The National Register. — London, England, 1815-06-18 00:00:00

REVIEW OF LITERATURE. LIFE OF THE CELEBRATED COMPOSER, JOSEPH HAYDN, BY L.A. C. BONIBET-PARIS, 1815. • Europe will never cease to be delighted with the produc tions of Haydn. There have been many opinions enter tained with respect to the merit of the dramatic composi itions of various schools; but with one voice, homage has been paid to the histtumental music of the German genius. The life of this celebrated man cannot, therefore, be unin teresting to any friend of a science, which, in every civilized country, has procured him as many admirers as hearers. We have already several biographical sketches of Haydn, but they are generally incomplete: the most extended. is by M. Framerv, but this is so spoilt by the admission of several po pular stories, that the well informed reader will be insensible to the merit which many of the pages of this pamphlet con tain. M. Bombet, who has written in the very place which this great artist inhabited, and who has described him, as it were, after Nature, must gain a much greater degree of con fidence. J Haydn was the son of a poor village cartwright, and gifted by tte.ture with a most agreeable voice, which at tracted tl , e attention of the master of the chapel, belonging to the cathedral at Vienna, who was at that time going round the environs of the city for the purpose of procuring cho risters. Ile took with him the little Joseph, and a few les sons were sufficient to unfold in him that innate passion for; the science of music which was one day to be exerted within! much energy. At this period of his life, M. Frantery has re- i an anecdote of him, which is as ridiculous es it is pose table to conceive. According to him, or rather according to the contemptible retailers of stories, whom he has not , been ashamed of listening to, it was in agitation, in order to preserve the silvery clearness of his voice, to employ those means which might have ranked him with the Marchesi or the Cresrentini, but which would certainly have nipt in the bud a genius that was destined to produce so many eht:fr d'aNrrc. It would have been sufficient 'for M. Framery to have recollected, that the scene was at Vienna, where neither the manners nor laws have ever authorised an outrage which in the present day would meet with a capital punishment, even at Rome or Naples.—M. Bombet has not related any circumstance of Haydn which is not strictly true; but the de t are sea . tered thionghthe various letters, as he was more sirQus of amusing his friends with every thing that attracted his attention at 'he period he wrote, than of giving a come plete life of tha• glee artist We shall collect them in the order they present themselves, and fiequently without even changing the words of the author. Less forwatd, says he, than Mozart, who at the age of thirteen composed an ad mired Opera, Haydn at the same age composed a Mass which Vitt NATIONAL REGISTER. JUNE 18, his master very justly ridiculed. Ile was conscious he could not hope for any real success, without being initiated in th• theory of the science; but he would have been obliged to pay for lessons, and the poor Joseph had not the means of procuring even the more necessary wants of life. Ile purl , chased some treatises on music of a second-hand bookseller, and set to work with almost supernatutal courage. Although poor, and shivering with cold in his garret without a fire, and studying very late at night, overwhelmed with sleep, by the side of a miserable harpsichord, that was almost tumbling to pieces, be still thought himself happy. His voice changed at the usual period, and he was turned away from the cathedral at Vienna, with the greatest barbarity, A hair-dresser, who pitied his condition, received him into his house, and. this circumstance had a fatal influence upon the remaining days. of the young musician, who became attached to one of the daughters of his host, and promised to marry her. Ile kept his word, with that religious fidelity which the Germans are remarkable for observing in such engagements, and took a com panion, whose ill temper embittered every future moment of his existence. He contracted, at different times,. many very useful acquaintance; M. Martinez., a distinguished amateur, offered him his house and table. ", It was now," observes the Author, that the same house contained the first poet of the age, and the lost composer in the world. bletastasio lodged also with M. Martinez; but poet laureat of the Em peror Chalks VI. he liyed perfectly at his ease, while poor Haydn passed the winter days in bed, for want of fuel. The society of the Roman poet was nevertheless of great advan• tage to him. A profound and acute sensibility rendered Me tastasio an excellent judge of every science; he was passion ately fond of music, which he was well acquainted with, and he admired the talents of the young German. In his conver sation, he became intimate with the Italian. Fortune, at length, began to smile upon the miserable Haydn, and her first favour was introducing bins to Prince Antoine Ester hazy, a devoted amateur of music, and a general benefactor to all artists. Haydn was obliged to compose a number of pieces for his successor, Prince Nicolas, which were to be exe cuted upon the haryton, a complicated instrument, that is now entirely out of use, with a most agreeable soupd between a tenor and base. Ile frequently said, that the trouble which this singular instrument required, had greatly added to Lis knowledge. The agreeable life he laid at the palace of Prince Esterhazy, would have been.prejudicial to an artist,.who was mote inclined for luxuries and pleasures, than ambitious of study and reputation. This celebrated man, on the contrary, gave full scope to every impulse of his genius ; nevertheless. nothing could be more method cal than his life. He rote very early in the morning, and his fist care was to dress himself with a neatness bordering upon affecta li9u; it would have been mud against his will to have coin- 40 : Olnr. A.