A biographer of Joseph Haydn notes that the Esterházy musician was surprised that in the course of his life he had been loved by so many beautiful women. The biographer quotes these words of Haydn: "They could not have been captivated by my beauty". Indeed, Haydn was not as handsome as he would have liked, but in 1760, at the age of twenty-eight, he began his official love life by marrying Maria Anna Keller, the daughter of a hairdresser. The marriage was not a happy one and Haydn had to seek happiness elsewhere, this time informally. And it didn't go badly at all.
Maria Anna
At least four girls, some of them noble, others not so much, established with Haydn a sentimental relationship, more or less lasting. The one who takes the cake seems to have been the "European beauty" Maria Anna von Genzinger, the wife of Prince Esterházy's family doctor, a noblewoman on her mother's side, and a talented music lover. Apparently, she began the relationship by sending the maestro her piano reduction of an adagio taken from one of his symphonies. The maestro responded, extremely flattered, and thus a relationship began, mainly epistolary – although without reaching the heights of Tchaikovsky in the coming century – that would last for many years.
The beloved one, in Vienna
Maria Anna lived in Vienna. Haydn, quite far away, in the Esterhaza palace. So when his patron decided to visit the capital of the empire, the maestro was delighted to accompany him, since it was a chance to see his beloved and not only to correspond with her. But the relationship was platonic. The fact that each belonged to a different social stratum made any other rapprochement impossible.
To make matters worse, it was only Haydn who succumbed to infatuation, and not Maria Anna who always responded to his messages as the faithful, sincere, and deep friend she was.
To make matters worse, it was only Haydn who succumbed to infatuation, and not Maria Anna who always responded to his messages as the faithful, sincere, and deep friend she was.
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| Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) |
A tribute to a friend
Sadly, Maria Anna died suddenly in 1793, at the age of 38, during a Haydn tour of London. This had a profound impact on the master, notwithstanding the asymmetry of the relationship. The Variations in F minor, one of his most intimate and personal pieces, written at the height of his glory, is believed to have been published as a final tribute to Maria Anna, the wife of another.
Variations in F minor
Composed in 1793 and published in 1799, they belong to the type of variations with two themes, in which Haydn proved to be particularly skilled. The main theme has the character of a funeral march, which is followed by a trio in the major mode. At times, the harmonic language foreshadows certain aspects of the romantic style to come.
The rendition is by young Turkish artist, Can Cakmur.
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