Haydn, Haydn Everywhere

We had mapped out all the possible routes there, checked schedules, dropoff points and pickup times. We checked the satellite maps to see whether we could walk or needed a cab, and we looked at what was interesting in Eisenstadt.
We took the bus down and arrived 45 minutes before the concert. We drove in past the church where Haydn was buried (without his skull) and so we ran back to see it. His room was exactly the restrained, classical sort of marble spot you'd expect, but it was in this very weird looking Calvary church with people walking across paths in the roof (see above). Turns out that you walk up stairs and through depictions of the stations of the cross until you reach the top. It was cool.
Then we walked across Eisenstadt, which is about as big as your hand, and reached Schloss Esterhazy (not to be confused with the larger Esterhaza on the Hungarian side of the border, which bee I also have in my bonnet). The woman at the door looked surprised when we gave her our tickets and I thought we might be underdressed, but no, it was because we were about one third the age of everyone else in the audience. We took a seat and I noticed that the Haydnsaal, which is renowned for its acoustics, has absolutely bare floors. Looked like unfinished subflooring to me. I guess Mary Wallman was right when she wouldn't let them carpet the floor in the Berkeley ward chapel (she was the organist and she was protective of the acoustics).
The performance was by Cappella Istropolitana and they performed three Symphonies: No. 58 in F major, No. 35 in B major, and No. 41 in C major. Although my favorite was No. 58 (perhaps just because my ears were fresh), I was blown away by the flute in the No. 41, second movement poco andante (which you can click on and hear, though I think our flute was better).

Yay! We made it! We can't believe we're here! The self-congratulatory nostril shot, improved at least by the paintings on the ceiling behind us.
I had actually written a report to give to my class on Haydn, and didn't get to give it because I was sick, but I found out stuff that helped me enjoy the day. I learned that the Haydn year only has one third the budget that the Mozart year did (which was in 2006). If shown a bust of Haydn, most people think it's Mozart. In the LDS hymnal, we have one hymn by Haydn (number 46, which is the national anthem for Germany) and one by his brother Michael (267). He left his home at six to begin his musical training, then went to Vienna to become a choirboy at eight. He was once beaten at Maria Theresia's orders, for climbing some scaffolding at the palace where they choirboys were performing for her. Later, when he was working for the Esterhazy family, she came to an opera he'd written and said "When I want to hear a good opera, I come to Esterhaza". He was short and had a pitted face from small pox. It would also appear that he had an underbite. He is considered the father of the symphony and the string quartet, and we found out that no fewer than ten significant composers dedicated string quartets of theirs to him (the most famous being Mozart's). He had an unhappy marriage and wrote a song called "The Nasty Wife". It was awful.
I like Haydn because he's a sane artist of the first order. He held down steady jobs, was happy, became increasingly successful, was beloved of his peers and musicians and pretty much everyone except Beethoven and his wife.
After seeing his house, we asked about a place for lunch. Again, we just stumbled down the street until we found it. We walked in and said "we've got a bus to catch in 45 minutes. can we eat here by then?" and they fed us perhaps the greatest goulasch we have ever had and some locally pressed grape juice that rivals Navarro. It was a little place that was hip and unpretentious and not terribly expensive and I'd pack it in my bags and take it home with me if I could.
We had a lovely time. On the home front, Sheldan took the kids to the zoo and they managed to keep them happy, fed and dry and not even break a tooth or a bone! It was a very enjoyable success. This last clip is a smidgen of one of the encores that Rob grabbed just for his mother-in-law, knowing that she would have loved today more than anything else we've done. So enjoy it in your nice cool room, mom!
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