Haydn's English Canzonettas (1794) : musical style vs. social structure

The present paper analyzes Haydn's English Canzonettas ( 1794) in the light of the social restructuring which took place in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century.A combination of historical assessmerit and musical analysis was employed for this purpose.The decline of the court patronage following the French Revolution had a crucial impact on the social status of the European artist and his art.After many generations of servile position in the courtly household, he found himself, for the first time, working in the open market, sponsored by middle class amateurs.Thus, along with his greater personal and artistic liberty, the emancipated artist was bound to appease a wider and less cultivated audience.J. Haydn was among the few artists who lived long enough to experience both court and public patronage.v Shortly after his release from the court of Esterhaza, he traveled to London, where he composed the English Canzonettas, long overlooked by both performers and scholars.The musical analysis of these songs reveals an unusual blend of two inherently distinct styles: a folklike, undemanding writing, which clearly appeals to the amateur performer, combined with some innovative, unconventional "Romantic" traits.This study tests the hypothesis that the canzonettas comprise a unique musical testimony of the gradual emancipation of the European artist following the French Revolution.vi sonal taste and education.Frederick the Great, who "ruled musical life at the court with an iron hand and military discipline, .. 19 was known for his conservative musical taste and his intense love for Italian opera.He, therefore, staffed his opera house at Berlin almost exclusively with Italian singers, and insisted rigorously that his composers would write Italian music in the idiom of the past.20 The King's favorite composer was Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773), whose music was described by Burney as reflecting "the taste of forty years ago." 21 No wonder that while c.F. Graun was paid for his Italianate music an annual salary of two thousand Thaler, C.P.E.Bach, whose expressive Empfindsamer Stil did not appeal to the ruler, earned only 300-500 Thaler yearly, 22 and eventually sought employment elsewhere.23 Not only did the patron's taste dictate the style of a composer, but both genre and medium were often determined by his preferences or financial resources.Thus Mannheim had not cultivated any distinguished opera house, since the Elector Carl Theodore favored orchestral music.J. S. Bach in Weimar was expected to write nothing but church music, while in the Calvinist court at Coethen, he was asked to provide mainly chamber music.At the court of his first employer, Baron von Fuernberg, J. Haydn was ordered to write only string quartets, whereas at the wealthy court of Esterhaza he wrote twelve operas.24 When questioned about the absence of quintets ' • ~ t.