If in his long solitude he had drawn all he
could out of himself, now he was to receive impressions and impulses
from the active and social world that had great results. He was lionized
and petted, and enabled easily to make plenty of money; and he remained
the simple, shrewd, unspoiled, industrious Haydn he had been all along.
He met all the distinguished people of the time, and was taken to see
and hear everything. Of course, Dr. Burney was much about. The whole
visit has been written about a hundred times. I must touch quickly on
the significant incidents. On March 11 the first of Salomon's concerts
was given in the Hanover Rooms, and the audience was large, fashionable
and enthusiastic. The band, with Salomon, first violin, leading, was
constituted thus: sixteen violins, four violas, eight 'cellos, four
basses, flutes, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, and drums--forty-one all
told. It was this orchestra Haydn wrote his twelve best symphonies for.
He himself directed at the pianoforte, and contemporaries were not
wanting to say that at times the effect was somewhat disagreeable. The
first "Salomon set" of symphonies were those in C, D, G (_The Surprise_
or _Paukenschlag_), the B flat, C minor, and D. All these save the first
are dated 1791.
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