Franz Joseph Haydn was always aware that, in terms of looks, he was not an Adonis. According to one of his biographers, he once expressed that he could not understand how he had been loved by so many beautiful women in his life: "they could not have been captivated by my beauty", he said. However, at the age of 27, his first love affair not only failed to bear fruit but took the wrong path.
Maria Anna
While serving Count Morzin in Vienna, the composer became enthusiastic about Therese, the daughter of a hairdresser, but Therese was not cut out for marriage and soon after entered a religious order. The hairdresser father then offered the older sister, Maria Anna. In November 1760, they were married. Whole life will Maria Anna accompany Haydn, in a marriage that knew neither children nor happiness.
Luigia
A profound connoisseur of the personnel in his service, Prince Nicholas of Esterházy fully understood the reasons Haydn obliquely put forward for the mediocre Italian singer Luigia Polzelli to remain at court despite her scraggy talents when Nicholas wanted to dismiss her in 1780. Eighteen-year-old Luigia had arrived at the palace a year earlier, and shortly thereafter began a relationship with the maestro that lasted until 1791, when the relationship ran out of steam on its own.
Marianne
Apparently, the master was more interested in Mrs. Maria Anna von Genzingen, named Marianne in the intimacy. Wife of the personal physician of Prince Nicholas and an accomplished amateur pianist, she maintained with Haydn a mainly epistolary but abundant relationship, which only ended with her sudden death in 1793 at the age of 38. Haydn was sixty-one.
Sonata in E flat No. 59
For Marianne von Genzingen was written in 1790 the sonata for pianoforte in E flat, one of the most exquisite of the master. In a letter announcing his dedication to her, Haydn asks her special attention for the second movement:
"...for it contains many things which I shall analyze for your grace when the time comes; it is rather difficult but full of feeling."
Movements:
00 Allegro
08:03 Adagio e cantabile
17:28 Finale: tempo di minuet
The rendition is by the outstanding Austrian master Alfred Brendel.
