Even in old-fashioned Germany the
Rights of Man were asserting themselves. In England, for many a long day
afterwards, the musician had no higher standing than Haydn had. The few
who mixed with the Great were mainly charlatans of the type of Sir
George Smart, and they took mighty pains to be of humble behaviour in
the presence of their betters.
Haydn did remarkably well in the petty pigtail courts of Austria. He
probably considered himself lucky, and he was lucky--he was always
lucky. He got invaluable experience with Porpora, and was presented to
many personages in the gay world. He met Gluck, who a little later was
quite inaccessible to the most pushful of young men; also Dittersdorf
and Wagenseil, who, whatever we may think of them, were very high and
unapproachable musicians in their time. He worked with unflagging
diligence, and the natural instinct of his genius drove him to the works
of Emanuel Bach, which he now possessed. He also bought theoretical
books, prizing chiefly the Gradus of old Fux. So he mastered the
groundwork of his art. Gluck advised him to go to Italy, but it is hard
to imagine what he could have learnt there. He did not fail to profit by
an introduction to one Karl (etc.) von Fuernberg, one of the old stamp of
wealthy patrons of musicians.
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