Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-07-11
GREAT MUSICIANS WIVES.
And Their influence ON Their Hus-
brnds' Art-The Homes OF Bach and
Haydn.

From Music and the Drama
Hans Hoffman discourses in the Brooklyn
"Fest-Zeitung' on the women who married
some OF the greatest composers and on those
tnat influenced them. Let us get acquainted
with a few. Johann Sebastian Bach, whose i'm
| portance was resuscitated by Felix Barthold
Mendelssohn, and who has been growing ever
since in the estimation OF the musical public,
settled early in marriage. But twenty-five
years old lie married his cousin, Maria Barbara
Bach, in 1907, and settled down with her al
Muehlhausen, in Thurnsia. He had learned
| to love Barbara while staying with an aunt at
ArnStadt. Barbara was musical. played the
organ. and saw in Bach her ideal OF man She
became the mother of seven children and
died during her husbands absence In the sum
mer OF 1920. Bach mourned his faithful wife
honestly but his remarriage became necessity
and he found another sweet woman in Anna
Masdalena Muelken, the. youngest daugh
| ter of a court musician. Magdalena
did writer of musical copv-at that time great
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT helped her ever active
most b"b tbs bap GSpying ns
was blessed with thirteen children, music
reigncd supreme in sebastian Bach's house,
and he says in a letter to friend, George Erd-
mann. on the 2Sth of October, 1880 MY chill
dren are all OF them born muSicians.sand can
assure thee that | can very well form u vocal
and Instrumental concert with my family, par
ticularly az my present wife sings very pretty
soprano and my eldest daughter. as well as my
Sofls- JON With neT very nicely, 1nUeeu. Dacn
educated ten of his sons himself a. good mu.i-
clans, of whom Wilhelm Friedemann and Is arl
Phillip became historically celebrated. The
wonderful talent for musical art remained a
heritage through six generations in the family
OF Bach, and the latter covered all Thuringia
with orsanists and "cantor,'' or chorus masters
When John Sebastian Bach died At Leipzig, the
3Oth of July. 1850, he left his widow and three
daughters. The sons had all gone from the pa
also, and as what? As 'Almossn frau''-or as
Aims woman"
just rs fortunate as Bach had been in the
selection OF his two wives, as unfortunate was
Haydn, the sunny, simple. good-tempered
Haydn. In 1889 haydn had after great strug-
giles got so far as 10 obtain musical director
snip with Count Morzin AMI settled in Vienna.
HI. salary was but 200 horins, but he had board
and lodging free. Many pupils came to him
dresser Keller Haydn fell deeply in love with
the younger, but his affection was not returned,
Tor she entered convent and became a nun.
Father Keller, who very familiar with
Haydn and had helped him often in earlier
times with small loans. persuaded the young
composer To- marry his elder daughter and the
marriage was celebrated on the Goth of No
vember, 1860. Maria Anna WIS., however, no
wife for Joseph Haydn. She extrava.ant,
blxoted, scOlded all the day and was utterly
unconpanionable to musician. Finally she
became SO bad that she only did what she
thought would annoy her husband. She
dressed in the prevailing fashion, unsuited to
her po,ition. invited clerical men to her table.
tore Haydns written musical scores and
made curl papers OF them, etc, etc, and
yet H.dyn bore it all IN well as he could. How
he Wi. able TO create those lovely. sunny tone
pictures in the seasons. including the love
making between Haaucnen and Lucas and that
sweet duet between Adam and Eve in the Gre
alton, j. a riddle. In one letter he says: MY
vile is mostly sick and is always in Il bad tenn
per. 1t Is the same to ner whether her husband
Is 4 shoemaker or an artist. After he had
suffered this state OF THU = in miserable mar
ria.. of thirty-two years he seemed exhausted
ana wrote. III an renowned composer. to Il friend
from London: My vile that Internal woman,
has written me such horrible things that will
not return home AGAIN. a. last Halrn sepa-
rated from his wife and placed her as Il boarCier
with u schoOlIna.tsr III Baden. where she died
i'll 1880. Her memory WAS always Disagree
able u him. even after her death. w hen showing
her portrait to friend in his house in 1905
Haydn answered on being asked who she wa:
That is my wife; she has often inluriated me-