Nikolaus II , Prince Esterházy Nicholas II , Prince Esterházy ( , ; 1765 – 1833 ) was a wealthy Hungarian prince . He served the Austrian Empire and was a member of the famous Esterházy family . He is especially remembered for his art collection and for his role as the last patron of Joseph Haydn . Life . Nikolaus was born in Vienna 12 December 1765 , the son of Prince Anton Esterházy and his first wife , Maria Theresia , Countess Erdödy de Monyorokerek et Monoszlo ( 1745 – 1782 ) . His father Anton was the son of Nikolaus I , whom he succeeded as reigning prince on the latter ' s death in 1790 . In 1783 , the younger Nikolaus , aged 17 , married the 15 - year - old Maria Josepha , Princess von und zu Liechtenstein ( 1768 – 1845 ) . According to Mraz ( 2009b ) , the marriage was not a happy one ( see below , " debauchery " ) . It produced three children : Paul ( 1786 – 1866 ) , who succeeded Nikolaus as prince , Leopoldine ( 1788 – 1846 ) , and Nikolaus ( 1799 – 1844 ) . Nikolaus II became the reigning prince on the death of his father in 1794 . Like many of the aristocrats of the Austrian Empire , he spent much of his time in Vienna , where his family had a palace . He also spent some time , particularly in summer , in his palace ( the traditional family seat ) in Eisenstadt . Like his father Anton , Nikolaus had little interest during his reign in living in or visiting Esterháza , the famous palace that Nikolaus I had built in rural Hungary . Military career . Like most of the princes in his line , Nikolaus pursued a career as a military officer . He was promoted to major general on 13 May 1796 , and to Lieutenant Field Marshal in 1803 ; in 1817 , he was promoted to Feldzeugmeister . Like his father , he was also a Captain of the Hungarian Noble Life Guard , from December 1803 until his death in 1833 . In 1802 , he was appointed Colonel and Proprietor ( Inhaber ) of the 32nd Infantry Regiment , a position he held also until his death . He received the Grand Cross of the Order of St . Stephen in 1797 and was initiated into the Order of the Golden Fleece on 7 January 1808 . He also served as an imperial and royal and Privy councillor . In 1829 , he received from the Grand Duchy of Baden , the Order of Fidelity in 1829 and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion . The Kingdom of Bavaria awarded him the Military Order of St . Hubert and the House of Hannover awarded him the Grand Cross of the Guelphic Order in 1816 . A dramatic moment in Nikolaus ' s career occurred in 1809 . Napoleon , having just defeated the Austrian armies and occupied Vienna , sought to weaken the Habsburg monarchy by severing its Hungarian territories . Nikolaus was Napoleon ' s candidate to serve as King of an independent Hungary . Faithful to the Esterházy tradition of loyalty to their Emperor , Nikolaus refused the offer , and indeed he went further and raised a regiment of volunteers to help defend the Empire , an action he had previously taken in 1797 . Hungary remained part of the Empire until the 20th century . As patron of art and architecture . Nikolaus amassed a large art collection , in part during an Italian tour in 1794 - 1795 . Among the artists represented were Andrea del Sarto , Corregio , Raphael , and Claude Lorrain . He employed a curator , Joseph Fischer , who was also a landscape painter and engraver . Nikolaus spent some years trying to find a home for his collection ( and also protecting it during the Napoleonic invasions of 1805 and 1809 ; at one point in the latter year it was shipped down the Danube to Pest for safety ) . Eventually it was installed in the palace of Prince Kaunitz , which Nikolaus bought in 1814 . The palace was converted to a gallery open to the public and was considered an important collection . Palace and gardens . Nikolaus remodeled the family palace at Eisenstadt , converting it from Baroque to Classical style . He also caused the gardens to be laid out in contemporary ( English ) style ( 1797 ) . The redesigned gardens included extensive greenhouses , intended both to support landscaping and to house a large collection of plants , which by 1820 had grown to 60 , 000 varieties . The greenhouses were divided into rooms controlled for temperature and humidity . Starting in 1803 , they were watered by a pump operated by a steam engine imported from England — the first steam engine in the Austrian Empire . As patron of music . The prince was at least at some level a musician ( a portrait of him by Fischer shows him playing the clarinet ) and he spent some of his wealth as a patron of music . Haydn . When Nikolaus succeeded his father as prince , he partially revived the Esterházy musical establishment , which had flourished ( with a full orchestra and opera company ) under his grandfather Nikolaus I , but had been severely cut back by his father Anton . Nikolaus persuaded Joseph Haydn to return as active ( though part - time ) Kapellmeister , and gradually built up the " Chor musique " , his group of instrumentalists and singers : 15 in 1796 , 29 by 1802 . These musical forces , augmented by occasional extras , premiered several major works , notably the six masses composed by Haydn , some in celebration of the name day of Nikolaus ' s wife Maria Hermenegild . That Haydn ' s compositions for Nikolaus were primarily religious works ( in contrast to the symphonies and operas Haydn had composed for Nikolaus ' s grandfather ) reflects the Prince ' s own preference for religious music . Nikolaus initially had a difficult relationship with Haydn . He treated the world - famous composer as a servant , addressing him with the low - status pronoun " Er " and calling him merely " Haydn " ( " Herr Haydn " or indeed " Dr . Haydn " would have been more respectful , given that Haydn had received an honorary degree from Oxford University ) . Under the influence of his wife , Nikolaus gradually changed his attitude and eventually was more respectful to his Kapellmeister . During Haydn ' s long period of infirmity ( roughly 1803 to his death in 1809 ) , the Prince was very supportive , increasing his pension to compensate for inflation ( 1806 ) and covering his medical expenses . He served Haydn posthumously in 1820 by his vigorous — though unsuccessful — efforts to recover the composer ' s stolen skull . Other musical patronage . Nikolaus was also active in the musical life of Vienna . He was a member of the Gesellschaft der Associierten , an organization of aristocrats that played an important role in organizing concerts , and also was one of the aristocratic subscribers to the first major published work of Ludwig van Beethoven , his Opus 1 piano trios . Following Haydn ' s retirement the musical establishment financed by Nikolaus continued under other leaders , including Johann Nepomuk Fuchs and Johann Nepomuk Hummel . Nikolaus commissioned the 1807 Mass in C of Ludwig van Beethoven , continuing the tradition of masses composed for the Princess ' s name day . The Prince did not like the work and the comment he made at the premiere led Beethoven to depart in a huff . Nikolaus later wrote to Countess Henriette Zielinska , " Beethoven ' s music is unbearably ridiculous and detestable ; I am not convinced it can ever be performed properly . I am angry and ashamed . " His debauchery . According to Mraz ( 2009a ) , Nikolaus was known " for his debauched lifestyle , keeping what amounted to a private brothel in the Landstraße " . One commentator said that he had 200 mistresses and fathered 100 illegitimate children . Financial demise and death . According to Mraz , Nikolaus " coped poorly " with the very high inflation that arose in the Austrian Empire as the result of the Napoleonic Wars . He continued to spend freely both on art works and on his brothel , and ultimately the law intervened , subjecting him to a sequestration order ( 1832 ) . Mraz describes the end of his life as " ignominious " . He died in 1833 in Como , Italy . Persona . Haydn biographer Karl Geiringer describes Nikolaus II thus : " He was as complete an autocrat as his grandfather had been , but lacked the latter ' s charm , kindliness , and genuine understanding of music . . . contemporaries described the prince ' s nature as ' worthy of an Asiatic despot ' " .