m'a fait l'honneur de me dire que vous desiriez avoir une Sonate de ma composition; Il ne fallait rien moins que mon extrême envie de vous plaire, pour me déterminer à m'occuper de ce travail; mon âge et mes maladies me défendent toute application depuis deux ans, et je crains bien que vous ne vous en apperceviez; mais l'indulgence fut toujours l'apanage des Grâces et des talents, Il m'est donc permis de compter sur la vôtre. [M]es medecins me font espérer un adoucissement à mes maux; je n'y aspire, Madame, que pour réparer la faiblesse de mon ouvrage, en vous faisant hommage d'une nouvelle composition [...]". - Haydn's correspondent, the creole wife of General Moreau, was a woman of charm and talent. General Moreau was resented by Napoleon for refusing to marry the Emperor's sister, Caroline. Robbins Landon, in his "Haydn: Chronicle and Works", comments on this letter, remarking that despite Madame Moreau's charm and the request of Haydn's benefactor, Prince Esterhazy, Haydn "did not dream of composing a new Sonata for her or anyone else, and gave her a copy of the Pianoforte Trio No. 41 in E flat minor (1795), without the cello part". - An interesting and unique letter eloquently expressing Haydn's desire to write this new sonata, with tongue-in-cheek humor relating to the fact that he had no intention of doing so.